The RICS鈥檚 latest Contract in Use survey has revealed that clients on larger projects are shunning Construction Management in favour of contracts such as NEC where collaborative working is the focus.

Of the contracts surveyed in 2004, only 19, or 1%, used Construction Management, marginally higher than the previous survey in 2001 (0.9%).

The report shows that of those 19, only three had a value greater than 拢2m, while eight were in the region of 拢1m-拢2m with another eight in the 拢100,000-拢250,000 bracket.

Peter Fordham of Davis Langdon, who was involved in the survey鈥檚 preparation, commented: 鈥淭he previous survey saw typical contract values of 拢5-拢10m. There鈥檚 definitely been a move away from CM on large contracts.鈥�

Of the growth in popularity of NEC, he said: 鈥淐lients want risk aversion, so contracts that offer the chance to work together in the spirit of partnering on large schemes are more popular.鈥�

Peter Gracia, business development director of Knowles, agreed: 鈥淸Clients] have been scared off CM by media coverage of Holyrood and are keen to listen to the government whose National Procurement Strategy says all public bodies should adopt partnering routes. The private sector is receiving strong encouragement too.鈥�

But he warned that partnering-style contracts are anything but a safe option for clients. Contractors are abusing naive clients, he said, by taking liberties in the name of partnering while not giving their customers the same leeway.

Source

Construction Manager

Postscript

n Is Gracia right? Are contractors abusing the partnering process? Send us your views to construction_manager@cmpi.biz