Negotiate Better

The Government appears to consider the last two horrific years an opportunity to reset the clock – and to Build Back Better. Yes, I know that it doesn't just relate to the construction industry, but to the whole of industry and life (not, however, the Universe and Everything!) having been given a bit of space to step back and review what we have achieved – or failed to achieve – and to adopt new ideas, technologies and processes.

The biggest changes we can make revolve around climate change, sustainability, net zero carbon technologies and the reduction of greenhouse gases. That is closely followed, though, by the growing pressures affecting infrastructure and the construction industry. Put quite bluntly, we need to do more, with less.

Global collaboration also means global competition – for materials, human and natural resources, expertise, deliveries and more. It also means being able to strike a balance between public need and global environmental activists.

In an industry which runs on tight margins, the concrete act of construction is subordinated to the whims of politics, polls and personalities – witness the demise of the Northern Powerhouse and the emasculating of much of HS2, which were brave attempts to release much of the clogged up (no pun intended even though it would benefit the citizens of Rochdale) railway arteries of the North.

Hence the need to tighten up contracts, consider more closely the risks attached to major projects and, most importantly, the penalties and costs involved in abandoning them. It’ll cost a few bob more to put an extra effort into the negotiation of a contract, but that is peanuts compared to the current cost of cancelling one.

David Chadwick

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