William Swan

Building trust in construction projects

Purpose – The objective of this paper is to present different perspectives on building “trust” among supply chain participants working on construction projects.Design/methodology/approach – A case study methodology was adopted; with five construction projects selected as five case studies for the trust in construction project on the basis a selection criteria devised for the research project. Over 40 interviews were conducted with participants operating at different levels in their respective organisations and at different point in the supply chain.Findings – The information provided by the multiple informants was, to a large extent, consistent with much of the academic literature relating to the importance of and barriers to trust. Specifically, the case studies highlighted: what people within the construction industry understand by trust, reliance, and honest professional relationship; the key factors that contribute towards building trust and factors that result into breakdown of trust; and organisatio...

The Ethical Benefits of Trust-Based Partnering: The Example of the Construction Industry

As inter-organisational relations represent an increasingly important element in business the ability to build sustainable relationships becomes a key skill. To achieve sustainable relationships parties need to move from a low trust/low ethics base to a high trust/high ethics base in their relating. This paper uses data from a study into trust-based partnering in the construction industry to demonstrate that ethics is integral to trust building. The data supports the proposition that ethical partnering, which is characterised by reliability, delivery of promises, open and honest communications, respect and reciprocity, and a willingness to act reasonably towards each other, is the most effective model for parties seeking to build sustainable relationships.

Mutual objective setting for partnering projects in the public sector

– The use of partnering has grown within the public sector of the UK construction industry. Central to partnering is the use of the partnering charter. The charter establishes the mutual objectives of the project team. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the types of objectives that are identified and the potential reasons for them., – A number of partnering workshops have been undertaken through one of the University of Salfords Enterprise Units, the Centre for Construction Innovation. Each of these generated a workshop report, which captured the discussions during the day. These have been analysed in order to establish the different mutual objectives that have been identified for different projects., – The results show that while the key issues of time, cost, quality and safety are still central to what teams identify as successful project delivery, issues surrounding management of relationships including external stakeholders, such as the public, are also prevalent. In addition, there is an increase in identified objectives surrounding sustainable development issues, covering social and environmental goals., – The findings provide strong indications that construction is moving towards a more complex regime of objectives in the context of value procurement and partnering arrangements. The objectives identified by the different project teams show that construction projects are now considering both soft management issues and sustainable development as central to the successful delivery of projects.

Trust in construction projects

Trust is described as an elusive concept (Gambetta 1988), difficult to describe, understand and, therefore, manage. The Trust in Construction project undertook 6 exploratory case studies, of which 4 are presented in this paper, in order to understand how trust is formed, and the impact this has on project performance. The authors propose a model of the different forms of trust and the drivers and barriers to its development, derived through the case studies conducted. Through this model different approaches are identified that can either manage trust directly, or mitigate the factors that may cause its breakdown within project teams. The research focuses on the role of the commercial manger, the role of procurement mechanisms and the tools that are available to manage issues of project, commercial and relationship uncertainty, such as open book arrangements or partnering workshops, and sees how they can drive the level of trust within the project team. Based on both literature and experience of the case studies, the model identifies the risks to the development of trust and how they may be addressed. The paper also presents the trust inventory, developed during the case studies.

Adoption of sustainable retrofit in UK social housing

Purpose – The study was designed to assess the knowledge, adoption and perceived effectiveness of sustainable retrofit technologies within the UK social housing sector.Design/methodology/approach – The study was undertaken using a structured questionnaire that was completed by 130 providers of social housing.Findings – The study showed that social housing providers were evenly split in their reliance on internal or external information for sustainable retrofit knowledge. In terms of adoption identified that this was strongly driven by government‐funded programmes, leading to widespread adoption of low technology solutions. The respondents identified that many leading edge technologies were perceived to be less effective.Research limitations/implications – The study represents a snap‐shot of adoption and effectiveness issues, therefore does not show the trajectory of adoption which should be addressed in a follow‐up study.Practical implications – The social housing sector has been viewed as a market maker ...

