微密圈

By naming construction as one of the foundational sectors in its modern industrial strategy in June, the government has acknowledged its critical role in shaping the nation鈥檚 future. Construction contributes approximately 6% of UK GDP, and accounts for around 6.5% of total UK employment. Yet, beyond that, it is the engine that underpins growth across wider industries, including the other growth sectors.

But how firm are the footings of this foundational industry? To effectively support wider investment across the UK 鈥� from gigafactories to advanced manufacturing facilities 鈥� the sector will need a workforce that is skilled, reliable and productive.

In reality, there is still more work to be done on this front. Challenges of low productivity and limited levels of innovation are well-rehearsed themes for our industry. But backed by a new 鈥渇oundational鈥� definition, there is now fresh expectation of coordinated action on these issues.

>> Also read: This is a key time for our industry 鈥� but we must improve our practices to make the most of it

The recently established Construction Skills Mission Board, together with a re-invigorated Construction Leadership Council and departmental support from government is focused on ensuring that construction is match-fit for the opportunities ahead.

In doing so, we must not overlook a simple but critical component of the productivity conundrum, which is the role of error in undermining our successes. Whether it is through poor planning or a lack of skills and training, research from the Get It Right Initiative (GIRI) has found that avoidable error costs the UK construction sector up to 拢25bn each year.

The industrial strategy provides an opportunity to tackle this issue head-on by boosting productivity, ensuring value for money for taxpayers and giving investors the confidence to back projects that are mitigating the risk that comes from error and rework.

Driving productivity through training

Avoiding error is not as simple as taking more care or paying more attention. In a complex industry like construction, there needs to be a systematic approach, but one that is focused on behaviours, not just processes.

To be in a position to eliminate error, teams must be able to identify it 鈥� and hold the risk at the front of their minds. For the past decade, GIRI has been working with industry to change behaviours and provide the training people need to get construction right the first time, every time.

GIRI鈥檚 training is making an impact on projects of all sizes and across sectors, and has already been adopted by government-backed programmes such as Sizewell C

Earlier this summer we marked a milestone 10,000 individuals trained in error reduction, across 40 major employers in the field. GIRI鈥檚 training is making an impact on projects of all sizes and across sectors, and has already been adopted by government-backed programmes such as Sizewell C.

This training is creating real outcomes for leadership teams and individuals alike. Leaders are able to pre-empt error more frequently on projects, counter optimism bias, and improve their understanding of how their organisational processes relate to error.

Supervisors, managers and designers are given the competencies required to get to the core of what drives error, and to understand the impact it has 鈥� from design stages, through to on-site delivery and handing over.

Equipped with these skills, teams can then use their renewed understanding of error to improve productivity via emerging technologies in the field. Our found that Heathrow airport benefited from using a document management system, which helped to prevent people working with the wrong information at the interface of construction and maintenance.

Heathrow used Autodesk Construction Cloud to organise and share files as one connected environment. This encourages more co-ordinated working, reducing errors and the need for resurveying existing information as a result.

Using the industrial strategy to widen the impact

So, how could we connect these approaches into industrial strategy? As a behavioural issue, error reduction does not rely on a major initiative, but could be readily interwoven with work that is already underway to build skills and to monitor outcomes.

The first route to error reduction through industrial strategy lies in the skills agenda. The Construction Skills Mission Board will play a central role in scaling up the UK鈥檚 construction workforce, committing to recruiting 100,000 more construction workers each year by the end of this parliament. Of course, building up the numbers is only the first step 鈥� the people recruited into the sector need the right skills.

Embracing error reduction as a core skill that is designed-in to technical education curriculums would bolster employability for new entrants into the industry while also de-risking the programmes that they will ultimately support.

The industrial strategy also points to the growth and skills levy as a way of introducing more short courses in England in areas such as digital, artificial intelligence and engineering. Enabling more flexibility for businesses when it comes to training means they can play a direct role in arming their teams with the skills they need.

Taking error-reduction beyond the classroom to start a wider cultural shift

These skills programmes focus on building capability from the bottom up. At the other end of the spectrum, there are also options to mandate new approaches from the top down.

In some corners of the industry, there is a culture of error being brushed under the carpet and 鈥� as is the case with other critical construction issues like safety 鈥� there is a role for reporting and protocols to reduce that risk.

For firms that are contracted directly onto publicly backed and funded programmes, there is a clear opportunity for government to mandate error reduction as a core competency at the procurement stage

The new Supply Chain Centre (SCC), announced in June, provides an obvious owner for this responsibility 鈥� charged as it is with monitoring and managing risks to the industrial strategy as it moves ahead. By supporting firms that have a proactive and comprehensive approach to error, the SCC can help to provide reassurance to government and the public that plans are on track to deliver as intended.

Correspondingly, for firms that are contracted directly onto publicly backed and funded programmes, there is a clear opportunity for government to mandate error reduction as a core competency at the procurement stage 鈥� a mandate that could be assumed by the National Infrastructure Service Transformation Authority (NISTA).

While construction has made positive steps on error reduction in the decade since GIRI was established, there remains more to do 鈥� and there is now more at stake. An increasingly complex and technical landscape relies on higher standards and greater vigilance.

By embedding error-reduction competencies and training into the industrial strategy, Labour can help to accelerate a movement towards greater productivity across the construction sector more widely.

Cliff Smith is the executive director of the Get It Right Initiative (GIRI), a not-for-profit membership body dedicated to eradicating error in the construction industry