Introduction
In recent years the UK construction industry has woken up to the
fact that fragmented and independent behaviours, which have in the
past defined much of the industry, are spectacularly unsuccessful.
The industry has struggled to achieve interdependent partnerships
and is now striving to extend those fledgling interdependencies
through collaborative working. There are many examples of leading-edge
practitioners who have introduced new and better ways of working,
or are doing so, but so far they have been relatively localised
in their impact.
One reason for this is that working at the highest levels is difficult
to attain, even harder to sustain, and is only achieved through
the commitment of all of the parties all of the time. However, drawing
from the experiences of those who have achieved the goal, the Toolkit
offers a generic process and some practical suggestions on how others
might also achieve these objectives.
Purpose of the Toolkit
The Toolkit focuses on the behaviours that need to be adopted,
identifies the critical elements that need to be considered and
offers some tools and techniques that can engender the appropriate
culture in which collaborative working can thrive.
The Toolkit is aspirational. It represents a summary of the innovations
and achievements of many of the practitioners at the forefront of
change in the UK construction industry. There is no one group or
company applying everything contained within the Toolkit and many
practitioners are functioning at different levels of awareness and
performance. However, the Toolkit provides a framework for clients,
advisers and supply chain partners to gauge how optimal performance
can be achieved and what to seek from each new relationship.
The Toolkit does not purport to offer the panacea for working at
the highest level of interdependent teamworking and there are no
step-by-step rules that will deliver success time after time without
fail. However, if its contents are applied judiciously by those
who are as committed to the processes as they are to the outcomes,
there is no reason why the industry cannot deliver sustained and
demonstrable improvement for all concerned.
Example projects
There is no single example project that can be held up from which
all the content of the Toolkit is drawn, rather a range of projects
which have explored and developed different attributes. Procure
21, Building Down Barriers, Prime Contracting and Fusion are just
a few examples of approaches which have developed some of the thinking
identified in the Toolkit.
Tools and techniques
The Toolkit is defined in terms of generic, not prescriptive, processes
and offers insight into approaches, values, behaviours and ideal
activities. A tools and techniques section points to recommended
methods that can be adopted to support each element. These tools
and techniques are 'graded' according to levels of awareness and
experience, offering progressive guidance from those new to the
industry to experienced best practice exponents.
Updates
The Toolkit provides signposts to much of industry current best
practice and will be updated periodically to reflect the dynamic
nature of best practice application, feedback and development.
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