ICE - Institution of Civil Engineers - Virtual Library

The temporary and constantly changing nature of construction sites creates special challenges that are not found in other industries. The site itself transforms daily, the workers even change from day to day as phases get completed and different subcontractors come and go. Some of the ways in which the latest wireless time and attendance technology can help to monitor staff and maintain site security are described in this article.

This is the first of a series of briefings prepared by the NEC Panel to help clients, consultants and contractors in their understanding of the NEC approach when using NEC contracts. This first briefing introduces the positive culture and mindset which are at the heart of the NEC approach.

David Orr became the 143rd president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in November 2007. He gave his inaugural speech on 6 November, outlining his priorities for his year as president, including: promoting the value of civil engineering; ensuring that the public understands how high professional standards protect them in their everyday life; trying to give civil engineers more recognition so that the public appreciate how ordinary people achieve extraordinary things every day and make our society a better place in which to live.

This article identifies the issues facing the adoption of best practice on information management for major projects and the practical steps needed to address the knowledge gap. A number of projects were consulted by the authors in preparing the article.

The paper reviews many of the recent changes in the general and specific education of civil engineering graduates including: grade inflation at GCSE, AS and A level; the pressure on engineering education due to university expansion in non-traditional subject areas; the negative effect of research assessment exercises leading to skewed academic appointments; common teaching for three years for MEng and BEng (Hons) degrees; the proliferation of MSc degrees; the potential threat arising from the Bologna declaration; together with some views from industry. The paper concludes with a proposal to maintain the ‘gold standard’ MEng degree by developing closer relationships between industry and academia via the initial professional development of graduates.

The overall significance of the construction and building services sector internationally cannot be overemphasised. In the UK, the industry currently accounts for 10% gross domestic product (GDP) and employs 2 million people, which is more than 1 in 14 of the total workforce. However, regardless of its output (approximately £65 billion annually) there has been a steady decline in the number of trade entrants into the construction and building services sector. Consequently, the available ‘pool of labour’ is inadequately resourced; productivity is low; the existing labour force is overstressed; there is an increase in site deaths; and a long-term labour shortage is envisaged. Today, the evidence seems to suggest that multiskilling is a tentative redress for ameliorating the skills crisis in the construction and building sectors. A 43-year time-series of data on 23 manpower attributes was evaluated as part of this investigation. The developed linear regression models show that the concept of multiskilling obeys the ‘law of diminishing returns'. That is, a weak relation was found between construction output and a three or more combination of manpower attributes. An optimisation model is prescribed for traditional trades.