The Infrastructure Client Group was founded as a collaborative venture between the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, which represents 20 major infrastructure clients. Its aim was to support the implementation of the British government's 2010 Infrastructure Cost Review which highlighted an opportunity to make efficiency savings of 15% in infrastructure procurement by 2015. The ICG brings together representatives from clients, consultants and contractors across the industry. The chairman from 2014 to 2018 was Andy Mitchell the chief executive of Bazalgette Tunnel Limited, which is delivering the Thames Tideway Scheme. The current chairman is Dale Evans, managing director of Anglian Water's @one Alliance, which brings together its supply chain partners. ICG members account for more than 40% of the annual spending on infrastructure in the United Kingdom. In 2019 the ICG launched an initiative to reduce accidents and improve workplace health in seven key areas: people plant interface, mental health, utility strikes, lifting operations, HGV operations, hand-arm vibration and public safety. Its aim was to eliminate illness and injury from these causes by 2025 and a progress report was to have been published in April 2020. In early 2020 the ICG worked with Mott MacDonald to carry out an assessment of the readiness of its members for new building information modeling standards. In early 2020 the ICG collaborated with the Construction Leadership Council and other trade bodies to produce the industry's guidance for works continuing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Project 13
In May 2018 the ICG launched Project 13 which identified that the current model of infrastructure delivery in the UK was delivering over budget, delayed and poor quality infrastructure. It recommended that clients should ensure the scope and design are in place before works commence and that they guard against unnecessary change and scope creep. It recommended the adoption of early contractor involvement. The ICG also recommended that clients move away from considering a single capital price when assessing project tenders and that it instead becomes mandatory to award contracts on the basis of a likely price range, including contingency allowances. It also recommended that the government Outsourcing Playbook be made mandatory for all public sector organisations. Progress against the Project 13 recommendations was assessed in the 2019 report Common Challenges, Shared Responses.
