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Jason Millett, Mace

British cycling and the lessons for construction productivity

Cycling coach Sir David Brailsford’s theory of marginal gains could make a huge difference to industry outputs, says Jason Millett of Mace.

British cycling coach Sir David Brailsford’s marginal gains theory has been widely credited for contributing to a golden age of British cycling.

The concept itself is quite simple, by making a 1% improvement in a range of different areas, an athlete's overall performance can be significantly enhanced.

As a keen cyclist myself, I’ve revelled in the success of British cycling and been inspired to make my own ‘very marginal’ gains. While I won’t be resigning from my day job to ride for Team Sky anytime soon, I am interested in how a marginal gains approach could be applied to tackling the UK’s long-term productivity crisis, particularly within the construction industry.

"More effort shouldn’t necessarily be associated with better outputs, rather smarter ways of working should be at the heart of how we can become a more productive nation."

It’s no secret that Britain’s productivity lags behind many of our European counterparts. For example, France is 27% more productive than the UK per hour worked, while the G7 average is 17% higher. Within the construction industry, the Office for National Statistics’ labour productivity survey shows that productivity is now lower than it was in 2003. In simple terms this means we’re having to work longer and harder to remain competitive.

The Chancellor has described this as the ‘challenge of our time’ and launched a productivity plan to examine the issue. Too often productivity is linked with effort, but it is much more complex than that. More effort shouldn’t necessarily be associated with better outputs, rather smarter ways of working should be at the heart of how we can become a more productive nation.

The skills crisis affecting the construction sector is well documented. Much has been made about the need to diversify the workforce in order to embrace a wider skill set, and rightly so, but we shouldn’t forget about our existing workforce where productivity is an important part of the equation.

Despite productivity within the construction industry comparing favourably to other industries, average hours worked in 2014 were the highest since 2002 and around 2 hours a week higher than in 2012. To confront this we need to know why we’re working longer and invest in technology and new ways of thinking. Just imagine if we were more efficient what could be achieved with those extra two hours. These are exactly the sort of marginal gains we need to be thinking of.

And the construction industry has an important role to play in boosting the UK’s productivity as a whole. As an industry we need to be asking ourselves the tough questions about why are we less productive than we were 12 years ago. Given the sector is heavily labour dependent it makes sense to be looking at the skills we need, not just now, but in ten and twenty years’ time. The industry also needs to be making better use of advances in technology and looking at the best measures to track changes in productivity.

Pre-fabrication is a case in point. While the cost savings can be significant, uptake has been relatively small-scale. For example, at 5 Broadgate in London, Mace successfully used this approach for clients British Land and Blackstone Group where we constructed two plant rooms over 14 weeks off site, enabling them to be installed in just two days once on site, saving significant time and money. When the benefits are so obvious, we need to look what the barriers are to wider adoption and how these can be addressed.

"Given the sector is heavily labour dependent it makes sense to be looking at the skills we need, not just now, but in ten and twenty years’ time." 

Another area where there is room for significant gains is continuity between projects. Too often well-established teams, along with their expertise, can be broken up and moved on between major projects. This is costing the industry significant time and resources, not to mention the loss of institutional memory, which can be immeasurable. If the Government is interested in tackling productivity within the sector then I would suggest this would be a good place to make a start, learning from best practice across the industry.

Indeed, greater collaboration and information sharing within the industry would be one way to get on the front foot. After all, it doesn’t take much for small gains to accumulate over time and turn into significant productivity gains over the long-term.

Just like Sir David Brailsford has done with British cycling, it’s a challenge we need to embrace.

Jason Millett is chief operating officer for major programmes and infrastructure, Mace

If you would like to contact Jackie Whitelaw about this, or any other story, please email jackie.whitelaw@infrastructure-intelligence.com.