It is often said that in order to know where we are going, we need to know where we have been. For some years the construction industry has been challenged to deliver better performance in terms of value for money, timelier construction and defect free building. Behind this remodelling of an industry is Government. The interest by Government is not new, and report after report in the post war period has exhorted the industry to perform better. This book documents how Government, through influential reports, has sought to shape the performance and attitudes of parties to the construction industry. It provides a critical review of 12 of the most significant, setting these against their political, social and economic background, and offers a ready reference and critique for researchers of construction management, government and economics.
Making Sense of Construction Improvement provides a critical evaluation of the construction improvement debate from the end of the Second World War through to the modern era. The book offers unique insights into the way the UK construction sector is continuously shaped and re-shaped in accordance with changes in the prevailing political economy. This second edition brings the book up to date by including coverage of key trends from 2010–2023. The book has been substantially revised and reworked to include new material relating to the ‘age of austerity’ and the subsequent period of political uncertainty initiated by the Brexit referendum. Changes in the political economy are positioned alongside the rise of the sustainability agenda and the advent of ‘zero carbon’. Particular attention is paid to the ongoing skills crisis and the over-hyped advocacy of modern methods of construction (MMC) as the latest supposed panacea of industry improvement. Coverage includes the Farmer (2016) report Modernise or Die and the Construction Playbook (HM Government, 2020). However, perhaps the most important addition is a focus on the Grenfell Disaster (2017) and the subsequent revelations from the public enquiry. Further intermediate milestones include Building a Safer Future (Hackitt, 2018) and the Construction Sector Deal (HM Government, 2018). The emerging consensus points towards a systemic failure involving not only the construction sector but also the entire system of regulation and compliance. Tracing the failings back over time and scrutinising the role played by previous generations of policymakers, Stuart Green ultimately argues that Grenfell was a disaster entirely foretold. The insightful and critical analysis of the industry contained within these pages is essential and timely reading for anyone who wants to understand how the construction sector arrived at where it is today, and with that knowledge, give further thought to where it might go next.
Performance measurement is the mechanism by which firms informthemselves of their true performance and locate unnecessary coststhrough the supply chain. These can then be converted intosubstantially higher profits in a carefully targeted improvementprogramme. If the construction industry is to meet the performanceimprovements demanded by end users, and to replicate the efficiencyand profitability gains of other sectors, it urgently needs toaddress formal performance measurement. Aimed at all those at the sharp end in every sector of theconstruction industry, including clients and end users, this willbe a highly practical, easy to read guide, focusing strongly on theday-to-day needs of managers at all levels. Using the everydaybusiness language of construction firms, it explains how to set upand run performance measurement, self-assessment and benchmarkingsystems. It is comprehensive and informative with plenty ofreal-life examples and most importantly, tells you what to dodifferently on Monday.
Construction is one of the largest and most people-intensive industrial sectors. In many countries, however, construction is also one of the most highly criticized in terms of its employment practices and industrial relations. People and culture are too often seen as variables that must be manipulated in the cause of improved productivity. This important new work provides an essential corrective to the current literature by focusing on people and culture rather than sector efficiency. It presents the latest thinking from a diversity of perspectives derived from a major ESRC seminar series and invited contributions from leading researchers. Its interdisciplinary approach draws together industry and research and is international in its relevance. Through several multidisciplinary themes, People and Culture in Construction: explores the industry's labour market and the major influences on employment patterns examines how to improve the image and reality of the construction sector as an employer looks at the forces shaping the industry and implications for its stability considers the current composition of the workforce and the potential impacts of workforce diversification analyzes the impact of government targets and policies on construction working practices and culture investigates how to address the skills shortfall currently affecting the industry's performance.
Measurement in civil engineering and building is a core skill and the means by which an architectural or engineering design may be modelled financially, providing the framework to control and realise designs within defined cost parameters, to the satisfaction of the client. Measurement has a particular skill base, but it is elevated to an ‘art’ because the quantity surveyor is frequently called upon to interpret incomplete designs in order to determine the intentions of the designer so that contractors may be fully informed when compiling their tenders. Managing Measurement Risk in Building and Civil Engineering will help all those who use measurement in their work or deal with the output from the measurement process, to understand not only the ‘ins and outs’ of measuring construction work but also the relationship that measurement has with contracts, procurement, claims and post-contract control in construction. The book is for quantity surveyors, engineers and building surveyors but also for site engineers required to record and measure events on site with a view to establishing entitlement to variations, extras and contractual claims. The book focuses on the various practical uses of measurement in a day-to-day construction context and provides guidance on how to apply quantity surveying conventions in the many different circumstances encountered in practice. A strong emphasis is placed on measurement in a risk management context as opposed to simply ‘taking-off’ quantities. It also explains how to use the various standard methods of measurement in a practical working environment and links methods of measurement with conditions of contract, encompassing the contractual issues connected with a variety of procurement methodologies. At the same time, the many uses and applications of measurement are recognised in both a main contractor and subcontractor context. Measurement has moved into a new and exciting era of on-screen quantification and BIM models but this has changed nothing in terms of the basic principles underlying measurement: thoroughness, attention to detail, good organisation, making work auditable and, above all, understanding the way building and engineering projects are designed and built. This book will help to give you the confidence to both ‘measure’ and understand measurement risk issues by: presenting the subject of measurement in a modern context with a risk management emphasis recognising the interrelationship of measurement with contractual issues including identification of pre- and post-contract measurement risk issues emphasising the role of measurement in the entirety of the contracting process particularly considering measurement risk implications of both formal and informal tender documentation and common methods of procurement conveying the basic principles of measurement and putting them in an IT context incorporating detailed coverage of NRM1 and NRM2, CESMM4, Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works and POM(I), including a comparison of NRM2 with SMM7 and a detailed analysis of changes from CESMM3 to CESMM4 discussing the measurement implications of major main and sub-contract conditions (JCT, NEC3, Infrastructure Conditions and FIDIC) providing detailed worked examples and explanations of computer-based measurement using a variety of industry-standard software packages
The concept of integrated project delivery (IPD) has evolved as a result of the need for highly expert teams of people to collaborate to deliver extremely complex projects, to manage expectations about delivery speed, changes in governance standards and to take advantage of and manage expectations raised by rapid advances in technology. All this demands effective change management. This is the first Handbook to contextualise and thematically explore the concept with an emphasis on rigorous practical and theoretical validation. The Handbook is divided into five sections, each with a focus on several interconnected themes including: An introduction to IPD concepts. The foundational elements and characteristics of IPD. People, culture and collaboration as key ingredients to successful and effective IPD. Technology and process aspects of relational contracting forms such as IPD. New and relevant perspectives to IPD that have received scant attention to date. Aspects and emerging issues that are rarely consciously considered in traditional project delivery due to the commercial imperative that drives firms and client organisations. The Handbook offers both discussions of these key themes, and also in-depth research into construction and other industry project procurement and delivery that spans decades. In addition, the Handbook presents ‘best’ and ‘better’ practice, but also includes insights into cutting-edge experimental developments in technology and practices where proof of concept is currently being developed into emerging practice. Contributing authors in this Handbook collaborate with the co-editors to draw together an integrated set of chapters that align to deliver a coherent narrative of the IPD concept. It is an invaluable reference for practitioners and academics alike, and useful as core course content for numerous degree programs of study and professional development courses.
