Breaking the Mould of Construction Project Delivery
Transforming construction means delivering projects in new ways with fundamentally different outcomes. What does this mean in practical terms? What difference will project commissioners and users of the built environment notice if the aims of the Construction Playbook become a reality?
Top of the list is predictability and transparency – particularly with respect to timing and budget. Moving to new methods of construction is all about offering certainty.
A key difference is that technical questions regarding buildability are resolved in the design stage. There are very few unknowns and little that’s outside the control of the project team. So there’s no reason to be anything other than completely open about real costs and schedules.
Relationships and Innovation
Openness and certainty provide a very different landscape for relationships. Innovation can flourish based on shared risks and rewards, and outcomes are clearly defined, commonly shared and reported on openly. This has to be a welcome change from adversarial contract relationships and time and money-sapping disputes.
The new era is also one where the social legacy is expressed in clearly defined and measurable outcomes. Osborne uses the Thrive tool to capture and report on the social value we generate on every project, covering everything from employment and training opportunities to waste reduction, volunteer hours and charitable donations.
When projects are funded by the public purse it’s right and proper that the social value returned to communities is fully accounted for. Adapting Thrive has given us complete visibility so we can validate that we’re delivering on our commitments.
Sustainability at the Core
Breaking the mould of construction project delivery doesn’t involve sustainability goals and aims, it involves commitments and core project objectives. Within the specification and design we need to be clear about the whole-life carbon cost and about exactly how new buildings will be net zero in operation.
There’s an argument for including sustainability goals within project gateway approval in a similar way to the proposed golden thread of fire safety information.
Finally, returning to the ‘no surprises’ theme, projects in the new era will pay more attention to whole life costs; ‘easy to build and expensive to maintain’ isn’t a viable option. Designing for easy maintenance is perfectly possible if you engage the right expertise early enough in the design process.
You can discover more about how Osborne is shaping project delivery around new opportunities by contacting Caroline Compton-James ([email protected]).
