Collaboration and Engagement Throughout The Supply Chain : The Role of Government

Collaboration is acknowledged as a key to continued growth in the Australian construction industry. Government, as a major industry client, has an important role to play with respect to fostering collaboration and ensuring the global competitiveness of the industry. The paper draws upon data collected for the Construction 2020 study and aims to demonstrate that government can a) help to break down the adversarial situation that currently exists between clients, project managers and subcontractors; and b) allow the supply chain to collaborate more effectively in terms of satisfying the relational and financial needs of all parties. Government can also provide a clear set of guidelines (backed up by a functional dispute resolution system) that will promote confidence with respect to forging relationships. Thus, the paper will discuss the way in which public policy can be more closely aligned with actual industry needs in order to promote greater collaboration.

Success factors in an alliancing contract : a case study in Australia

Many studies have been carried out in relation to construction procurement methods. Evidence shows that there needs to be a change of culture and attitude in the construction industry, moving away from traditional adversarial relationship into cooperative and collaborative relationship. At the same time there is also an increasing concern and discussion on alternative procurement methods, drifting away from traditional procurement systems. Relational contracting approaches have become more popular in recent years, and have appeared in common forms such as partnering, alliancing and relationship management contracts. This paper reports the findings of a survey undertaken with a private organisation based on an alliance project during its design stage, identifying the critical factors that influence the success of the alliance project. Legal aspects focusing on dispute resolution in alliancing are also highlighted.

Developing a vision for an nD modelling tool

The design of a building is a complicated process, having to formulate diverse components through unique tasks involving different personalities and organisations in order to satisfy multi-faceted client requirements. To do this successfully, the project team must encapsulate an integrated design that accommodates various social, economic and legislative factors. Therefore, in this era of increasing global competition integrated design has been increasingly recognised as a solution to deliver value to clients.----- The ‘From 3D to nD modelling’ project at the University of Salford aims to support integrated design; to enable and equip the design and construction industry with a tool that allows users to create, share, contemplate and apply knowledge from multiple perspectives of user requirements (accessibility, maintainability, sustainability, acoustics, crime, energy simulation, scheduling, costing etc.). Thus taking the concept of 3-dimensional computer modelling of the built environment to an almost infinite number of dimensions, to cope with whole-life construction and asset management issues in the design of modern buildings. This paper reports on the development of a vision for how integrated environments that will allow nD-enabled construction and asset management to be undertaken. The project is funded by a four-year platform grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in the UK; thus awarded to a multi-disciplinary research team, to enable flexibility in the research strategy and to produce leading innovation. This paper reports on the development of a business process and IT vision for how integrated environments will allow nD-enabled construction and asset management to be undertaken. It further develops many of the key issues of a future vision arising from previous CIB W78 conferences.

Framework for measuring success of construction projects

The construction industry is dynamic in nature. The concept of project success has remained ambiguously defined in the construction industry. Project success means different things to different people. While some authors consider time, cost and quality as the predominant targets, others suggest that success is something more complex. The aim of this report is to develop a framework for measuring success of construction projects. A range of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), measured both objectively and subjectively is developed. The identification of KPIs helps set a benchmark for measuring the performance of a construction project and provides significant insights into developing a general and comprehensive base for further research.

Using data mining to improve building life cycle

The building life cycle process is complex and prone to fragmentation as it moves through its various stages. The number of participants, and the diversity, specialisation and isolation both in space and time of their activities, have dramatically increased over time. The data generated within the construction industry has become increasingly overwhelming. Most currently available computer tools for the building industry have offered productivity improvement in the transmission of graphical drawings and textual specifications, without addressing more fundamental changes in building life cycle management. Facility managers and building owners are primarily concerned with highlighting areas of existing or potential maintenance problems in order to be able to improve the building performance, satisfying occupants and minimising turnover especially the operational cost of maintenance. In doing so, they collect large amounts of data that is stored in the building’s maintenance database. The work described in this paper is targeted at adding value to the design and maintenance of buildings by turning maintenance data into information and knowledge. Data mining technology presents an opportunity to increase significantly the rate at which the volumes of data generated through the maintenance process can be turned into useful information. This can be done using classification algorithms to discover patterns and correlations within a large volume of data. This paper presents how and what data mining techniques can be applied on maintenance data of buildings to identify the impediments to better performance of building assets. It demonstrates what sorts of knowledge can be found in maintenance records. The benefits to the construction industry lie in turning passive data in databases into knowledge that can improve the efficiency of the maintenance process and of future designs that incorporate that maintenance knowledge.

Literature Review Value Alignment Process for Project Delivery

The objective of the project “Value Alignment Process for Project Delivery” is to provide a catalyst and tools for reform in the building and construction industry to transform business-as-usual performance into exceptional performance. The outcomes of this project will be beneficial to not only the construction industry, but to the community as a whole because a more sophisticated industry can deliver more effective use of assets, financing, operating and maintenance of facilities to suit the community’s needs. The research project consists of a study into best practice project delivery and the development of a suite of products, resources and services to guide project teams towards the best approach for a specific project. These resources will be focused on promoting the principles that underlie best practice project delivery, rather than on identifying a particular delivery system. The need for such tools and resources becomes more and more acute as the environment within which the construction industry operates becomes more and more complex, and as business and political imperatives shift to encompass or represent diverse stakeholder interests. To this end, this literature review looks at why it is essential to achieve transformation in the Australian construction industry in the context of its importance to the Australian economy. It seeks to investigate the concepts of ‘alignment’ and value’ as they pertain to construction industry processes and relationships. It comprehensively reviews drivers of project excellence and best practice project delivery principles and looks at how clients approach selection of project delivery systems. It critiques existing project delivery strategies and gives an overview of recent best practice initiatives. The literature review represents a milestone against the Project Agreement and forms a foundation document for this research project

