Considerate Constructors Scheme CCS

In 1994 the Latham Report 'Constructing the Team' was published. The report was commissioned by the UK government to investigate the perceived problems with the construction industry, which the report’s author, Sir Michael Latham described as ‘ineffective’, ‘adversarial’, ‘fragmented’ and ‘incapable of delivering for its customers’.

Following the review, the Construction Industry Council (CIC) established the Latham Review Implementation Forum, one of the member groups of which was tasked with improving the image of the industry. As a result of its work, the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) was created.

In 1996 a steering group developed a Code of Considerate Practice and set out the overall principles of the Scheme:

• To form a voluntary scheme founded on encouragement, which would work with construction companies sites to improve their relationship with their neighbours, the general public and the environment.
• To carry out inspections of registered sites and report on and mark them against key areas listed in a Code of Considerate Practice.
• To reward the best performing sites.

In 1997, responsibility for the Scheme was given to the Institute of Building. The Scheme was launched in June 1997.

It is now a self-financing, non-profit-making, independent organisation run by Considerate Constructors Scheme Ltd. It is owned by the Construction Umbrella Bodies (Holdings) Ltd, made up of the Construction Products Association (CPA) and the Construction Industry Council (CIC). Board members are representatives of the administration company, scheme monitors and appointed experts.

The Scheme suggests that “The construction industry has a huge impact on all our lives, with most construction work taking place in sensitive locations. If all construction sites and companies presented an image of competent management, efficiency, awareness of environmental issues and above all neighbourliness, then they would become a positive advertisement, not just for themselves but for the industry as a whole.”

Construction sites, companies and suppliers can register with the scheme and then must abide by the Code of Considerate Practice.

The Code focuses on construction activities that can impact on the image of the industry in relation to; the general public, the workforce and the environment. Registered sites, companies and suppliers are committed to care about appearance, respect the community, protect the environment, secure everyone's safety and value their workforce. They must display posters promoting registration with the Scheme and provide contact details for passers-by wishing to comment.

Sites are also visited by Site Monitors to assess whether procedures are in accordance with the Code. Sites are normally visited twice, but additional visits will be made if a site fails to meet the required standards.

Complaints about sites can be made to the Scheme. For more information, see Complaining about construction sites.

In March 2017, the CCS launched a new scheme spotlighting the problem of illegal workers in the construction industry.

In May 2017, new executive chair, Isabel Martinson proposed a more rigorous approach for the CCS, saying; “We might do a few different things and we want to come with a whole fresh perspective as well as go deeper. There’s a potential idea still in discussions of a ‘mystery shopper’ approach, but it is very early days and at the moment board members are just out visiting sites and getting a feel of the climate.” Ref Construction Manager 2 May 2017.

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