It's been a common refrain on these pages that there's not enough collaboration in the construction sector. Collaboration is not merely a nice thing to have. Finding better ways of achieving it between clients, consultants, contractors and the supply chain is at the heart of changes that need to take place if we are to transform the sector and escape operating on wafer-thin margins. Nowhere is this lack of collaborative working more obvious than through a legal lens, where we see a range of contractual practices that actively inhibit a spirit of collaboration. Although the industry has had standard forms of contract such as JCT and NEC in place for years, we commonly see amendments more than doubling the number of pages in contracts. This has become seen as normal, the result of a history of project and relationship conflict and - given that low profit margins mean no margin for error - a desire to pass risk onto others in the value chain. Of course, there are reasons why this way of doing business in the construction sector has evolved as it has. We are dealing with very big and complex projects, subject to a multitude of risks both within and beyond our control, and those risks have to be managed somehow. Add to that the fact that public sector work -representing a significant proportion of the investment in the built environment - is subject to intense public scrutiny about appropriate use of taxpayers' money.
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