Trowers & Hamlins is proud to support Professor David Mosey at the Centre of Construction Law and the recent launch of the DLUHC Guidance on Collaborative Procurement for Design and Construction to Support Building Safety.
At the launch, Keynote speaker Dame Judith Hackitt called for the construction industry and its housing clients to adopt the Guidance and for the Building Safety Inspector to incorporate recommended questions in the new Gateway processes. These recommendations have since been taken to the House of Lords.
The Guidance sets out how improved collaborative procurement practices should be linked to safety approvals for any in-scope new build or refurbishment, following four principles: first, selection of teams on value rather than cost criteria; secondly, early involvement of supply-chain participants; thirdly, collaborative relationships, including with residents; and, finally, ensuring the golden thread of digital information throughout the life of a project. The Guidance is closely aligned with the gateway process created by the Bill, spelling out questions to be addressed at each gateway to ensure that these four principles are met. It also makes specific reference to retentions, echoing Dame Judith’s views in stating: “Arguably, any collaborative relationship should exclude the use of cash retentions. If exceptional circumstances require a retention, then it should be held in an account ring-fenced by a trust arrangement.”
Professor David Mosey, who was one of the two authors of the Guidance, states:
"Procurement and contractual arrangements are crucial in setting the tone for relationships between different-level contractors in a building or building maintenance project. They can determine whether those relationships are adversarial—seeking advantage for one side against the other and looking to minimise cost—or collaborative, mutually beneficial and focused on adding value and maximising safety. Preventing another Grenfell Tower disaster depends on a major overhaul of construction procurement practices, breaking away from the adversarial ‘race to the bottom’ through which low prices undermine safety and quality."
Rebecca Rees, Partner and Head of Procurement at Trowers & Hamlins says:
"We are proud to be part of the Procurement Advisory Group responsible for supporting Professor David Mosey in the production of the Guidance on Collaborative Procurement for Design and Construction to Support Building Safety. The sector is ready for change and an appropriately empowered Regulator should find all of the gateway tools it needs in the Guidance to ensure that procurement practices do not undermine the quality and safety of outcomes going forward."
Trowers & Hamlins Construction Partner Katie Saunders, who presented at the launch adds:
"When it has been acknowledged that procurement sets the tone and direction of a project, it is too important to ignore. This Guidance on Collaborative Procurement sets out all of the features of a successful procurement process and needs to be essential reading for all members of the project team and supply-chain."
For further information, see the webinar attended by David Mosey and hosted by King’s College London to launch the Guidance on Collaborative Procurement for Design and Construction to Support Building Safety, produced by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities with the support of its procurement advisory group: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv7PFVd0-y8
