Why do we need this?

Simple answer - because the construction industry in the UK is a dissatisfying, dog-eat-dog place to work, riven with petty turf wars and embedded mutual suspicions. It produces poor quality outcomes, untold stress, bad buildings, meagre profits, poorly distributed risks and rewards and unhappy clients.
None of us will say this on our websites; to read these, every client walks away happy, with a building that perfectly suits their needs, at exactly the right price point, and everyone who worked on the project felt like a member of a family. Of course they do.
If that is really true for you; if your professional ambitions for your working life are being fully met by your experience on a daily basis, then you don't need to read any more (do please send me a private email with your secret... actually, I know it already - see below*).
But for the rest of us...
After thirty years plus of working as an architect, a bespoke designer-maker of furniture, as a small builder, as a client, after thinking about it long and hard, after trying a variety of approaches, I am convinced that we can imagine, that we can implement a better way. It really isn't rocket science - none of the ideas here are particularly innovative, or radical.
The problem is not a lack of good ideas, or well-intentioned initiatives, but that not enough of the good ideas seem to 'stick', when sent out into the cold, hard world. They have somehow not been put together in a way that makes enough sense. Crucially, it has not been obvious what the real world benefits would be for people who sign up to these new ways of working. When government has forced new approaches on industry, they have generally been met with at least superficial enthusiasm, but when each new initiative is only as reliable as the career of the latest minister, who wants to bet their boots?
What is needed is a grass-roots, industry led approach; an approach that has immediate practical benefits for all participants, an approach that has low hurdles to entry, an approach that brings a marketing advantage, an approach that is easy to explain, that is not bureaucratic, that can grow organically from what we do already, that will build on its own successes.
Design Led Construction™ is a whole-hearted, determined attempt at a holistic view of the construction industry. While being as realistic as it can be, it is at the same time unashamedly ambitious - even idealistic. Why not? Why not do all we can to see what the conditions might be for an industry which engages all participants as human beings, as creative participants in the production of something vitally important, of something as good as possible under the circumstances, the real circumstances around it. Why not?
If this means anything to you - even if you say, with hard-learned scepticism; sounds great, but it will never fly - even then, it means you accept that there should be a better way.
We want to build that better way. We think we have made a good start, but we need your input.
Look for a weak point in what we are saying, think of a better way to approach it; make a comment, send an email. If you have a question, do the same. Join the conversation.

(* the answer to the secret I said I knew - it is to work in a completely integrated company - the most satisfied people I have ever talked to are those who work in companies that are a complete microcosm of the whole industry - companies who act as their own clients, design team, developers and contractors. Good luck to them. If I was smarter I would be one of them by now - but what about the rest of us? Why should we not aspire to less stressful, more rewarding lives, better relationships with clients?)