DATE: 09/02/07

CONSTRUCTING EXCELLENCE PLYMOUTH CLUB LAUNCH NEW WEBSITE

Constructing Excellence Plymouth Club announces the LAUNCH of its new website www.plymouthcec.org.uk. The ‘best practice’ club set up for all those who want to make a difference in the way we procure, design, construct and maintain our built environment is part of the national ‘Constructing Excellence’ movement whose aim is to “deliver improved industry performance resulting in a demonstrably better built environment.”   The website has a wealth of information for anyone involved in the construction industry and its peripherals, including details of forthcoming events.

Constructing Excellence Plymouth Club held its high profile launch at Plymouth Guildhall attracting over 150 guests.  Chairman Chris Jackson of Plymouth City Council gave a welcome address followed by “What’s going on in Plymouth – the Council perspective” by Cllr Sue Dann.  John Rackstraw, Chair, Constructing Excellence South West provided the regional perspective and Keynote speaker Bob White, Chief Executive of Constructing Excellence gave a speech on “The National Context”.   Since its launch, the Club has been very pro-active and has already held two well-attended events.  The first on ‘Construction Partnering and Integrated Team Working’ was held @ Sherwell Upper Lecture Theatre, University of Plymouth in November and chaired by Mike Thomas an expert in partnering programme works.  In January of this year, there was a lively ‘Hot Topics’ event covering the following areas:

Utilities: Chair: Derek Prickett, Faber Mansell 

Recruitment: Chair: David Snell, Kier Western 

SME/Sub-Contractor Involvement in CE Group: Chair: Steve Wherry, Hydrock Consultants Limited 

LA Procurement; Client Skills; Consultant; Frameworks; Design & Build

Chair: Chris Jackson, Plymouth City Council

Chris Jackson, Asset Manager at Plymouth City Council, convened the steering committee that has formed the Club and chairs the new organisation.  He said: “The objective of the club is to drive change in the Plymouth built environment and the new website is a means to share information and help put ideas into practice, as well as promoting forthcoming events.  The Steering Committee has been working very hard to ensure that the club is a success and I would like to give my personal thanks to the members, Bluestone plc, Bond Pearce, CITB, Cowlin Construction, Faber Maunsell, Gates Partnership, Halcrow, Hydrock Consultants, JNE Construction, Kier Group plc, Logo Design & Marketing, Lorne Stewart plc, Mitchell Architects, University of Plymouth, ROK Group & Ward Williams Associates.  We are delighted with how the Plymouth Club is progressing and we already have a good cross section of new members, but are looking for more.  At only £150 for corporate membership for up to 4 company representatives or £75 for an individual, it represents excellent value and we would particularly like to hear from SME’s so that we can act as “one voice” for the industry.”

Forthcoming Events for 2007:

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Constructing Excellence South West (CESW) is funded by the South West Regional Development Agency supported by the University of Plymouth; hosted by the University of the West of England and supported by individuals and companies across the region.

40% of all construction is procured by the public sector.  SWRDA is pleased to fund CESW to encourage public and private sector clients and contractors to rethink the construction process and deliver more construction for every tax pound.

Plymouth Club is the latest member in a national network of over 40 clubs serving the whole of the UK and joins 6 others in the SW.  Adjacent clubs serve Exeter and South Somerset (launched 2001) and Cornwall (to launch at the Eden Project on 11 October 2006).

Formed in April 2005, Constructing Excellence in the Built Environment (CE) brought together Constructing Excellence and Be, two lead organisations driving change in the UK built environment to deliver real benefits for the industry, clients and government.  These two organisations were themselves the product of a series of earlier mergers of organisations formed in response to Sir Michael Latham’s 1994 report ‘Constructing the Team’ and Sir John Egan’s 1998 report ‘Rethinking Construction’:

CE and its forebears have had a significant impact in helping people across the industry rethink construction processes.

CE’s vision is for the UK construction industry to realise maximum value to all clients, end users and stakeholders and exceed their expectations through the consistent delivery of world-class products and services.

CE’s Chief Executive, Bob White (keynote speaker) is also Chairman of Mace, a member of the winning consortium in the race for the Olympic delivery partner, the biggest Olympic contract up for grabs worth hundreds of millions of pounds.  The CLM consortium, which also includes CH2M Hill and Laing O’Rourke, beat off competition from the favourite US giant Bechtel.  Mace are also the project managers for a £4m rebuild of Hillside special school in Plymouth, which is being procured on a design/build basis but where the preparation of the brief has been a highly collaborative approach with the school staff and pupils to develop the brief and ultimately the output specification for the scheme.  Contractors are currently being short listed and invited to tender where a strong emphasis will be placed on design excellence and sustainability.