The performance of the construction industry has improved overall during the past year, according to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), published yesterday.

The KPIs, published by the DETR, enable construction organisations of any size to chart how they perform compared to industry norms.

Construction Minister Nick Raynsford commented: "The take up of the Construction Industry KPIs in the past 12 months has been very encouraging. Companies have begun to use them to assess their own performance, as well as that of their supply chain partners. Measurement and comparison are the keys to objective analysis of which project teams, which supply chains and which clients perform best. They show, project by project, year on year, how efficiently a contractor, or client, is improving its performance."

More building projects were finished on time and to budget last year but clients complained of a higher number of defects, according to the survey. The improvement in times and costings was largely the result of companies giving more realistic forecasts, rather than making unduly optimistic projections.

Four of the 12 key measures showed an improvement - although often from a relatively low level - while one declined sharply and seven were little changed. The predictability of construction time showed the greatest improvement, with 62 per cent of projects delivered on time or sooner last year, compared with 34 per cent in 1998. The predictability of the design phase also improved to 37 per cent of projects, up from 27 per cent.

For the full report, The KPI Report for The Minister for Construction, visit CBPP's website,
www.cpbb.org.uk

Anna Lagerkvist