An examination of the historical background to the use of procurement systems shows that in the post-war period up to the early 1970s, despite all relevant official reports and studies recommending otherwise, the majority of building work was carried out by conventional methods of procurement with only a relatively small number of projects being implemented by means of, what were then, non…
Before examining the procurement process in detail, the latest philosophies adopted by major clients to implement their projects need to be considered because they are likely to affect substantially, at least in the immediate future, the project culture and the way in which clients manage their construction projects. Traditional methods of implementing projects have been replaced over the pa…
The construction industry and projects forming the built environment involve many activ- ities. According to Section 105 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act (1996), a construction project can refer to any building activity that includes altera- tion, repair, erection, demolition, maintenance, painting, land clearing, earth moving, grading, excavating, trenching, digging…
'Building procurement' has become a fashionable subject. It seems that hardly a week goes by without my receiving a note that a student is writing a dissertation on an apparently new angle to the subject or that a course, conference, seminar or whatever is offering to explain the challenge of con struction procurement now and in the future. Consultancies and contractors who should know bet…
An essential question to ask before embarking on any exercise or enterprise beyond that of the transitory or trivial is 'Why?' An exercise, that is a set of movements, tasks and so on designed to train, improve or test abilities may perhaps be transitory or trivial especially to those not involved. But an enterprise, that is a project or undertaking especially one requiring boldness or eff…