Rethinking the construction process: focusing the construction curriculum

The main aim of this report is to encourage programme providers within the Built Environment to take a more proactive approach to the adoption of Rethinking Construction concepts within existing and future programmes. As a starting point, an Exemplar Module Specification and a Teaching Schedule have been developed. These will have to be modified to take into account the desired learning outcomes of individual programmes. The report reviews recent developments and initiatives that have encouraged the construction industry to both adopt the important cultural philosophy that customer satisfaction is inseparable from business goals and view performance in terms of safety, cost, quality and sustainability. The roles of the key organisations charged with driving the through change have been summarised. The three Appendices to the report describe: Supporting Information; EU/UK Government Education Initiatives; and Educational Networks. They also include several web sites that provide detailed information to support this report. These web sites can be used to obtain Demonstration Projects to support individual lectures or be used to identify potential funding sources to support the development of new programmes

The future of construction procurement in the UK: a shift to service provision

Procurement is a process and observable phenomenon entwined both culturally, politically and practically into the fabric and history of the construction industry. Historical reviews have highlighted recent changes in procurement systems which reflect the developments within the industry as a whole. This development is argued to be influenced mainly by a myriad of inter-connected contextual drivers and issues both internal and external to the industry. Ability to adapt to change via a comprehensive understanding of these inter-connected issues is a prerequisite for the industry to better meet the requirements of the society and deliver added value to the customers. This paper reports on research findings which identify procurement issues and trends from past construction reports and uses these issues as a foundation on which to build future scenarios in the area of construction procurement. Future scenarios constructed by experts in the area of construction procurement are also presented. The scenarios depict two polarised paradigms, namely ‘free market’ and ‘intervention’, which will largely determine the future state of the industry. The scenario of health care provision suggests a developmental shift from infrastructure production to service provision, and highlights the importance placed upon delivering end user value. Future work will validate these plausible scenarios and develop an interactive simulation tool based on system dynamics (SD) principles to assist practitioner’s in their decision making