"This is a serious and impressive work. It will help those who are committed to changing the industry to create structures to do so, whether in one area or in totality. It offers a whole range of powerful tools, which will be particularly useful to those with the personal drive to apply them to rethinking construction. It is packed with examples that help to flesh out a rigorous analysis of how the industry can improve."David Fison, Kvaerner Construction

How could the potential of IT be realised to improve business performance in architecture, construction and engineering organisations? How could organisations unleash the potential of IT to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage? How can organisations migrate from technology to IT-enabled business thinking? Based on the author's twenty years research experience, this book provides a holistic picture of the factors that enable architecture, construction and engineering organisations to explore the potential of IT to improve their businesses and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. It raises awareness of the importance of the organisational 'soft issues' and the role they play in influencing the outcome of IT investments as well as addressing other complementary enablers, such as knowledge management, learning organisations, maturity models and e-readiness measurements. Real case studies are used throughout the book to illustrate various concepts and to provide the reader with a realistic and practical picture. Rethinking IT in Construction & Engineering is ideal for lecturers and researchers in architecture, construction and engineering as well as professionals at managerial level in industry.

This is an essential, groundbreaking book for public and private buyers of construction, contractors and sub-contractors, designers, project managers, lawyers, Earned Value specialists, forensic claims analysts, schedulers, dispute resolution experts, academics, and anyone interested in improving performance and productivity on construction projects. Among the topics discussed are the following: - Exhaustive critique of existing Earned Value analysis that compels changes to current theory and practice - New Earned Value analytics for construction, integrated with resource-loaded CPM schedules represent a paradigm change - Worked examples of resource-loaded CPM schedules using the new EV Performance analytics - Identification of reliable performance thresholds for progress, productivity and resources - Understanding the interconnection of progress and productivity and performance patterns over time - How to create meaningful, resource-loaded, CPM schedules - Analyzing schedule float in concert with the new analytics - Why current cause and effect delay analysis is fundamentally flawed because it ignores root causes - Why delay claim analysis must always account for productivity - The problem common to all contract delivery methods and how to correct it - Why construction projects fail - Specific steps in creating a successful construction program - Game theoretical & other approaches to implementing a performance-based system - Using commercial dispute resolution to contemporaneously resolve claims and improve performance going forward - The importance of probabilistic (Monte Carlo) schedule analysis & problems with current practice

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.

Rethinking Building Skins: Transformative Technologies and Research Trajectories provides a comprehensive collection of the most relevant and forward-looking research in the field of façade design and construction today, with a focus on both product and process innovation. The book brings together the expertise, creativity, and critical thinking of more than fifty global innovators from both academia and industry, to guide the reader in translating research into practice. It identifies new opportunities for the construction sector to respond to present challenges, towards a more sustainable, efficient, connected, and safe future. - Introduces the reader to the role of façades with respect to the main challenges ahead - Provides an overview of the major façade technological advancements throughout history and identifies prospective research trajectories - Includes interviews with key industry players from different backgrounds and expertise - Showcases a comprehensive range of leading research topics in the field, organised by product and process innovation - Covers major innovations across the value chain including façade design, fabrication, construction, operation and maintenance, and end-of-life - Contributes towards the definition of an international research agenda and identifies emerging market opportunities for the façade industry

Incorporating HC 1090-i, session 2006-07

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.

In this updated and expanded second edition, Keith Potts and Nii Ankrah examine key issues in construction cost management across the building and civil engineering sectors, both in the UK and overseas. Best practice from pre-contract to post-contract phases of the project life-cycle are illustrated using major projects such as Heathrow Terminal 5, Crossrail and the London 2012 Olympics as case studies. More worked examples, legal cases, case studies and current research have been introduced to cover every aspect of the cost manager’s role. Whole-life costing, value management, and risk management are also addressed, and self-test questions at the end of each chapter support independent learning. This comprehensive book is essential reading for students on surveying and construction management programmes, as well as built environment practitioners with cost or project management responsibilities.

Using information gathered from a combined first and second grade classroom over two years, this book explores the students' routine actions in school, including their views about different literacy activities, their favorite part of school life, peer culture in both the boys' and the girls' worlds, issues of gender power, the integration of the teacher's official discourses and the children's unofficial culture, and the kind of school life children wish to have. Focusing on children's voices and perceptions, this book provides insight that will help educators preserve an accurate view of school culture and create effective policies in education. The book's interdisciplinary approach extensively applies theories and perspectives from educational philosophy, educational anthropology, sociology, post-structuralist theories, narratives, semiotics, literacy education, cultural studies, and critical ethnography. Through these disciplines, the book provides many critical perspectives on early childhood literacy education, classroom culture, and identity construction for educators to incorporate into curriculum design and to reflect on the potential consequences resulting from instructional decisions.