Streamlining governance, speeding up planning decisions and designing a variety of options have been identified as three key project accelerators needed to achieve the government’s Project Speed aims.
A new report from the Nichols Group –
The Nichols Vision Report – sets out the three accelerators in a Framework for Project Speed .
According to the report, the accelerators could prove essential achieving the government’s agenda to build back better, greener and faster.
It suggests that the bureaucracy of project approval should be reduced, the scope of Development Consent Orders expanded and multiple construction options considered (full details below).
The Nichols Group’s ‘Framework for Project Speed’ is made up of the following three accelerators:
By Jordan Marshall2021-05-25T05:03:00+01:00
Mark Reynolds says firms need to invest in industry newcomers rather than raiding rivals for staff
Construction firms need to work together to tackle skills shortages rather than raid each other’s companies, the boss of Mace has warned.
Speaking to Building, Mace chief executive Mark Reynolds said contractors and consultants alike were looking to expand going forward as the industry recovers from the pandemic.
Mark Reynolds said firms need to bring in and develop talent rather than turn to other firms for staff
He said: “The conversations I’m having with other senior leaders within our sector, both consulting and construction, are certainly forecasting job demand in the future.
Under the new organisation Network Rail, along with functions from the Rail Delivery Group and Department for Transport will be absorbed as the government delivers what has been described as “the biggest change to railways in 25 years” and aims to lay out a 30 year strategy for the sector.
GBR is expected to deliver £1.5bn in savings a year after five years as a result of “increased purchasing power and economies of scale, and make it easier and cheaper to plan maintenance, renewals and upgrades”.
The Williams Review, chaired by former British Airways boss Keith Williams, was launched in May 2018 and triggered by chaos created by timetable changes that year and the failure of the East Coast franchise. The White Paper states that “failings at Network Rail were central to the collapse of the timetable” and previous reforms had failed to control costs.
A lobbying organisation from the North East says they’re pleased after having discussions with Northumberland County Council over the future of a new rail project.
Construction Alliance North East had raised concerns as to why the council had opened up the tendering process to contractors across the country rather than in the North East, but they have now met together to discuss their reasoning. “CAN very much welcomes this level of much needed spend on major infrastructure projects here in the North East, which of course brings construction jobs but also long-term economic benefits to our region,” said Chair Ken Parkin.
Interview | Mike Wright of Network Rail on setting a new tone for project delivery
Amounts of time and cost required to move projects from concept to reality are often criticised in the UK construction industry, but Network Rail is tackling the issue head on with a fresh look at its project delivery framework.
From the start of this year the Governance for Rail Investment Projects (Grip) process, which has been in place for more than a decade, is being replaced with Project Acceleration in a Controlled Environment (Pace).
There is a lot more to the change than a new name and Network Rail programme director (capital investment) Mike Wright believes the impact will be seen in less than 12 months.