One of the most overworked words in construction marketing literature and branding exercises over the past 20 years has been ‘excellence’. Engineers have always cringed at its use; they, and others, instinctively recognise that what isn’t even defined can’t possibly be measured. Clients didn’t know what it looked like for sure either, although many have said that it wasn’t what they were being provided with.
More measurable claims about sustainability and economy may have been gradually edging the use of excellence out, but the word still turns up regularly, often not far away from other hard to pin down phrases such as those involving promises to ‘turn dreams into reality’.
Although it is in nearly all the brochures, nobody could quite come up with an agreed definition about what it actually means, although there have been plenty of attempts. As used in most construction literature, it is essentially meaningless although harmless in its usual context, but perhaps because it had become so all pervasive a term it had started to be taken seriously by some people.
Now the government has had a go at defining excellence. It is worth quoting in full so here it is: ‘Excellence in construction is achieved when value for money, appropriate risk allocation and the expected benefits have been delivered safely through the procurement of a project or programme of work using an integrated supply chain that fully utilises their capabilities.
‘Value for money will be evaluated through contracts delivered to defined levels of quality, time and cost and aligned with client, supply chain partners and public expectations. It should incorporate the principles of recognised industry standards in excellence.
‘The behaviours engendered within the integrated supply chain environment will ensure that the most suitable practices are applied and that lessons learned are fed back to ensure continuous improvement and resilience of the UK construction industry.’
So excellence is, for the most part, contracts delivered on time and to budget to defined quality, with proper attention to safety and integrated working. Some might say that this is the minimum that should be delivered, and question what is excellent about it. Shouldn’t excellence mean delivery of something above and beyond what was asked for? Something to do with the possession of superior qualities to an unusually high degree?
The definition comes from the Cabinet Office Performance Management Task Group. Their definition task arose from a Government Construction Strategy promise that suppliers would be required to align with a shared view of excellence, and cascade good practice through the supply chain.
Probably no harm has been done by attempting to tackle the definition problem, but what is the betting that under public sector pressure excellence will soon crop up as a contractual term? Lawyers might be able to see their next generation of workload in the resulting ‘discussions’ over what excellence means.
Nick Barrett
Editor