7.41 Every client has the right to expect high quality from the project which it has commissioned. But unfortunately that is by no means always the outcome. The Building Research Establishment (BRE), in conjunction with a number of sponsors, launched the Construction Quality Forum (CQF) last November, arising directly out of a recommendation in "Building Towards 2001", that "a database of defects should be maintained". At the launch, BRE reported that "each year, defects or failures in design and construction cost members of the construction industry more than £1000 million". Despite this depressing statistic, very few clients were represented at the launch of the CQF. The CIS final report recommends that clients should contribute to the CQF and use its database to assist in the selection of designers and contractors. I would endorse that recommendation, which should be seen in conjunction with my proposals for CMIS and ConReg.
7.42 BS5750 certification has been increasingly taken up within the industry process. But it is not unanimously supported. "Building Towards 2001", while welcoming its widespread adoption, commented that BS5750 had "met with practical difficulties when being implemented in the project environment", and asked if the Standard addressed "the real issues of quality of the product and the operational methods of achieving it on a construction project". Other comments have included:-
1. "There is much debate within the industry as to the cost effectiveness of BS5750, particularly in relation to smaller companies ….. Many companies view the cost of accreditation as an unnecessary overhead which is not really relevant for the type of business they carry out" (SECG final report).
2. "BS5750 is a very significant step in the right direction but it does not assure "quality" in the old fashioned meaning of the word. The proper selection of advisers, consultants, main contractors and subcontractors .... is still the only way to get the right quality" (Ground Forum evidence, March 1994).
3. "BS5750 was designed to ensure that specified standards of quality management are achieved ….. It does not ensure that good standards are set in the first place" (CIPS final report).
7.43 A report was commissioned in 1993 by CIRIA into "Quality Management in Construction - survey of experiences with BS5750. That report and survey, carried out by a firm of quantity surveyors, has not yet been published. The draft report found "no evidence to suggest that BS5750 is not relevant to the construction industry or any individual organisation related to the industry", but also found mixed results and responses from the firms surveyed.
7.44 Some have pointed out that even if a main contractor was quality assured, it did not mean that the subcontractors undertaking much of the construction work on site also were. The Ground Forum commented that "if clients are serious about quality, they should be prepared to call tenders only from quality assured firms which they have selected at least on quality grounds. They must also insist that specialist subcontractors appointed by their main contractor are also quality assured" (evidence, March 1994).
7.45 BS5750 can play a useful part in helping firms to have good management and administrative procedures. The qualification form for CMIS asks if the applicant firm has such certification, as also does the Department of Transport. Improving management procedures at all levels is vital for the industry's performance, and needs to be part of a drive towards Total Quality Management (TQM)". TQM is not solely about procedures. In his study of TQM, Ron Baden Hellard emphasises certain aspects which lie at the heart of this Report. He stresses that the "philosophy of teamwork and co-operation, not confrontation and conflict, is long overdue" .74 Some contractors are making real attempts to improve quality and introduce TQM. (For example, Bovis provided some excellent examples to the Review of their internal guidance for staff which are intended to improve performance and encourage team building, and implement Project Quality Planning - a TQM approach for post competitive tender partnerships.) These efforts should be encouraged by leading clients, firms and Government.
| 7.46 Quality assurance certification should continue to be encouraged within the construction industry as a potentially useful tool for improving corporate management systems. But more evidence is needed that it will also raise standards of site performance and project delivery before it should be made a qualification condition for consideration for public sector work. The implementation stage of this Review should try to achieve a consensus from the industry and professions as to how BS5750 accreditation can improve project delivery and site performance as well as office management systems. Encouraging a Total Quality approach should pervade the whole implementation phase. It should involve heavy emphasis upon teamwork and co-operation. |
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73 The Henderson Committee, which was set up by the DTI in 1992 under the chairmanship of Sir Denys Henderson, to study the feasibility of improving the performance of British industry through TQM, adopted the working definition: "Total quality management is a way of managing an organisation to ensure the satisfaction at every stage of the needs and expectations of both internal and external customers-that is, shareholders, consumers of its goods and services, employees and the community in which it operates - by means of every job, every process being carried out right, first time and every time".
74 "Total Quality in Construction Projects" by Ron Baden Hellard, published by Thomas Telford Services Ltd, 1993.