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Collaborate or die. It’s a simple and stark message to infrastructure professionals

The days of contractual wrangling and gorging profit out of the supply chain must surely end if the industry is to have a profitable and sustainable future, says Antony Oliver.

Antony Oliver, Infrastructure Intelligence editor

Word of the week: collaboration. 

Of course the built environment has been talking about it for decades, right back to Sir Michael Latham’s “Constructing the Team” report in 1994. But if this week is anything to go by, I sense the pendulum is perhaps finally swinging towards action to make collaboration the norm in construction.

It needs to. The evidence is clear this week that, for all the talk about economic recovery, this new Tory government must roll forward with some pretty tough public spending cuts if it is to meet its stated ambitions over the deficit.

As chief construction advisor Peter Hansford put it to the assembled delegates at the Anglian Water Carbon and Energy Leaders Conference in Peterborough last Monday, the continued political support for infrastructure will be accompanied by the substantial challenge “to maintain focus in the face of more and more severe budget cuts and the imperative to reduce cost”.

"it is clear that unless the industry pulls together to leverage other skills and expertise, we will come up short."

In short, doing what we have always done more cheaply just isn’t going to work anymore. As Hansford made very clear, collaboration and mobilising the power of the entire industry is the only way to drive forward to meet these goals.

There is certainly plenty of evidence now available to demonstrate the benefits of embracing the culture shift required to make true collaboration work. Not least that on show at the Anglian event at which the @One Alliance supply chain set out a compelling case for collaboration to drive both lower carbon and lower cost future.

Yet as Dale Evans, managing director of @One pointed out then and in this week’s interview with Infrastructure Intelligence, getting to the point of truly making the collaboration work – moving from being a more efficient way to screw down your partners towards an environment of truly mutual benefit – has taken a decade.

A decade to build trust and a decade to change entrenched culture.

And I suppose why should that be a surprise. The world of infrastructure delivery is rooted in its traditional ways and the low barriers to entry and long supply chain make short term behaviours the norm.

"In a world where funding and planning has been historically equally short term it is clear why that might have been the case. But we are changing.  The world of infrastructure delivery is rooted in its traditional ways and the low barriers to entry and long supply chain make short term behaviours the norm."

In a world where funding and planning has been historically equally short term it is clear why that might have been the case. But we are changing. 

Anglian, for example is setting itself up to deliver not just one five year AMP period by three over 15 years. Meanwhile government has moved and is moveing towards longer term funding plans for the rail and road network and the evolving National Infrastructure Plan increasingly sets out the vital longer term vision the deliver.

Whether it is embracing the lower carbon, lower cost mantra of mitigation or now the vital new thinking to embrace the new world of climate change adaptation as described by this week’s Innovate UK report on creating business case to meet this new challenge, it is clear that unless the industry pulls together to leverage other skills and expertise, we will come up short.

Former construction advisor Paul Morrell was clear about that point while discussing the Edge Foundation’s latest Collaborate for Change report at the Vision show last week. 

“Few in the industry believe that it is organised in a way works well. This fragmentation of interests destroys value,” he said. “In any other industry it would be a scandal.” 

I believe that we all agree.

 

Antony Oliver is the editor of Infrastructure Intelligence.

 

If you would like to contact Antony Oliver about this, or any other story, please email antony.oliver@infrastructure-intelligence.com.

Comments

Powerful editorial. It's alarming to think it's over 20 years since Latham and little has changed. I hope you are right that, a mix of financial pressures and public perceptions means the industry is finally taking the plunge and realising the benefits of a collaborative approach. Simon Vaughan, JCP Consultancy.