Martin Perks

Why Construction Contracts Now Matter More Than Ever For years, construction contracts have been treated as a necessary inconvenience—something legal insists on, commercial teams work around, and project managers only look at when things go wrong. That approach is no longer good enough. The UK’s Failure to Prevent Fraud  (FTPF) offence, part of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023  (ECCTA), is now in force. The ground rules have changed. If a fraud is committed by an...

If you work in construction, you already know the frustration. Plans look perfect on paper, yet out on site things slip. Teams under-produce one day, over-produce the next. The reasons? They rarely make it back to the planners in time to make a difference. That gap between plan and reality is where productivity leaks away. National Highways saw this problem too. Their Innovation Reapplied initiative dug deep into the data. They tracked productivity across major schemes, comparing planned...

The UK construction industry reached a definitive turning point on 24 February 2025. With the Procurement Act 2023 now in full effect, the era of winning work solely on the lowest initial price is ending. For high quality suppliers, this is not just a regulatory update: it is a massive opportunity to shine. The new regime replaces a system that often rewarded "cheap and cheerful" bids with one that mandates end to end transparency and rigorous performance monitoring. This shift moves the...