Key figures in property have energetically approved the Egan Report on improving standards in the construction industry.
Developers, investors, lawyers and representative bodies are united in expressing support for the initiative.
The report of Sir John Egan’s Construction Task Force – Rethinking Construction – proposes changes to improve the efficiency, quality and value of construction services. An implementation group is being set up with the goal of cutting capital costs and construction time by 10% a year, reducing defects and accidents by 20% and increasing the predictability of delivery by 20%.
The British Property Federation’s deputy director general, Richard Kauntze, said: “There is so much dissatisfaction with the construction industry that any objective analysis would conclude that a lot has to be done&The industry is not an end in itself. It exists only to provide a product to property clients, and Egan aims to put clients at the heart of the building process and we support that.”
The new approach will be applied first to a series of demonstration projects, including the Millennium Village at Allerton Bywater, West Yorkshire, and the Highways Agency’s M60 Manchester Outer Ring Road.
Dr. Bernard Rimmer at Slough Estates took part in formulating the Egan Report. He told PLS: “The demonstration projects will attempt to introduce as much of the report as possible. But it will take a long time for the construction industry to get beyond being a resource for managing sub-contractors and become manufacturers of buildings.”
Rimmer is dismissive of rumours that Sir John Egan’s brusque style has antagonised contractors: “Some hostility was bound to arise because the Task Force was based on what clients want out of the industry. A lot of contractors will be looking sideways at the report, but they’re all big boys.”
The Millennium Commission has a seat on the Construction Clients’ Forum and also backs the changes. Spokesman John Barber sees no need to wait for a gradual shift of culture: “When talking to our projects we’ll be asking them to deal with contractors and suppliers using Egan as a tool”.
