Introducing Project 13

In any room, convention, exhibition or panel of project and infrastructure program leaders, there would be little difficulty agreeing that the construction industry’s current relationships and methods for creating infrastructure are far from ideal.

Of course, the infrastructure sector continues to design, develop, and deliver many great projects, but still others underperform either during or after construction. In some projects even, both scenarios occur, often because they are not started with whole-life performance or total cost of ownership in mind. Project 13, an industry-led movement to improve the way infrastructure is delivered, is changing that, and its changes are benefiting owners, supply chains and society.

For multiple reasons, the traditional transactional model for delivering major UK infrastructure projects and programmes is unsustainable. A legacy focus predominantly (often solely) on outputs and lowest price results in low margins and therefore minimal investment back into the industry, and rarely provides the best outcomes or value for money for the customer – never mind the customer’s customer!

This current fragmented and short-sighted approach locks supply chains into dysfunctional relationships, inevitably impeding collaboration, true partnership and sharing of knowledge. It also stifles innovation and significantly limits the infrastructure sector’s ability to embrace the digital transformation that has long-since benefited most other industries. Combined, this results in under-performing assets that are also all too often delivered over budget and behind schedule.

The conceptual case for Project 13 was first set out in the “From Transactions to Enterprises” report, published by the Infrastructure Client Group (ICG), which represents the largest body of infrastructure clients in the UK. Through identifying and sharing best practice, the ICG improves the development and delivery of infrastructure, and worked closely with the Institution of Civil Engineers in developing Project 13 - so named simply because it was the 13th project in a series of ICG projects. The ICG’s members rightly recognised the need for a new approach to delivering the UK’s infrastructure that will produce better outcomes.

Project 13 is based on 5 core pillars with principles that enable a new operating model for ‘enterprise’ working, and we will analyse these in detail in our follow-up Project 13 insight “Details of the 5 fundamentals of Project 13” article. ?The vast potential of Project 13 lies in promoting supply chain integration, enabling smart, collaborative working practices, and aligning commercial arrangements and incentives with customer and end-user outcomes. It emphasises the need to recognise infrastructure as an information-based industry to generate greater certainty, productivity, performance and value in delivery and operation, and a more sustainable, innovative, highly skilled industry.

In the world of infrastructure delivery, switching from a transactional approach to an enterprise model is fundamental to the Project 13 application – the latter is defined as a productive long-term relationship between the owner, integrator, advisors, and suppliers. Crucially, these organisations are commercially aligned and incentivised to deliver better outcomes for the end-users. The roles, capabilities and behaviours of an enterprise differ from those in much of today’s construction industry, with the most significant structural changes being:

? The asset owner is central and leads the enterprise

? An integrator actively engages and integrates the supplier ecosystem

? The owner, key suppliers, advisors, and integrator work as one team

? Suppliers have a more direct relationship with the owner

The main differences between an enterprise and a traditional infrastructure construction programme are:

?????????Reward/profit in the enterprise is based on value added towards the overall outcomes

?????????There is greater understanding of cost drivers and risk across all organisations in the enterprise, with commercial incentives for collaboration to jointly mitigate risk, rather than transferring it

?????????Establishing a high-performing enterprise requires a fundamental shift in leadership, governance, behaviours, and skills to succeed

In summary there are multiple contrasts between an enterprise and a traditional infrastructure construction programme. But underpinning all these differences and a key in achieving success in establishing a high-performing enterprise is the need for a fundamental shift in leadership, governance, behaviours, and skills to allow any portfolio, programme, and project to succeed.