This article appeared in Infrastructure Intelligence
A new report by international property and construction consultancy Gleeds in partnership with cross-party think tank Radix, suggests that the UK government’s multi-billion-pound plans for infrastructure investment intended to boost the UK economy post-Covid are being jeopardised by a ‘tickbox culture’ ever present in procurement and management.
Spearheaded by Radix, a centrist think tank for contemporary politics whose fellows include Sir Vince Cable, Stephen Kinnock MP, and Lord Andrew Lansley, Tickbox Infrastructure takes an in-depth look at the impact of the public sector’s reliance on bureaucracy to keep large scale infrastructure schemes on track.
In it, the authors argue that plans to deliver new hospitals, housing and transport links, as set out in the recent spring budget, will all face delays, cost overruns and safety issues unless the role of human judgement is prioritised.
The report was produced by the organisation’s co-founder and journalist David Boyle in collaboration with the writer Lesley Yarranton. It also benefits from the insights of a number of key industry figures, including leading academics from York and Liverpool Universities, engineers from overseas transport ministries and Gleeds chairman Richard Steer.
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Sadly tickbox culture is everywhere. The whole public sector has forgotten how to think, and this is underpinned by tickbox recruitment.