The revisions address carbon reporting, digital and offsite manufacturing technologies and the Building Safety Act. They also provide access to more resources to aid client/contractor collaboration.
Fergus Harradence, deputy director for infrastructure & construction at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, said: “This is the culmination of six months work. It has involved people from across Whitehall and the construction sector, many of whom have worked on this in addition to their day jobs. The outcome is an improved playbook, and supporting guidance.
“It provides a clearer and more comprehensive approach, as well as practical resources that will help public sector clients and the construction sector manage and report on carbon emissions. It will also improve the environmental performance of projects and programmes,” added Harradence.
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Importance of digital technologies
“[The playbook] provides contracting authorities and the industry with access to a much wider range of external resources to support their efforts and enable them to work more collaboratively and effectively together.”
Fergus Harradence, BEIS
He said it “emphasises the importance of using digital and offsite manufacturing technologies to deliver government-funded programmes.” And the “importance of data interoperability”.
“[It also] updates the playbook to take account of key legislative developments, including the Building Safety Act 2022, and the Environment Act 2021, both of which have significant implications for the way in which the industry needs to operate in future.”
He added: “[The playbook] provides contracting authorities and the industry with access to a much wider range of external resources (toolkits, advice and guidance, promoting the circular economy and contractual clauses) to support their efforts and enable them to work more collaboratively and effectively together.”
Eddie Tuttle, director of policy, research, and public affairs at CIOB, said: “This updated playbook, which is vital in setting the standard for a procuring safer and sustainable built environment, comes at a crucial point in the turbulent journey that the UK construction sector has travelled over the last three years.
“Through our participation in the CLC, and through direct representation, CIOB has been an active proponent of the Toolkit as it sets a framework for the industry to work to – whether that involves building safety or levelling up public procurement.
“Whether our members or fellows work within the public sector or are bidding for public sector works, we will be actively encouraging them to familiarise themselves with this important update.”
‘Critical game-changer’
When the original playbook was launched, Construction Innovation Hub programme director Keith Waller said: “The Construction Playbook is a critical game-changer in our transformative journey as a sector. Now, together with government, we have a collective vision for what the future must look like.”
At the original launch, offsite advocate Jaimie Johnston, director at Bryden Wood, said it would create an “Amazon for manufacturers”.
He said: “Modern methods of construction underpin the playbook. The smart combination of offsite manufacturing and new on-site construction techniques means we can finally leave behind the crowded, dirty and dangerous construction site, and build more efficiently, more quickly and more sustainably. The playbook signals a wholesale shift in the way public buildings should be procured, designed and built.”
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