This episode dives into one of construction’s biggest and most stubborn challenges: avoidable error.
Ten years on from its launch, the Get It Right Initiative (GIRI) has made real strides in raising awareness across the industry of the £21 billion lost to error every year.
Executive director Cliff Smith joins us to discuss what’s changed and what still needs to happen to reduce error and improve productivity in construction.
While the industry has made progress, significant challenges remain. A relentless focus on lowest-cost procurement and inconsistent competence standards continue to undermine quality and compliance across projects of all sizes.
These issues are particularly acute when viewed through the lens of a recent National Audit Office report, which criticised major energy-efficiency retrofit schemes for poor quality installations, weak government oversight, and an under-skilled workforce.
Smith believes that regulatory reforms such as the Building Safety Act can drive improvement, but only if leaders create environments where people feel confident to “push pause to avoid error” and call issues out early.
His message for the next decade is clear: rebuilding respect, pride and fairness across the industry is essential to ensure construction professionals have the motivation – and the support – to get it right first time.
