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Reading forum to analyse D&B
00:00 11 Aug 1994
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Reading University's Centre for Strategic Studies in Construction
is again set to challenge the industry status quo with a major
report on the performance and future of design and build.
Clients, contractors, professionals, specialists and suppliers are being invited to join a forum of 27 that will steer and fund the most far-reaching study of D&B carried out in this country.
Co-project director Dr James Pain said: 'It's a major Reading study on the lines of our 2001 report. It will be a landmark.'
Reading promises it will be as rigorous in its analysis as the University's construction management report four years ago which seriously knocked the fortunes of management contractors: 'We're going for the truth,' says Pain. 'I don't want to promote D&B regardless. I want to see what its future is, and promote it accordingly.
'If it were appropriate to be knocking it, that's what we will be doing.'
Financial backing has been promised by M&S, Tesco, Norwich Union, Slough Estates and NatWest, which have signed up for five of the forum's six client places. Sir Norman Foster is also committed to pay œ5,000 as one of four designers, and Kyle Stewart will contribute œ10,000 as one of four contractors.
The 12-month study will look at 250 projects and analyse:
l D&B's performance compared to other procurement methods;
lcontractual safeguards;
l design quality and cost performance; and
l quality of staff and training.
Researchers will break down the sample to determine what kind of clients are using D&B, how they structure their contracts, their methods of administering projects, and the level of satisfaction each method achieves.
The performance of D&B in the public sector - which accounts for 39% of the market - will also come under scrutiny. Pain favours following up previous Reading research, indicating that some housing associations have suffered higher maintenance costs and failure rates with D&B.
He suspects poor briefing in this sector has led to some 'Skoda buildings'.
Pain's own research has identified flaws in the training of D&B contractors, which the review is expected to expand upon.
'They don't really know how to manage the design process. They don't understand briefing. And why should they? Most of them haven't been trained to.'
Other forum recruits include two veterans of the CM review - Davis Langdon Everest, one of two QSs, and Ann Minogue at McKenna. Robert Fenwick Elliott has taken the second lawyer's place and Oscar Faber has signed up as one of two engineers.
The entire study will cost œ200,000 - paid for by the forum members - and is expected to be published in autumn 1995.
Commenting on the review, the other project director Graham Robinson said: 'Personally we happen to believe design and build is here to stay. But we're interested in looking at the barriers to performance and how to remove them.'
l See Comment page 6
D&B Market Forecast
Now5 yrs
Trad55%35%
CM/MC10%12%
D&B30%45%
Other5%8%
Sector Split
Now5 yrs
Commercial25%30%
Industrial35%40%
Public15%20%
Clients, contractors, professionals, specialists and suppliers are being invited to join a forum of 27 that will steer and fund the most far-reaching study of D&B carried out in this country.
Co-project director Dr James Pain said: 'It's a major Reading study on the lines of our 2001 report. It will be a landmark.'
Reading promises it will be as rigorous in its analysis as the University's construction management report four years ago which seriously knocked the fortunes of management contractors: 'We're going for the truth,' says Pain. 'I don't want to promote D&B regardless. I want to see what its future is, and promote it accordingly.
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'If it were appropriate to be knocking it, that's what we will be doing.'
Financial backing has been promised by M&S, Tesco, Norwich Union, Slough Estates and NatWest, which have signed up for five of the forum's six client places. Sir Norman Foster is also committed to pay œ5,000 as one of four designers, and Kyle Stewart will contribute œ10,000 as one of four contractors.
The 12-month study will look at 250 projects and analyse:
l D&B's performance compared to other procurement methods;
lcontractual safeguards;
l design quality and cost performance; and
l quality of staff and training.
Researchers will break down the sample to determine what kind of clients are using D&B, how they structure their contracts, their methods of administering projects, and the level of satisfaction each method achieves.
The performance of D&B in the public sector - which accounts for 39% of the market - will also come under scrutiny. Pain favours following up previous Reading research, indicating that some housing associations have suffered higher maintenance costs and failure rates with D&B.
He suspects poor briefing in this sector has led to some 'Skoda buildings'.
Pain's own research has identified flaws in the training of D&B contractors, which the review is expected to expand upon.
'They don't really know how to manage the design process. They don't understand briefing. And why should they? Most of them haven't been trained to.'
Other forum recruits include two veterans of the CM review - Davis Langdon Everest, one of two QSs, and Ann Minogue at McKenna. Robert Fenwick Elliott has taken the second lawyer's place and Oscar Faber has signed up as one of two engineers.
The entire study will cost œ200,000 - paid for by the forum members - and is expected to be published in autumn 1995.
Commenting on the review, the other project director Graham Robinson said: 'Personally we happen to believe design and build is here to stay. But we're interested in looking at the barriers to performance and how to remove them.'
l See Comment page 6
D&B Market Forecast
Now5 yrs
Trad55%35%
CM/MC10%12%
D&B30%45%
Other5%8%
Sector Split
Now5 yrs
Commercial25%30%
Industrial35%40%
Public15%20%
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