The process protocol: process and IT modelling for the UK construction industry

Abstract

Sir Michael Latham (1994) published a report, which identified fragmentation and confrontational relationships as the greatest barriers to improving quality and productivity in the UK construction industry. The lead bodies for change in the UK Construction Industry e.g. the Construction Research and Innovation Strategy Panel (CRISP); the Construction Productivity Network (CPN) and Construct IT; the lead implementation body for the DETR (Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions) on Construction Information Technology; and the construction task force, have been calling for roadmaps for the purposes of alignment and identifying the direction for change. Such roadmaps have been called for in terms of Process and Construction IT. It was recognised that manufacturing industry is not as plagued with such problems having introduced a number of improvement initiatives over the past twenty years. One such improvement that has been adopted is the stage gate approach to new product development (NPD). This approach enabled progressive management and monitoring of the ‘whole project’ lifecycle for all activities involved in the product development. The applicability and adaptability of manufacturing principles and practises into a construction environment has been examined in the past form a ‘production’ viewpoint (Koskela 1992). This approach could prove beneficial to the UK construction industry. However, the applicability of such principles from a ‘whole’ project view, similar to manufacturing NPD has not been widely examined. This paper summarises the main findings of a funded project, which involved a number of industrial partners from the whole spectrum of the UK construction industry. The main aim of the project was to develop a construction process, which adopts and adapts the manufacturing NPD principles. The authors present maps for Construction IT and for a Generic Design and Construction Process Protocol (GDCPP), the latter of which has been adopted by CRISP and is currently under implementation as a complete process as well as providing a framework for benchmarking and procurement.

Keywords: Fragmentation, Building Industry, Construction IT, Construction Process Protocol.