Wates has joined Stepnell, Morgan Sindall, Kier, and BAM as a Gold Corporate Partner of the Centre for Construction Best Practice (CCBP), marking a major milestone in efforts to improve collaboration, innovation, and delivery standards across the UK construction sector.

The five major contractors are backing CCBP's mission to tackle persistent industry challenges such as supply chain instability, skills shortages, and the need for stronger partnerships between clients and delivery teams. As founding partners, each will contribute their knowledge and expertise to shape the Centre’s strategic direction and foster practical change.

CCBP aims to bridge the gap between academia and industry through academic advisory boards and its corporate partner network. The goal is to ensure insights and feedback are shared in both directions, leading to measurable improvements in project outcomes, sustainability, and sector culture.

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With growing government investment and increasing pressure to address issues around skills, net zero, and delivery capability, CCBP is positioning itself as a driver of research-led, actionable solutions. By uniting firms that typically compete in the marketplace, the Centre is helping to promote a more collaborative industry model.

CCBP recently held its first partner roundtable, where participating firms agreed to focus on reforming the UK’s construction delivery model. Key concerns included limited early contractor involvement, lack of clear accountability, and ineffective risk allocation, factors that often result in project delays and cost overruns.

In response, the Centre will promote earlier engagement between clients, designers, and contractors, advocate for role-based competency frameworks, and encourage quality-led procurement approaches and transparent risk-sharing practices.

Backed by its Gold Corporate Partners, CCBP is now advancing its research and sector engagement programme, which will include publishing government whitepapers, convening cross-industry working groups, and hosting events that bring together practitioners and academics to address real-world challenges.