http://www.bdonline.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=426&storyCode=3038286
Public sector on road to hell
16 July 2004
Resentment over the government‘s handling of public building boiled over
at the RIBA conference in Dublin last weekend with dire warnings that
Britain is heading for a “hellish world” of poor-quality buildings.
By Robert Booth and Damian Arnold
Manchester City Council chief executive Howard Bernstein, the driving
force behind one of the biggest regeneration successes in Europe,
blasted the government for allowing control of regeneration projects to
be taken over by contractors.
And architect John McAslan warned of “a hellish world” where “architects
will disappear” because of the increasing control being handed to
contractors.
One government client at the conference was verbally attacked for their
assurances that “vision” and “exemplar designs” were being used in
public-sector building projects.
From the platform, McAslan said to John Pilkington, managing director
of Amey Ventures and adviser to the education ministry’s Partnerships
for Schools agency: “How dare you talk about vision and exemplars? I
don’t think you know what they are.”
McAslan added architects must regain their leadership role in the design
team and lambasted politicians and civil servants for not understanding
how quality architecture is procured.
Meanwhile, Bernstein attacked the government for leaving local
authorities with little control over their own areas by handing so much
power to contractors.
“The mismatch at the moment is very serious. It’s the notion that the
private sector knows best; the contractor, heaven forbid, knows best. We
have to be more responsive to the local — the particular circumstance in
the community,” he said.
He added that design watchdog the Commission for Architecture and the
Built Environment had “failed abysmally to challenge the government in
terms of procurement”.
The warnings came just before the government announced an extra £16
billion of public funding to build houses. In his spending review on
Monday, the Chancellor extended the government’s commitment to
contractor-led procurement by announcing more PFI housing.
RIBA president George Ferguson pledged to meet Bernstein following his
outburst to discuss bringing recommendations to the government aimed at
putting architects at the centre of the procurement process.
“Bernstein is a powerful advocate for us and someone with an enlightened
view. We are going to look at how we might inject more enlightened
processes both in local and national government.
“It’s an old concern that has been given greater urgency by the massive
programmes in health, education and housing,” he said.
McAslan announced plans to establish of a powerful cross-industry group
to “set in place a creative procurement strategy which is much more
localised than at present”.
Cabe commissioner and architect Sunand Prasad said: “Cabe challenged the
government on design quality, and we then worked with the Office of
Government Commerce about putting design quality in PFI. There were 11
points in that report, but not all have been taken up [by the government].”
He agreed that local government should be more central in the
procurement of buildings for local services but voiced concern about the
capacity of many authorities.
A spokeswoman for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister pointed to
“Cabe’s really important role advising local authorities” to safeguard
good design.
A Treasury spokesman added: “We continue to work with Cabe to improve
the standard of public buildings.”