Our five-point pledge for delivering on The Construction Playbook’s principles

In December, the government launched its Construction Playbook, which aims to reset the public sector’s relationship with the construction sector. It is set to play a key role in the UK’s economic recovery by helping the public sector deliver on the government’s ambition to ‘build back better’.

The Playbook was published at a crucial time – when the UK is reeling from the effects of COVID-19. It is a powerful document and includes 14 key policies which bring together commercial best practices and reforms to drive better, faster, greener delivery through transformative and innovative means.  

We are committed to delivering the government agenda, and many of our methods and processes are already aligned to the ambitions of the Construction Playbook. We have developed our own five-point pledge, which sets out that commitment.

1. We are committed to driving innovation and playing an integral role in building the construction industry of the future.

Building the future into every stage of construction is important to us as a business and is why we developed our ‘The Future of Construction’ initiative in 2020. The work being done here, and via our FutureLabs incubation programme is to unleash opportunities and develop practical partnerships that work towards a common vision for the construction sector.

As well as this, our research collaboration with the University of Sheffield’s Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) seeks to develop new ways of working for construction, taking learnings from the manufacturing industry to improve productivity, innovation and the delivery of real value for money.

2. Committed to delivering a digital-first approach and driving productivity and efficiencies within the built environment.

We strive to be the leaders of transformational change and are already paving the way for the application of new innovations and technologies within the industry. Our productive partnerships with Sypro and Social Profit Calculator provides us with a wider ecosystem of active advisors to deliver forward-thinking procurement for our clients to benefit from.

We strive towards a digital-first approach, and this digitisation of delivery – such as our own My Pagabo digital procurement platform - will drive continuous improvement in procurement productivity and efficiency across the sector.

3. Committed to SMEs and encouraging a diverse and inclusive supply chain with fair business and payment terms.

It’s crucial that we stand by SMEs and ensure fair treatment and prompt payment as they hold a really important role within the industry, serving as an engine room to drive innovation.

70 per cent of the suppliers across our ten frameworks are SMEs and will continue to provide ample opportunity for inclusion on future frameworks we develop. We work to a set of robust KPIs across our Frameworks tracking spend on and engagement with supply chains, ensuring our suppliers are working with local SMEs on projecst and that the money being spent remains in the local area.

4. Committed to supporting health, safety and wellbeing both physically and mentally.

Helping change happen within construction goes beyond project processes. We have a duty to our current workforce and the construction workers of tomorrow to create a safe, healthy and fulfilling work environment for all.

This drives our partnership with Moodbeam to deploy an effective way of monitoring morale and wellbeing within the industry using wearable technology. It is also why we established the charitable Pagabo Foundation in 2019, bringing together a board of trustees made up of representatives from across the industry in order to address and tackle the taboo of mental health within the construction sector.

5. Committed to delivering a positive social impact through our frameworks, putting social value and sustainability at the core.

We must build the future into every stage of construction and provide robust solutions that support post-pandemic recovery. Ultimately, creating better outcomes for people, communities and the planet must remain central to everything the industry does in order to deliver on the government’s various agendas for carbon net zero, social value and levelling up.

Acting on principles of collaboration, openness, transparency and flexibility within contractual delivery will remain a priority for Pagabo as we drive to do things better, so we can do better things.