Last edited 19 Nov 2020

Strategic Forum for Construction

The 1994 Latham report led to the creation of the Construction Industry Board (CIB) to oversee reform of the construction industry, this was replaced in 2001 by the Strategic Forum for Construction, chaired by Sir John Egan. Established initially as a government-funded body it was changed to an independent industry group in 2002.

It described itself as ‘…the only construction forum that seeks to represent the whole of the construction community... The Forum’s activities are both proactive and reactive but at all times seek to work in partnership across the industry to achieve long term improvements.'

It's vision was ‘…for the UK construction industry to achieve maximum value for all clients, end users and stakeholders and to exceed their expectations through the consistent delivery of world-class products and projects.’

It promoted six key areas:

Procurement and integration.
Commitment to people.
Client leadership.
Sustainability.
Design quality.
Health and safety.

In 2002, the Strategic Forum published Accelerating change, a report on its first year of activity. It proposed that:

By the end of 2004, 20% of construction projects should be undertaken by integrated project teams and integrated supply teams.
By the end of 2004, 20% of client activity should embrace the principles of the construction clients' charter.
By the end of 2007 both these figures should rise to 50%.
That the industry would recruit and retain 300,000 qualified people by the end of 2006.
That there would be a 50% increase in applications to built environment higher and further education courses by 2007.

The Strategic Forum tasked itself, amongst other things to:

Ensure a 'Toolkit' was developed to help assemble integrated teams.
Produce models for payment mechanisms and key performance indicators for payment.
Develop a code of good working practices.
Make the business case for Investors in People (IIP).

In 2008, the Strategic Forum published ‘The Strategy for Sustainable Construction’, a joint industry and government strategy based on a recognition of the need to deliver radical change in the sustainability of the construction industry.

It then became relatively inactive. In 2012 / 2013, there was an unsuccessful attempt to relaunch the Strategic Forum as the industry’s “single voice” in government, however the UK Contractors Group (UKCG) withdrew and the Forum foundered.

In July 2015, Construction Manager Magazine reported that the Strategic Forum would return. This followed an announcement in July that the membership of the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) would be reduced from 30 to 12 and the role of Chief Construction Adviser would be scrapped. See Restructuring the Construction Leadership Council for more information.

Alastair Reisner, chief executive of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association, told Construction Manager: “I think that will be the way things move forward, there will be a discussion by Strategic Forum members on what we do next… There’s support for the Forum playing a fuller role in delivering improvement and reform to the industry – a lot of that had been devolved to the Construction Leadership Council. So the Strategic Forum might be a bit more visible than it has been in the past.”

The Strategic Forum relaunched in 2016. Its members are:

Build UK
Construction Alliance (a grouping of major construction trade organisations working together within the remit of the Strategic Forum for Construction)
Construction Clients Group
Construction Industry Council
Construction Products Association
Specialist Engineering Contractors Group

It has said that it will focus on '...targeting delivery of four cross-industry work streams covering payment, pre-qualification, procurement models, and industry Commitments.

In February 2016, it published The Strategic Forum Guidance for Employing Young People providing guidance about how under 18's should be managed in the industry.