星空传媒

For consultants involved in PFI, their problems seem to start after preferred bidder stage. Everything is done to ensure the bid measures up to the requirements of the brief, but once you鈥檙e a winner that鈥檚 when problems can begin as cost cutting goes into overdrive.

Carl McKenzie, building services engineering director at BDP says: 鈥淥nce you get past preferred bidder and into design there can be a tendency for contractors to want to 鈥渧alue engineer鈥� a lot of aspects. I wouldn鈥檛 say capital is king, but it is getting that way. If the fm guys aren鈥檛 saying the right things, the contractors could just say, 鈥榃orry about that later鈥�. But there is no later, it鈥檚 at that stage that they鈥檝e got to make an impact.鈥�

The 鈥榲alue engineering鈥� stage also tends to engineer out elements of sustainability. BDP鈥檚 head of sustainability Trevor Butler says: 鈥淧FI places a requirement on the upfront design to be inherently more energy efficient and sustainable but as you go through the process you lose certain elements. There are lots of issues vying for attention at the start of a project but if you get energy efficiency built into the building form 鈥� like good daylight and cross ventilation 鈥� and you hold on to those elements, you can go a long way towards energy efficiency, but they have got to be there at day one.鈥�

McKenzie cites the example of a PFI hospital which BDP has been involved in. This has worked well, because there are elements of a more partnering-style (though not contractual) approach. 鈥淭his particular PFI has gone well because we鈥檝e had the specialist sub contractors on board for six months so they understand what we鈥檙e doing in terms of design. They have been able suggest how they would go about procuring or installing.鈥� Also, financial cost checks have been minimised. 鈥淭his has only been the case because we鈥檝e concentrated on supply chain partners and have worked with them for many months before we actually needed to have them on board. That isn鈥檛 the norm in a lot of other PFIs.鈥�

This leads neatly to ProCure 21 which embraces the theories of a partnering approach and makes them an integral part of the construction process. Barry Hyam, ProCure21 framework director for Haden Young says: 鈥淔rom our perspective ProCure 21 is excellent because it encourages early involvement of the m&e services installers. The value of this shouldn鈥檛 be underestimated.鈥�

Hyam is adamant that the teamwork resulting from the partnering arrangement does generate an improved product and an improved service throughout both the design and build process. Issues such as buildability, choice of material, construction method 鈥� including the emphasis on off-site manufacturing 鈥� and servicing solutions can be picked up at those critical first stages of design.

Inevitably there is pressure on contractors, in conjunction with the Principal Supply Chain Partners (PSCPs), early in the process to firm up a target price. But does ProCure21 squeeze costs and time?

The simple answer is yes, says Hyam and that is the intent of ProCure21. 鈥淚t encourages best value and it also allows the sharing of lessons learned on both design and installation and that will result in cost savings. We鈥檙e able to make best use of the pre-construction period as a result of early involvement and off-site manufacture can commence early, again an improvement in program. 鈥�

BDP鈥檚 McKenzie agrees with this view: 鈥淚n ProCure 21 the trust is declaring with its supply chain partners the levels of profits up front as its an open partnering agreement, so the pressures on the contractors to 鈥榲alue engineer鈥� are not as great as in a PFI because they know the margin they are going to make at the end of the job. There鈥檚 no point in trying to whittle things down, which you still have in the PFI process.鈥�

Hospitals though are about more than the first few years of construction and use. They are long term projects. Whether capital savings come at the expense of whole life cycle costs depends on the approach taken by the particular NHS Trust involved: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a key issue because it is the most appropriate definition of best value,鈥� says Hyam. 鈥淥ur role within the PSCP team is to provide advice to the Trust for it to make decisions as to whether a price premium on an element of the installation would be cost-effective in the medium and long term.鈥�

This is where good communication with the client is vital. Even if an NHS Trust opts for ProCure21 it doesn鈥檛 mean the client understands whole life costs any more than a commercial client. The ethos of ProCure21 is that collaboration and teamwork doesn鈥檛 only sit within the PSCP teams but actually starts with the client. This can help with rapid decision making, something that hasn鈥檛 always been forthcoming in the past.

The benefits come when appropriate NHS Trust staff are empowered to make timely decisions as part of the project team, whether it鈥檚 defining the brief or the content of the services. 鈥淭hat adds enormously to the efficiency of the process,鈥� says Hyam. 鈥淎nd allows the benefit to accrue to the construction of the project.鈥�

From Hyam鈥檚 point of view, simple ideas are best in the long run. Hospital buildings need to be flexible if they are to serve patients for many years. Modular building services can contribute to easy dismantling.

Haden Young has held a series of initiatives with its supply chain to find improvements in modularisation. This focused on off-site manufacturing, in particular bedhead trunking units and medical gases. 鈥淚t really covers all aspects of the integration of the various products into a co-ordinated package and involves collaboration between multiple parties in order to create a single module. Bedhead trunking is a good example because there are so many services built in, if this is done off-site it not only creates an integrated product that is helpful in use but it creates a much quicker installation. And that is what ProCure21 positively encourages.鈥�

If there is one area of ProCure21 that could be improved it is a clearer understanding of future workload so that the industry could plan resources accordingly. 鈥淲e are aware of forward leads and NHS Estates has a plan of forward leads but it would be better to see ever more detail available,鈥� says Hyam.

ProCure21 is still in relatively early stages. NHS Trusts aren鈥檛 obliged to take this route to procurement, and some are sticking with straightforward PFI which means that construction companies will probably be faced with the situation of working in both types of project over the next decade. However, there seems to be trend towards ProCure21.

Carl McKenzie comments: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 interesting is that the scale of the projects is changing on ProCure 21. Not that long ago it was up to 拢25 million maximum but now 拢40 million is being advertised and there鈥檚 talk of it going up to 拢100 million. I think the trusts have seen that it鈥檚 a less adversarial approach and that teams are able to handle bigger projects in a more open environment.鈥