HS2 Lunch & Learn : Q&A

5 Feb 19

The following questions were posed during a GIRI session at HS2 last week

 

Who does GIRI think is the HS2 model 'equivalent' of the Independent Principal Consultant [IPC]? (From IPC definition please reference recommendation 12 from the GIRI Design Guide )

This would need investigation. The Independent Principal Consultant is a new role GIRI has proposed to Industry and it needs further development. Indeed, reference to the Hackitt report discusses stronger oversight of duty holders with incentives for the right behaviours and effective sanctions for poor performance. This is in the context of statutory controls, but the reality is that our Industry could do with the support of Consultants, who are independent of all parties, to ensure that everybody, including the Client, is doing what they need to do.

 

Have you created a formal forum for sharing reports of errors?

There are some valuable forums that already exist which we encourage Industry to use:

Specifically Structural Safety

Designing Buildings Wiki

A similar forum for the Railway Industry could be a very valuable resource?

 

Why doesn't GIRI select e.g. projects in the U.K. over £1 billion over the past 20 years and produce metrics in terms of schedule, cost overruns and defects?

That is a great idea and these metrics can be easily linked to the main contractors of these projects. Metrics are being investigated by a GIRI working group. The key thing is that metrics need to be objective and transparent and organisations need to be prepared to share that information whether it is good or bad.

 

There was No mention of BIM in your presentation! Is this part of the solution to avoiding mistakes? (many believe it is)

GIRI believe that BIM is a fantastic tool which is under-utilised for reasons that are not fully understood. Whilst it is certainly a part of the solution it is not the golden bullet. Organisations need to have the culture to absolutely eliminate error and get it right first time. If the organisation has the right culture it will want to harness ALL of the tools available including BIM.

 

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