Contractor Kier has outlined the significant benefits of industrialised construction techniques for public sector projects in prisons, healthcare and defence.
The firm has released a report, Lessons from the Construction Playbook: Industrialisation in Action, which analyses the key benefits from standardisation as well as longer-term contracting and early supply chain involvement.
Kier’s report shows these key benefits:
- 47% improvement in productivity;
- 40% improvement in quality;
- 15% improvement in delivery certainty.
The report also identified improvements across design, delivery, carbon, waste and quality, including:
- 22% faster than traditional, non-systemised approaches;
- 74% of prison houseblock design and 60% of overall project design standardised;
- 43% fewer technical queries, per 100 documents;
- 41% reduction in construction waste, per 100 sq m;
- 15% reduction in quality issues, per 100 sq m.
The findings draw on Kier’s work for client programmes including the Ministry of Justice’s New Prison Programme, the NHS New Hospital Programme, the Defence Infrastructure Organisation’s Single Living Accommodation Programme and the Department for Education’s Construction frameworks.
The report also recommends moving beyond traditional cost-based productivity measures alone, arguing that metrics such as certainty, quality, waste reduction, design efficiency, carbon performance and workforce stability provide a more complete picture of project performance.
Evidence of improvements
Kier head of industrialisation Andrew Dewdney said the report was an opportunity to find evidence of improvements since the government published its Construction Playbook on how to change such construction programmes in 2020.
He said: “What we’ve found is that the greatest benefits come when industrialisation is viewed as more than a construction methodology. It is about creating the conditions for continuous improvement through repeatable requirements, integrated supply chains and long-term programme thinking.
“What we’ve found is that the greatest benefits come when industrialisation is viewed as more than a construction methodology.”
“The evidence suggests it can play a critical role in helping clients looking at critical infrastructure investments improve productivity, certainty and value across repeatable programmes of work.”
MoJ Property Directorate deputy director of capital construction delivery, Dapo Obatusin, said: “Industrialised construction is central to our approach to delivering the prison estate we need. Kier’s report reinforces the case for this model, demonstrating how innovation and practical delivery experience can improve productivity, quality and certainty.”
