Gove cans construction course
Flagship diploma offered in scaled down format to new students from September.
Education minister Michael Gove has been accused of short-changing the industry after scaling back a new construction qualification for 14-to-19-year-olds. From this September the Construction and Built Environment Diploma — designed as a route to an industry career for this age group — will only be offered in a scaled-down format and in a handful of schools.
The diploma was a flagship Labour policy, with construction being one of four subject areas that the first wave of students embarked on in 2008. Labour planned three other diploma lines, and enough coverage in schools and colleges to offer every pupil in England and Wales the chance to take any of them.
But in summer 2010, the coalition government backed away from this policy of “entitlement”, with the result that schools and colleges have chosen to move away from the qualification.
Nick Gooderson, head of qualification and standards at ConstructionSkills, said the industry had been “short changed” by the government’s actions. He described the coalition government’s decision to withdraw funding from the course as “incredibly wasteful of public money”.
Gooderson said: “Unfortunately it’s typical of this country where educational policy is linked to politics.”
He added: “We had meetings with Michael Gove but it was quite clear he didn’t believe in the diploma. In the early days he even suggested it would all just be shut down. They didn’t do that, but they knew that pulling the funding and support at an early stage would kill it off anyway.
“We’ve complained to ministers that our employers and professional institutions really got behind the diploma, and it’s just not given a chance. When education policy is linked to government policy, you always get ‘initiatives’ and nothing is around long enough to prove itself.”
The full diploma was a complex qualification with six different components, often assessed by different awarding bodies. To achieve a diploma, students’ work had to be aggregated by a central service. This body has been closed down, so it is now impossible for new students to be awarded a full diploma.
However, the examination awarding body, Edexcel, will continue exams and assessments for Principal Learning (PL), the academic core of the diploma. Some exam centres with a strong record in the C&BE are thought likely to continue to offer PL as a standalone qualification.
ConstructionSkills is hopeful that the new university technical colleges — five of which plan to offer construction courses — will also offer PL.
An industry employers group drew support for the diploma from many contractors, including Wates, Seddon, Balfour Beatty and Skanska. “The employers group told us they were starting to see a marked difference in diploma candidates applying for jobs,” Gooderson said.
Tony Ellender, training manager with Balfour Beatty Construction Northern, said the demise of the diploma was “a blow” to the industry. “We’re disappointed it’s gone, particularly as it was around for such a short time,” said Ellender. “It was a good way of demonstrating to schoolchildren that construction isn’t just about trade skills but also about managerial and professional skills.”
He added: “It’s a missed opportunity. It would have been nice if the diploma had been allowed to continue and build on the good practice it had started.”
Student housing approved on Olympic site
BDP’s student housing scheme for Unite in Stratford, east London, has been given the go-ahead by the Olympic Delivery Authority. The 28-storey building provides 951 bedrooms and will be the first building completed on the Olympic Park after the Games.
In brief
Council buys off-the-shelf school
Warwickshire County Council has become the first local authority to buy an off-the-shelf school from main contractor Willmott Dixon. The £2.2m school will be built to a design from the low-cost Sunesis standardised product range, developed by Willmott Dixon and public sector procurement vehicle Scape, to create extra capacity at Oakfield Primary School in Rugby.Sunesis was set up last year to meet the government’s “more for less” agenda and reduce new schools costs by up to 30%.
Waltho is new Davis Langdon MD
Global property and construction consultancy Davis Langdon, an AECOM company, has announced the appointment of Steve Waltho as managing director for Europe. Waltho joined Davis Langdon in 1996 and in 2008 he was appointed to lead Davis Langdon’s newly formed infrastructure practice. He replaces John Hicks.
Nottingham trent to co-host lean conference
Nottingham Trent University is to co-chair the 20th annual conference of the International Group for Lean Construction in collaboration with San Diego State University and the University of California, Berkeley. The event takes place in San Diego from 17 to 22 July. Themes to be discussed will include production planning and control, enabling lean and IT, contract and cost management.
Building sites set to open their doors to the public
Contractors are set to open up building sites to the public in a bid to emulate the success of architecture’s popular Open House weekend.
Construction’s “Open Door” weekend is the brainchild of the UK Contractors Group and is scheduled to take place on Friday 2 and Saturday 3 November.
UKCG director Stephen Ratcliffe said the aim of the event was to foster a better understanding among the public of what the construction industry does and highlight the diverse range of careers available in the industry.
Open Door will also involve the CIOB, ConstructionSkills and the Considerate Constructors Scheme.
Ratcliffe told Construction Manager that details for the event had not been finalised, but that the site visits would include a number of interactive events.
Visitors will be greeted at the sites by “construction ambassadors” from the different disciplines within the industry, from craft workers to engineers and surveyors, who will act as guides and explain their role in the building process.
