Section 02 - Partnering proposals for this project

Philosophy

Partnering in practice

Project specific partnering proposals

Philosophy

Balvac subscribes to the philosophy of partnering, believing that all the stakeholders in the construction process can benefit from a non-adversarial environment, where mutual respect, co-operation and knowledge sharing deliver tangible advantages for all.

Balvac has had significant exposure to this style of working and, along with our clients, benefited from its adoption elsewhere.

For us, the greatest potential reward of partnering is the professional satisfaction of working in a quality relationship and being able to provide a high quality contracting service. Partnering fits comfortably with Balvac’s ethos as a company which is one of “providing solutions”. Our natural inclination is to “put the project first” and with this outlook we have eliminated the cost of “blame effort” and improved our professional satisfaction and the outcome of our projects. A problem avoided is a problem prevented, a problem tackled together is a problem solved with minimal disruption.

To create a genuine partnering environment all the participants must be able to demonstrate the following attributes:

Evidence of a partnering business culture.

Desire to contribute positively.

Willingness to embrace change and to seek innovation and improvement.

Trust, openness, transparency and commitment to the process.

Open communication between members.

Commitment of management teams, staff, operatives and supply chain partners.

Partnering in practice

In recent years Balvac has actively sought to form enhanced working relationships with our customers and suppliers. In many cases these relationships have strengthened over time and as a result Balvac now undertake extensive repeat business for many of our clients.

Similarly, Balvac has established preferred status with suppliers and sub- contractors who have proved their capabilities by consistently performing well. This is evidenced by good and improving supplier and sub-contractor feedback reports generated by our site managers.

Balvac believe that many or all of the following benefits are available to clients who actively participate in partnered schemes:

Committed team focussed on delivering projects to the mutual benefit of all parties.

Early availability of more complete information about projects for budgets, feasibility studies, investigations, solution development etc.

Improved financial controls through the availability of alternative forms of contract including - open book, target cost, fixed price etc.

Improved technical input from designers and practitioners at every stage of each project.

Shorter lead in time from conception to commencement.

Realisation of the potential for significant programme and cost reductions through productivity and buildability improvements.

Parallel savings in the clients business connected with performance improvements and avoidance of the tendering process.

Balvac believe that many or all of the following benefits are available to ourselves, our suppliers and sub-contractors and others involved with the client:

Certainty of business turnover and contribution to stakeholders through single source negotiated opportunities.

Longer-term stability of business activity avoiding the costs associated with fluctuations.

Delivery of significant improvements through performance monitoring.

Improved understanding of client motives and service demands.

Reduction in overhead costs through avoidance of tendering process and adversarial circumstances.

Improved relationships with all others involved with the client through a parallel approach.

Significant improvement in staff moral and productivity.

Project specific partnering proposals

Balvac would look to build on the considerable experience that we already have in partnering and what we have identified as the “best practice” elements of this experience. We propose the following steps:

Immediately following award an informal meeting should be convened to agree the main parameters of the partnering process which in essence will cover all the following items in this section and should be attended by those who will manage the works as well as the most senior representative from each party who will be involved in the works.

A Partnering Workshop should be held as early as is practicable. All staff who will have any input into the works on a supervisory or management level should attend as well as any key sub-contractors that have been identified. We firmly believe that it is essential that this is directed by an experienced facilitator and that two days is set aside for it. The overnight stay promotes the breaking down of boundaries – social and personal interaction out of work is essential to build up levels of trust and understanding. We would also advocate that the venue for this meeting be on neutral ground well away from the contract itself.

It is not the intent at this workshop to conduct a detail review of the job and this must be avoided!

The key decisions to be made at the workshop are:

Who will be involved, their role and responsibilities.

Clear objectives of the team – mission statement.

Identify each parties priorities i.e. what is important – they will not be the same but each must be aware of what the other wants.

Identify areas of risk were it may be difficult to achieve specific objectives.

Set out a process for dispute resolution at the lowest level – We favour one based on the matrix below:

Essentially all disputes are logged and Balvac’s site supervisor is expected to secure a resolution with their opposite number in Babtie / Wolverhampton CC within the hour. (This may not appear long but at this level problems are relatively simple to resolve). If however it cannot be resolved it is escalated to the Project Manager who has a day to respond and so on. This is a very powerful tool for ensuring that delays do not occur due to prevarication or inaction.

An agreement to continuous improvement and the sharing of knowledge for the benefit of the project. Savings made must be showed and for a contract of this type we would suggest that the traditional 50:50 is fair and equitable.

Develop key performance indicators to enable the contract to be managed by fact not ‘feel’.

Agree future partnering meetings – Balvac favour monthly – without the facilitator to review disputes and partnering attitudes – This meeting should constitute the most senior person regularly involved from each party to the works.

Developed a signed Charter for the works clearly setting out for all to see the aims and aspirations of the works.

Optimising the following aspects of the project will be important deliverables arising from the partnering process:

Minimising disruption

Programme phasing

Traffic management

Selection of waterproofing materials and techniques

Overall contract period

Duration of the full shut down period

Following completion of the works a one-day facilitated partnering workshop should be set up – attended by all those who were there at the first one – to frankly analyse and review the project.

Go on to the next project – together!