The regulatory and contractual burdens being placed on parties, increased uncertainty of the business climate, the fragility of plans for construction projects, concerns over the robustness of supply chain partners, together with the profile resulting from increasing public and press scrutiny, are reasons why businesses are focussing even more closely on risks.
A new guide is consequently being developed by the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA), which will aim to raise awareness of good practice in the approach to risk management in construction projects and programmes. The target audience includes clients, their advisors and supply chains.
According to CIRIA, the guide will update readers on the latest techniques in risk management and when to apply them, provide readers with the 'big picture' in terms of their overall approach to risk on their construction projects and programmes, emphasise the factors that can enable or constrain effective risk management, help readers match these approaches to their particular project circumstances and encourage appropriate approaches to risk that will help deliver a successful project outcome.
When complete, the new guide will complement CIRIA's existing guide, Control of Risk SP125. First published in 1996, that guide helps to control risks from construction projects by introducing a simple, practical method of identifying, assessing, monitoring and managing risks from construction. Aimed originally at occasional clients, the guide has also been adopted and used by regular construction clients, contracting organisations and those involved in teaching. It is still considered to provide a relevant framework for assessing and managing risks.
The construction industry is subject to a great deal of litigation and dispute, and is one of the areas where alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is employed with great success to deal with necessarily complex issues involving a wide spectrum of expert witness services. The proper assessment of risks is one pathway to eliminating disputes and practitioners in this area are much in demand as expert witnesses.