Rod Gameson

Innovative protocols and technologies as a means of complying with the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payments Act 1999 (NSW) Australia

The Building and Construction Industry Security of Payments Act 1999—updated 27 November 2003, New South Wales, Australia provides a statutory framework which governs compulsory progress payments for those who undertake works or provide goods or services as part of a construction contract. Respondents to the process are being disadvantaged as a result of complying with the Act. Claimants are purported to be taking months to prepare detailed and comprehensive payment claims, prior to serving them on the respondents, who, under the Act, have limited time to compile a detailed payment schedule in response. This research investigates the use of two recent innovations that could assist in the administration of the process. The first is the Society of Construction Laws Delay and Disruption Protocols model clauses, and the second is the use of web‐based technology as a project administrative tool. A literature search was carried out, together with semi‐structured qualitative interviews, to determine opinions of their use and effectiveness. Results indicate a recognition and appreciation of the likely benefits of transparency, efficiency and improved cost effectiveness of the project administrative processes, possibly resulting in potential savings and improved cost recovery opportunities, with the potential to reduce and/or avoid disputes.

Overcoming the Challenges facing Lean Construction Practice in the UK Contracting Organizations

Despite the benefits realized from Lean construction practice over the past two decades, the uptake of the Lean concept in the UK seems to be sparse. The UK contracting organizations engaged in Lean construction practice are faced with challenges that need to be addressed to facilitate wider application of Lean concepts so as to gain its benefits. The purpose of the study is to investigate the challenges facing the application of Lean principles in the UK construction industry with a view to proposing solutions that could be used to address the challenges. A qualitative research approach was adopted and semi-structured interviews were conducted with Lean construction practitioners working with 10 contracting organizations in the UK. The study identified 10 dierent challenges across the organizations that participated in the research and discovered 13 strategies that could be used to overcome the challenges. Findings from this study will lead to a better understanding of the challenges facing Lean construction practice in the UK so that further research could be done on how each challenge could be addressed. The findings could also help practitioners in addressing the dierent challenges

THE APPLICATION OF LEAN CONSTRUCTION TOOLS IN UNITED KINGDOM CONSTRUCTION ORGANISATIONS: FINDINGS FROM A QUALITATIVE INQUIRY

1. School of Technology, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, WV1 1LY, United Kingdom. Email: abubakar.bashir2@wlv.ac.uk 2. School of Technology, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, WV1 1LY, United Kingdom. Email: s.subashini@wlv.ac.uk 3. School of Technology, University of Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, WV1 1LY, United Kingdom. Email: d.a.oloke@wlv.ac.uk 4. Faculty of Environment and Technology, University of the West of England, Bristol, BS16 1QY, United Kingdom. Email: david.proverbs@uwe.ac.uk 5. School of the Built Environment, University of Salford, Greater Manchester, M5 4WT, United Kingdom. Email: r.gameson@salford.ac.uk

Changing Skills in Changing Environments: Skills Needed in Virtual Construction Teams

This book focuses on virtual reality. In the context of design, virtual reality is an emerging technology that not only allows designers and other stakeholders to gain a threedimensional appreciation of the artifact being designed, it also has the potential to significantly alter the manner in which design occurs. Internet-based technologies have made it possible for designers in different locations to collaborate in developing and refining their designs. Virtual reality has contributed to this environment (Maher, 2005) by allowing designers in geographically-dispersed locations to interact with each other. Software applications have been developed to assist and facilitate these collaborative activities (including Shyamsundar and Gadh (2001) and Lau, Mak and Lu (2003)) but comparatively speaking, little research has been conducted into the people-related issues of collaboration via the Internet. Some of these are the issues addressed in this chapter.

Evolving Trends in nD Modelling: The 'Construction Planning Workbench'

Abstract This paper investigates the requirements of product modelling in the construction industry. Product models incorporate multifaceted aspects of design information (required at each stage of the lifecycle of buildings) by integrating additional information (such as time, costs, etc.) into a three-dimensional (3D) computer model, thereby adding intelligence to it. The project also investigates methodologies for automatically linking construction processes with 3D CAD models to allow users to visualize and simulate construction methodologies. Our study adopts a qualitative approach where semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 key design and construction professionals from two major Australian companies. Data were coded in relation to six main clusters—themes and summaries of results are presented as repertory grids. The paper identifies some of the risks and opportunities of implementing nD modelling in the construction industry. Analysis of data indicates a shift to 3D CAD, with a strong interest being identified for integration of CAD and construction programming. Although the use of product models is not presently seen as feasible for this purpose, the increasing use of 3D CAD is seen as positive. Results indicate a need for alignment models and user-friendly technologies if product models are to assist communication between clients, consultants and construction companies.