Paul Dring Morrell OBE (born 28 February 1948) is an English chartered quantity surveyor. Formerly senior partner of Davis Langdon, he was, from November 2009 to November 2012, the UK Government's first Chief Construction Adviser.
Paul Dring Morrell OBE (born 28 February 1948) is an English chartered quantity surveyor. Formerly senior partner of Davis Langdon, he was, from November 2009 to November 2012, the UK Government's first Chief Construction Adviser.
After graduating from the College of Estate Management, [1] Morrell joined construction consultancy Davis Langdon, and worked on major construction projects in both the public and private sectors, with a particular emphasis on arts projects, hotels and commercial developments. He eventually became senior partner, before leaving in 2007. [2]
Morrell was a founder member of the British Council for Offices (president in 2004–2005), [3] is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and has served as a commissioner on the UK's Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (2000–2008; also serving as deputy chairman). [4] In the 2007 Building Awards, he received the Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Construction Industry. [5] He was appointed OBE for services to architecture and the built environment in the 2009 New Year Honours list. [2] [6] [7]
The "creation of a post of Chief Construction Officer" was recommended by the House of Commons Business and Enterprise Select Committee in July 2008. [8] Paul Morrell was appointed to this pan-departmental role, with a slightly revised title of 'chief construction advisor', in November 2009; the role was initially for two years, and Morrell was re-appointed for a further term in October 2011. [9] The UK government directly or indirectly provides around 40% of the construction industry's workload so its influence as a client is significant.
Morrell has also been keen to improve the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and sustainability of construction work for the UK government; he led the UK Government, Innovation and Growth Team, that produced an influential report, Low Carbon Construction [10] published in November 2010. He was also the instigator of the Government Construction Strategy (published in May 2011) [11] which, echoing the earlier Latham and Egan Reports, told the sector to work more collaboratively and to use information technology – notably building information modelling (BIM) – to support the design, construction and long-term operation and maintenance of its built assets. Morrell is a strong advocate of BIM, having publicly backed its use in 2010, [12] and BIM was made mandatory for all centrally-procured public sector construction projects from 2016. [13]
In March 2012, it was reported that Morrell would step down from the advisor role in November 2012, prompting the start of a search for his successor. [14] In July 2012 it was announced that civil engineer and former ICE president Peter Hansford would take over as chief construction adviser after 30 November 2012. [15]
Morrell was an invited lecturer on the Interdisciplinary Design for the Built Environment masters programme at Cambridge University.
Paul Morrell was the author of Collaborating for Change, an April 2015 report published by the Edge Commission on the future of professionalism among the built environment institutions. [16]
In October 2016, the government's skills minister Robert Halfon appointed Paul Morrell to lead a review of industrial training boards, with the future of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) central to the review. [17] The report Building Support: the review of the Industry Training Boards was published in November 2017. [18]
In April 2021, Morrell was appointed by housing secretary Robert Jenrick to chair an independent review of current systems for testing construction products. [19] The review's final report [20] was published in April 2023, describing historic failings in the system for testing and assuring construction products made available for sale. [21]
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that have human occupancy or use as their principal purpose. Etymologically, the term architect derives from the Latin architectus, which derives from the Greek, i.e., chief builder.
The Ministry of Defence is the department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by His Majesty's Government, and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces.
The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) is a professional institution for management based in the United Kingdom. It was founded as the British Institute of Management (BIM) in 1947 or 1948, merged with the Institution of Industrial Managers (IIM) in 1992 to form the Institute of Management (IM), and gained a royal charter, and its present name, in 2002.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for those working in the Built Environment, Construction, Land, Property and Real Estate. The RICS was founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental level, and aims to promote and enforce the highest international standards in the valuation, management and development of land, real estate, construction and infrastructure.
The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is "to maximise the impact of science and technology for the defence and security of the UK". The agency is headed by Paul Hollinshead as its Chief Executive, with the board being chaired by Adrian Belton. Ministerial responsibility lies with the Minister for Defence Procurement.
