The challenges facing the construction industry working on the existing building stock has never been greater. Balancing the requirements of the ever increasing demands of regulations and greenhouse gas emission reduction directives and the need to protect the fabric of the structure without clear, independent guidance is the game of Russian Roulette that clients, home owners and contractors are now faced with.

The Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance (STBA) was created by mainstream sustainability and heritage organisations across the UK to act as a forum for sustaining and improving traditional buildings, with Wales represented by Cadw. With over one third of the Wales building stock traditionally built, the STBA is particularly relevant.

The CEW Waste team has published a new report that will, after adoption, divert significant volumes of waste materials to minor engineering schemes consequently avoiding landfill.

A Specification for Recycled Aggregate for Minor Schemes (RAMS) builds upon a series of reports by research bodies and practitioners, covering research carried out for CEW on recycled inert aggregate across Wales.

CEW is committed in achieving the Welsh Government’s aspirations towards sustainable development. An important element of the Welsh Government’s Towards Zero Waste objectives is to increase green skills in the built environment sector.

The Built Environment Sustainability Training (BEST), funded through Cardiff University by the European Social Fund (ESF), supports the Welsh Government objective by planning a long-term educational strategy for Wales. The programme will be developing training and up-skilling for people working in the Welsh sustainable energy and built environment sector - such as architects, engineers, crafts people and skilled workers.

Last month saw the confirmation that the Welsh Government and Whitehall had reached agreement regarding devolved borrowing power. This gives Wales a much stronger position from which it plan how capital funding is allocated.

The confirmation of devolved borrowing also means that now is the time to campaign for a long term capital funding plan that will create a world class infrastructure for Wales. CEW hopes to achieve this by working with the Government via the launch of a Major Project Delivery Task Group. This group, drawn from industry leaders and their customers will be charged with liaising directly with Welsh Government to champion a vision for Wales and the pursuit of collaborative procurement processes.

The Specialist Engineering Contractors’ (SEC) Group Wales was formally launched at the Senedd in October. They key aim of the group that has been active for some time, is to improve and modernise procurement and delivery across the Welsh construction sector – to the long-term benefit of the customer, the taxpayer, the industry and the Welsh economy as a whole. The group will work closely and collaborate with the Welsh Government, Constructing Excellence in Wales and other construction industry bodies to reach its objective. A Manifesto for Welsh Construction was published at the event.

Why do people doubt the arguments in favour of collaborative working? Apparently it is lack of evidence – there is no proof. But that’s wrong. There is plenty of evidence that collaborative working is delivering excellent results for Wales. 

Let’s ask another question. Why does the Welsh Government back the concept of collaborative procurement? Why? Because our studies of best practice show that collaborative working, early team integration, a focus on quality and the involvement of the end user are all essential elements in delivering value. Indeed, the argument follows that it’s only by taking a longer term and holistic approach that Government policies and targets to reduce construction waste, increase community benefits and increase value for investment in construction can be achieved.

CEW has launched a LinkedIn Group which will allow anyone working within the industry to join the discussion online about the built environment in Wales.

The CEW group aims to bring together businesses, professionals in the construction sector and organisations throughout Wales. The group will work as an open networking, discussion and sharing platform for professionals within the industry. We will also post recent industry news, events and jobs for the group members to view and comment.

As a nation we know how important it is to our economy and to our economic prospect that we have a robust infrastructure in place. The Wales Infrastructure Investment Plan (WIIP) sets out the Welsh Government’s aspirations for the future and public sector organisations across Wales have their own plans in place to deliver new infrastructure across the health, education and highway sectors. However, funding these programmes will be no mean feat. The economic downturn means that all public sector organisations are struggling to acquire the funds necessary to deliver these plans. Against this backdrop the need for alternative funding models to take forward our infrastructure improvements has never been greater.