14 June 2011

Members of the Construction Industry Council (CIC) including CIAT have given their full support to the Government’s new Construction Strategy, which was launched recently by the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Maude. The strategy will reform the way in which construction is procured across all sectors, and in doing so aims to reduce costs by up to 20% by the end of this parliament.

To provide effective co-ordination and alignment of procurement across the Government’s construction and infrastructure programme a new Government Construction Board, chaired by Paul Morrell, the Government’s Chief Construction Adviser, will be established.

Mr Morrell said: 'The Government Construction Board will help strengthen the public sector’s client power in the scoping, design, procurement and delivery of all construction projects. We will work with the Government and the construction industry to enable more effective relationships between the two in order to enable growth and sustainability across the sectors. The strategy sets out challenging new ways of working that will deliver considerable benefits not only to the taxpayer, but also enabling growth in the industry and better understanding of the future
direction for public sector construction.'

A steering group drawn from Government and industry will be established to provide industry joint leadership in implementing this Construction Strategy.