One of the 7 core objectives of FIS is to provide:

A voice to lead positive change and champion the sector and membership.

This is something we are doing all the time as we work directly talking to civil servants and politicians.  Below is a snapshot of what this looks like over the past couple of months.

On better working and culture, in the last few weeks, we have:

• Met with Lord Aberdare, Baroness Anderson and colleagues from the Cabinet Office to talk about the effective implementation of project bank accounts on Public Sector Works. We also met this week with a representative of Australian Government to understand the difference between our respective legislative approaches.
• Supported the Construction Leadership Council’s Working Group on improving insurance Provision
• Responded to the Department for Business consultation on better support for Small Businesses and Start-ups. The key recommendations in our response have been discussed with David Robertson MP and his team (David has been a strong advocate for SMEs in construction).
• Continued to support the Conflict Avoidance Coalition via their steering Group and published a white paper through the Coalition based on a Round Table that we organised with representatives from our community and the wider construction sector on Rethinking Contracts. An initial output from recommendations from this Round Table were the simplified contracts FIS published in July.
• FIS continues to support the Wales Industry Stakeholders Group and Construction Industry Collective Voice in Scotland to feed in on devolved matters.
• The FIS Responsible No Campaign has been extended to cover over-zealous inspections in our Shine a Light Campaign.

On Compliance and Regulation, we have:

• Represented specialist contractors and their supply chain at a Building Safety Regulator focus group led by Build UK. The focus of discussion was Gateway 3 and how we limit friction at that stage of higher risk building applications.
• Attended a number of online and face to face meetings with the Ministry of Housing and Local Government organised by the Construction Products Regulation looking primarily at the impact of changes to the Building Regulation with respect to the adoption of European Standards and classification and how assessments will work.
• We also met separately with the Construction Products Regulator to discuss our recent response to the White Paper.
• FIS has been working closely with NHBC on new training to support compliance on house building sites that is due for roll-out in the Autumn.
• FIS also met with representatives of the Home Builders Federation H&S Working Group to discuss a more joined up approach to improving safety associated on site (particularly manual handling and dust related matters).
• FIS continues to support the cross-industry technical forum Passive Fire Knowledge Group (that have recently published Knowledge Share 8 – Structural Steelwork Interfaces and Knowledge Share 9 – Use of Tested Or Certified Penetration Seal Details For Fire Stopping Of MEP Services.

On Skills and Training:

• FIS have been attend weekly meetings with the Department for Education and Skills and Skills England, helping to support the new Construction Skills Mission Board. Our detailed submission to the call for evidence from the Board (which met for the first time in July) is available here.  This response was developed in consultation with the FIS Skills Board.
• FIS met with Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education Hon Baroness Smith in a RoundTable set up by CITB and NHBC to bring together senior leaders from across the house-building industry to discuss the skills challenges facing the industry and share insight with the Minister.
• FIS is Chairing a Working Group reporting to the Building Safety Regulator’s Industry Competence Committee (ICC) writing, improving and supporting the implementation of competency standards for trade workers in the “Interiors Sector”. We are also reviewing a new standard for Occupational Work Supervisors.
• FIS has been invited to join a cross-industry Task and Finish Group (through the ICC) looking at definitions and requirements for Organisational Capability requirements set down in the Building Regulators.
• FIS are next week attending the CITB Board meeting to discuss concerns that led to FIS voting “No” to the Levy Proposals. To try and support better flow of levy to employers, FIS has agreed and to co-chair the development of a new Sector Plan for Commercial, Industrial, High-rise Residential and Public Sector Buildings (and provide oversight for a c£3m investment  in skills in the sector).

On Sustainability:

• As an active member of the Green Construction Board feeding in directly on policy and collaborative action.
• FIS contributed to British Land fit-out strategy consultation. British Land presented the Strategy to members at the last Sustainability Leadership Group meeting
• FIS have been working closely with the Department for the Environment Circular Economy Task Force (who attended the recent FIS Sustainability Leadership Group meeting to advise on progress and plans. FIS Project Re-use has gained a lot of interest as an industry led initiative looking to catalyse change.
• FIS met with Department for Environment Sustainability and Net Zero to discuss skills need for retrofit and sustainable refurbishment.
• FIS continue to support the City of London Corporation’s Skills for a Sustainable Skyline as a Strategy Board Member. Through this project the City of London Corporation have done a significant amount of research and structured engagement across the  sector and have now launched a dedicated Skills and Employment hub for London.  They are now working directly with the London Boroughs and employers in the Capital to look at more effective management of Section 106 Social Value Interventions.

