星空传媒

In July 1996, CIOB was looking for someone to set up a national scheme to improve the image of construction sites. The task fell to Doug Goodsir, FCIOB, who had just retired as MD of Lovell's southern division. So began the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS).

Sir Michael Latham's report (Constructing the Team, 1994) included a section on improving the image of the industry. CIOB was asked to look at two London-based Considerate Contractors Schemes and see if they could go national.

Goodsir developed CCS with the help of pilots provided by several contractors. He spent the first year and a half travelling up and down the country, visiting sites. By June 1997 the scheme was launched nationally. At this point Goodsir was monitoring all the 178 registered sites.

In October 1998, the scheme transferred from CIOB to the Construction Confederation and David Hardy was appointed as general manager.

There are now 90 site monitors, and in January the scheme registered its 15,000th site. The monitors are retired construction professionals who do it mostly to put something back into the industry. They spend about an hour on each site checking and marking its performance against a code of practice.

Goodsir, a director of CCS, is still monitoring sites but now his area is limited to Berkshire and Surrey.

How many sites have you visited for the CCS? Let's see. Last year I visited 300. It must be well over 1,000, maybe 2,000 altogether.

What has been the best thing about your nine years with CCS? Without question, the fact that over that period the industry has really sharpened its act up: it's presentation to the public, consideration to people around it, the welfare facilities are much cleaner and better equipped. That's been quite striking. And it's not just the management, it's the whole of the workforce.

make sure that when somebody looks at your site, they see a safe, welcoming environment

Doug Goodsir, director, CCS

What was the worst thing? Well, lets just say there were one or two sites that took a long time to get the message. That meant the public were seeing a poor image of the industry.

What advice would you give to site managers about their sites? If your site is close to a school or an establishment where there are young people you should make the point of visiting those organisations and projecting the industry across in a positive way.

And make sure that when somebody looks at your site, they see a safe, welcoming environment.

Are you tempted to give unsolicited advice when you pass an untidy site? I have visited a couple of local sites which weren't registered and suggested they use the scheme.

Do you enjoy being a monitor? It's fun. But I've been doing for nine years and I will be winding down slowly now.

What will you do? I play golf and I now have a grandchild who is one and a half years old. Then there's the house and garden to be looked after. And I'd like to take my wife away on holiday more.