Strategic Forum for Construction


The Strategic Forum for Construction is a United Kingdom construction industry organisation established in 2001 as the principal point of liaison between UK government and the major construction membership organisations. It also enables different representatives of the UK industry to discuss strategic issues facing construction and to develop joint strategies for industry improvement.

History

The Strategic Forum was established by ministers in 2001 as a successor to the Construction Industry Board and the Construction Task Force, established by the then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in 1997. Parts of the construction industry had withdrawn support for the Construction Industry Board, so construction minister Nick Raynsford MP established it initially as a Government-funded body. The Task Force had produced the 1998 Egan Report, and Sir John Egan was appointed the Forum's first chairman.
In 2002, the Construction Industry Council, with backing from other umbrella bodies and Raynsford's successor as construction minister, Brian Wilson MP, changed the Forum to an independent industry group; Peter Rogers of property developer Stanhope plc succeeded Egan as chairman, serving until 2006. Prior to its 2016 reformation, the Forum was chaired by Martin O'Neill, [Baron O'Neill of Clackmannan|Lord O'Neill]; the Forum is now chaired on a rotating basis by representatives from each of its six members.
The Forum has been repeatedly criticised for not speaking on behalf of the entire industry. In August 2012, the then chief construction adviser Paul Morrell, speaking in a personal capacity, proposed to radically shake up the Forum's governance structure to present a unified industry voice to lobby the government, with Balfour Beatty chief executive Ian Tyler to chair a new advisory council to the Government Construction Board. The forum's role also came under scrutiny following the government's 2013 formation of a Construction Leadership Council.

Structure

The Strategic Forum initially had six key sector representatives, each looking after the interests of a particular sector:
  • industry clients
  • professionals
  • contractors
  • specialist contractors
  • product suppliers and manufacturers
  • site workers
In February 2016, the Forum was relaunched. Changes reflected a 2015 reformation of the Construction Leadership Council, and merger of the National Specialist Contractors Council with the UK Contractors Group to form Build UK. Now excluding site worker representation, the reconstituted Forum's membership comprised:
  • Construction Clients' Group
  • Construction Industry Council
  • Build UK
  • Construction Alliance
  • Specialist Engineering Contractors Group
  • Construction Products Association
The Home Builders Federation and CBI also attend meetings.

Activities

In September 2002, the Strategic Forum published Accelerating Change. This set a headline target that 50% of projects should be undertaken by integrated teams and supply chains by 2007. To help achieve the target, in 2003 it published an online Integration toolkit.
The Strategic Forum seeks to promote and to monitor industry progress on six key areas :
As appropriate the Forum works with other bodies including Constructing Excellence and CITB.