Constructing Excellence, the body set up to foster best practice in the wake of the 1997 Egan report, is to merge with BRE in a bid to grow its membership.
Under the merger BRE will maintain the distinctive CE brands, develop the network and add critical capacity in developing digital tools, delivering training and events and growing the international reach.
It will also enable CE to achieve its long-term ambition of establishing a Constructing Excellence Foundation under the BRE Trust, under which trading profit would be channelled into research and education for the benefit of members.
Constructing Excellence chief executive Don Ward, who will continue in his role, said: “Joining with BRE gives us access to new resources and markets that we require to develop our membership, benchmarking and training services for the UK and international networks. It means that we can plan for the future with a new level of vision and confidence, and devote our energies to member content, thought leadership and sector influence.”
“Kier are strong supporters of Constructing Excellence and we see this merger as a positive move to help rationalise industry improvement initiatives and deliver more value for us as a major contractor.”
Sean Jeffery, executive director, Kier Infrastructure & Utilities
Constructing Excellence was the result of the convergence of several related industry initiatives set up to drive improvements in construction in the wake of the seminal 1997 Egan report Rethinking Construction.
Its 80 members are drawn from across the industry supply chain, ranging from clients, contractors and consultants, through to suppliers and manufacturers of building materials and products.
Peter Bonfield, CEO of BRE, said: “Constructing Excellence has always represented a movement for positive change, harnessing the energy and commitment of many hundreds of organisations at a regional and national level. Both BRE and CE are trusted and independent brands who have worked very closely together for many years – the synergies are strong. But most importantly we share the core objective of creating a better built environment for all. We are very pleased about this.”
Members have welcomed the move, which starts from 12 August.
Sean Jeffery, executive director, Kier Infrastructure & Utilities, said: “Kier are strong supporters of Constructing Excellence and we see this merger as a positive move to help rationalise industry improvement initiatives and deliver more value for us as a major contractor.
“Together CE and BRE will be able to deploy sector-leading strengths in BIM, collaborative working, procurement and sustainability supported by training and benchmarking services, and we look forward to working in partnership for mutual improvement.”
CE’s existing team will relocate to BRE’s headquarters site in Watford from 15 August.