Viewing the corporate community as a knowledge network

The inter‐organizational network is becoming an increasingly common form of organization. The majority of trade is carried out between organizations, rather than organizations and households. Many of these networks are concerned with the exchange of tangible goods. However, increasing numbers are concerned with the exchange of knowledge and all are dependent upon the role of knowledge in their activities. It is our assertion that with an understanding of the nature of knowledge, we may identify how, and why, certain network formations are adopted. It is asserted that links between organizations may be viewed as knowledge assets. The expression of multiple links within a corporate community may be regarded as a network of knowledge assets. From this conceptual framework, it may be possible to answer wider questions concerning the nature of networks established in the real world and how changes are wrought on a network over a period of time.

Low carbon retrofit: attitudes and readiness within the social housing sector

Purpose – The study was designed to assess the attitudes, strategic readiness and drivers and barriers to the adoption of sustainable retrofit within the UK social housing sector. Design/methodology/approach – The study was undertaken using a structured questionnaire that was completed by 130 providers of social housing. Findings – The study showed that social housing providers were aware of the sustainable retrofit agenda, but with varying levels of strategic readiness. Immediate benefits to residents were seen as important drivers, as opposed to more remote issues such as climate change. The emerging nature of the sustainable retrofit market was seen as a major potential risk for residents. Research limitations/implications – The study represents a snap-shot of adoption and effectiveness issues, therefore does not show the trajectory of adoption which should be addressed in a follow-up study. Practical implications – The social housing sector has been viewed as a market maker for the sustainable retrofi...

The application of social network analysis to identify trust-based networks in construction

The role of trust has been identified as a central influencer on the performance of project teams in both research and policy contexts, to an extent that it is almost taken for granted. However, actually identifying where trust exists and how it impacts project performance is less common. The partnering literature considers trust important, yet it struggles to deal with a portmanteau concept such as trust, which includes many different inter-related concepts. A two-year trust study of trust in the construction sector, The Trust in Construction Project, looked to identify where trust existed in different relationships and how this impacted specific project performance. The application of Social Network Analysis (SNA) in construction project teams has been undertaken, however the consideration of trust to the structure of project relationships gives a different structure than one might see when analysing contractual or quantitative flows of information. This was supported by case study analysis to inform the quantitative data.

Integrated Information Management and Exchange for Water Treatment Projects

Integration is the key to the performance improvement for the fragmented construction industry. Research in recent years has resulted in some rapid maturing integration technologies, such as data modelling, integrated project database, data management and data exchange, integration with third party application software, etc. This paper describes a research prototype that aims at applying these technologies in the design and construction of water treatment plants. The system provides integrated project data management and seamless information exchange between different professionals. It is achieved through a central project database and the integration of several software packages for design, cost estimating and project planning. It argues that such a system is capable of supporting better communication and enhancing a partnering business relationship between clients, contractors and design consultants.

Assessing the performance of domestic heating controls in a whole house test facility

The energy consumed by domestic space heating systems represents a considerable share of the energy consumed in the UK. At the same time up to a quarter of English homes have inadequate controls on the central heating systems. Current modelling tools, and results from the limited field trials that have been carried out, are problematic due to the influence of the behaviour of occupants and variability of weather conditions. The Salford Energy House is a full-sized end terrace house built within a climate controlled laboratory. This allows a house of typical construction to be extensively analysed while completely disconnected from the unpredictability of weather conditions and human behaviour. This paper presents a series of tests carried out in the Salford Energy House into the effectiveness of installing room thermostats and thermostatic radiator valves. Savings of 40% in terms of energy consumption, cost and CO2 were achieved. The results should be regarded with caution in terms of their extent and application to real homes, but represent a significant contribution to the gap in current knowledge due to the ability to isolate the performance of homes from uncooperative variables, and a potential base for the development of more effective modelling tools. Practical application: This research provides evidence to support installation and use of room thermostats and thermostatic radiator valves as an effective means of reducing domestic energy consumption and overheating.