The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) has called for the government to revise the information management mandate.
A revised information management mandate should “become data-driven, enabling whole-life management of data and information and therefore better understanding and decision-making across an integrated built environment sector”, according to the CLC.
The mandate should also “aim to provide the platform and motivation for continual transformation of our sector” and provide a “focal point for building a simplified value chain for data and information management”.
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Ultimately, the CLC proposes, this will “enable a better quality of decision-making and drive performance improvements through an evidence (data) based approach”.
The call for the mandate revision is one of many proposals contained in the CLC’s new report, Creating a productive environment for UK construction.
The report reveals that a potential £45bn of savings and additional value could be generated by improving construction productivity.
What government must do
As well as the revised information management mandate, the CLC wants the government to:
- digitalise the Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project process, with documents readable and searchable by machines and humans, and a general presumption in favour of transparency with open databases;
- reinforce the presumption in favour of manufacturing on government projects to deliver more product platforms and standardisation through Spending Review settlement conditions;
- audit the adoption of the Construction Playbook on all public sector projects and share performance with the industry;
- audit departments using MMC and publish the results to incentivise industry to start adopting new approaches;
- adopt the seven categories of MMC and consider specifying a percentage in each category through procurement, project funding and contracting arrangements.
What industry must do
The report also details what the industry must do in return:
- private sector clients to include requirements and categories for MMC at the beginning of a project;
- the CLC to work with the Construction Data Trust to develop a single industry data source on productivity data;
- the Civil Engineering Contractors Association to undertake a research project on future robotics and AI to report back to the industry on the opportunities and roadmap to get there in 2024;
- establish operational energy efficiency and carbon benchmarks for all asset types for use in contracts and design specifications through the Whole life carbon assessment standard;
- the CLC to partner with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to develop an industry standard on measuring productivity at a sector, project and business level, followed by a capability development programme for the industry;
- the CLC to pilot a knowledge-sharing programme on digital tools to support early integrated teams and data capture to facilitate learning; and
- the CLC's repair, maintenance and improvement group should develop a strand of work to facilitate and share digital learning/tools for SMEs as part of a wider ‘digitising my construction business campaign and training course’.
‘Economic opportunities’
Richard Robinson, deputy chair of the CLC and chief executive for UK & Europe at AtkinsRéalis, said: “Improving the construction industry’s productivity offers the UK one of our largest economic opportunities. If we can build faster, at a reduced cost, we can spur growth and job creation across the UK – delivering the places and infrastructure our communities want and our economy needs without delay.
“At a time when construction costs and the complexities of planning policy are rightly under scrutiny within the UK, this latest report from the CLC lays out the scale of the opportunity and sets out a roadmap to partner with government to help us realise it.
“This isn’t just something that benefits our industry – it’s something that could be transformative for the entire country.”
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