The new Code, subtitled a ‘Guide to Best Practice Construction Quality Management’, is intended to provide a single point of information on construction quality management for construction professionals to improve quality, by establishing best practice for quality management and quality planning processes.

The work has been carried out by the CIOB’s Construction Quality Commission, which was set up just over two years ago in response to a report into defects that led to the closure of a number of Edinburgh schools. The work of the Commission was given a new urgency following the tragic Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017.

The Commission, led by a group of CIOB Past Presidents, worked with CIOB members and other industry organisations to identify the main issues either promoting or preventing the delivery of quality in construction.

Paul Nash FCIOB, chairman of the Commission, said: “Quality, or rather the failure of quality, is arguably the most important issue facing the construction industry today.”

He added: “Our research identified an underlying cultural issue in the industry. Quality was being sacrificed to achieve targets. We are now in a position to deliver the Code – and the Commission’s other outputs – to raise the issue of quality in the built environment and help drive up standards. I hope this document provides practitioners with the tools and processes needed to deliver quality on construction projects.”

The Commission’s work also resulted in the launch of a course in Construction Quality Management last year. This is aimed at construction managers and looks at setting and meeting quality objectives and the relevant processes, legislation and compliance. There will also be a MOOC - a massive open online course - on quality, going live later this year, which will be free to construction industry professionals.

In addition to driving the Construction Quality Commission’s work forward, the CIOB also collaborated with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) on the ‘Building in Quality’ initiative last year, which includes a free-to-download digital tool, the Quality Tracker, designed to improve the quality of outcomes in the construction industry.

Caroline Gumble, CEO of the CIOB, said: “I’m delighted that the work of the Commission has achieved so much and been such an important part of the necessary conversation around quality in our industry. In talking to members and partner organisations, I’m also pleased that there is a real collective appetite to continue driving forwards to raise standards, promote best practice and now implement the findings of the Commission with this new Code, with a real sense of urgency.”