Construction quality code bids to end site failures

The code has been drawn-up in response to a series of high-profile incidents highlighting construction defects in the UK.

The Guide to Best Practice Construction Quality Management will provide a single resource for construction professionals to improve quality by establishing best practice. The code has been drawn-up by the CIOB's Construction Quality Commission which was set up in response to a report into defects that led to the closure of a number of Edinburgh schools.

The work of the Commission was given a new urgency following the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017. Paul Nash, Chairman of the Commission, said: "Quality, or rather the failure of quality, is arguably the most important issue facing the construction industry today. Our research identified an underlying cultural issue in the industry. Quality was being sacrificed to achieve targets. We are now in a position to deliver the Code – and the Commission's other outputs – to raise the issue of quality in the built environment and help drive up standards.
"I hope this document provides practitioners with the tools and processes needed to deliver quality on construction projects."

Caroline Gumble, CEO of the CIOB, said: "I'm delighted that the work of the Commission has achieved so much and been such an important part of the necessary conversation around quality in our industry. In talking to members and partner organisations, I'm also pleased that there is a real collective appetite to continue driving forwards to raise standards, promote best practice and now implement the findings of the Commission with this new Code, with a real sense of urgency."

The new Code of Quality Management is available to download as a pdf here.