Beyond the Transactional: How Relationships Drive Up Quality and Efficiency

Transforming performance, outcomes and efficiency in construction projects is often viewed as a question of technology and process. Improving these aspects is essential but far from the whole story.

Culture and relationships are also important. The traditional transactional relationship is a question of here’s a project specification, here’s how we will deliver it, here’s the cost. This doesn’t take us anywhere in terms of improving quality or delivering a better service to asset owners and users. It certainly doesn’t contribute much to reducing whole-life asset costs.

The critical shift – and one that Osborne is making – is to change from being a provider of services and projects to become an asset management and development-led company. This means moving away from the transactional business model and towards being a genuine partner, with business objectives that are shared with our customers.

New Thinking, New Ways of Working

An example of this approach in action was the renewal of the concrete pavement on sections of the M25. The traditional approach would have involved lane closures of four nights and one day per bay. With a transactional approach that’s probably what would have been delivered.

Instead, Osborne engineers worked with framework partners to devise a solution that replaced each section of pavement during two overnight closures. The motorway was reopened at 5.00am every morning without fail.

Inspiration came from the air-transport sector where any extended runway closures would be very expensive. Offsite trials were used to prove and refine the methodology before it was used on the live motorway.

Organisational scale is an important consideration when implementing this type of innovation. Below a certain size, it’s hard to have the breadth of expertise or financial stability needed to deliver new solutions. But small also has advantages, particularly when it comes to relationships and flexibility.

Osborne’s aim is to achieve the perfect balance that delivers the scale needed to support the move to the asset management approach while keeping it personal and maintaining excellent relationships with our customers, supply partners and other stakeholders.