Carillion’s collapse has lifted the lid on Britain’s construction industry
SIR – With the collapse of Carillion (Letters, January 16), it has become clear that Britain’s construction industry is engaged in a race to the bottom.
Many large contractors are struggling to achieve adequate returns because of poor organisation and management, along with unsound business fundamentals.
Public sector procurement is poor. Many contracts are awarded without sufficient scrutiny or understanding of what work should cost. Buying on price without considering value leads to conflict, cost overruns and losses, often because the contract sum is insufficient to achieve what is required. Risk is neither properly understood nor fairly shared.
Sadly, much of the industry that makes up about 7 per cent of our gross domestic product is broken. It needs a sea change if it is to turn around and deliver the services that our country so desperately requires. Michael Coombs
Beckenham, Kent SIR – It is a little ironic that, as part of a crackdown on illegal dumping, the Government is considering allowing councils to impose fixed penalty notices on householders who fail to take all reasonable measures to make sure a business is registered to transport waste (report, January 15).
Are these the same government and council decision-makers who, using taxpayers’ money, awarded numerous multimillion pound contracts to Carillion companies, despite several profit warnings and the slump in value of the parent company last year? David Broadbent
North Ferriby, East Yorkshire
SIR – In the past, with government and local authority contracts, contract guarantee bonds were a normal requirement for a percentage of the contract.
These were issued by insurance companies, banks and specialist underwriters, and the failure to provide a bond would result in the loss of the contract. On substantial contracts, with millions of pounds involved, why were there no financial risk assessments or contract guarantee bonds in place? Colin Powell
Ponteland, Northumberland
SIR – May I suggest the word carillions to describe unimaginably large sums of money? David Askew
Woking, Surrey
SIR – Apart from the hardship caused to many thousands of people, not merely its own employees, a sad thing about the demise of Carillion is that it is bound to reopen debate over the long-held view that the private sector is a good thing. Brian Checkland
Thingwall, Wirral
SIR – I’m wondering how long it will be before the crash of Carillion is blamed on Brexit. Andrew Barratt
Bellingdon, Buckinghamshire