Elaine Knutt, Editor CM
Mind the gap from campus to construction
If it fell to you to Advise Construction & Built Environment diploma student Molly Brett on her future career, what would you say to her? If you were weighing up her options, versus what we know about the future for the UK construction industry, which career path would you steer Molly towards?
You’d take into account Molly’s interest in architecture and design, but set that against the government’s new Plan for Growth, announced following the Budget last month. It’s predicated on a 20% cut in out-turn costs, partly based on greater design standardisation. In other words, fewer bespoke education, health and community buildings, and greater reliance on semi-templated design solutions.
So it doesn’t sound as if demand for architects will be on the increase. But the Plan for Growth could present a bonus for contractors skilled at creating workable design solutions – and the designers and design managers they employ. Maybe you’re thinking architectural technology?
The next fork in the road is whether Molly should study full-time at university, or earn-and-learn: via a Higher Level Apprenticeship leading to a foundation degree, or working and studying part-time, with or without employer sponsorship. Ultimately, all three routes should deliver Molly to her BSc Hons graduation ceremony (foundation degrees can be “topped up” to honours degrees).
But the personal experience would be very different. Campus life is about exploring your capabilities and establishing yourself as an educated, independent person. Working life is about delivering to your employer’s way of working, thinking and seeing the world. Would Molly benefit from combining both, or embarking on a career only after three years of building skills and confidence?
To Molly, the option of paying her way through university, then graduating with a job, a good CV and less debt, is clearly attractive. But many of us who’ve been to university would agree with Darren James of London South Bank University in our debate. Going to university shouldn’t just be a financial decision; it’s about setting yourself up to make the most of all the future opportunities that come your way.
Molly’s generation may end up making their decisions on the basis of personality and background: pragmatic types might opt to earn-and-learn, confident risk-takers will rationalise the £27 000 debt in terms of their future earning power. But it’s still a horrible dilemma, and no one can blame them for feeling let down.
But Molly hasn’t been betrayed by the industry, and she mustn’t be. Construction needs individuals from both types, and both routes. The CIOB already offers a variety of paths to membership, and may have to add to them in years to come. But all future graduates, whether full-time or part-time, will have had their enterprise severely tested, and need our support.
This is my last issue of CM for a while, as I’m off on maternity leave until 2012. But the magazine will be in two sets of extremely capable hands. Denise Chevin, former editor of Building, will be Acting Editor, supported by Deputy Editor Jan-Carlos Kucharek. The industry is living through the proverbial “interesting times”, and they’ll do a great job of reporting them.
Elaine Knutt, editor
Feedback
We’ve developed offsite systems, but who’s buying?
Ken Cox MCIOB, formerly of Gammon Construction, Hong Kong
CM’s February offsite fabrication article was interesting and informative, but it is not as easy as it first seems to meet the demands of the future.
I joined the industry in 1965 and worked for a company that responded to a government White Paper at the time challenging the industry to provide industrialised systems of building to speed up the construction process to meet the severe housing shortage.
I was part of a team developing a system of timber-framed buildings, which was initially piloted on the company’s private developments before larger public projects were secured. These projects required demanding management techniques to achieve the quality and speed demanded in the White Paper.
But after the first developments, the serial project basis on which they were founded failed to materialise. Although the technology developed benefited the industry as a whole, the volume production for industrialisation of offsite components fell by the wayside.
Moving on to 2000, I was working in Hong Kong for the largest construction company there which challenged itself to develop the first high-rise modular system of housing with a view to meeting perceived demand for quality and speed of construction. The result was a system of factory produced, pre-finished modules produced to exacting standards that could be transported to site and assembled, typically to 30-50 stories high.
The system was demonstrated to government and private developers alike, but no one wanted to be the first to commission a project. Without surety on a minimum number of blocks to be developed, the investment in expending our factory to enable full production to commence was not justified.
