Richard Patterson – 100 not out for NEC

Richard Patterson is a name that should be familiar to anyone who is interested in the world of NEC. A self-described ‘oddly passionate’ flag-bearer, he has been contributing interesting, informative and sometimes provocative pieces about NEC to our newsletters and other publications since the turn of the century and, with this issue of the NEC Insights Briefing, he has now racked up an astonishing 100 contributions. We therefore thought it was time to learn more about the man behind it all.

When did you write your first piece and what was it about? 

The first was a short article in what was the NEC Users’ Group Newsletter entitled ‘Using NEC for multiple site, undefined contracts' and this became a way of life for me; my latest count is 64 articles. The 2001 effort was the first of my 5 fully refereed papers in the ICE journal, now called ‘Management Procurement and Law’. That showed how we adapted a single NEC contract to deal with the stagewise refurbishment of 600 Yorkshire Water service reservoirs in 3 sections instructed by the Project Manager for each stage – outline design, detailed design and construct of each reservoir. Each section could be effectively lump sum, target or reimbursable. That was a project with Rob Gerrard – someone else who is still spreading the word today. 

Did you think you would get to a century when you first started writing? 

Of course not! But over my career I have developed a love of sharing what I know and the easy to access NEC Newsletters are a good way to get the message out to people.  

How has the landscape changed since you wrote your first piece? 

Big question. NEC has been going for more than 30 years so it’s a surprise to me that there are still articles worth writing. But the contracts and how they are used have kept evolving, with the launch of NEC4, new X Options, and several waves of amendments, so there are still things left to say. The opportunity to get something out in ‘print’ and show we’re on top of developments also doesn’t hurt - good for NEC, good for me and good for my organisation. 

What advice would you give to a younger person who wants to write in the field? 

A good place to start is to co-author a piece with a more experienced colleague. In Mott MacDonald I have co-authored pieces with our specialists in social value, bio diversity, programmes. I have also co-authored pieces with younger fellow Mott MacDonald NEC specialists, Alec Kowalski and Karen Radband, who are lined up to take over from me when I finally retire. 

What are your favourite piece(s) that you've written? 

That’s a tough one. We keep a spreadsheet of articles and papers on NEC – more than 290, of which just over a 100 are mine. It’s a great resource to be able to share with colleagues and especially clients to show that we know! 

If pushed I will select from that spreadsheet as follows: 

‘How clients can set the rules for looking after subcontractors’, a relatively recent one with Yosof Ewing is really trying to help change the industry and look after the Subcontracts that do all the work. That is something Yosof and I are passionate about. 

I was honoured to co-author NEC’s ‘Guidance on NEC and underground works (including GBR)’ with the chair of the NEC4 Contract Board, Peter Higgins. This is designed to help the international tunnelling community use a geotechnical baseline report in a proper NEC contract and so move away from FIDIC. 

‘The Mott MacDonald Little Book of NEC’ is a real starter of an introduction on NEC and I am very happy to have it on the Association for Project Management’s website. I think and hope it’s a good, easy read. 

‘NEC contracts: best practice tools for risk allocation and management’ is a deeper dive into how NEC contracts can be used to give the risk allocation that a client wants for a particular contract. I suggested to NEC that I should update it from NEC3 to NEC4 and it’s still there on the NEC website today. 

I am also proud of having co-authored several articles on how to use Secondary Option X29 to incentivise social value, biodiversity and whole life cost. X29, initially called ‘Climate change’ and this year modified to ‘Nature and Climate’ is something I am especially passionate about, not least as I was part of the four person team that originally drafted it for NEC. 

What is your favourite project you've worked on? 

Another tough one. I often go back to my very early days as a dams engineer and  ’Muela Dam in Lesotho, Southern Africa. I was lucky enough to be in the design team for 18 months in the capital Maseru and then on site for 18 months supervising its construction. That started my interest in contracts; I then came back to the UK and got a role to do ‘a couple of years’ in our internal Contracts unit. That, they said, would be good for a (normal) Mott MacDonald project engineer. But I stayed for 6 years, by which time I was a serious contracts person. During that period, starting 1996, I worked with Yorkshire Water who moved across all their contracts to NEC. That is where my connection with NEC began and I have not looked back since. 

Since Lesotho, I have had the opportunity to help with contracts in many sectors and in many countries all over the world. I am very keen on getting NEC used more widely and have had the opportunity to give NEC training in Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brunei, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Qatar, Peru, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka and the USA. 

What does the future hold? 

In terms of writing for NEC? I’d love to say that after 100 articles and papers I should be allowed to retire! I am 61 and formally on four days a week. Most of my work is running NEC training that I am still ‘oddly passionate’ about. The plan is to carry on while it’s still fun but just do a bit less and have a few more holidays. I did suggest a plan to my line manager of still doing 1 day a week when I am 80 and remaining on the corporate BUPA programme. I’m not sure I will get away with that though!