How ready is your business to meet the challenges of sustainability? A recent report jointly published by the CPA and PwC surveyed 100 construction product manufacturers and suppliers to see if they considered it an opportunity, how they were developing their products to meet new needs and how they measured and communicated sustainability. Entitled Material gains in sustainability, the business case for the construction products sector the report can be downloaded from the CPA website.  

A new low carbon design tool which has recently been launched is 'BLP Butterfly'. It is claimed that it will radically change the way the building industry calculates the cost of carbon and the impact of each decision in the design and construction of residential property. To learn more about this and establish if your products have/need to be included visit the 'BLP Butterfly' website. A programme of seminars is planned, the first of which is on 16th November.

Although I have contributed to a number of blogs in the past, I have not had my own - until now. The Competitive Advantage blog is now published, with the first article entitled Is it worth specification selling? To read more follow the link. The plan is to initially publish an article once a month about 2 or 3 weeks after this eNewsletter. If you would like to sign up to receive future blogs via a monthly email then visit our blog site and submit your email address.

As the government moves to introduce BIM and encourage a team approach to construction, Michael Latham must be pleased to know that his recommendations are being adopted a mere 17 years after he made them.

Back in 1994 Sir Michael Latham published "Constructing the Team - a review of procurement and contractural arrangements in the UK construction industry". Two of the key recommendations he made were that the government should take a lead and there was a need to improve the link between design and construction. 17 years later, thanks to the efforts of Chief Construction Advisor Paul Morrell, it is finally happening.

As this month's market activity report shows, times are tough for construction. So why not get some fresh ideas by taking a place at the CIMCIG Conference in London on 1st December. The subject is winning profitable work and I will be one of the speakers, suggesting how environmental sustainability can be turned into competitive advantage.