Driving the shift from TIP to reality
Trudi Sully
The TIP 2030 Roadmap sets out a vision for innovation and reform in infrastructure delivery. And despite current challenges, says Trudi Sully, Impact Lead at Mott MacDonald, we are starting to see a much higher commitment to innovation, change and building in resilience.
“We are experiencing challenging and unprecedented times…” these words are so commonplace it feels like they are becoming the norm rather than the exception. It’s exhausting, isn’t it? This is certainly something I’ve witnessed, particularly with some of our supply and delivery partners.
Yet, with cautious optimism, I do see silver linings, even if the shine is a little tarnished. Despite current challenges, and in fact often motivated by them, we have experienced a much higher commitment to innovation, change and building in resilience.
As impact director of the Construction Innovation Hub until July 2022, and now impact lead at Mott MacDonald, I’ve had the great pleasure over recent years of being at the heart of the innovation movement and involved with the development of tools and approaches that enable better outcomes, so have had plenty of opportunity to see the positives.
In contrast, those that are not yet seeing the change or feeling the benefit must continue to battle with uncertainty of pipelines, materials inflation, fixed price contracting and resource shortfalls. That’s why I urge everyone who is on the journey to stick with it.
We know that changing what we do and how we do it is essential
We know that changing what we do and how we do it is essential. It’s true that not everyone is seeing demand filter through as yet; but the ask from clients is shifting, with bid documentation reflecting the policies of the Construction Playbook and the focus areas of the Transforming Infrastructure Performance (TIP) Roadmap.
Government departments are seeking to address how they harmonise their requirements to give confidence to the supply chain, and I’m sure that over the coming years this will more obviously be reflected across projects and programmes. It’s certainly something we are proactively responding to within Mott MacDonald.
I work with an amazing and diverse team that make up a ‘practice’ that is dedicated to delivering value using our Integrated Process Excellence (IPEX) Model - an optimised approach to using Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA), Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and platform approaches.
These aren’t just trending terms thrown about in various policy documents. These are proven mechanisms to enable better delivery and realisation of better outcomes. This isn’t exaggeration, it is fact.
The ask from clients is shifting… this isn’t exaggeration, it is fact
Now, smashing these things together into real world application is not just a matter of flicking a switch, unfortunately. We are still evolving in what we do and how we do it. But what we are very clear on is that for us to succeed, we need the supply chain to succeed, and we need the clients (both government and private) to continue to shift their position to articulate their demand differently.
Some questioned my decision to leave the Construction Innovation Hub and join Mott MacDonald in mid-2022. I chose to leave the Hub because I felt it was time to shift my focus from research and development towards real-world application.
I chose Mott MacDonald because of its commitment to embedding these approaches into its work; with people, planet and place always at the heart of what we do. As a team, along with our commitment to these principles, we are also committed to working with the supply chain and to support government and the industry to keep driving the shift from TIP to reality. Join us on this journey.
Trudi Sully is Impact Lead at Mott MacDonald.
The challenges and opportunities arising from the TIP Roadmap will be explored within the next TIP Live event on day 2 of Interchange, taking place in Birmingham on 18/19 April. The event is free to attend, register here