NTU and Morgan Sindall Construction work in tandem to innovate procurement practice for public sector builds
The four pilot schemes will receive a total of £3 million in funding, but are expected to achieve £25 million in savings.
Nottingham Trent University (NTU), alongside strategic partner Morgan Sindall Construction, are delighted to be working with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) on one of their four pilot schemes to improve procurement practices for public sector builds.
The projects will involve 1,900 construction employers collaborating to mitigate risk, while prioritising quality and whole life outcomes.
CITB’s Chief Executive Sarah Beale, who made the announcement during the Lean Construction UK Summit on 9 October 2019, 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.”
NTU and Morgan Sindall Construction will co-deliver the Integrated Value-based Supply Chain (IVSC) scheme based on three live construction projects in Nottingham and Birmingham. The procurement approach methodology will focus on an integrated and early stage collaboration between the three tiers in the supply chain, and innovate processes and practices to improve productivity.
The scheme will also leverage collaborative technology to support design, buildability and quality advice to drive innovation, cost savings, and improvements.
Over the three years, this will include a programme of 285 face-to-face training interactions, 51 facilitated and supported innovation projects, and 48 trained innovation mentors. NTU’s research team plan to capture results and disseminate findings and outputs to the wider sector.
Dr Andrew Knight, NTU’s Dean of the School of Architecture, Design and the Built Environment, commented: “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.”
Morgan Sindall’s Managing Director Sean Bowles added: “We believe that value and innovation benefits are created at every level within the construction industry, and we’re therefore excited about working with our partner NTU to identify and realise these benefits.”
Email Katrina Woodward, our Strategic Partnership Manager for Construction & Sustainability, at katrina.woodward@ntu.ac.uk for more information on this project.