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鈥淲e need a government construction summit because we never know quite how deep we鈥檙e penetrating into the marketplace,鈥� says Paul Morrell, government construction advisor. 鈥淚 remember asking small players what they thought of Egan and they didn鈥檛 know what it was (Rethinking Construction report for The Construction Taskforce in 1998). And we shouldn鈥檛 be surprised by that. So I think the big aim is to deepen the audience that we鈥檙e getting to.鈥�

Until recently the government was happy to have an 鈥榓rms-length鈥� approach to infrastructure, delegating the delivery of many projects, especially PFI ones, to quangos. Now with infrastructure higher up the political agenda, departments are taking more control over processes.

鈥淲e need to get into supply chains so that we can unlock innovation and find cost savings without loss of value,鈥� Paul Morrell

Morrell reveals: 鈥淲e need to get into supply chains so that we can unlock innovation and find cost savings without loss of value. This means communicating further down the supply chain than has historically been the case. If the industry wants to be part of the conversation we need a forum where it can hear where we鈥檙e headed.鈥�

Morrell鈥檚 two priorities as a government advisor are sustainability and affordability - two potentially conflicting aims. However, he remains committed to this twin-pronged approach. 鈥淎t the we鈥檒l see a morning/afternoon split between the two halves of my brief - the Cabinet Office brief, basically the government as client - which is concerned with taxpayer value, as we鈥檙e trying to deliver capital cost savings through efficiency.

鈥淚n the afternoon we鈥檙e focusing on reducing carbon - this is the BIS and Green Construction Board agenda. We鈥檒l be reporting on progress, how we鈥檙e working with industry, and what we鈥檇 like industry to do in response. In return, they will be feeding back what they鈥檇 like the government to do to accelerate the pace in the programme.鈥