The drive to increase contract collaboration is being hampered by issues such as the ongoing economic difficulties, according to recent research.

NBS National Construction Contracts and Law Survey 2012 showed that just 5% of responding contractors were involved in partnering initiatives on all projects commenced in 2011.

Over half of contractors said they has not taken part in any collaborative practices, while just 14% enjoyed collaboration on high-value projects, and a further 25% experienced increased involvement that had stopped short of full partnering.

BSRIA chief executive Andrew Eastwell said: “This is depressing, though not surprising. While we have preached the message of integration, partnering and collaboration for many years, we have seen little change.

“However there are now glimmers of hope in BIM, Soft Landings and in the development of a unified plan of works that is truly cross-disciplinary but which, through a multi-tiered approach, retains the value of the detailed knowledge in each sector.”

Eastwell added that BSRIA plans to continue to promote collaboration through extending its BG6 Design Framework, which received a favourable response.

The survey also probed tendering methods and contracts used for 2011 projects. While single-stage tender contracts had been used by 74% of contractors, two-stage and negotiation practices were also popular.

A combination of electronic and paper-based tendering proved to be the most popular.