Ratcliffe said: “We’re looking to showcase the range of skills and jobs available in the industry to show schoolchildren, students and parents just how innovative the construction industry is and how much it has changed in recent years. UKCG is taking the lead in the event, but we are in partnership with the CIOB, ConstructionSkills and the Considerate Constructors Scheme.”
The four bodies were scheduled to meet earlier this month to discuss the event. Consultations with contractors and clients would take place “over the coming months”, said Ratcliffe.
He added: “We have to consider the safety aspects of inviting the public onto sites. The event may have to be by invitation only rather than completely free access. But it will happen.”
The annual Open House event gives people the opportunity to view, free of charge, an array of buildings of architectural interest which are not normally open to the public.
Make’s Chancery Lane makeover
Make is the architect for the complete renovation of 150 Holborn, in London’s Chancery Lane. Development manager Ocubis has just received planning permission. The building will provide 80,000 sq ft of prime office space and six apartments.
Procurement options unveiled
The government is to be urged to follow one of three contractor-led procurement routes by a task force looking at how it can save 20% from the cost of public sector building projects.
The recommendations are being made in an interim report by the Procurement and Lean Client Task Group — one of a number of committees put in place by chief construction adviser Paul Morrell and the Efficiency and Reform Group in the Cabinet Office. The groups are being tasked to come up with ideas to improve efficiency in the wake of the publication in 2011 of Morrell’s construction strategy.
The recommendations of the Procurement Task Group have been presented to the Government Construction Board and are expected to be published this month. “The new procurement routes being put forward will speed up the process and we’re confident that they will be able to achieve savings of 20% from the costs,” said Nick Pollard, chief operating officer of Navigant’s Global Consulting Practice and chair of the group. This has 20 members drawn from construction firms, local authorities and government departments.
All three procurement routes involve early contractor involvement, and could be used within the context of a framework or one-off contract.
As well as the three procurement mechanisms, the report will suggest that government clients explore making savings through combining the purchasing of common items such as light bulbs. The mechanism for this would be for clients to set up so-called “call-off” contracts with suppliers on favourable terms — which contractors then buy from.
The report also says that public sector clients could, in some circumstances, improve the service they get by engaging with specialists employed by main contractors directly and agreeing service levels and prices. “Some local authorities already do that to great effect,” said Pollard.
The next stage is to start trialing the three processes on government contracts – which it hopes to have under way by April.
Three ways to procure a public building
1 Cost-led procurement
In this process, the client specifies what they want the building to achieve and how much they expect to pay for it, based on previous projects. Bidders are narrowed down based on capability and possibly cost with a shortlist of two being expected to work up schemes for final selection on price, design and capability. The successful bidder enters into a GMP contract.
2 Open book two-stage tendering
The client again sets out their requirements and maximum price, then selects the main supplier on capability and fees; goes on to work up a design with that preferred bidder on an open-book arrangement. The final price is agreed — again with pain/gain share arrangements in place.
3 Integrated project insurance
This recommended procurement route proceeds like the second one, but when the lump sum contract is agreed, clients and the whole of the supply chain take out integrated project insurance which reduces costs rather than all parties having separate policies. The saving is then used to buy an additional policy against the scheme running over budget.
New apprenticeships fail to excite
The industry has given a lukewarm welcome to the of the government’s much-touted Higher Level Apprenticeship in Construction Management. The HLA will be available in a number of colleges from September following a series of pilot programmes at Middlesex University and Leeds College of Building.
Last year business secretary Vince Cable announced £18.7m worth of funding from the Higher Apprenticeship Fund to support the development of 19,000 new Higher Apprenticeships in sectors including construction, advanced engineering and financial services.
The government believes the HLA will offer ambitious school leavers, who want to find a job rather than continuing education, a viable alternative to full-time university study. The CIOB has been fully behind the introduction of the HLAs and has been on a review panel advising on the levels of competence and technical knowledge needed.
Rosalind Thorpe, head of education at the CIOB, said: ”We’re very supportive of these apprenticeships. Young people need a variety of routes into the professions from vocational qualifications to traditional degree programmes.”
The HLA for construction will have both a certificate in technical knowledge and a competence qualification, which should be set at NVQ Level 6, which is equivalent to degree level. The framework for the technical certificate will be a new professional diploma being developed by the Joint Awarding Body comprising Edexcel, the CIOB and ICE. This framework will provide a route to membership of professional bodies.
However, many construction employers believe the HLA’s appeal will be limited.
Bruce Boughton, people development manager with Lovell Partnerships, said: “Frankly, our 18-year-old recruits won’t have any appetite for the HLA. We have a tried-and-tested route for A-level students which is HNC and then part-time degree. We also believe more people will take this route as fewer students opt for a full-time degree in this era of high tuition fees.”
Boughton added: “Where the HLA may have a role is in helping young people who enter the industry via the craft apprenticeship route at 16 years of age. Around a third of our apprentices go on to be management trainees with us. Historically that meant they did NVQ2 and NVQ3 and then a bridging qualification before going on to HNC, and then a part-time degree. Now they will be able to go straight on to the HLA after NVQ.”
