Going back to old ways is 'deluded', Keith Waller adds

Construction must stick together if it is to recover from the coronavirus crisis, according to the government's construction innovation tsar.

Speaking to 黑洞社区, Keith Waller (pictured), who is heading the government-backed Construction Innovation Hub, said the industry should stay united as it attempts to recover from the downturn caused by covid-19.

Kieth_Waller_035_v1

Referencing the success of the industry building the NHS Nightingale hospitals, Waller said: "I really hope that people have learnt that we have achieved an awful lot as a sector by working together and collaborating and talking. And that involves government in a key role as well.

"Anyone who thinks that the right thing to do is to go back to the previous way of working and the previous delivery models and the previous approaches and thinks that somehow that's going to support a recovery and a transformation is deluding themselves. It will be undermining the hard work that's gone in."

> Keith Waller: Construction鈥檚 improvement tsar

> Government innovation tsar says contractors should be making 5% margins

Speaking about the Construction Leadership Council's (CLC) Roadmap to Recovery, published yesterday, Waller said the industry should speak as one voice on a strategy.

He added: "There's goodwill behind the plan at the moment and it's demonstrated that when the industry comes together and collaborates and compromises, you can come up with a plan that everyone can get behind. Let's keep that going.

鈥淎nd it's a really important thing for the industry to get behind. I don鈥檛 want to see 500 industry recovery plans, it鈥檚 really important we get one that鈥檚 joined up that we can all get behind.鈥�

The CBI鈥檚 chief UK policy director Matthew Fell said the CLC鈥檚 plan was a good one but warned: 鈥淚t will be essential that the construction industry is in good financial health, ready to mobilise as one.鈥�

For full details of how the Construction Innovation Hub is feeding into recovery efforts and progressing its 拢72m transformation programme visit 黑洞社区 later this week for the full Q&A with Keith Waller

Topics