The resurrection of the 1980s term "value engineering" by Councillor Todd, repeated in your editorial of December 29, will be of some concern for those of us who remember its lack of value then.

An informal definition used by lecturers in an engineering faculty of the University of Birmingham about products so defined by their neighbours, the British Motor Company at Longbridge, was to ensure that their cars got beyond the factory gate before they started to fall to pieces.

The MoD used it for a short time before discarding it as unworkable.

Value is defined as (Quality x Delivery) divided by Price. 

What the council really needs to concentrate on for their major projects is the assurance of product and construction quality.

For materials and processes to be used in construction this means including the international standard ISO 9000 as mandatory in all their specifications.

This originated as Defence Standard 05-21 in 1969 because of very poor quality equipment being supplied to the armed forces by British industry.

It was then taken to the  British Standards Institution becoming BS 5750 and later adopted as ISO 9000. 

To assure their own quality, WCC planning and building control inspection departments must be brought up to and accredited by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS) to standard ISO 17020, "General criteria for the operation of various types of inspection bodies".

This came into being following the chemical industry's request to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) to independently assure adherence to the Pressure Systems Regulations after the Flixborough disaster in 1974, followed by the Piper Alpha oil platform disaster in 1989.

Both were found due in part to poor inspection of systems maintenance.

Michael Heseltine, as Secretary of State, then required IMechE accreditation be incorporated into UKAS.

I have worked extensively during my career on quality inspections, and as an external examiner for the IMechE and UKAS on the accreditation of inspection departments on North Sea oil platforms; and I firmly believe that had they been fully applied to Grenfell Tower's refurbishment, that disaster would not have taken place.

Having lived in Winchester for about 20 years until recently, I hope these suggestions will help WCC to achieve real value engineering for the city in its major projects. 

Robert Barnes

Chartered Engineer, FIMechE

Gunners Row

Southsea

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