Procurement for Holistic Sustainable Construction in the UK

Abstract

The construction industry in the United Kingdom (UK) is undergoing a change in how it procurers and constructs buildings, due to the increasing need to deliver sustainable products. This paper will investigate the internal and external stakeholder’s influence on the design team and how they are leading the design and procurement process. It will formulate a hypothesis on the optimum number of stakeholders required to deliver a successful project and review the necessary skills and experience required to justify any stakeholder’s position within the team. A review of the grassroots process of creating and educating these key stakeholders will be undertaken, by comparing the traditional and vocational methods, to establish whether there are any advantages and disadvantages in each education system. The paper poses the question about whether the construction industry in the UK should train new entrants to be specialist in separate disciplines or whether they should be educated to understand construction in general first and then specialise after several years experience within the construction industry.

This paper concludes by reviewing the hypothesis and assessing how education and training can influence the number of stakeholders within a design team and if this in turn has an effect on how design teams function and procure projects. This paper will be useful to clients, developers, design team consultants and people dealing with procurement within the construction industry.