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Achieving Excellence in Construction

Through the Achieving Excellence in Construction initiative, central Government departments and public sector organisations commit to maximise, by continuous improvement, the efficiency, effectiveness and value for money of their procurement of new works, maintenance and refurbishment.

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Background

In 1998, Bath University carried out a study to examine the UK Government's performance as a client of the construction industry. The study was carried out against the backdrop of major failures by the Government as client, and demonstrated failings in the following areas:

Management    Project flow 
A risk-averse culture Focus on low-cost rather than value for money 
A lack of integration  Short-term relationships 
 
A benchmarking study of the same year showed that 73 per cent of UK Government client contracts were delivered over budget and 70 per cent delivered late. These studies highlighted the need for a cultural change in order to achieve the required level of improvement within Government.

As a direct result, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury launched the Achieving Excellence in Construction (AEC) initiative in 1999. The initiative was initially conceived as a three-year strategy and set challenging targets until the year 2002.

Building on its success during the first three years, the Chief Secretary launched the future strategy for AEC in February 2003. The two-year strategy (2003-2005) focused on two Strategic Targets against which the Government clients should monitor their progress in terms of construction procurement improvements:

  • Improvement in the successful delivery of construction projects;
  • Challenge departments to accelerate the project progress at the critical procurement stage.

 

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