This book breaks new ground by creating a framework to understand clients’ actions and needs. Most construction management books focus on improving the construction process; this one focuses on a better engagement with the client. It challenges conceptions of both the construction industry and clients’ businesses so that a more effective process and greater client satisfaction can be achieved. The book suggests that ‘buildings are not about building but about changing and developing the client’. The technical, organisational and psychological aspects of this are described and analysed in detail so that current experience can be explained and better practice determined. The book offers well-researched information about clients in a number of sectors - developers, supermarkets, NHS, government, airports and housing associations - which will help you understand what these client’s business or service needs are and how construction fits into this. It demonstrates how to develop an appreciation of the client’s perspective with a toolkit for ensuring successful client engagement. This makes Understanding the Construction Client a user-friendly and practical guide, as well as significant text for academia.

The Client Role in Successful Construction Projects is a practical guide for clients on how to initiate, procure and manage construction projects and developments. This book is written from the perspective of the client initiating a construction project as part of a business venture and differs from most available construction literature which can externalise the client as a risk to be managed by the design team. The book provides a practical framework for new and novice clients undertaking construction, giving them a voice and enabling them to: Understand the challenges that they and the project are likely to face. Communicate and interact effectively with key stakeholders and professionals within the industry. Understand in straightforward terms where they can have a positive impact on the project. Put in place a client-side due diligence process. Reduce their institutional risk and the risk of project failure. Discover how their standard models are able to co-exist and even transfer to a common client-side procedure for managing a construction project. Written by clients, for clients, this book is highly recommended not only for clients, but for construction industry professionals who want to develop their own skills and enhance their working relationship with their clients. A supporting website for the book will be available, which will give practical examples of the points illustrated in the book and practical advice from specialists in the field.

The core of all successful organizations is the effectiveness with which people work together. Individuals have differing characteristics and personalities, and the manner in which they interact is the key to meeting organizational objectives. This is the case for all organizations, but particularly so in construction, which is distinctly different from other industries. Construction is complex and highly differentiated, with a wide range of specialists with disparate professional skills working in a highly integrated way to deliver projects successfully. Understanding how the people involved in construction behave and work together is necessary for projects to have successful outcomes. Organizational behaviour is an established field in mainstream management literature but general treatments cannot reflect the specific issues and idiosyncrasies of the construction industry and the people who inhabit it. Organizational Behaviour in Construction addresses the behaviour of individuals and groups within the different organizations which come together on construction projects and within the organizations created to manage projects. It describes how their behaviour impacts on the performance of construction organizations and their contribution to the project as a whole. Drawing on mainstream organizational literature but putting it into the specific context of construction, and containing many illustrations drawn from the industry, this book will be required reading for all senior undergraduate and postgraduate students of construction, as well as middle and senior management in the industry.

The construction industry is associated with problems such as low productivity and high costs. This has been highlighted in several government-funded reports in both Sweden and in the UK during the course of over two decades. The construction industry is a large industry sector employing hundreds of thousands and a large contributor to a country’s GDP. The problems therefore have a large impact on society. Some of the problems are rooted in the organizational structure of the construction industry. Compared to other manufacturing industries, the construction industry is organized in temporary organizations. The temporary organizations cause temporary supply chains, fragmentation among construction industry actors and adversarial relationships between those actors. Partnering has been but forward as a solution to overcome the temporariness and the adversarial relationships in the construction. Another solution to mitigate the problems suggested in the reports is supply chain management (SCM). Both concepts have been taken from the manufacturing industries and partnering has been more successful compared to SCM in the construction industry. In the construction industry the progress towards SCM has focused on logistics. In recent years dedicated third-party logistics (TPL) solutions have emerged in the Swedish construction industry, where a company is hired to manage the logistics in a construction project. The purpose with the research presented in this licentiate thesis is to explore how client initiated TPL solutions and partnering can be facilitators for SCM in the construction industry. Being a new phenomenon in the construction industry TPL solutions provide a logistical competence not necessarily included in a traditional construction project. Therefore, TPL solutions are of particular interest when studying the realization of SCM in the construction industry. In the process of realizing SCM in the construction industry, the construction clients have been put forward as having a crucial and important role. The clients are the initiator and funder of construction projects and as such the client can influence the course of a construction project. Therefore, it is of interest to study how the client can take an active role in this process. Initiating a TPL solution in a construction project is one way for a client to take an active part in the realization of SCM in construction. However, in order to study how clients can take an active role towards the realization of SCM in the construction industry, there have to be an understanding of how SCM is to be adopted to the construction industry context. SCM that derives from the manufacturing industry is designed to be used in long-term relationships with permanent organizational structures. The construction industry on the other hand is associated with short-term relationships and a temporary organizational structure. Partnering that is designed to mitigate the temporariness and establish long-term relationships have been quite successful in the construction industry, and could therefore be used as a facilitator for SCM in construction. To study the use of client initiated TPL-solutions in construction and the realization of SCM in the construction industry the following research questions have been addressed: RQ1: To what extent can a third-party logistics solution be a facilitator for client driven SCM in the construction industry?RQ2: How will upstream and downstream tiers be affected when a thirdparty logistics provider is used in a construction project?RQ3: How can partnering be used a mean to facilitate the realization of SCM in the construction industry? To answer the research questions two main methodologies have been used; case study for the empirically grounded research and conceptual studies for the analysis of the case studies as well as for comparing the two concepts of partnering and SCM. All questions have been grounded in literature and previous research. The findings of this research is therefore grounded in both theory and in practice. The main findings of this research is that TPL solutions are not a quick fix for realizing SCM in the construction industry. However, if used right a TPL solution can be an effective tool to address logistical issues in a construction project and to establish an interface between the supply chain and the construction site. By initiating a TPL solution the client addresses the importance of logistical competence in a construction project. A TPL solution does not have a purpose of its own; a TPL solution is a service function to the construction project, providing expertise on logistics management. There are also a number of driving forces and concerns that have been identified, if they are addressed prior to a TPL solution is implemented, the likelihood of its success will increase. Furthermore, both partnering and SCM rely on high trust and share several key components and issues that have to be addressed. Partnering on strategic level with several suppliers included can even be hard to distinguish from SCM. Wherefore, partnering is considered a facilitator for the realization of SCM in construction. By addressing the necessary issues in both concepts a good foundation for SCM is established.

