The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) President Ben Derbyshire, Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) Past-President Paul Nash, and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) President John Hughes have today signed the ‘Building in Quality: Joint Memorandum of Understanding’ (JMU).

In essence, RIBA is leading the charge to improve the quality of building projects across the UK. Along with its partners, RIBA is launching an industry-wide consultation on a system for establishing a chain of custody for quality in construction projects.

Led by the RIBA’s Client Liaison Group, the ‘Building in Quality’ initiative aims to encourage better collaboration, improved procurement, and to introduce new methods to improve the quality of the built environment for the benefit of society.

The signing commits the three institutes to working together to agree and publish a 'Quality Risk Tracker: setting up a chain of custody', to be launched in October 2018.

RIBA President Ben Derbyshire said, “I am pleased to be working with colleagues in the CIOB and the RICS to develop this new quality tracking tool to improve procurement and building projects. Our initiative proposes intelligent new measures to safeguard building quality, particularly for D&B schemes, and I am proud to champion its integration. I encourage RIBA members and other professionals in the construction industry to help shape this important tool.”

CIOB Past-President Paul Nash said, “Successful projects are built on the back of strong teams working together to create great places for people to live, work and play in. But they also depend on achieving the right balance between cost and quality and, as recent events have highlighted, as an industry we don’t always get that balance right. It’s for this reason that the ‘Building in Quality’ initiative is so important if we are to bring about the change in behaviours that are so urgently needed.”

The consultation process will run from April until end of June 2018 leading to a launch of the 'Quality Risk Tracker: setting up a chain of custody' at UK Construction Week from 9-11 October 2018. Parties wanting to participate in the consultation should go to www.architecture.com (search JMU) to register their interest.