| 2008 is the tenth anniversary of the publication of Rethinking Construction (the "Egan Report"), published by the Construction Task Force chaired by Sir John Egan, and set up by the then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in 1997.
The report of the Construction Task Force to the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, on the scope for improving the quality and efficiency of UK construction. Also known as the Egan Report.
Executive Summary
? The UK construction industry at its best is excellent. Its capability to deliver the most difficult and innovative projects matches that of any other construction industry in the world.
? Nonetheless, there is deep concern that the industry as a whole is under-achieving. It has low profitability and invests too little in capital, research and development and training. Too many of the industry's clients are dissatisfied with its overall performance .
? The Task Force's ambition for construction is informed by our experience of radical change and improvement in other industries, and by our experience of delivering improvements in quality and efficiency within our own construction programmes. We are convinced that these improvements can be spread throughout the construction industry and made availab le to all its clients.
? We have identified five key drivers of change which need to set the agenda for the construction industry at large: committed leadership, a focus on the customer, integrated processes and teams, a quality driven agenda and commitment to people.
? Our experience tells us that ambitious targets and effective measurement of performance are essential to deliver improvement. We have proposed a series of targets for annual improvement and we would like to see more extensive use of performance data by the industry t o inform its clients.
? Our targets are based on our own experience and evidence that we have obtained from projects in the UK and overseas. Our targets include annual reductions of 10% in construction cost and construction time. We also propose that defects in projects should be reduced by 20% per year.
? To achieve these targets the industry will need to make radical changes to the processes through which it delivers its projects. These processes should be explicit and transparent to the industry and its clients. The industry should create an integrated project process around the four key elements of product development, project implementation, partnering the supply chain and production of components. Sustained improvement should then be delivered through use of techniques for eliminating waste and increasing value for the customer.
 Online source
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