In the 15 page report, the author highlights numerous times the ‘control of risk’ as being the key barrier to the adoption of innovative new processes or technology, with ‘tried and tested’ methods preferred in the elaborate systems used for managing downside risks.


It further points to the ‘fractured nature of the industry, with procurement processes failing to incentivise innovation or research and design, in part due to slender profit margins’


But on a more positive note, the report goes on to stress the importance of industry-wide collaboration and highlights the success of the Crossrail ‘Optimised Contractor Involvement’ programme, brought in by the Crossrail Innovation Forum, a dedicated team set up to drive and oversee innovation.


By incentivising contractors to innovate and find new ways to reduce risks and costs, this


programme successfully encouraged each contractor to input new ideas, while at the same time sharing the risk and rewards of doing so. It in-turn showed how collaborative working and rewards for R&D could generate project benefits.


Looking at other areas of the industry, the importance placed on collaboration is further highlighted through the ongoing five year Highways England £5bn Collaborative Delivery Framework, which appointed 26 companies across 4 lots in November 2014.


Highways England is already working on the introduction of new technologies with contractors, as we discovered when Finning News visited the 19.3km A1 widening project from Leeming to Barton. Reported in issue 10 of Finning News, the A1L2B joint venture


between contractors Carillion and Morgan Sindall, has fully adopted Trimble 3D machine control across the project, improving quality, whilst reducing costs.


On speaking to Highways England when we visited site, its representatives confirmed that the knowledge gained on the project was already being shared across the organisation, as part of its continued improvement programme.


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