Show Notes
BEYOND CLAUSE 10 INTRODUCTION Everyone talks about collaboration in construction and infrastructure delivery. But when programme slips, commercial pressure tightens, risks materialise and interface tensions arise— why do so many projects still fall back into adversarial behaviour? And if NEC4 Clause 10 is intended to underpin mutual trust and cooperation… why can it remain so difficult to make real in practice?
SUMMARY In this introductory episode of Beyond Clause 10, Dominic Doig and Dr Jon Broome explain why they created the Clause 10 Collective and what the podcast is intended to explore. Drawing on decades of experience across project delivery, procurement, contract management and NEC Implementation, the discussion examines the gap between contractual intent and operational reality — and asks what it genuinely takes to build collaborative, high-performing project environments under pressure. This is not a podcast series simply about theory, it is a practitioner-led discussion about competence, behaviours, incentives, leadership and risk — and how these lead and shape outcomes across complex engineering and infrastructure projects.
INTRODUCING THE DISCUSSION Hosted by Chartered Quantity Surveyor Dominic Doig and NEC author and educator Dr Jon Broome, Beyond Clause 10 explores the realities of project delivery through the lens of NEC4 and the wider cultural and behavioural challenges facing the industry. Throughout the series, Dom and Jon challenge experienced practitioners, industry leaders and each other on what helps projects succeed — and what quietly causes collaboration to fail despite good intentions.
In this episode we begin to explore: • Why “mutual trust and cooperation” is easier to quote than apply • How pressure, incentives and procurement shape behaviours • Why contracts alone do not create collaborative outcomes • The difference between cooperation and true collaboration • Why adversarial instincts remain deeply embedded within the industry • The importance of competence, transparency and behavioural discipline • What listeners can expect from the Beyond Clause 10 series
REFERENCES AND THEMES • NEC4 Clause 10 • Collaborative delivery principles • Procurement and behavioural incentives • Risk allocation and project culture • Frameworks and long-term delivery relationships • Industry reform and cultural change
REFLECTION If collaboration is genuinely critical to project success, then perhaps the industry needs to stop treating it as a soft aspiration — and start treating it as a disciplined delivery capability. Because projects rarely fail through contract wording alone. They fail when behaviours, incentives, leadership and commercial reality drift too far away from the principles the contract was intended to support.
More from Beyond Clause 10
EPISODE 4: Has the Industry Really Changed Since Latham, Egan and the Birth of NEC? The industry has spent more than three decades talking about collaboration, integration and better project outcomes. But has construction genuinely changed since Latham, Egan and the emergence of NEC — or have many of the same pressures, behaviours and commercial instincts simply evolved into new forms?
EPISODE 3: Seamless Project Teams: What Happens When We Stop Managing Contracts and Start Managing Relationships?
EPISODE 2 - Risk Intelligence vs Risk Transfer: The Procurement Choices That Decide Project Outcomes What if the biggest threat to collaboration is already embedded into the project before delivery even begins? In this episode, Dom and Jon explore how procurementstrategy, legal positioning and risk allocation often shape behaviours long before the first spade hits the ground.
EPISODE 1 - MUTUAL TRUST AND COOPERATION: WHY IT'S EASIER SAID THAN DONE The industry has spent decades talking about collaboration. So why do suspicion, defensiveness and adversarial behaviours still appear so quickly once projects come under pressure? Have we genuinely changed the culture of project delivery…or simply changed the language around it?