Welcome to our weekly newsletter in what is shaping up to be a great week for showcasing just how good is Welsh construction. On Friday we will be celebrating what can be achieved by pursuing best practice and collaborative procurement at our eighth CEW Awards. It should be an excellent evening – but everyone involved with our country’s built environment should applaud themselves for what we are trying to achieve in Wales. After all, we are in it together and we need to work as a team to build a first class infrastructure for the country.

It is 20 years since Sir Michael Latham wrote his report Constructing the Team that forms the basis for what we are advocate at CEW. The core goals remain the same, but the message has adapted to meet modern issues and we must champion BIM as well as call for continued closer collaboration – because there is still a great deal to achieve. With around £2b worth of public sector construction work predicted and another £2b of private work it is critical we get the delivery of these schemes right. But, right now, the industry still suffers from confusing tender processes and a lack of clarity from its major client, the public sector. This means, just as we said in our report, No Turning Back in October 2010, that there remains a very real danger that organisations operating in the built environment will revert to unsustainable price driven methods of working. That’s why now is an ideal time to revisit and review the report No Turning Back, its findings, its recommendations and its legacy. There is great potential to build on the lessons learned from projects successfully delivered following the constructing excellence best practice principles – but there have not been enough of them. There is huge room for improvement.