Factors Facilitating Construction Industry Development

This paper reports on a study aimed at identifying the key factors associated with construction industry development worldwide, by using a grounded theory approach. This involved, firstly, the identification of 62 variables from earlier studies. A questionnaire survey was then used to elicit views of the current strength of each variable. The resulting data were factor analysed and a set of eight key factors obtained comprising: (1) Industry-led better practice and culture; (2) Financial resources and investor confidence; (3) Human skills and culture of transparency; (4) Government policies and strategies supporting construction business; (5) Research and Development for construction; (6) Self-reliant construction culture; (7) Institutional support; and (8) Supportive attitudes from Aid agencies. These appear to be relevant to both developed and developing countries

Investigation into contractors' responsible sourcing implementation practice

This article was published in the journal Proceedings of the ICE - Engineering Sustainability [© Institution of Civil Engineers]. Permission is granted by ICE Publishing to print one copy for personal use. Any other use of these PDF files is subject to reprint fees. The journal's website is at: http://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/content/serial/ensuOver the last few years there has been an increasing demand for more efficient ways of procuring materials in terms of reducing their impacts on the environment. The UK Strategy for Sustainable Construction introduced a voluntary target of 25% of all resources in the construction industry to be responsibly sourced by 2012. At the time of writing there has been very limited research on responsible sourcing (RS), particularly in terms of contractors' current practices and implementation at project level. Therefore, an assessment of the current status of RS among the top 100 UK contractors has been captured using a questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews. The results indicate that no clear RS responsibility has been established, and there is no cohesive, top-down strategy from the strategic level (sustainability managers) to the implementation level (procurement mangers) in place in contracting companies. On the other hand, there was agreement that government leadership through the implementation of RS in all public projects could be a significant catalyst to drive RS in construction projects