Integrating learning and work has become important for several reasons. The recognition that the key resources for wealth creation, knowledge and ideas are embedded in human capital. Furthermore, fast-paced advances in knowledge, technology, and access to information ensure that capabilities rapidly become obsolete. Continuous learning and workplace learning have therefore become essential. These developments have highlighted the pivotal role of learning in individual career development and organisational performance and the construction industry needs to address these issues. The construction industry, however, continues to report skill gaps suggesting that construction businesses need to consider creative ways to deliver skill-enhancing opportunities for their workforce. The challenge is global but has added significance for African emerging economies considering their developmental needs. Integrating workforce learning and development key practices into construction business was therefore the crux of this research which was aimed at developing a conceptual learning model that will enable construction firms to optimise performance in line with their business goals. Given the complexity of the construction domain and the need to allow integration of diverse processes, perceptions, experiences, practices and interactions, a pragmatic philosophical lens was employed allowing for a mixed methods research approach. A social constructionist ontology and a largely interpretivist stance was adopted. Surveys and case studies were conducted employing questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions for data collection. Data analysis methods used were relative importance, correlational and constant comparative analyses. The research investigated the two main elements of learning systems the learner and the learning environment. The learner aspect found that emotional and social attributes were significantly associated with the performance of intermediate construction skills while key workforce practices emerged from the learning environment studies. These findings were integrated to develop the construction learning and development optimising model (CLEARDO). The research was limited to Nigeria because of its current focal position in the African economy.

This comparative study examines the theory that there is no difference between the effectiveness of the UK and French construction industries in the achievement of satisfaction with construction performance as perceived by the client. The thesis is divided into three main stages, the first being a qualitative study which defines effectiveness in the context of similarities and differences between comparative cultural, legal and economic frameworks, economic and output performance, procurement systems and project management strategies. The first stage includes a rationale for a crossnational comparative study and its implications for the selected triangulated research approach which combines qualitative and quantitative methods to achieve objectives. A review of earlier research studies in the UK indicates that client sophistication or expertise and participation in the construction project, lead to improvements in the achievement of client satisfaction, establishing these concepts as significant factors affecting construction performance. The selection of criteria to be used for the evaluation of construction industry performance in the second stage quantitative study, together with the associated concepts of expertise and participation, are defined and justified and incorporated as variables into a pilot survey used to test their applicability to both UK and French industries. The second stage covers the quantitative analysis of client perceptions of construction industry performance based on a main questionnaire sent to public and private client groups in each country. Analysis is based on social science research methodology which incorporates comparative cross-cultural considerations and uses descriptive and inferential statistics, calculated with the SPSS system, to provide graphical and tabulated data. The results of the qualitative and quantitative analyses are examined in a concluding section which discusses and critically evaluates the relationships and inferences produced by the data, in the context of cultural and organisational similarities and differences between the two countries and the implications for the assessment of comparative effectiveness of construction performance, from the client's perspective.

