It feels like we are at yet another moment where the world around us is transforming in alarming ways. Things that felt certain such as our security, international supply chains, the progression of inclusion and the move to net zero somehow feel less certain. We are all scrambling to work out what this could mean for ourselves and our organisations. The temptation is probably to say now is not the time to embrace transformation.

The temptation for the construction and built environment sector is to stick with established ways of working. The same ways of working that have led to a sector with an alarming skills shortage, the highest levels of insolvency and more distressingly the highest suicide rate.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. There are tried and tested processes, tools, and business models ready and waiting to deliver better.

Are you really doing your best?

I want you to take a step back and ask yourself: what do I want from our built environment? What does society need from the built environment? Now ask yourself: do we deliver that? The answer to that is probably no. But I believe if we embraced different ways of working, we could deliver significantly better outcomes for society, the planet and for our own businesses.

The challenges facing our sector, and indeed the solutions, have been articulated multiple times through multiple reports from Banwell in the 1960s to Egan in the 1990s and more recently Farmer. The solutions are consistent: collaborate, embrace technology, and invest in skilled people. They seem simple, but somehow the system prevents us from achieving our potential and delivering the outcomes society so desperately needs.

I know what you are going to tell me: ‘money is scarce,’ ‘now isn’t the time to invest in better delivery and innovation’. But surely now is the perfect time. We have a collective duty to ensure that every pound spent is used to maximum effectiveness and established ways of working simply aren’t delivering that.

Step outside your comfort zone

In the rush to get started human nature brings us back to what we know: the comfort of the approach we’ve always used, even though we know it doesn’t deliver. The solutions we are talking about are designed to spend more time setting projects and programmes up for success. It’s about slowing down to speed up. Clients thinking carefully about the long-term outcomes they want from their investments and working with industry partners to maximise the value of their interventions and manage risks.

These approaches aren’t new! Constructing Excellence is founded on the principles of collaboration, and we have numerous case studies from projects large and small spanning decades that demonstrate the value of collaborative delivery models. The case studies demonstrate clear advantages in terms of time, cost, and quality but still the majority of projects are procured on lowest price, driving a race to the bottom that cripples supply chains.

Ready-made solutions

The work we are doing with Professor David Mosey CBE to verify framework providers against Constructing the Gold Standard provides an objective mechanism to validate the processes and procedures that are in place to improve value, reduce risk and achieve net zero. This provides a robust foundation for better project delivery, considering fundamental issues like fair payments, early supplier involvement and incentivising innovation.

The inspiring thing about the organisations that are verified to date is the breadth of projects and programmes they deliver – from multi-billion-pound projects through to supporting better outcomes on housing refurbishment. This dismisses the argument that you can’t apply innovation and best practice on smaller projects with smaller organisations – our awards programme has lots of examples where this simply is not the case!

Constructing Excellence is now the distributor of the Value Toolkit and we are working with a range of industry partners to develop a community of practice around value-based decision making. The Value Toolkit is designed to support clients in defining the outcomes they want, articulating those value drivers to the market, contracting with the supply chain on the basis of value, ensuring the value is retained throughout the project and monitored to ensure value is delivered in use. We are getting lots of interest and clients are writing it into their requirements. The resources are free to download and use so have a look and find out how you can use the toolkit in your organisations.

Schemes like BREEAM have been driving improvement in sustainability for decades and you only need to look at the amazing projects that are achieving BREEAM Outstanding to see the excellence that our industry is capable of. More importantly, these buildings demonstrate tangible benefits in terms of whole life performance, rental incomes, and residual value as well as better environmental performance.

As a society we cannot afford to ignore investment in the built environment. Years of under-investment has delivered crumbling roads, schools and hospitals that are going to take huge investments to make fit for purpose. Moreover, research by my BRE colleagues reveals that that remedial work to England’s poorest housing could provide £135.5 billion (bn) in societal benefits over the next 30 years.

What can I do about it?

No person or organisation can make transformation happen on their own. Collaboration is often over-used in the construction industry, but it is vital to improvement. Find people and organisations who inspire you, learn from them, work alongside them. I get so much of my energy and inspiration from young people. Working with and supporting future leaders, seeing how their fresh approaches can cut through the noise and challenge established processes.

All of us working in the built environment have an outsized ability to have an impact on the planet and other people’s lives. We each should consider whether the impact we are having is positive or negative. We also need to think carefully about how we can change our actions to make a more positive impact. Ask yourself if you are the one blocking progress, or whether your decisions are inadvertently preventing others from doing their best work?

I would encourage you to use the Easter break to reflect on how you can drive improvement from your own unique position. We won’t be able to fix everything overnight, but we can make a start. They say, ‘A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step’ and most of the road has already been cleared by innovators and pioneers – we just have to begin our own journeys.