Mark Anthony’s Post

Transcript

These are the hurdles that demolition and construction companies must navigate in order to do anything OK. They must obtain timely planning permission from local authorities. Ensure compliance with building regulations and codes, which may vary by region. Navigate heritage and conservation area restrictions. Adhere to the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Construction Designer Management Regulations, or CDM. Manage risk assessments, safety plans and worker safety training. Handle inspections and audits by the Health and Safety Executive. Comply with environmental impact assessments and sustainability standards. Adhere to regulations on waste. Management recycling and emissions. Address concerns related to protected species and habitats. Obtain necessary licenses for specialized work. Ensure all workers hold relevant qualifications and certifications. Manage VAT, corporation tax and other financial obligations. Navigate grants, subsidies and funding opportunities. Ensure compliance with financial reporting standards and audits. Adhere to employment laws regarding worker rights and wages and working conditions. Manage sub contractor agreements and ensure compliance. Understand and negotiate. Contract terms Manage contractual disputes and claims effectively Navigate public sector procurement rules and tendering processes. Ensure fair competition and transparency in supply selection. Secure adequate insurance coverage for public liability, employers, liability and professional indemnity. Manage claims and ensure compliance with insurance policy terms. Understand liability issues related to defective delays. Comply with the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR in handling personal data. Ensure robust cyber security measures to protect sensitive information. Manage data breaches and reporting obligations. Address community concerns and objections to construction projects. Engage with stakeholders to ensure transparency and cooperation. Navigate public consultations and feedback processes. Quite a list, right? And it doesn't even include things like pre qualification questionnaires and the management of training matrices for every single employee. You will note that list, extensive thought it was, didn't contain a single reference to anybody actually demolishing or building anything. There is not a single mention of digging a hole, laying a brick, erecting a fascia, a facade, or demolishing one either. Apparently the actual process of building or demolishing anything is now just a sideshow. The main event is the red tape that we seem to love so much now. Two points on that. The first is this. Every time a rule has to be followed, a box has to be ticked or a compliance proved that carries a cost, someone somewhere will need to action something and they will need to be paid. So demolition and construction companies must now employ people purely to ensure that the relevant boxes are ticks. That ultimately adds to the overall cost of any project. However, it's the second point of this that really gets me so many of the elements contained in that list of bureaucratic spaghetti. Is either stuff we've brought upon ourselves all that we've allowed to be imposed upon us? We spoke yesterday about training, about how it had become bloated whilst not actually delivering the required level of competency within the workforce yet. There are demolition and construction companies with individuals or even entire departments dedicated to ensuring that their staff each carries the right coloured card. There are demolition and construction companies employing individuals or entire departments to oversee claims, disputes, mediation. And arbitration. Surely it would be cheaper and more efficient to have more robust contracts and then a system to ensure that everybody just abides by those contracts. And how much does all this cost? How many people are employed within the industry merely to tick boxes and to shuffle papers? And how big a proportion of the construction I do these people make U? Are we now at the point where we've got more people in the office following rules and regulations that we've actually got out on site? Just one final thing to bear in mind. This huge raw pile of red tape is after several government initiatives to reduce the administrative burden on companies and organisations. Several of the the recent Tory party governments have actually made it a point we are going to reduce bureaucracy and red tape. I don't know how many points there were in that, but I think it was something like 40 or 50. That after it's been reduced. How does that all affect the makeup of a construction company? Have we reached the point now where construction firms employ more people doing non construction tasks than it actually employs building stuff? That's the case. We've taken a wrong turn somewhere. Haven't we?