Future-Proofing Your Projects: Delivering Certainty with Digital Cost Engineering and behavioural change.

The Multi-Billion Pound Challenge: Why Major Projects Underperform

In UK infrastructure, significant cost overruns are not an exception; they are a predictable pattern. Major road schemes have, according to the Infrastructure Projects Authority (IPA) and National Audit Office (NAO), historically seen overspends ranging from 15% to over 60%. The root of this issue is clear: studies show that for complex linear infrastructure projects, 12-48% of overspend is a direct result of poor cost assurance. This isn't a minor rounding error; this is a systemic failure that erodes between 17-21% of a project's total cost through poor contract administration.

This conclusion is not based on anecdotes, but on exhaustive research. A landmark three-year review of 26 major projects, commissioned by one Government arms length body, uncovered significant deviation from established contracts and protocols. The same body launched an initiative between 2020-2024 to investigate the effectiveness of design through logistical planning. It showed that 40% of lost time was paid for by the client but should have been disallowed due to the Contractor not complying with its own quality management for right-first-time. The evidence is undeniable: the traditional methods of assuring major projects are no longer fit for purpose.

Uncovering the Root Cause: It’s Not Just About the Numbers, It's About Behaviour

To solve this challenge, we must look beyond the spreadsheets. The research revealed that the greatest barrier to project success is not technical, but human. The most significant cause of lost productivity on site is not adverse weather or ground conditions; it is ineffective management that disables the workflow through logistical and planning failures. These costs should not be paid for by the client. They should be disallowed under the NEC ECC4 standard clause holding the Contractor accountable to pay for errors caused by its failure to comply with its own quality management constraints of providing the work in compliance with the accepted design.

In stark contrast, studies of highly successful Integrated Project Teams (IPTs) show the client’s role as fundamentally different. Success is achieved when the client acts as an "integrator"—the glue that holds the team together—and an "enabler" who empowers the workforce. These elite teams adopt an inverted hierarchy, where management serves the "value creators" at the workface, enabling them to deliver value with maximum efficiency. This is the gold standard of project delivery, a standard that requires a profound shift in data discipline, process, and, most importantly, mindset.

My Blueprint for Success: The Genesis of the Digital Cost Engineer

A Digital Cost Engineering service has been designed by Coria.ai to explicitly address these deep-rooted challenges. My involvement and approach was forged from the findings of the industry's most extensive reviews, creating a solution that will tackle the three core systemic failures head-on:

• Disciplined Data Flow: Clients need help and facts to in still the structure, transparency, and quality of data required to meet contract requirements.

• Competent Contract Administration: My advice ensures that clients procure competent professionals who can apply contracts precisely, impartially, and independently, as they are written.

• Fair Commercial Application: I will empower you to hold contractors accountable for evidencing that work is delivered to their specified quality relating to HOW they design it to be provided under the accepted design.

This blueprint led to the creation of Coria’s Digital Cost Engineer (DCE), a Construction 4.0 leading hyper-automated tool developed to bring absolute clarity and consistency to cost assurance against NEC ECC4 contract terms including those Z clause amendments.

My Service: Where Human Insight Meets Digital Power

Implementing a new tool is not a true transformation. The real game-changer is the fusion of this powerful technology with my specialist human insights expertise. My service is not about replacing people with tech; it is about creating an intelligent "human: hyper-automation collaboration" that will unlock the full potential of your teams. This in many cases means bringing agreement of change to a much more contemporary time frame. This in turn means that progress is being compared to actual planned outcomes, not baselines with guessed adjustments for months on end.

Coria’s Technology: Your Conduit for Digital Trust

Coria’s DCE platform is the engine of your transformation. It will process the overwhelming volume of project data instantly, creating a fast, integrated, single source of truth that makes genuine "mutual trust and cooperation" possible. By continuously and forensically assuring Defined Cost and intelligently tagging disallowed costs for review, it provides the indisputable, transparent data needed to build digital trust across your entire Integrated Project Team.

The Service: Igniting a Culture of Performance

Technology provides clean data; my specialist coaching provides the wisdom to act on it. This is what makes my service unique. I recognise that the success of this transformational technology is dependent on the "human-in-the-loop." My behavioural insights-led approach means I will work alongside your teams to:

• Nudge Behavioural Change: Using the hard data from the DCE, I provide the insights needed to shift mindsets from "control" to "enablement," transforming your project leadership to mirror that of the world's most successful IPTs.

• Embed Competence and Confidence: I will ensure your contract managers and stakeholders are not just trained, but are behaviourally equipped to use this new level of insight to make better decisions, apply contracts fairly, and drive value.

• Foster True Collaboration: By creating a foundation of digital trust, my advice will break down the adversarial barriers and data silos that plague traditional projects, fostering a unified team aligned to a single version of success.

Your Future: The Tangible Returns on Your Investment

By partnering with me, you are not just buying a tool; you are investing in delivery certainty. You will be empowered to:

• Achieve Predictable Budgets: Directly target the 17-21% of project costs currently being lost to poor cost assurance and inefficient contract administration.

• Unlock Hidden Productivity: Drive significant improvements in production rates—potentially 30-40% on key tasks—by using data to remove the management blockers that cause lost time.

• Build Bulletproof Commercial Governance: Ensure the fair and rigorous application of your NEC4 contracts, particularly the identification of disallowed costs for correcting contractor quality mismanagement generated defects, which continues to be elusive for many.

• Create Lasting Digital Trust: Build a foundation for truly collaborative project delivery, underpinned by a single source of data truth that all parties can rely on.

The cycle of project overruns and delays can be broken. Contact Martin Perks today to learn how using a Construction 4.0 - Digital Cost Engineering service will build a future of certainty and success for your most critical infrastructure projects.