On Thursday 23rd March, the Procurement group came together to hear from Russell Poynter-Brown, On-Pole. He joined us to talk about ‘Guidance on Collaborative Procurement for Design and Construction to Support Building Safety’, which he worked on with David Mosey, King’s College London Centre of Construction Law.
The meeting was chaired by Rebecca Rees who kicked it off by talking about the role procurement plays in building safety. Dame Judith Hackitt, in her ‘Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety’, recognised that procurement should kick start the behaviours we want to see throughout a build project. Therefore, it’s clear to see that it all starts with procurement, so it’s highly important that this stage of a project is done well.
About the Guidance
The Guidance on Collaborative Procurement for Design and Construction to Support Building Safety has been developed to support clients and industry in adopting and implementing procurement practices that will deliver safer buildings.
It sets ‘gateways’ which identify different stages of the build process;
- Planning phase
- Pre-construction phase
- Completion phase.
At each of these points, model questions are given to help users check their compliance with building regulations.
The 4 Key Themes
There are 4 main themes within the guidance…
- Selection by value that avoids a race to the bottom.
- Early supply chain involvement that improves safety and reduces risks.
- Collaborative relationships that improve commitments and involve residents.
- A golden thread of information that integrates design, construction and operation.
Embracing these themes within a project enables procurement for value rather than cost, collaborative supply chain engagement, collaboration amongst stakeholders and effective use of data/BIM, etc. All of these are important in delivering a successful product through better procurement practices.
There are other themes touched on within the guidance, outside of the 4 key ones;
- systems to sustain collaborative culture.
- the ability of strategic collaboration to improve safety related practices.
- better economic, social and environmental value.
- best practice examples from industries outside of construction.
Updates
Discussions have been held between David Mosey and HSE which produced the following outcomes:
- HSE will use the guidance to regulate, as will BSR shortly.
- HSE will enforce against the guidance as ‘established standards’, as will BSR shortly.
- HSE will support enforcement of this by using the guidance as evidence of a benchmark (BSR will regulate along the same philosophy as HSR).
