Construction industry unites to reduce unnecessary costs caused by disputes

Six leading institutions, and two of the UK’s biggest employers, have launched the Conflict Avoidance Pledge, aiming to put an end to the number of disputes in construction and engineering.

The pledge, created by the Conflict Avoidance Coalition Steering Group – who work to help the industry reduce the costs of conflict, and ensure major infrastructure and property developments are delivered on time and budget – is a voluntary commitment self-assessment open to any organisation or firm regardless of size or location.

The pledge

The pledge is the focal point of a wider campaign, set out by the steering group to drive behaviour change in the way relationships and disputes are managed throughout the construction and engineering sector.

The ambitions of the steering group are to reduce financial and other costs associated with disputes. This involves promoting cooperation between contracting parties; and helping people and organisations to understand and use conflict management measures, which will ensure projects are delivered on time and on budget.

Over 50 industry bodies have signed the pledge, with a key ambition of the steering group to encourage more organisations to join the coalition.

Benefits

Moving forward, the steering group is developing guidance and toolkits which will inform organisations about the value of conflict avoidance and early intervention techniques, and how to access and use them. These toolkits will be available to all signatories of the Conflict Avoidance Pledge. For more information about the Conflict Avoidance Pledge and Conflict Avoidance Coalition, please visit www.rics.org/ capledge, or contact Hannah Lambert: t +44 7977 213 282.

The steering group

The steering group is comprised of senior representatives of six leading professional/ member bodies and two of the UK’s major employers. These organisations are:

•

•

•

• • • •

•

•

Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) United Kingdom

Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)

Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb)

Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (DRBF)

Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (ICES) Transport for London Network Rail

Launch event

The pledge was launched on Monday January 29 at the Institution of Civil Engineers. Guests heard from chief executive of the Specialist Engineering Contractors’ (SEC) Group, Rudi Klein, London Transport Commissioner Mike Brown and speakers from Transport for London and Network Rail, who are already using conflict avoidance techniques. The view from RICS

Too often, employers encourage contractors to submit compliant bids for the best price, while contractors, on the other hand, apply a commercial strategy to win the bid. Both sides then seek to manage contracts to their terms. The result is a recipe for disputes, which is built into contracts before they even start. On average, the ultimate price of a construction project can come to around 30-40 per cent higher than the original contract target price. Employers and contractors can all too often end up not focusing their energies on the successful delivery of projects, but on arguing over 20 per cent of the overall costs.

It is only when the industry unites to tackle these all too common issues that we can deliver real change. We look forward to more organisations and companies joining our campaign by signing up to the Pledge and making the running of construction and engineering projects, hopefully across the world, more streamline.