Construction clients and mediation: A follow-up study of attitudes and experience

Posted on: 22 November 2012
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The principal aim of this study was to explore construction clients’ awareness, attitudes and experiences relative to mediation, drawing upon quantitative and qualitative analyses of small and medium-sized contracting firms in Scotland. Register on the RICS website to view document.

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Association of Researchers in Construction Management (ARCOM) Conference 2012. Edinburgh, 3-5 September 2012

Posted on: 22 November 2012
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This annual event provides a showcase of the best research in international construction management. 134 papers were accepted for the conference and appear in two volumes of conference proceedings which are available online. Papers are listed under the following themes:

Vol.1 : Building Information Modelling; Construction design and technology; Disaster management; Education and learning; Equality and diversity; Forecasting and decision making; Health & safety and respect for people; Human behaviour and culture; Human resource management and skills; Inter-organisational relations and supply chain management.

Vol.2: Offsite construction; Organisational strategy and business performance; Procurement; Project management; Project performance; Research methods and new perspectives; Risk management; Sustainability (Operation and practice); Sustainability (Theory and design).

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Delivering good homes: Defining, planning, designing, managing and financing. London, 25 October 2012

Posted on: 20 November 2012
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The conference took participants through the process of achieving good homes. Presentations were given on why building performance in new homes matters, including for energy performance and health and well being and how to deliver this with innovation and quality assurance processes. Other topics covered include housing and community management; management plans for the Bicester Eco town; and new financing models and solutions for good homes. Presentations are available online.

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10th International Conference People, Buildings and Environment. Lednice, Czech Republic, 7-9 November 2012

Posted on: 20 November 2012
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The conference covers four research topics. This year’s topics include: construction economics and management: water management and water structures; landscape management; and university teaching and learning of civil engineering. The full conference proceedings are available online.

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Videos on facilities management and low carbon refurb

Posted on: 1 November 2012
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The Business Channel.tv provides directors and senior executives in the public and private sectors with documentary programmes that not only go to the heart of how businesses can grow strategically, but through the power of film provide expert advice to help in the planning and specification of the right business plans and products. The Business Channel focuses on the business challenges that matter today.

Facilities management: The business case

Within the economy, the FM industry has quietly turned itself into a major creator of value and jobs and by some estimates it is worth £120bn a year and is still growing. In our programmes we will be bringing our audience up to speed with the value that FM can create and how it can free up organisations to focus on their core strengths. We will define how FM encompasses the utilities that make a building work, such as energy and security, and the services that are needed to support a workforce. Taken as a whole we will look at the impact that FM can make and how your services or products can make a difference.

The low carbon refurb: The retrofit plan

This series of programmes is to provide a master class of expertise to help construction and building engineering organisations and CIBSE members refurbish and retrofit offices, plants, hotels, leisure and shopping centres, hospitals and schools with low carbon technologies and products. Contributors include CIBSE, the Carbon Trust and the UK Green Building Council.

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Encouraging innovation in infrastructure

Posted on: 25 October 2012
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Forum for the Future has launched a set of tools to drive innovation in infrastructure and long term sustainable investment. The toolkit is the result of a year-long project to understand what inhibits innovation in infrastructure projects in order to support sustainable city operation. It has been developed and produced in collaboration with six key organisations that have a significant role in delivering the UK’s infrastructure. The toolkit is made up of four elements:

SpacedIn: A guide on getting the most out of your workspace. Can be used to demonstrate to facilities departments, budget holders and senior executives that improving the design of the working environment can enable innovation.

How to engage remote staff: A guide offering practical tips for engaging the large number of remote workers in the infrastructure sector.

Innovation tools: A set of easy-to-use tools based around key elements of the innovation process, from initiating a project to the dissemination of learning outcomes, to promote creative thinking in any organisation.

The little book of innovation: An outline of the key findings of the toolkit project and why these outputs are useful for any organisation in the infrastructure sector and beyond.

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The limits of influence. The role of supply chains in influencing health and safety management in two sectors

Posted on: 16 October 2012
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This report presents findings on factors that positively influence the way health and safety is managed by suppliers in the construction and merchant shipping sectors. The research used two construction case studies to explore what positive effects their supply chains had on health and safety management. The study found that they were influenced by the demands of their clients to ensure good health and safety practice among their own contractors and subcontractors. However, in other chains where high standards from the top aren’t dictated throughout. The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health is urging construction businesses not to cut corners on health and safety at the expense of worker safety.

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Joint CIB W070, W092 and TG72 International Conference on Facilities Management, Procurement systems and Public Private Partnerships. Cape Town, 23-25 January 2012

Posted on: 12 October 2012
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Under the themed heading of “Delivering value to the community”, this conference focused on Facilities Management, Procurement Systems and Public Private Partnership. The main theme of the conference is how the development, procurement, delivery and management of built assets and facilities can deliver value to all stakeholders, including the wider community. The focus is on the maximization of the value jointly created by the stakeholders and the equitable distribution of the resulting rewards. This focus is informed by transformations in public and private organisations concerning the procurement of building and infrastructure, support services and workplace strategies. The intention was that the bringing together of these working commissions will foster research synergies. Conference proceedings are available online, with papers available under the following headings: Strategic facilities management; Law and contract; Value enhancement; Inter-organisational relations and supply chain; Work, workers and workplace; Procurement; Sustainable facilities management; Public Private Partnerships; Case studies in facilities management; Organisational strategy and business performance; maintenance and maintainability.

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Contracts and Law on NBS TV

Posted on: 4 October 2012
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The following TV programmes have recently been added to NBS TV:

JCT 2011 Contracts: an overview

A new suite of JCT Contracts, JCT Contracts Edition 2011, have just been released in line with the ‘The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009’ and will apply, in England, from 1 October 2011. The Construction Act 2009 has already been covered in a previous programme in this series and so this programme will look, in some detail, at the Contracts themselves.

The National Planning Policy Framework

The new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) finally came into force in England on 27 March 2012 following a high profile battle between pro-development stakeholders and environmental campaigners. This programme looks at the NPPF and its likely impact.

What is Integrated Project Insurance?

A key aim of the Government’s new Construction Strategy is a push for truly collaborative project procurement; however project insurance remains one of the most potentially divisive issues facing the project team. This programme examines a possible solution called Integrated Project Insurance or IPI where one policy covers the entire scheme.

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How to choose the right construction contract or delivery method?

Posted on: 2 October 2012
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This blog includes a podcast featuring an interview with Debra Inwald, from Works-in-Progress Associates, on the topic of best practices in choosing the right construction contract or delivery method for your construction project. You can sign up to the Construction Industry Podcast, which recently received the Be2Award for Best Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Social Media Blog.

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