Improving procurement practices

Nottingham Trent University has announced a partnership with Morgan Sindall Construction to work on one of four CITB pilot schemes. The scheme is designed to help to improve procurement practices for homebuilding and infrastructure projects.

The four pilot projects are set to receive £3M in funding in total, but are expected to achieve £25M in savings, involving 1,900 construction employers and focusing on collaboration to mitigate risk, as well as an emphasis on quality and whole life outcomes, not just time spent.

Sarah Beale, CITB Chief Executive, announced the four schemes . She said: “With ever-rising costs, it’s vital that we exploit and highlight the gains that more efficient procurement can bring to construction through driving up productivity. These pilot projects will explore good practice that can be shared to support homebuilders and civil engineers, training that is set to deliver substantial cost savings.”

Nottingham Trent University and Morgan Sindall Construction will co-deliver the “Integrated Value-based Supply Chain (IVSC)” scheme on three live construction projects in Nottingham and Birmingham.

The procurement approach methodology will have a focus on an integrated and early stage collaboration between the Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 supply chain and will embed processes and practices that drive productivity improvements through innovation. The IVSC scheme will leverage collaborative technology to support design, buildability and quality advice in order to drive innovation, cost savings and improvements.

The scheme, over the three years, includes a programme of 285 face to face training interactions, 51 innovation projects facilitated and supported and 48 innovation mentors trained. The project will be supported by a Nottingham Trent University research assistant who will capture results so that findings and outputs can be disseminated to the wider sector.

Dr Andrew Knight, Dean of the School of Architecture Design and the Built Environment for Nottingham Trent University, said: “We are excited by the opportunity to work with the CITB on a sector challenge and to build on our strategic relationship with Morgan Sindall Construction.

We’re looking forward to working across the supply chain to show how innovation and an integrated value-based procurement approach can affect cultural and behavioural change – and impact on productivity.”

Sean Bowles, Managing Director for Morgan Sindall, said “Morgan Sindall Construction believe that value and innovation benefits are created at every level within the construction industry and we are therefore excited about working with our partner NTU to identify and realise these benefits”

 

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