About this publication

“I welcome this guide wholeheartedly” Graham Dalton, The Highways Agency

Client Best Practice Guide

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Description

The role and performance of clients is the single most important factor in determining the success of construction projects and capital works programmes, regardless of their size, complexity and location. This guide brings together hundreds of examples of good client practice from across the construction industry and an unprecedented number of industry interviews, to provide the only published consensus on current bestpractice thinking.

Accompanied by a free online assessment tool, ClientMAP, Client Best Practice Guide is the only resource available which empowers clients to positively influence the success of their projects at every stage.

>>Read the full Contents and Preliminary Pages for free here<<

Details

Paperbound and ebook // £45.00 // October 2009

Key benefits

  • >> Consensus of current thinking – Benefit from the experience of leading construction professionals and read over 200 examples from across the industry
  • >> Unique resource – The only book to advise clients how to positively influence every stage of their projects
  • >> Active support for consultants – Easily establish plans of action and responsibility with your consultants
  • >> Empowering self-assessment – Use the custom-built tool, ClientMAP, to assess your readiness and ongoing capabilities for free
  • >> Roadmaps to project stages – Use the individual chapters, or download the ebook, to examine specific aspects of client input

Key features

  • >> Drawing on data from one-to-one interviews with industry leaders, over 40,000 questionnaires to ICE members and including 200 examples of best practice
  • >> Free access to Client MAP online self assessment tool
  • >> Produced by the members of leading client organisations brought together as the ICE Best Practice Panel
  • >> Suggested further reading and websites at the end of each chapter
  • >> Supported by members of the following world-leading organisations and companies: The Highways Agency, Association for Consulting and Engineering (ACE), The Nichols Group, Construction Clients’ Group and the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA)
  • >> Fully searchable online version available

Editors

ICE Best Practice Panel - The ICE Best Practice expert panel of the Learned Society is chaired by Sue Kershaw of the Olympic Delivery Authority with the support of ICE Vice President and Parsons Brinckerhoff principal consultant David Hutchison.

ClientMAP
The free online Client Maturity Assessment Profile tool

Designed to help clients who have read the guide to go on to assess where they are in terms of using best practice, ClientMAP assesses readiness and capability through a series of questions. ClientMAP provides a consistent and structured appraisal of capabilities that may be monitored over time and between projects, contributing to increased client effectiveness and ultimately to more certainty about project success.

Client capability is characterised against a scale of five levels of maturity providing an overall ‘maturity score’, as well as further assessments under the headings ‘setting up for success’, ‘building the capacity to deliver’ and ‘monitoring and managing results and outcomes’. Finally a report is given providing areas of strength and opportunities for improvement.

Continuously developed to include benchmarking data, clients will be able to assess their performance against the rest of the industry.

clientmap.ice.org.uk

Endorsements for Client Best Practice Guide and ClientMAP

“I am pleased that this guidance has been published. It is in everyone’s interests to ensure that projects are delivered on time, on budget and to the highest standards, and ACE members are at the forefront of delivering high quality professional services. However, clients also have a vital role to play in ensuring best practice is put into operation. The principles set out here can be applied to practically every civil engineering and construction project anywhere in the world. I am confident that, if this guidance is put into practice, clients, consultants and the entire supply chain will work together more effectively – to the benefit of everyone.” - Nelson Ogunshakin, Chief Executive, Association for Consultancy and Engineering

“The Construction Clients’ Group welcomes this Guide as it includes many of the critical ingredients that enable clients to get better value from their construction procurement. We have enjoyed contributing to the Guide and advocating best practice through better integration of the supply chain combined with collaborative working principles. We hope that this Guide and the associated diagnostic tool inspires the reader to take a different approach to their client role within the construction supply chain and enable them to proactively engage with our industry in delivering a better built environment.” - Peter Cunningham, Chief Executive, Construction Clients’ Group

“I welcome this guide wholeheartedly, both as a major public sector client and an advisor to the panel. It provides clear advice and highlights best practice, which, if acted on, will raise the standard of ‘clienting’.” - Graham Dalton, Chief Executive, The Highways Agency

“ClientMap provides a very practical means for clients to assess their leadership qualities and credentials to ensure they are covering all areas key for project success, and better determine their resource requirements to achieve delivery. This assessment tool should be mandatory for all client organisations.” - Chris Haskell, Programme Manager, ODA Transport

“My career has been centred on advising clients on how their projects can be delivered efficiently, effectively, and provide good value for money. This guide, the first of its kind, provides the same sort of pragmatic advice, and signposts where further help can be found. I recommend it as a good read for both clients and suppliers alike.” - Mike Nichols, Chairman and Chief Executive, The Nichols Group