FIS have also been working closely with the New Hospitals Programme (NHP), attending a Round Table at the Department of Health looking at the readiness to deliver the 40 new hospital buildings required by 2030.  All of the above topics have come up! Follow-up meetings have focussed on how to better integrate innovation in the process through better collaboration with the supply chain.  Representatives of NHP will be attending upcoming FIS Working Group meetings in 2025.

When you talk to FIS, we listen and try to reflect your views effectively to the right people so that we are building a better  future together.

 

For more on FIS Campaigns, visit the FIS Campaigns Hub here.

Yesterday, FIS hosted its first ever Fit-Out Futures social event at OD Group HQ in London, an inspiring evening designed to connect young professionals in the Finishes and Interiors Sector, nurture new networks, and support the future talent that will drive our industry forward.

The event, developed by the Fit-Out Futures Group committee, brought together early-career professionals for an informal opportunity to meet peers, share experiences, and build relationships within the sector.

FIS CEO, Iain McIlwee, joined the event and delivered a short speech, underlining the importance of initiatives like Fit-Out Futures and the critical need to engage the next generation of talent early, both with FIS and with one another, to help shape the future of our sector.

This was the first in a planned series of social events for Fit-Out Futures, so keep an eye out for details of the next one!

FIS Fit-Out Futures Committee 

If you’d like to learn more about the Fit-Out Futures group, get involved, or even explore joining the committee, visit our Fit-Out Futures page for more information.

Construction disputes are both common and costly. HKA’s 2024 CRUX Report, which analysed over 2,000 major projects across 107 countries, with a total value of $2.254 trillion, found that the total amount of monies in dispute was $84.44 billion. The cumulative delay on all 2,000 projects was around 1,000 years.

People who are in charge of projects often face up to dealing with conflicts and disputes long after the causes have arisen, and positions have become entrenched. Contracting parties will often spend silly amounts of money on arbitration and litigation to the extent that their legal and professional costs at the end of the day routinely outweigh the amount that was initially in dispute.

The Conflict Avoidance Coalition aims to change the culture of the industry in the UK from one that delays action and then pursues disputes, to one which seeks to identify issues and prevent these from escalating into disputes. The Coalition is comprised of clients, firms in the supply chain, professional institutions, and includes the Institution of Civil Engineers, CIArb, ICES, DRBF, RIBA, and RICS, along with senior leaders from the Environment Agency and businesses such as Network Rail, Houses of Parliament Renewals and Restoration, Transport for London, Skanska and Balfour Beatty. Over the past few years, the Coalition has sought to promote the value of conflict avoidance and early intervention, and encourage the use of these measures in construction and engineering contracts.

Iain McIlwee adds,

Really encouraging to see the Construction Leadership Council reaffirming their support for the Conflict Avoidance Coalition’s Conflict Avoidance Pledge – this is a key pillar in cultural change and an encouraging step in the right direction.

One initiative initiated by the coalition has been the creation and promulgation of the Conflict Avoidance Pledge. Signing the Pledge signals a commitment to proactively avoid contractual disputes and use measures to deal with emerging conflicts at an early stage. To date, nearly 600 businesses and organisations have signed the Pledge, and many of them have demonstrated through their actions that they are keenly working to stop disputes from happening. The Pledge has been endorsed by the UK Government and Cabinet Office, and the Construction Playbook recommends that all government bodies that procure construction work sign up to this.

The Coalition has also prepared a Conflict Avoidance Toolkit. This provides information about measures which contracting parties can employ to avoid disputes arising and, when differences do arise, techniques to deal with issues early, quickly and cost effectively. The purpose of the toolkit is to educate people working across the industry, at every level, about the lifecycle of conflict avoidance and early intervention to prevent disputes. The objective is to help reduce the damage disputes cause to commercial and personal relationships, finances, project delivery and brand reputations.

The Construction Leadership Council endorses the work of the CAC, and recommends that clients and contractors should adopt the Pledge and other provisions in contracts that aim to avoid disputes, or to resolve these as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. The industry faces a huge challenge of delivering an ambitious investment programme of homes and infrastructure, whilst improving its productivity, sustainability and safety. This will require cultural change to create a more collaborative sector, and reducing disputes is essential to achieving that aim.