As a built environment student you are likely to be required toresearch, write and submit a dissertation as a core component ofyour degree studies. As a vocational profession, students of thebuilt environment often have strong practical aspirations.Writing a Built Environment Dissertation provides practicalguidance and will help to steer you into a position where you candevelop a good dissertation by mixing your practical strengths withmore theoretical tools. The book is ordered around a common dissertation structure: thatis, it starts with material that should be in the introduction andfinishes with material that should be in the conclusion. Eachchapter provides a commentary on the kind of information that youshould put in each chapter of your dissertation, supported by avariety of examples using a range of methodological designs. Thebook has a strong focus on data collection, data analysis,reliability and validity – all areas where studentdissertations are often weak. Material that will help you thinkabout study skills and ethics is embedded throughout the book, andthe chapters on qualitative and quantitative analysis will show youhow to carry out a rigorous analysis while avoiding some of thecomplexity in statistical work. If you are an under-graduate student in the final year of anhonours degree programme in the built environment, or perhaps astudent at masters or PhD level and have been away from academicstudy for some time, then this book will help you to write a moreinnovative and thorough dissertation.
This practical guide to cost studies of buildings has been updated and revised throughout for the 6th edition. New developments in RICS New Rules of Measurement (NRM) are incorporated throughout the book, in addition to new material on e-business, the internet, social media, building information modelling, sustainability, building resilience and carbon estimating. This trusted and easy to use guide to the cost management role: Focuses on the importance of costs of constructing projects during the different phases of the construction process Features learning outcomes and self-assessment questions for each chapter Addresses the requirements of international readers From introductory data on the construction industry and the history of construction economics, to recommended methods for cost analysis and post-contract cost control, Cost Studies of Buildings is an ideal companion for anyone learning about cost management.
In recent years the construction industry has been criticised forlack of successful innovation compared to other major industries.The question of why the industry has not been seen to be innovativehas created concern among many involved with construction andproperty. The driving concern is where the motivation for thisinnovation should come from. Although construction clients havemade an impact in this area, the industry itself seems divided asto whether, when and where clients should drive the innovationprocess. Clients Driving Innovation brings together an international groupof researchers and practitioners to investigate the role of clientsin construction innovation. Written in three parts, it covers thecontext for innovation driven by clients, the client impact on theinnovation process and how new ideas can be pushed through intopractice. Numerous case studies illustrate the role clients canplay and the key issues that need to be addressed. With increasing interest in the contribution clients can make toconstruction innovation, Clients Driving Innovation will beessential reading for construction management researchers, majorconstruction contractors and clients and government policy makers.
There is growing interest in future scenario planning of the construction industry but a disconnect between thinking about the future at the policy-making level and implementing real change. Constructing Futures: industry leaders and futures thinking in construction takes a thematic approach to the future of the UK construction industry by presenting the results of a series of in-depth interviews conducted with leading construction figures and structuring this material into chapters addressing the key contemporary issues in the industry. These high-profile figures are drawn from a wide range of stakeholder groups representing the realities of construction, including architects, client organisations (public-sector and private-sector), consultants, contractors, developers, lobby groups with special interests, policy makers, professional institutions, and trade unions. A total of 15 influential figures were interviewed for the book, from Sir Michael Latham and Bob White to Wayne Hemmingway and Kevin McCloud. Part One looks to the past by reviewing a series of foresight studies undertaken of the construction industry and re-presenting stories of our interviewees' lives to explain the development of leadership in the context of the construction industry. In Part Two, the authors look at the present and discuss two fundamental issues: sustainable development and governance of the construction industry. In Part Three the book concludes with an afterthought for the future, highlighting key lessons learnt putting forward a series of research questions derived from this scholarly reflection of 'futures thinking' in construction. Throughout, the authors juxtapose the views of the 15 influential figures interviewed with a review of the salient points found in the relevant and authoritative sources of theoretical literature, both in the mainstream literature and the field of construction management. This allows the reader to benefit from the practical insights of those interviews whilst gaining a rapid understanding of the key debates of the theoretical subject under scrutiny.
