ABSTRACT

In the UK the application of the regulations, which cascades multiple impacts from RIBA Stage 0 through subsequent work stages and extends into the private sector, is in urgent need of reform. Procurement entered the UK lexicon of contemporary architectural language in 1996 with Europe’s accession to the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement. Procedures may be staged, and transparency, standards and criteria for selection and award and compliances are also proscribed. To these procedures may be applied a number of techniques and instruments, such as frameworks, joint or central procurement and dynamic purchasing systems. VAT policy issues equally extend into procurement, impacting on the financial disparity between higher rates chargeable on reuse and refurbishment versus lower new-build construction, which directly contributes so much towards demolition, wasting embodied energy within existing UK buildings.