Government Teams up With Barbour ABI to Improve Construction and Infrastructure Pipeline

CHESHIRE OAKS, England, September 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Following a competitive tender process, Barbour ABI is pleased to announce that that it has won the contract to collect, collate and publish the Government construction and infrastructure pipeline. Building on previous publications of the pipeline, Barbour ABI will help implement the Government's policy to improve the visibility of its forward work plans for the benefit of the construction supply chain and investors: a vital building block for improving strategic engagement with industry.

By telling construction companies about upcoming future public sector contracts, this pipeline allows them to identify short-term contract opportunities and gives them the confidence to make investments in new skills, services and products.

As the construction and infrastructure pipeline expands, Barbour ABI will be able to provide companies with a more detailed breakdown of upcoming work packages. This is good news for everyone, especially small and medium sized enterprises, who will have an early view of public sector contracts that they may be interested in. Barbour ABI is also committed to the aims of making the data more user friendly, and promoting the pipeline's benefits more widely across the construction sector.

Paul Morrell, Government Chief Construction Adviser, said:

"This announcement is great news for everyone who uses the pipeline, and especially SMEs. By joining forces with experts in the field of handling and publishing construction data, we hope that accessing the pipeline can be made increasingly user-friendly. What's more, we now expect to see users provided with a more detailed breakdown of upcoming work on the pipeline. This will particularly benefit SMEs working deeper in the supply chain who lack the resources to search for this information individually."

"I look forward to seeing the pipeline, already worth around £40 billion with more than 600 future potential projects and programmes, go from strength to strength under this new partnership."

Barbour ABI, part of UBM Built Environment, was awarded the contract, following a formal tender process, because of their proven data collection processes and their existing knowledge in researching and tracking construction projects.

Adrian Barrick, CEO of UBM Built Environment, said:

"I am enormously enthusiastic about the opportunity that this provides to assist the UK's largest construction client in meeting its objectives and helping suppliers, especially SMEs. Delivery of the publicly funded construction and infrastructure pipeline to the widest possible audience will help to reform the way the Government procures construction across all sectors and to fulfil the commitments made in the Plan for Growth at Budget 2011."

Barbour ABI will be responsible for producing the pipeline regularly.

Notes to Editors:

Barbour ABI is the leading provider of construction intelligence products, providing UK companies with sales leads, contact data, CRM software and market intelligence. Its reputation is built and maintained by the in house team of market researchers who have excellent working relationships with planning authorities and other relevant information providers, including Government departments. Barbour ABI is part of UBM plc's specialist media division UBM Built Environment.

UBM Built Environment is widely acknowledged as having some of the most iconic brands in the market, including Building, Property Week, Building Design (BD), RESI, Barbour Product Search, Public Property Summit, Sleep, Decorex, Interiors and Ecobuild. We also recently organised the Government Construction Summit 2012, attended by more than 500 delegates, with leading construction industry figures hailing it as the sector's most important construction event of the year. The event was organised by Building Magazine in conjunction with the Cabinet Office and the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills to encourage greater levels of dialogue between the construction sector and Government departments.