Building Supply Resilience

The challenge

A construction contractor depended on a handful of materials and specialist subcontractors whose delays could halt an entire site. Disruptions were handled as they arose, and each one was treated as unforeseeable, even when similar events had happened on earlier projects.

The approach

The supply chain team ran structured scenario workshops with project, commercial and site leads. For each critical package they asked what could stop supply, how quickly the site would feel it and what the earliest warning signs would be. Scenarios ranged from supplier insolvency and transport disruption to extreme weather and sudden price movements.

Each plausible scenario was given a pre-agreed response: alternative suppliers qualified in advance, trigger points for early ordering, and clear ownership of the decision to act. The plans were kept short enough to be used on site, not filed away.

What changed

When disruption did occur, teams recognised it earlier and moved to responses they had already discussed, rather than improvising under pressure. Programme conversations started to include supply risk alongside cost and schedule from the outset of a project.

Lessons for practitioners

Scenario planning earns its value in the decisions made before a disruption, not in the accuracy of its predictions. Involving the people who will have to act on the plan is what turns a risk register into a working tool.