Mike Hoxley

Measuring UK construction professional service quality: the what, how, when and who

Discusses the development of a 26‐item scale for assessing service quality in a UK construction professional service context. The research builds upon work undertaken by service marketing academics in the USA who have developed a generic service quality measurement instrument (SERVQUAL). The data collection (involving the assessment of 244 professionals by their clients) and analysis stages of the research are described in detail. The findings of the research are that construction professional service quality can be described as a four‐dimensional construct (the writer has called the factors “what”, “how”, “when” and “who”), and that the assessment scale possesses both reliability and validity. Concludes with a discussion of the possible future uses of this scale.

A conceptual framework of the interface between the design and construction processes

Purpose – As the construction industry strives for closer integration of the participants, more responsibility for the management of the detailed design process is being directed to main contractors and combined with their existing duties of managing the construction and pre‐construction processes. Crucially, this necessitates successful management of the interface between these processes, and this paper seeks to investigate a conceptual view of that interface to provide a foundation for improving understanding of it.Design/methodology/approach – Recent and current literature is examined, and various theoretical backgrounds for the design and the construction processes are reviewed. The consequences for the understanding of the interface are discussed. The significance of conceptual frameworks is also reviewed.Findings – A significant difference is identified in the published work between the theoretical understandings of the construction and design processes. From this a conceptual framework for the inte...

Multimedia in construction education: new dimensions

The use of multimedia for educational purposes has generated considerable discussion in recent years. This paper discusses a number of different ways in which multimedia can be used in the construction industry. Learning from other industries, particularly manufacturing is essential as multimedia has been explored and exploited by such industries. The first half of the paper demonstrates how multimedia can be used to aid learning and training in the construction sector and in disseminating research results to an industrial audience. The second part demonstrates how multimedia can be used as an interface to complex integrated database systems using virtual reality (VR) technologies. These can be used in a laboratory environment to train industrialists and students to use integrated systems, a topic of great importance and traditionally known to be difficult to understand. The work presented here builds upon research undertaken at the University of Salford in the UK through the use of case studies and findings generated from workshops attended by industrial collaborators who are interested in improving the ways in which information is delivered in the construction sector through multimedia capabilities.

Purchasing UK public sector property and construction professional services: competition v quality

The procurement of UK public services has seen considerable changes during the final 20 years of the millennium. Successive governments have legislated to impose firstly compulsion to compete on price, followed by a duty to achieve best value. Property and construction professional consultants were under an obligation to their professional bodies not to compete on price less than 20 years ago. The first part of this paper chronicles the main stages in this period of great change. Many commentators in the public and private sectors have predicted a decline in service quality as firms have been forced to cut costs in order to survive in highly competitive markets. The second part of the paper reports an empirical study that has investigated whether there is any substance to these predictions. One hundred and eighty nine public sector clients have assessed private sector consultants with a view to establishing whether those consultants appointed by competitive fee tendering perform less well than those appointed by other methods. The development of SURVEYQUAL, a 25 item service quality assessment scale is described briefly. Service quality is not significantly lower for those consultants appointed by competition. However the data suggest that public service clients can positively influence service quality by taking great care with the pre-selection of tenderers.

Condition inspections of residential property: a procedural framework

Presents a procedural framework for the inspection of domestic property. A mechanistic task, such as sketching the site plan and roof plan, is advocated in order to achieve focus, familiarity and freedom to undertake the inspection alone. An inspection of the exterior followed by the interior is recommended and a “top‐down” procedure is suggested. The type of information to record and how to record it are both discussed and reference is made to the existing and forthcoming benchmark standards of SAVA.

The impact of RICS education reform on building surveying

Purpose – It is of major concern to the surveying profession that the seven years between 1994 and 2001 witnessed a decline in the numbers of UK student surveyors of nearly 50 per cent. This was significant, especially when considered in the context of rising student numbers overall. The RICS decided to implement an education policy with the aim of increasing graduate quality. Changes were introduced in UK universities from September 2001. A number of universities saw their professionally accredited courses withdrawn as the RICS imposed academic entry standards and research output based on the UK Governments Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) criteria on which to base their “partnership” relationships. Figures released by the RICS in 2003 indicated that surveying student numbers increased by 17 per cent in all areas except building surveying, where they fell by just under 25 per cent to 445 in 2001. The paper seeks to answer a number of questions. Why were building surveying courses failing to recruit st...

Identifying an appropriate approach to judge low carbon buildings

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report research conducted in the UKs East Midlands region which explores optimising practice for low carbon building through an architectural award system.Design/methodology/approach – To explore the complexity of the contexts, philosophies and demonstrations involved in best practice for low carbon buildings, a mixed research approach was adopted through an online survey and interviews with 13 experts.Findings – The research provides practical means to evaluate low carbon buildings and suggests an approach where aesthetic design and technical compliance are given similar weightings. It also presents the opinions of construction professional practitioners and academics on best practice for low carbon buildings.Research limitations/implications – The research focuses on investigating the judging criteria and opinions of construction professionals who have, in the past, strongly identified with sustainable building design practice.Practical implications – As this r...

The employers' perspective of the impact of RICS education reform on building surveying

Purpose – This paper seeks to present the second part of research funded by the RICS Education Trust to investigate the impact of the 2001 education reforms on Building Surveying. The first part of the research involved the collection of data from university course leaders.Design/methodology/approach – This research involved the collection of data from large national, mainly London‐based, employers of building surveyors at a focus group meeting.Findings – The paper finds that issues of concern to these employers include the extent of construction technology knowledge of graduates, the delivery of contract administration, the placement year, post‐graduate conversion courses and the high referral rate for the Assessment of Professional Competence (APC). Recommendations include advice to universities on the design of building surveying undergraduate and conversion courses, a call for further research on the high APC referral rate, and greater liaison between industry and universities.Research limitations/imp...

UK building surveying education: the graduates' view

Purpose – Many facilities management professionals originally graduated from a building surveying course. The high referral rate of the professional body pre‐qualification assessment process for building surveyors and other criticisms of graduates have led many to question whether building surveying education is fit for purpose. This paper seeks to address these issues.Design/methodology/approach – Previous research on this subject has concentrated on obtaining the views of course providers and employers. The approach adopted for this study has been an on‐line survey of recent UK building surveying graduates. A 30 per cent response rate resulted in 806 graduates undertaking the survey.Findings – Most graduates had studied a full‐time undergraduate course, three‐quarters had gained some form of placement or work‐experience during their studies, the mode of the year of graduation was 2004 and 65 per cent of the sample work in private practice. The survey reveals concerns over non‐coverage of some of the pro...

Real estate employability : differing perceptions of graduates from undergraduate and postgraduate courses

Purpose – Employability is likely to be at the forefront of any degree applicants mind in England and Wales due to an impending large increase in the cost of tuition. The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a Centre for Education in the Built Environment‐funded project which has investigated real estate graduate competencies and employability. The paper concentrates on significant differences in emphasis by graduates from undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) courses.Design/methodology/approach – Following an extensive literature review, 72 competencies have been identified and the Confederation of British Industry classification of knowledge, skills and attributes has been adopted. An online survey of 639 graduates (half UG and half PG) asked respondents to complete five‐point Likert attitude scales to rate how their course enabled development of the 72 competencies. Themes developed from the results of the questionnaire study have been explored in greater detail with five real estate ...