In December last year the Cabinet Office published the Construction Playbook – government guidance on sourcing and contracting public works, projects and programmes. Its introduction sets out the need to think about projects and programmes in new ways, suggesting that transformational change is necessary and will only be achieved by systematically approaching risk, sustainability and innovation across portfolios of projects and programmes.

I have written about procurement in this column before, particularly in relation to the Cabinet Office paper, Transforming Public Procurement. But this playbook is the real deal, full of excellent guidance on best practice. So, although it does not specifically mention procurement of housing development, I thought for this month I might indulge in a fantasy world where our industry actually behaved according to its strictures.

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