Building Value - Productivity Partnership Newsletter

FEATURE

ROADMAP RELEASED

The Productivity Partnership's guiding document, which sets the direction for increasing sector productivity, was released earlier this month.

The Productivity Roadmap marks a significant milestone for the Partnership, as it outlines our aims, goals and vision, as well as how we hope to achieve these.

The Roadmap also gives a view of the future for the building and construction industry and what it might look like for the sector as a whole, and for each of the stakeholders involved, from suppliers through to customers, as well as local and central government.

"We are really excited about getting the Roadmap out into the public arena and sharing it with the industry," says Partnership Secretariat Manager Chris Kane. "It’s been a long time coming so there is a real sense of achievement now it has been completed. All we have to do now is make it happen!"

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FEATURE

AUCKLAND PROCUREMENT PROGRAMME

The launch of the Auckland Procurement Programme on 5 March marked the start of a concerted effort to coordinate the supply of resources for major construction projects across the Auckland region.

The Programme has been developed by the Partnership's Procurement Workstream in collaboration with a number of large Auckland-based construction companies.

Highlighting its importance to the region, the Programme was launched by Auckland Mayor Len Brown at an afternoon forum that was also addressed by the Minister for Building and Construction, Hon Maurice Williamson.

The Auckland Pipeline Report was released at the event for discussion. This contains the forward workload of the 18 construction clients involved in the Programme, including the projects they expect to happen over the next 10 years and what resources they will need for them.

"It is the first time in New Zealand that Auckland's major construction clients have come together to collaborate on their capital investment programmes and share forward workload data with the wider industry," says Richard May, Procurement Workstream Leader.

"We hope it sets a precedent for ongoing collaboration in the interests of the industry and the region. Lots of firms operate in a vacuum with everyone calling on the same limited resources.

"Gaining an overview like this at the right level is valuable because it can assist supply markets and other planning. A longer-term view of requirements is key to mitigating the effects of the boom and bust cycles that characterise our building and construction sector."

The Programme also provides an opportunity for organisations to share best practice in procurement.

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FEATURE

THAT'S A (W)RAP!

The Evidence Workstream is releasing its final Research Action Plan (RAP) on 22 March at the Productivity Partnership Futurescape event in Christchurch. This follows consultation on the draft plan at the end of last year. The RAP sets out a clear programme of the research needed to support productivity improvement.

"It's about pulling together the evidence that's needed to decide what we need to do to improve productivity," says Evidence Workstream leader Dr Helen Anderson. The Evidence Workstream has undertaken a stocktake of existing productivity research and current Christchurch-related research.

"What we found is that there has been very little local research that directly relates to building and construction sector productivity," says Helen.

The RAP identifies the most important knowledge gaps and key research questions ranging from "What's stopping us from using more efficient construction systems?" to "How are uptake and integration of innovation changing during the Canterbury rebuild?"

"The feedback highlighted that we got it about right, in terms of the key questions we need to ask," says Helen. "Two things to emerge from the consultation are that the industry wants a closer look at the cost of compliance and regulation, and more emphasis on the use of technology to improve productivity."

The research outlined in the RAP will contribute to the development of productivity measures that can be applied at all levels of the industry and help it focus on improvements that will provide the greatest productivity gains.

Helen says the challenge now is finding partners to implement the RAP and that collaboration between the industry, government and research agencies is key to its success.

"We're really pleased that a number of organisations including Scion and Aurecon have stepped up to the plate and offered to contribute to significant pieces of work."

With support from Scion and BRANZ, the Evidence Workstream is already carrying out a series of case studies to examine which aspects of successful projects contribute to productivity improvement. Another project being undertaken with Stonewood Homes, the Volume Builders Project, is looking at productivity improvements over time.

Also underway is the Christchurch Indicators Project. This involves gathering information from the Christchurch rebuild on how streamlined regulation, use of standardisation and different approaches to procurement affect productivity.

"A lot of our work is making sense of productivity statistics so we can see what the real challenges are for the building and construction sector," says Helen. "As they say, knowledge is power, and we intend to empower the industry by providing them with the knowledge they need to boost productivity."

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NEW WEBSITE

The Productivity Partnership has a smart, new website where you can easily find information on how we are helping to build the value of the building and construction sector. Take a look at buildingvalue.co.nz

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SHARPENING SKILLS

SHARPENING SKILLS

Access to the right workforce with the right skills is essential to increase the productivity of the building and construction sector. On 22 March the Partnership will launch its Skills Strategy, the product of nearly two years work and extensive consultation with the education and training sector, the industry and the government agencies that interact with it.

"This process validated that we can do a lot as a sector to lift both skills development and utilisation," says Skills Workstream leader Ruma Karaitiana.

Skills utilisation is a key issue which is linked to the industry's distinct shortage of supervisors andmanagers, particularly in the residential sector.

"For generations we've seen many people gaining technical trade level skills but few progressing to management training," says Ruma. "As a consequence, we're not only short on skills but we're not managing what we've got well. If people were better supervised their skills would be better used."

The Skills Strategy identifies four key action areas - the short-term skills challenge, firms, culture, and education and training - the key responses required for each area and the key groups that need to be involved in actioning those responses.

"This is not just about skills, it's about creating environments where skills can be used productively, for instance, how businesses are structured and managed," says Ruma.

He sees the launch of the strategy as the rallying point for further positive action.

"There is a need for the sector to broadly commit to this and be willing to contribute and work on implementing it," he says.

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PARTNERSHIP PEOPLE

CHRIS KANE
SECRETARIAT MANAGER PRODUCTIVITY PARTNERSHIP

Chris Kane was appointed to this new position in December 2011 and is responsible for managing the Productivity Partnership's Secretariat, based in Wellington at the Department of Building and Housing. He is on secondment from BRANZ where he set BRANZ's research and information agenda as part of the executive team.

"What attracted me to the Partnership is the vast leadership opportunity to help the industry lift its game," says Chris.

Chris began his career in the building industry at age 17, as a labourer for Hawkins Construction during university holidays. He later became a fitter's mate for the Electric Construction Company installing elevators, before eventually graduating with a postgraduate degree in Chemistry and Materials Science.

He then worked at BRANZ, firstly as a corrosion scientist, responsible for research and failure investigations for metals in use on buildings.

His best-known work during that time is the corrosion map that was introduced in NZS3604 in 1999, and the detailed specifications in the standard that supported its use. MFAT subsequently contracted BRANZ to run a multilateral aid project to reduce the cost of corrosion in infrastructure in ASEAN nations, and for four years Chris was project manager.

He then held various management roles in BRANZ, including running technical/science business units, until joining the Productivity Partnership last year.

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