It's easy to get swept away on the tide of Carillions, Kiers and Willmott Dixons, to think that partnering is the norm, not a novelty. Then you meet a small regional player who is enthusing about the fact that they are working on partnering contracts. Where have they been for the past decade?

The charge often levelled against the Rethinking Construction brigade is that behind the gloss of the big-value demonstration projects, the message is not filtering down to other parts of the industry, the clients and contractors working on the small-scale jobs which collectively employ a huge proportion of construction's workforce.

It's true. A designer on one of the very first demonstration projects, which aimed to show that partnering was effective for small jobs, has not worked on a partnering contract since. "Most of our projects are fairly modest and the clients just aren't motivated to try it," he told us.

Doing things differently is hard work. Just ask the people at Middlesbrough Council who are trying to be a good client in the Egan mould (page 14). It's tough to change the way you think and function after years of compulsory competitive tender and hard-fought claims battles.

It may be surprising for those who don't work in that sector to find out that Middlesbrough and its contractors have been partnering for less than three years. And they are at the forefront, one of only six councils earmarked by the government as exemplars for Rethinking Construction.

Those of you working in enlightened firms for enlightened clients will read about what they're doing up in Teesside and think how far behind they are. Those of you who work for local government may be impressed by just how much progress Middlesbrough has made.

Whatever you think, this is what construction is like for the people building the schools, libraries and hospitals that never make the headlines.

Source

Construction Manager