CIOB has added its support to a charter that aims to improve quality in Scotland’s construction sector.
The charter by Scotland’s Construction Quality Improvement Collaborative (CQIC) aims to put quality at the centre of all decision-making in Scotland’s built environment.
CQIC is a Scottish-based campaign launched under the Scottish Construction Accord to encourage collaboration between the public sector and the construction industry to raise quality standards.
The campaign hopes this collaboration will help Scotland’s construction sector meet the technical requirements to achieve net-zero targets, deliver compliance to building standards and improve productivity. It is the first of its kind in the UK.
A welcome collaboration
Quality and safety is a key priority within the latest CIOB Corporate Plan.
In 2019, CIOB established its Quality Implementation Group with the objective to establish a culture of quality in construction through education, publications, political engagement and events.
Eddie Tuttle, director of policy, external affairs and research at CIOB and co-chair of the Quality Implementation Group, said the construction sector in Scotland requires an urgent culture change where building safety stops being compromised by profit.
“The safety of the built environment should be so fundamental that it can be taken for granted, but recent years have shown that this isn’t always the case,” said Tuttle. “CIOB is dedicated to continuing important conversations and initiatives to embed quality at all levels of the sector in Scotland and we welcome the opportunity to collaborate with other organisations such as CQIC who share this vision.”
CIOB is advocating on the importance of quality and safety through its policy engagement with the Scottish government and industry stakeholders. It is also represented on the Scottish Parliament’s tenement maintenance working group, Cross-Party Group (CPG) on Housing and CPG on construction.
Co-chair of the CQIC Working Group, Iain Kent, welcomed CIOB’s support of the construction quality charter.
He added: “By collaborating with likeminded organisations such as CIOB, who are already campaigning for improvement of construction quality, we stand a far better chance of achieving the shift in attitudes that will benefit the sector and achieve that vision.”
At total of 41 organisations have committed to the CQIC charter to date, including Balfour Beatty, Kier, Ogilvie and the Scottish Building Federation.