We went on to construct the Integer project in Hong Kong, an exhibition project showcasing houses of the future, developing our own system-built office block and teaching academy and other precast and architectural elements. The system won a government award and was patented worldwide, but still awaits a single order.
In conclusion, I believe the need for offsite factory production will prevail, but it will only be able to respond to the lower-volume side of the industry and won’t solve current housing shortages.
Offsite’s here — if you look
Paul Chadwick, director, Ergohome
It was interesting to note your disappointment at the history of offsite success while continuing to point out its potential (CM February).
I believe there are a whole bunch of practitioners “waiting in the wings” that simply don’t get noticed because they are not “construction establishment”.
I read your magazine at my brother-in-law’s, he is a “traditional” construction manager. We’ve been pioneering offsite at Ergohome for years now, like many others. My background is in aerospace and automotive manufacturing — I think that perhaps you only look among yourselves for new ground being broken when it quite possibly could easily be coming from elsewhere.
My procurement prognosis
Farzad Khosrowshahi MCIOB, director of Construct IT, University of Salford
I write with reference to two news stories in CM — “Survey reveals depth of industry’s dissatisfaction with procurement” (CIOB News, January) and “Clients need better understanding of procurement, say construction heads” (Contact, February).
Why there are so many procurement methods and yet procurement remains a serious issue? Most, if not all, procurement methods emerged as a solution to a problem at that time. For instance, the need to reduce project time through overlapping of design and construction phases led to D&B. But I have yet to find a procurement system that emerged from a thorough analysis of clients’ overall strategy rather than a response to a specific need.
We are now faced with a variety of procurement routes, each with distinctive features. However, having selected a procurement route for its particular features, clients are also wedged into a whole series of other attributes that may not be so favourable.
In a proposed project I am researching, construction procurement methods are not viewed as a package, each with a significant characteristic that appeals to some clients. Instead, they are defined in terms of a number of attributes that together make up a procurement route.
The research demonstrates the need for what I am calling a “procurement shop”, whereby clients create their bespoke procurement method by picking and mixing these attributes in the way suited to their project and strategy. The work is ongoing, and the challenge is to quantify all of these attributes to allow parties to negotiate the trade-offs.
Correction
In February’s “Back to basics: PPC 2000 a decade on”, we incorrectly stated that 5.5% of PPC 2000 contracts in 2009 had been to adjudication. In fact, 5.5% of all UK projects by value in 2009 used PPC2000, and it is thought that only a handful have ever been to adjudication.
Will you be buying tickets for the 2012 Olympics?
Construction-wise I’m keen to take a look at the stadium, but really I’ll be there for the sport. I have registered my family for athletics, tennis and badminton events. I love track and field, I used to sprint when I was a youngster, I play tennis and last year I started playing badminton which I love.
For a family it’s far too expensive though, it will cost about £40 per person for a minor athletics event and is much more pricey for a final. We’re still registering to see the 100 metres finals, though, even if it is impossible to get a ticket.
It’s also really sad that you can only visit in two-hour time slots — as a family you want to spend the day there. They are going to have big logistical problems trying to clear the stadium out after each session.
Canute Simpson, director, SmartObjectives
The honest answer is no I’m not, for a few reasons. The first is I can’t get my head around the idea of applying for tickets for an event that’s not going to happen for another 15 months. Then I had a look at the ticket website and was genuinely surprised at how expensive the tickets are, it was a bit of a shocker – you can spend up to £700 on one ticket! There’s also the fact that when you make a booking you can’t be sure what you event you get, so it’s a bit of a lottery.
On the other hand I have two kids and I’d like to get them interested in the whole Olympics spectacle, so we may try to go to some of the more peripheral events like the sailing on the south coast, which will make for a nice day out and means we can avoid the London crush.
Paul Nash FCIOB, director, Cyril Sweett
Yes, I want to see the main stadium in use for athletics and take the family a walk around the park, the whole spectacle is just mind-blowing and one of the best British news stories for years. I’m actually going down to see the Olympic park in May, before it’s completed, as a guest of Olympic delivery partner CLM. It will give me a chance to learn all about the project.
