Subscribe to AfterDawn's weekly newsletter.
Significant Progress Made on Implementing Egan Recommendations but More Needs to be Done
WOKING, England, June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The UK construction industry has made progress but still has much work to do in other key areas if it is to match the ideal of the modern, sustainable construction industry visualised in the report authored by Sir John Egan 10 years ago. This is the overall conclusion of a survey published today by BIW Technologies, a leading UK-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider to the property/construction sector. Highlights - 55% thought that significant progress had been made on implementing Egan's overall recommendations - Most progress has been in 'process improvement' and least in 'costs and defects' - Clients were identified as the leaders in driving positive change while government bodies were named as the laggards The telephone survey carried out in late May and early June 2008, covered over 200 senior construction industry managers, and industry body representatives. The Rethinking Construction report produced by Sir John Egan's Construction Task Force was published in July 1998, with the aim of raising standards in UK construction. Overall 55% of survey respondents thought that 'significant progress' had been made in meeting Egan's goals, while 25% thought that insufficient progress had been made. The main benefit of the report (identified by 74% of respondents) was its emphasis on the need for greater collaborative working; the main negative (61%) was said to be the perception created by the report that projects could be built more cheaply than is realistic. Clients were identified as the main leaders in driving positive change, while government bodies were blamed for failing to take decisive action. Just over half of respondents thought that a greater use of ICT collaborative platforms offered the best opportunity to improve collaboration, while a further 25% identified a greater use of collaborative contracts as being important. Colin Smith, CEO of BIW Technologies, commented: "The UK construction industry has clearly made advances over the past ten years, but further work needs to be done. It's encouraging that the trend towards more collaborative working in the industry, a key area identified by Egan, is gathering pace, with ICT at the forefront." Notes to editors: BIW - BIW (http://www.biwtech.com) is a European leader in Software-as-a-Service collaboration systems for the construction and property industry, with over 105,000 users - For more information, contact Richard Evans/Kit Bingham - The Communication Group - +44(0)207-630-1411