As with all previous editions of Project Management in Construction, this sixth edition focuses on systems theory as the approach suitable for organizing and managing people skilled in the design and completion of construction projects. It discusses the many competing paradigms and alternative perspectives available, for example in relation to differentiation and integration, as well as the emerging study of temporary organizations and its relevance to construction project management. Whilst encompassing the need to develop further theoretical aspects of construction project organization theory, this edition has also enhanced the application of organization studies to practical issues of construction project management. More emphasis has been placed on the added complexity of construction project management by issues surrounding clients and stakeholders, and the control and empowerment of project participants. Additional focus has been placed on sustainability issues as they impinge on construction project management, on reworked views on supply chain management and on developments in partnering, together with clarification of the shifting terms and definitions relating to construction organization structures and their uses.

Whether a construction project turns out to be successful or not has a lot to do with the clarity of the client’s objectives and how the client establishes and instils a culture throughout the project team. This book's focus is on defining and exploring those attributes of clients or organisations which enable clear communication, and as a result help ensure the project's success. For senior construction professionals, this book explains how to approach key aspects of projects so that the client's expectations can be anticipated and understood. It also provides information on how other parties can positively influence the outcome of the project and interact with their fellow stakeholders. Commentaries on real life projects illustrate how this is achieved in practice, and common pitfalls are pointed out to help you avoid them. Drawing on almost 40 years’ UK and international experience of working on major construction projects in a variety of roles, the author provides clear insight into how to efficiently progress a project from inception through to completion. This is hugely valuable reading for client senior decision-makers, project managers, programme managers, design and construction leaders, and those studying all of these subjects.

"This updated resource covers all aspects of architectural practice, featuring: new material of sustainable design, managing multiple offices, lifelong learning, mentoring, and team building; revised content on programming, project management, construction contract administration, risk management, and ethics; and coverage of small firm considerations as well as emerging issues such as integrated practice and integrated project delivery."--Jacket.

Being a client on a construction project can be incredibly complex and demanding but ultimately rewarding once your ambitions are fulfilled. This comprehensive ‘one stop shop’ will help you to achieve that magic combination of quality and efficiency, guiding you through the entire project lifecycle, from briefing to taking delivery and beyond. It will help you to better understand the project process, the client’s role within it and, critically, how to be successful and effective by advising you on; the key milestones in the project process and your legal responsibilities at each stage achieving cost-effectiveness, efficiency and meeting project timelines key client issues such as funding and investment straightforward best practice advice and how to avoid common problems insightful tips from clients reflecting on their experiences handy tools including a project route map, project decision checklist and diary of a development

In recent years the construction industry has been criticised forlack of successful innovation compared to other major industries.The question of why the industry has not been seen to be innovativehas created concern among many involved with construction andproperty. The driving concern is where the motivation for thisinnovation should come from. Although construction clients havemade an impact in this area, the industry itself seems divided asto whether, when and where clients should drive the innovationprocess. Clients Driving Innovation brings together an international groupof researchers and practitioners to investigate the role of clientsin construction innovation. Written in three parts, it covers thecontext for innovation driven by clients, the client impact on theinnovation process and how new ideas can be pushed through intopractice. Numerous case studies illustrate the role clients canplay and the key issues that need to be addressed. With increasing interest in the contribution clients can make toconstruction innovation, Clients Driving Innovation will beessential reading for construction management researchers, majorconstruction contractors and clients and government policy makers.