Martin Chambers PPCIOB, Shaylor Group
Yes, track and field and swimming are my cup of tea and I’d like to see the velodrome too. The Olympics is something the industry should really be proud of, to create a project that massive and be on track to deliver it ahead of schedule is very impressive. Occasionally I’m in Stratford for meetings and from the car window the architecture and overall layout already looks stunning.
Phillip Hall MCIOB, managing director, Hall Construction
I don’t want tickets, I have been working with a couple of chaps providing security work there on long-term contracts who could probably get me them, but I’m not interested in it really. Being a Welshman, my sport is rugby, I played it well into my 30s, so if they introduced that as an event I might get more excited.
I considered the idea of arranging some sort of corporate hospitality event there for clients, but I’m not convinced that the business case for it stacks up or delivers a measurable return in the long term.
Peter Gracia, Gracia Consult
I am definitely hoping to get my hands on some Olympic Games tickets, these games will be something that our generation can really get behind, if only to celebrate the sheer scale of the construction works that have been undertaken to deliver all the venues that make up the Olympic Park.
I am hoping to get tickets to the aquatics centre to see the diving and swimming events, and the velodrome, which for me is the highlight of the stadia on the Olympic Park.
Lucynda Jensen MCIOB, package manager Athletes’ Village, Lend Lease
Online opinion: Your reaction to the stories in last month’s CM
Maude: Help us buy smarter
I agree with Francis Maude. As an SME in construction we are continuously completing PQQs and the like for public sector work to no avail. We constantly receive poor scores in PQQ feedback for the “historical experience in the public sector and similar projects” etc even though we deliver complex and demanding projects for private sector clients. It is not that frameworks should be removed, as I agree that partnering-type procurement delivers the best results. It is the fact that you have a “chicken and egg” scenario: how can you get the chance to deliver a public sector project if you cannot get your foot in the door to justify your inclusion? Remember that all large major suppliers started out as SMEs trying to get their foot in the door.
David Chinejani MCIOB, PPE Construction
Chris Blythe: the suicidal nature of suicide bids
We have been dealing with under-cost bidding in Ireland (South) for the past two years. Government agencies have said “bids will be assessed on value” and introduced a weighting system for assessment. However, it is always the lowest bid that is accepted. Open tendering is not the answer for inclusion of SMEs, it has been introduced here and has only led to totally unrealistic bids being achieved for projects.
Michael O’Sullivan
We are all aware that over the years the public sector does not learn commercial lessons. But public sector procedure is far too slow to react to the market. Let us see how much overspent the packages that make up the Olympic stadia end up — for sure they will not come in under any pre-set budget, which is a missed opportunity.
I know of a public sector project, which will be late by up to 30%. Someone wanted the project in an unrealistic time frame, then entered into the tender process having set the liquidated damages at £50,000 a day — only suicide bidders applied!
Keith Skelton
Construction boards need gender balance, urges Lowe
What is the colour of the sky on this woman’s planet?
Forget the large contractors where the directors are every bit employees. Does she not realise that the majority of the companies in construction are small, often family-led entities, where the directors are involved in the day-to-day operation of the companies, without the luxury of outside non-executive directors who place an unnecessary and unsustainable drain on the company’s resources?
What the industry needs is a diminution in red tape, ignorant interference, and a return to proper apprenticeship training.
Robert Gavin MRICS, FCIOB
CPD: exploring the means to keep out the cold
I’ve just upgraded my home with external wall insulation by Weatherby Building Systems. On the continent these systems are widely available in DIY stores. But there is an element of industry self-protectionism going on that makes them difficult to purchase here. The first floor of my terraced home cost £2,000, so there is definitely a good profit being made in some quarters.
Julian King
Online poll last month
Does your organisation have a BIM-adoption plan?
Yes: 30%
No: 70%
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