Firms avoid £92.6m in lost value through GIRI training pilot
16 Apr 26
Four UK firms have avoided nearly £100m of project costs on the back of a landmark training programme from the Get It Right Initiative (GIRI) to reduce error in construction.
Kier, BAM UK & Ireland, VolkerStevin and Taylor Woodrow (part of the UK division of VINCI construction) enrolled in GIRI’s Productivity Training Commission in 2024 with the objective to roll-out error reduction training and evaluate the results.
The programme was supported by funding from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), which provided £360,000 to enable the four firms to become accredited GIRI training providers. The businesses have since trained 4,575 delegates between them, working across 25 projects over a total of 26 months – and evaluating the impact of the programme over that period.
A report on the programme published this week highlights the initiative’s successes in avoiding errors and the associated risks.
Using their training, the four firms collectively identified and avoided £92.6m worth of errors over the period, equating to nearly 10% of the value of the projects being delivered. GIRI’s research has found that 21% of the value of UK construction projects is lost to avoidable error – which costs the UK industry up to £25bn a year through a combination of wasted time, materials and the cost of rework.
The report also highlighted team morale, business reputation and better retention of repeat business as benefits of the programme.
First established in 2018, GIRI’s courses focus on behavioural training, drawing on the organisation’s guidance over the 10 common causes of error and showing individuals how to address them through their work.
The Productivity Training Commission has now successfully established a ‘train the trainer’ model for other businesses to follow. As well as giving firms flexibility over how they manage the training, this also lowers costs to less than £80 per individual – which is over a 50 per cent reduction compared to standard error reduction course rates.
Cliff Smith, executive director at the Get It Right Initiative said that the programme’s success would now allow other firms to follow suit to address the problem of error across the industry:
“In the ten years since the Get It Right Initiative was established, we’ve now trained over 10,000 people to pre-empt, spot and remove avoidable errors on construction sites. This latest programme has laid the groundwork for us to exponentially increase our training capacity – giving more and more people across the industry access to these critical skills.
“At a time when construction is under pressure to support the UK’s growth agenda, the results speak for themselves in demonstrating the productivity benefits of tackling avoidable error. Reducing errors on site brings much broader advantages too – from better health and safety performance, to less waste.
“We would like to thank the CITB for its support in funding this programme, and to our four new accredited partners for their enthusiastic adoption of their new role as training providers.”
Chris Bedford, Lead Coordinator Q & I Upskilling, BAM UK & Ireland:
“GIRI training is helping to shift the dial across our industry. At BAM, we’ve seen first-hand how focusing on behaviours like ‘press pause’ and ‘build it in your brain’ is reducing error and improving how teams think before they act.
"What makes this programme powerful is the collaborative approach behind it. It’s been shaped by the industry, for the industry, and that’s why it resonates on site. When you bring clients, contractors, designers and supply chain together around a shared goal of getting it right first time, the impact goes far beyond training, it becomes a cultural shift.”
Anja Reid, Head of Quality and Improvement, UK division of VINCI Construction:
"Following many years of engagement with GIRI, we were delighted to work with CITB and GIRI to become an accredited training provider. This enabled an extensive rollout across Taylor Woodrow, where the engaging, hands‑on training approach has ensured key messages are communicated clearly, consistently, and in a way that resonates with delivery teams.
“The practical focus of the training has demonstrably reduced errors and strengthened right‑first‑time delivery during construction. Building on this proven success, the GIRI training programme is now being extended across other VINCI Construction businesses in the UK."
To receive a copy of the full report, please email press@getitright.uk.com
