The British government have an Industrial Strategy. That’s all about supporting industry
to create jobs and economic growth. As part of that they are creating partnerships with
the key sectors that have the most influence.
Now, construction is very much one of those sectors and “Construction 2025” is the
strategy between industry and Government to improve construction by 2025.
Now rather like the BIM Protocol and some of the PAS guidance that we’ve covered on
The B1M in the past this document is… well… pretty dull.
It was actually published back in July 2013 and made freely available as a PDF. A lot
of people saw it but they tended to be very strategic thought leaders, very senior managers
or people in the academic world. The vast majority in the middle of the industry, don’t
really know it exists. We’re hoping to change that with this video, because if we all know
where we’re going and we all believe in what we need to do to get there, it’ll be
much much easier.
In the UK (United Kingdom) construction employs nearly 10% of the population – a whopping
3 million people – and it contributes £90 billion to the economy, making up about 7%
of its total.
Construction creates, builds, manufactures and maintains the places where nearly every
business that contribute to the national economy function. It provides our infrastructure;
our schools, hospitals and homes.
Construction is extremely influential and what happens in it matters, to everyone.
It’s set to grow by up to 70% between 2013 and 2025. The total global construction output
is set to rise to $12 trillion US dollars by then, which is about £1M in sterling.
Well to be honest we haven’t got time to properly explain in a short YouTube video.
It’s not working as well as it could be at the moment. We’re driven by output – how
quickly and cheaply we can deliver a building – rather than the ultimate outcome it’s
going to have on that business and our society. We work in silos and don’t talk to each
other. People are out for the own commercial gain. The margins are suicidal so everyone’s
looking to price in risk or for contractual slip-ups that mean they can penalise someone
else. Adversity is rife and the Forms of Contract we use only encourage it. There’s a low
level of innovation, there’s not much knowledge sharing, there’s massive gender imbalance
and many young people don’t see it as an appealing place to work.
People have been trying to change construction for decades. And all the institutions, all
the reports, all the working groups, all the charters, all the award dinners, all the initiatives,
all that experience, all that knowledge out there, has led us to the day that you’re
currently experiencing at the moment.
I’m passionate about changing it because in amongst all that stuff I’ve just described
I can see the good bits. I see incredible people, I see the phenomenal feats of engineering
we pull-off, I see innovation, I see rising stars, and most of all I see the potential
of what we can be.
So how do we get there?
Well there’s a few different bits to this.
For starters, Construction 2025 sets out the vision and aspirations for the industry across
5 different areas.
The first is PEOPLE. For construction to become an industry that is known for its talented
and diverse workforce. Second is SMART. To have an industry that is efficient and technologically
advanced. Then there’s SUSTAINABLE. To be an industry that leads the world in low-carbon
and green construction exports. GROWTH – for construction to drive growth across the entire
economy. And finally LEADERSHIP. An industry with clear leadership from a Construction
Leadership Council (formed of Government and Industry representatives).
It also sets some targets: Like a 33% reduction in the initial cost of construction and over
the lifetime of built assets. A 50% reduction in time for design and construction. A 50%
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. And a 50% reduction in the gap between the amount
of construction products that we import to the UK, versus what we export.
Construction 2025 sets out a number of strategies for achieving the vision. It talks about adopting
BIM and exporting Britain’s expertise in that area, investing in low carbon technologies,
driving up safety standards on smaller projects, focusing on occupational health, creating
apprenticeships, clarifying the employment routes into the industry, changing procurement
routes and promoting innovation – amongst a number of other areas.
The strategy says that by 2025, Construction will no longer characterised by late delivery,
cost overruns, commercial friction, late payment, accidents, unfavourable workplaces, a workforce
unrepresentative of society or as an industry slow to embrace change.
"By 2025, construction will be radically transformed".
Now when I first heard those targets I was pulling the same face that you’re probably
pulling right about now. When you’re working in the existing construction industry and
you hear stuff like that, trying to work out how we’re going to get there can just feel
like it’s impossible. And, all those strategies I listed off just feel like things you’ve
probably heard a thousand times before.
And that really highlights how far behind we are, how bad things have got and how significant
the change required actually is.
The fact is, this is going to come down to people. People like you and me.
The 50% reduction is time is expected to come from changes to the planning and sign-off
bureaucracy to make things slicker. The 33% reduction in cost will be coming from changes
to the project delivery process to cut out wasted time and resources.
CHANGE is the key word here.
If you feel like you can’t take part in this because the contract you’re currently
working under doesn’t enable you to: CHANGE IT.
If you feel like the way you work has always inherently been a bit wasteful: CHANGE IT.
If you’re fed-up with adversity: CHANGE IT.
If you’re sick of the image that this industry has: LET’S CHANGE IT.
Don’t sit there and think this is a PDF full of dreamy ideas that other people are
going to deal with for us. We all need to play our part. Let’s not be another generation
that oversaw a period of status-quo in construction. Let’s be the generation that history remembers
as the moment when everything: CHANGED.