Final report : offsite manufacture in Australia Final report off-site manufacture in Australia

Off-site Manufacture (OSM) has long been recognised, both in Australia and internationally, as offering numerous benefits to all parties in the construction process. More importantly, it is recognised as a key vehicle for driving improvement within the construction industry. The uptake of OSM in construction is however limited, despite well documented benefits. The research aims to determine the ‘state-of-the-art’ of OSM in Australia. It confirms the benefits and identifies the real and perceived barriers to the widespread adoption of OSM. Further the project identifies opportunities for future investment and research. Although numerous reports have been produced in the UK on the state of OSM adoption within that region, no prominent studies exist for the Australian context. This scoping study is an essential component upon which to build any initiatives that can take advantage of the benefits of OSM in construction. The Construction 2020 report predicted that OSM is set to increase in use over the next 5-15 years, further justifying the need for such a study. The long-term goal of this study is to contribute to the improvement of the Australian construction industry through a realisation of the potential benefits of OSM.

Environmental assessment for commercial buildings: Stakeholder requirements and tool characteristics

The Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation (CRC CI) is a national research, development and implementation centre focused on the needs of the property, design, construction and facility management sectors. Established in 2001 and headquartered at Queensland University of Technology as an unincorporated joint venture under the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Program, the CRC CI is developing key technologies, tools and management systems to improve the effectiveness of the construction industry. The CRC CI is a seven year project funded by a Commonwealth grant and industry, research and other government support. More than 150 researchers and an alliance of 19 leading partner organisations are involved in and support the activities of the CRC CI

Safety culture research, lead indicators, and the development of safety effectiveness indicators in the construction sector

Construction sector application of Lead Indicators generally and Positive Performance Indicators (PPIs) particularly, are largely seen by the sector as not providing generalizable indicators of safety effectiveness. Similarly, safety culture is often cited as an essential factor in improving safety performance, yet there is no known reliable way of measuring safety culture. This paper proposes that the accurate measurement of safety effectiveness and safety culture is a requirement for assessing safe behaviours, safety knowledge, effective communication and safety performance. Currently there are no standard national or international safety effectiveness indicators (SEIs) that are accepted by the construction industry. The challenge is that quantitative survey instruments developed for measuring safety culture and/ or safety climate are inherently flawed methodologically and do not produce reliable and representative data concerning attitudes to safety. Measures that combine quantitative and qualitative components are needed to provide a clear utility for safety effectiveness indicators.

Brite phase 1 report to industry : innovate – now

Trying to innovate or wanting to? Making a start is the most difficult step on any journey. Whether trying to innovate for the first time, or seeking improvements on current performance, organisations are confronted with a plethora of options. Innovate ― Now! makes action easier by presenting some of the key considerations for improving innovation performance. This guide has been based on the outcomes of a survey and case studies conducted between 2003 and 2005 in the Australian property and construction industry and therefore contains unique and up-to-date information, examples and suggestions tailored specifically to your industry needs.

Influences on construction innovation : a brief overview of recent literature

This report reviews the most recent literature on construction innovation with the aim of highlighting the primary influences on innovation in the building and construction industry.

Ethical behaviour in the construction procurement process

In construction, inter-organisational relationships are of the highest importance. Ethical practice and behaviour is a means for improving inter-organisational relationships by providing a clear understanding of the rights and obligations of all parties, improving productivity, affecting long-term business dealings, and influencing quality, time and costs. Therefore, the ability to build sustainable relationships grounded in ethical practice is important to the construction industry. Establishing ethical standards at the beginning of the procurement process provides an ethical platform for the project life cycle and the relationship between procurers and contractors. Therefore it is important to determine what the ethical issues are in the Australian construction industry from members of the industry themselves; including clients. This “bottom up” approach is not a particularly new concept. Ever since the Gyles Royal Commission in 1992 there has been a considerable effort by government agencies to develop policies to improve the ethical behaviour of the industry.

E-business adoption in construction : international review on impediments

The adoption of e-business by the Australian construction industry lags other service and product industries. It is assumed that slow adoption rate does not reflect the maturity of the technology but is due to adoption impediments peculiar to the nature of construction. This chapter examines impediments to the uptake of e-business nationally and internationally. A systematic and extensive literature search of impediments (also referred to as obstacles, impediments or hindrances) to adoption has been undertaken and the findings discussed in this chapter. This review included more that 200 documents and these have been published in a searchable database as part of a larger research initiative funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation. The influence of levels of e-business maturity seen in other sectors such as retail, tourism and manufacturing was also captured and a number of major impediments were identified some including: privacy, trust, uncertainty of financial returns, lack of reliable measurement, fraud, lack of support and system maintenance. A total of 23 impediments were assessed in terms of impact to organisational type and size across reviewed documents. With this information it was possible to develop a reference framework for measuring maturity levels and readiness to uptake e-business in construction. Results have also shown that impediments to e-business adoption work differently according to organisational type and culture. Areas of training and people development need to be addressed. This would include a more sensitive approach to the nature of construction organisations, especially to those small and medium enterprises. Raising levels of awareness and creating trust for on-line collaboration are other aspects that need attention, which current studies confirm as lacking. An empirical study within construction, to validate these findings, forms the subsequent phase of this research.

Public policy implications of construction innovation research

This report undertakes an exploratory analysis of Construction Innovation research projects in order to answer the question “What are the public policy implications of Construction Innovation research?”