Efficiency of UK Construction Industry in terms of Time, Cost, and Quality

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

Background of the study1

UK Construction Industry1

Major Players of UK Construction Industry3

Aim & Objectives4

Aim4

Objectives4

Problem Statement4

Research Questions4

Significance of the study5

Layout of the Dissertation5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW7

Construction Business7

The Construction Industry of United Kingdom7

Declining Trend of UK Construction Sector8

Factors Affecting Construction Industry's Efficiency10

Delays in Construction Process10

Excusable and Non excusable Delays11

Construction Productivity15

Research and development15

Human Resources16

Technology16

Environmental Pollution16

Construction Projects17

Construction project of the company TARMAC:17

Hydroelectric Power Station17

Construction and Upgrading of Sections of Motorways of Great Britain18

London Bridge19

Thames House20

The UK Adopts a Strategy for Sustainable Construction20

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

About 504% of the gross domestic product of United Kingdom is attributed to construction industry. Hence the construction industry plays a major part in the economy of the United Kingdom. A research was conducted to find the efficiency in terms of cost, quality and time in the construction industry of UK.

UK Construction Industry

The construction industry is a major contributor to emissions and pollution and is a main world resource consumer (prime matter, energy, labor, capital). Because of this, the industry is formulating short and long-term sustainability targets. Europe has issued long-term objectives that will require huge adaptations of the industry. In 1992, the Census of Construction Industries reported that there were nearly 2 million businesses operating in the U.K. construction industry. Of them 1.3 million are proprietorship and partnerships without any payroll. Among the firms with payroll 50 percent of them are firms with fewer than five employees. The rest of them contribute to about 80 Percent of the value of construction industry. In I 993 there were 598,255 construction shops employing a total of 4 million people. Of these shops about 83 percent of them had fewer than ten employees. This industry has grown very slowly. Construction firms vary in size. There are many small “morn and pop” firms with very low capital, which primarily participate in alterations and small scale projects. In these firms, the owner and his family members play all roles, including estimator, installers and book keepers. Market entry for such firms is relatively easy as it involves low capital investments required- Licensing and performance bonds are the only type of entry barriers which exist.

The low barrier to entry is an incentive for many entrepreneurs to start there own low capital firm. In these firms productivity is relatively low, related mainly to individual hourly outputs. This often leads to these low capital intensive firms operating with thin profit margins. Compared to these small firms there are firms employing hundreds of employees. Such firms may be privately or publicly owned.

The types of construction these firms enter into are large residential and commercial properties. Unlike the smaller firms, the large firms are departmentalized. There are different units which take care of engineering, design, installation and other aspects of construction projects. Though these firms are small in number, they contribute a disproportionate amount of the industry turnover and account for the industry profit. For example, in 1964, only ...