Perfect partnerships

There’s a new ‘buzz’ in the construction industry. Secure, ongoing levels of business are creating a more stable, less cyclical pattern to company income. These benefits are brought about by ‘partnering’, revealing the true potential of integration in the supply chain.

Partnering represents a profound change in the way business is transacted, built on mutual trust and transparency. It removes the confrontational aspects of supplier/customer interaction, focusing on the best possible commercial returns for all parties.

Partnering arrangements between companies in a supply chain and the ultimate client bring together the net expertise of the chain to create a cost-effective, reliable outcome for the client. In effect, a mini company is created to take the project forward. In the housing sector, a housing association requiring new build services might create partnering arrangements with architects, builders, and materials suppliers.

The elements of the chain work together as an integrated project team (IPT) jointly solving problems, sharing information and costs and working towards a defined set of measurable outcomes. Results show that teams that work effectively together are then kept together by the client for further projects, providing a degree of security in terms of ongoing business.

Managing expectations

The Housing Forum (www.thehousingforum.org.uk), an organisation funded by the Department of Trade and Industry, has taken the lead in developing partnering arrangements in construction since its formation in 1999. “Creating successful partnering schemes is about managing expectations in addition to delivering results,” said director Judith Harrison.

“All parties need to be involved from the outset in creating a business plan for the project. If everyone contributes to the plan, and the goals and measurement criteria are clearly understood, it creates fewer problems during the construction phase. Projects are completed on time whilst delivering profits and cost savings.

“The government wants to accelerate housing construction. Timber frame is one of the most amenable technologies for delivering more homes more quickly and timber is seen as one of the most sustainable building materials. I believe there’s a tremendous opportunity for the wider timber industry to get involved. We are already working on demonstration projects with companies providing timber house frames, and timber windows, doors, and panelling. TRADA has also worked with us,” said Ms Harrison.

The Housing Forum is now extending its activities further into the supply chain. “By becoming members of The Housing Forum, timber companies will benefit from the extensive network of contacts and projects under way, and will have an opportunity to have their ideas fed back into the system which helps to determine future government policy,” said Ms Harrison.

Key business driver

“Partnering is one of our key business drivers – it’s become part of our ethos,” said Andrew Geldard, group communications manager with national building firm Willmott Dixon. “It’s a way of developing long-term relationships based on trust which help the client deliver their business needs. With one client, we’ve taken the concept much further and developed a separate division of our business with its own managing director and team focused entirely on delivering its construction requirements: this is unique in the building sector. Partnering also delivers for us a qual-ity, long-term workload that allows us to continue learning and developing new ways of working with clients. We get to know our partners well and are able to deliver a better quality of product.”

JELD-WEN UK is involved in partnering with local authorities, helping them to control their costs of supply. National sales manager for the public sector Mike Gaskell said the relationship brings benefits all round: “Local authority planners need to be able to satisfy both financial and political criteria. To do this they need to know what their costs are going to be over a given period. It helps them to have a stable pricing structure and a readily available source of expertise, which we provide.

“We are entering into long-term partnering arrangements, participating in the development of timber product requirements at the earliest stage in the supply chain. We help the supplying contractors to cost projects using the most suitable products for the job. It makes budgets go further and enables local authorities to demonstrate that they are achieving targets for ‘best value’ as required by legislation,” he added.

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