Building information modeling (BIM) is a process supported by various tools, technologies and contracts involving the generation and management of digital representations of physical and functional characteristics of places. Building information models (BIMs) are computer files which can be extracted, exchanged or networked to support decision-making regarding a built asset. BIM software is used by individuals, businesses and government agencies who plan, design, construct, operate and maintain buildings and diverse physical infrastructures, such as water, refuse, electricity, gas, communication utilities, roads, railways, bridges, ports and tunnels.
The Joint Contracts Tribunal, also known as the JCT, produces standard forms of contract for construction, guidance notes and other standard documentation for use in the construction industry in the United Kingdom. From its establishment in 1931, JCT has expanded the number of contributing organisations. Following recommendations in the 1994 Latham Report, the current operational structure comprises seven members who approve and authorise publications. In 1998 the JCT became a limited company.
The Latham Report, titled Constructing the Team, was an influential report written by Sir Michael Latham, published in July 1994. Latham was commissioned by the United Kingdom government and industry organisations to review procurement and contractual arrangements in the UK construction industry, aiming to tackle controversial issues facing the industry during a period of lapse in growth as a whole.
Basingstoke College of Technology (BCoT) is a further education college in Basingstoke, Hampshire, United Kingdom. The college is located in the centre of Basingstoke on Worting Road, and consists of three campus buildings: North, South, and STEM. The college is listed as a Centre of Vocational Excellence in certain areas, and was rated as 'Good' by Ofsted in 2016.
The Building Research Establishment (BRE) is a centre of building science in the United Kingdom, owned by charitable organisation the BRE Trust. It is a former UK government national laboratory that was privatised in 1997. BRE provides research, advice, training, testing, certification and standards for both public and private sector organisations in the UK and abroad. It has its headquarters in Garston, Hertfordshire, England, with regional sites in Glasgow, Swansea, the US, India, the Middle East and China.
The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) is the industry training board for the UK construction industry.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financial firms providing services to consumers and maintains the integrity of the financial markets in the United Kingdom.
The Egan Report, titled Rethinking Construction, was an influential report on the UK construction industry produced by an industry task force chaired by Sir John Egan, published in November 1998. Together with the Latham Report, Constructing the Team, produced four years earlier, it did much to drive efficiency improvements in UK construction industry practice during the early years of the 21st century.
The Strategic Forum for Construction is a United Kingdom construction industry organisation established in 2001 as the principal point of liaison between UK government and the major construction membership organisations. It also enables different representatives of the UK industry to discuss strategic issues facing construction and to develop joint strategies for industry improvement.
buildingSMART, formerly the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI), is an international organisation which aims to improve the exchange of information between software applications used in the construction industry. It has developed Industry Foundation Classes (IFCs) as a neutral and open specification for Building Information Models (BIM).
Peter George Hansford is an English civil engineer. He served as the 146th President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) (2010-2011) and succeeded Paul Morrell as the UK government's chief construction adviser in November 2012.
The role of Chief Construction Adviser is a British civil service appointment. It was created by United Kingdom ministers in 2009 to provide cross-departmental coordination and leadership on UK construction industry policy, and discontinued in 2015.
Richard Gilbert Saxon CBE is an English architect. He was chairman of Building Design Partnership (BDP), chairman of BE, a vice-president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (2002-2008), Master of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects (2005-2006), president of the British Council for Offices (1995-1996) and Chairman of the Joint Contracts Tribunal. He was awarded CBE in 2001 for services to British architecture and construction.
The Building Information Modelling (BIM) Task Group was a UK Government-funded group, managed through the Cabinet Office, created in 2011, and superseded in 2017 by the Centre for Digital Built Britain.
The Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) was a partnership between the University of Cambridge and UK's Department for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy. The CDBB was established in 2017 to support the transformation of the UK built environment using digital technologies to better design, build, maintain and integrate assets. Prior to its closure in March 2022, it was the home of the UK BIM programme, begun by the UK BIM Task Group (2011-2017), and the National Digital Twin programme.