Boughton’s view was echoed by Nick Gooderson, head of qualification and standards at ConstructionSkills. He added: “It also brings some government funding and as such formalises a government-approved apprenticeship framework.”
But Tony Ellender, training manager with Balfour Beatty Construction Northern, said: “It might help structure the transition from craft level to management, but in reality the industry already has routes to do that in HNCs.
“The HLA will give that transition a more consistent framework because at the moment individual companies have different solutions to bridging that transition, but it’s worth remembering the HLA is based around foundation degrees, so won’t lead to a CSCS Card. Secondly HLAs won’t lead to full professional membership. The HLA is a step in the right direction, but not a big enough step.”
… but traditional apprenticeships hold up
The number of apprenticeships employed in the construction, planning and built environment sectors has held up surprisingly well despite the continuing impact of the recession on the industry. Figures from the Department of Business Innovation and Skills’ National Apprenticeship Service estimate that there are currently 26,560 apprentices working in the industry, just 9% lower than the peak 29,220 recorded during 2008-09.
However, figures from CITB-ConstructionSkills, which don’t include apprenticeships in plumbing and electrical services, indicate a much sharper decline of around 18% over the same period.
The government has introduced a range of incentives to encourage more businesses to offer apprenticeships to workers in the 16-24 age bracket. Businesses with fewer than 50 staff can claim up to £1,500 per apprentice provided they are under 24.
National Apprenticeship week takes place from 6-10 February.
www.apprenticships.org.uk
Report highlights lateness and cost overruns
A quarter of large projects finish late and one in five go over budget by an average of 15% of their capital cost, reveals a new report by McGraw Hill.
McGraw Hill surveyed 35 US and multi-national firms involved in infrastructure projects worth more than $100m (£63m) around the world. Firms surveyed were split between contracting firms, design and engineering and owners of infrastructure. On average 11% of the projects worked on by these firms experienced legal disputes with an average claim of over $3m (£1.9m).
“The high number of delays, budget overruns and claims experienced in infrastructure construction demonstrates the critical need for wider adoption of risk mitigation procedures,” say the authors. The report, which was backed by consultant Navigant and Law firm Pepper Hamilton, says that risk assessment is more frequently used,
but then project teams often fail to put mitigation strategies in place once they have pinpointed where risks to projects might rest.
When asked about the single greatest risk to the successful completion of a project the most common answers were: design/project changes; budget cost overruns; project process approvals; safety; and site conditions.
“These responses demonstrate that the industry perceives its own processes, procedures and relationships as the greatest risk to a project, rather than external factors like the economy or labour markets. These are all risks that the industry has the ability to control itself.”
Among the recommendations contained in the report are the adoption of BIM and integrated teams, which it says offer an opportunity to increase efficiency and profitability.
When the respondents were asked to consider whether they thought their sector was competent in risk mitigation, about half reckoned that less than 25% of the companies in their sector had effective risk mitigation processes.
The respondents mostly said that poor risk mitigation was down to lack of corporate leadership and interest; penny pinching to “make profits” so that there was a resistance to spending money on properly considering and mitigating it.
As well as BIM, other solutions put forward for improving performance of project teams include more effective leadership, early engagement of suppliers in the front end work to arrive at an informed and “owned” pragmatic and affordable solution and use of PPP/PFI-style solutions that reduce risk of failure.
Nick Pollard, chief operating officer at Navigant, said: “The report shows that it’s vital to get good risk strategies in place to improve the performance of projects. With the economy in the state it is, we really have to address this if we’re to save clients, taxpayers and funders significant costs.”
A total of 71% of respondents said that BIM helped decrease project risk, while 54% said that PPPs decreased it.
EcoBuild China provides platform for CIOB to shine
The CIOB is planning a strong presence at the inaugural EcoBuild China event, to be held in Shanghai on 9-12 April, the CIOB will showcase the Institute’s activities in the region and position itself as a “thought leader” in the built environment.
Past president Li Shirong and deputy chief executive Michael Brown will speak in the conference programme, while new president Alan Crane is also due to attend.
EcoBuild China will be part of a larger event, ExpoBuild, which takes place in China annually. China is already the world’s largest construction market, worth approximately $1200bn in 2011.
Constructing Excellence also plans to use the event to highlight its expanding overseas operations. It is already working on collaboration studies with advisory bodies in Hong Kong, the Middle East and Brazil.
BRE is also an official supporter of the event, which it sees as an opportunity to highlight its work on international sustainability standards such as BREEAM as
well as its planned Innovation Park in Beijing.
Eco houses using the best of British design, products and technology will feature on the Park, which will be open to the public as part a larger £100m Green Building Park built by Chinese developer Vanke.
BRE and the government’s UK Trade and Industry body hope it will help drive British export growth in the region. A masterplanner for the Innovation Park is due to be selected, with the choice thought to be between Arup and a Chinese design firm.
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