Partnership working: case study of a successful partnering relationship on a major UK DBFO road project

Abstract

Much has been said and written about partnering but there are many who are unsure about what it is, what it can do, and where the benefits lie. Partnering has been defined by the Reading Construction Forum as a managerial approach used by two or more organisations to achieve specific business objectives by maximising the effectiveness of each participant's resources. The approach is based on mutual objectives, an agreed method of problem resolution and an active search for continuous measurable improvement. The M6 design, build, finance and operate (M6 DBFO) road project was the first private sector funded road project in Scotland. It upgraded the final Scottish link from central Scotland to the South, previously the A74, to form part of the transEuropean road network. The concession was won by Autolink (M6) plc whose shareholders are Amey, Sir Robert McAlpine, Taylor Woodrow, Barr and Innisfree, a venture capital funder specializing in private finance initiative projects. These four major civil engineering contractors in turn also make up the M6 Joint Venture who are the construction and maintenance company. The construction phase of the project was completed in November 1999. This paper will test the Joint Venture's hypothesis that the M6 partnership is a management structure from which all should benefit by working together towards a common goal in a spirit of trust, openness and harmony. The authors undertook a critical analysis of the partnering network and its implementation, including interviewing key players. The key elements of procurement, namely time, quality and cost, were reviewed to observe the effects partnering had on each of these elements.