The governments of various countries have continued to adopt Public Private Partnership (PPP) for infrastructure projects delivery due to its many advantages over the traditional procurement method. However, concerns have been raised by stakeholders about the viability of PPP to deliver Value for Money (VfM), especially for the client. These discussions have generated debates and arguments in policy and advisory documents within the last decade mainly in the renegotiation of PPP water and transport projects and their VfM implications. Poor or non-achievement of VfM in PPP contracts renegotiation has led to this study in PPP road projects with the overall aim of integrating VfM considerations into the renegotiation process of PPP road projects. Mixed methodology research approach is used to achieve the objectives set for the study. Interviews and questionnaires of professionals involved in Design-Build-Finance-Operate (DBFO) road projects in the UK are used in the study. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data collected revealed that technical, contractual and additional works are the categories of factors leading to renegotiations and have an impact on the achievement of VfM. These findings show that renegotiation does not necessarily have to erode the VfM benefits of PPP road projects for the client and lead to user's dissatisfaction regarding quality, fees, and charges. The research shows that the very critical factors leading to the renegotiation of road concessions are changes to works standards, specifications, the scope of works, and additional works. The findings also indicate that design and planning measures such as clear and concise contract documents, a definition of detailed criteria for VfM and performance indicators, and accurate estimation of contract requirements amongst others are critical measures to ensure the achievement of VfM at the renegotiation of PFI (DBFO) road projects. Also, VfM can further be achieved for the renegotiations that are predominantly motivated by technical and contractual factors. This study developed a VfM renegotiation framework for the UK PFI (DBFO) road projects. The five constituents of the VfM renegotiation framework are identification and establishment of measures and mechanisms, the factors leading to renegotiation and their level of criticalities, impacts of the renegotiation on VfM criteria, the identification of renegotiation outcomes and their natures and the application of remedial actions (if necessary). The concept of the framework is premised on the importance of defining and agreeing on appropriate measures and VfM contractual mechanisms by both public and private stakeholders at the contract inception to guide future renegotiation. An assessment of the factors, impacts, and outcomes of the renegotiation is necessary during the stages of implementation of the PPP road projects to develop an understanding of the implications of the renegotiation on VfM. The knowledge of the impacts of renegotiations during implementation will inform the responsible stakeholder's decision on the appropriate actions required to address any observed deviations from the project performance indicators or value for money criteria defined at the inception of the contract. The public and private partners can achieve their respective VfM objectives while also achieving user's satisfaction through the adoption of the proposed VfM renegotiation framework. There is, however, a need for the public and private partners who will be the primary beneficiary of the framework to be proactively involved in the use of the framework from contract inception to handing over of the project residual value to the client. The formulation of measures for renegotiation at the outset of the contract as indicated in the framework is essential to achieving VfM at renegotiation. Also, the client should ensure that flexibility is built into the agreement regarding the contract mechanisms for payment from the beginning, to allow either party to introduce proposals that can enhance the achievement of VfM at renegotiation or change negotiation.

In recent years, existing research and industry studies have noted that, whilst there has been significant progress in the performance of built environment teams, scant attention has been paid to the behavioural aspects of collaborative design. These recent performance improvements also tend to respond to a techno-operational and positivist dominance within the architecture, engineering, construction (AEC) domain. This has resulted in tools, technologies, and guidance which fail to address the socio-behavioural context of collaborative design in AEC. Alternatively, generic socio-behavioural management theories are applied with the aim of improving collaborative practices, despite operation in an industry that has critical differences to mainstream business. This thesis aims to counterbalance that positivist and techno-operational dominance, by conducting an exploratory study which expands and deepens knowledge relating to the social aspects of design collaboration in the built environment. To this end, the study begins with a systematic review of literature from the field of social psychology. This field maintains a long history of experimental and field study in relation to group interaction. The social psychology literature is examined to identify areas of knowledge and key themes which are likely to hold relevance for built environment design teams and may be supplanted within the AEC sector-specific research frame. Themes emerging from this review are: (1) motivation and reward, (2) risk attitudes, and (3) social climate. These themes, and the social phenomena described within them, are subsequently investigated in a series of studies. First, an exploratory survey of industry perceptions has been conducted. Findings from this survey direct and inform two further, complementary studies, which include focus group interviews and observations of a live design team in a case-study project. Resulting data sets are qualitatively analysed using a thematic analysis complemented by quantitative social network analysis. The proposed framework synthesises the findings from these studies. The framework comprises thematic content which is specific to collaborative practice in the built environment, rooted within a social psychology perspective. Findings detail a multiplicity in the role agency of project team members as actors in industry, discipline, company, and individual contexts. Normative and adaptive responses within the team interaction space, thus, transforms agency and thought to collective systems of meaning, within which creative thinking can flourish, and from which innovation can thrive. The framework enables the built environment sector to make progress in detailing its own critical success factors for effective collaboration. The framework can now be applied in research and practice, to establish clear directions for new research; development of interdisciplinary industry and practice guidance; and, industry-specific curricula content for professional practice training, teaching, and learning for cognisant disciplines. Thus, the current practice of applying generic theory to AEC collaborative practice can now be repealed in favour of a directed and industry appropriate approach.