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.

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No description available.

There is a widespread view in the relevant academic literature that the UK's economic performance would be better if the situations of its engineers, engineering and manufacturing were more favourable. In particular the apparent dominance of accountants and financial expertise and the relative lack of influence of engineers and technical and productive expertise in manufacturing companies have been much discussed. As a presumed consequence of this, and despite a shortage of empirical evidence, engineers are apparently marginalised in managerial hierarchies, particularly in the most senior positions, and there is a subordination of technical to financial and other commercial priorities and objectives. The role of engineers in construction, however, has been virtually ignored despite the sector's economic importance and the relatively large numbers of engineers employed in it. The author and his supervisor conducted 25 interviews with representatives of the engineering and other main organizational professions, management institutes, employers' associations and a small number of academic and policy researchers. Their aim was to help identify the main issues which were relevant to UK engineers. From these interviews, and from reviewing the literature about engineers and management, the author decided upon the aims of the research. These were: to examine how engineers in manufacturing and construction feel about their influence and career prospects vis-ä-vis the members of the other professional groups with whom they work; to explore the perceptions of management-level people in industry about the managerial abilities of engineers and their colleagues; to investigate how engineers feel about the trade unions and professional associations which represent many of them; to examine the views of engineers about issues surrounding it engineering education and the importance which employers place on formal engineering qualifications; and to determine how engineers feel about the social place of their profession and about their levels of remuneration. Eighty-two interviews were conducted with engineers and their colleagues in three industrial sectors: mechanical and electrical engineering, chemicals, and construction. In manufacturing the main functional groups seemed to enjoy more constructive relationships than was apparently the case during the 1970s and 1980s. Although they appeared to form an influential group, the author found little evidence to support the notion that accountants dominate manufacturing companies, and they were generally considered both by themselves and by engineers and other colleagues to be performing a support function. Engineers appeared to enjoy the widest range of career opportunities of all the main management level groups, with the possible exception of chemists in chemicals. These opportunities included promotion to the boardroom. However some respondents felt that engineers needed to become rather less involved in the technical aspects of their work to advance their careers. In construction it was found that the main professional groups appeared to operate in varying degrees of mutual opposition. Their roles and influence depended to a large extent on the nature of the product and on the method of contracting chosen by clients. Architects in building and design engineers in civil engineering appeared to have lost their dominant positions in the management of projects. In both cases the main beneficiaries were contracting companies, which are staffed at management level mainly by engineers, and to a smaller extent quantity surveyors. 111 The author found no evidence to support the view that engineers are superior or inferior to other professional groups in terms of their `management' abilities, although the latter are clearly very difficult to measure. Only three of sixty-one engineer respondents were trade union members and most engineers appeared to believe that trade union membership was incompatible with their professional and/or managerial identities. About half of the engineers in the sample were members of professional engineering associations but this varied between sectors, as did the importance attached by respondents and their employers to chartered status. The engineer respondents tended to believe that their profession was poorly organised and ineffectual. Although employers appeared to rely heavily on formal qualifications to distinguish between different grades of technical staff, most respondents felt that engineering degrees needed to more practically oriented. The social standing of engineers and engineering was generally considered to be low. Many engineers believed that the general public neither understood nor appreciated fully what they did. However, engineers in the manufacturing companies in the study were generally satisfied with their levels of remuneration, although most respondents in construction felt that they were underpaid. The thesis concludes by arguing that when taken together with other evidence, particularly the many useful developments in education for management, the results suggest that the prospects for the UK economy might be considered to be improving, and certainly better than they were during the 1970s and 1980s.

This thesis describes the development of an operational research model for the identification of determinating variables and prediction of contractor performance in Hong Kong. The mathematical technique used is the Discriminant Analysis approach. The model is also verified with two other analyses Multiple Regression Analysis and Unidimensional Scaling Analysis. One of the aims of the research is to betray the underlying factors that influence contractor performance which are measured in the clients' point of view. The second aim is to develop an accurate model for predicting contractor performance used by clients in vetting contractors. All aspects of the model's development are described, including the quantification of the variables, data collection, analysis of the model results, verification of the model results with other models and testing the model using independent data. Further, the variables adopted in the model are compared with the actual practices in Hong Kong. The predictive model produced by the study is made up of six variables measuring the three dimensions namely the inherent characteristics of the project, the contractor's internal attributes and the external influence of the project team, including the complexity of the project, the working experience of the project leaders, the percentage of professionally qualified staff in the company, the past performance of the contractor, the origin of the company and the architect's or client's supervision and control on the quality of work and work progress. However, the developed ndels should only be used as part of an assessment process and with caution as there are other unpredictable factors which are not able to quantify and include in the model such as the changing of the ccmpany structure and straty, change in management quality, profitability and the happening of overtrading. Nevertheless, the use of the model to exclude cximpanies fran tender lists could accelerate the contractor selection process and spare niore time for clients to concentrate on more important issues.

In the 1990s the capital investment, the standards of technology involved, the complexity of co-ordination, the quality requirements and the speed of construction projects in the world, have been substantially increased in both public and private sectors. These changes have forced contractors to increase their efficiency of management, not only to satisfy their business and commercial requirements but also for their survival in the industry due to the highly competitive environment. The continuing development of information technology has a great impact on all disciplines including construction management, and good information is increasingly important to construction managers. The research described in the thesis is based on the construction industry of Hong Kong, which is a magnet for all the best construction contractors and professionals in the world, due to the sale of the projects involved and the commercial systems provided. However, the principles generated by this research are of more general application in the management of construction projects. The main outcomes of the research are as follows: a) The existing practices and the impacts of the new developments in the construction projects of Hong Kong have been examined. b) A model of construction management practice in Hong Kong has been developed by taking into consideration previous researches, published literatures, current practices and new impacts. c) A comprehensive computer system using a fourth-generation language has been developed. The system involves two levels of operation including the management practices of head office and construction sites. The functions provided by the system include estimation and quality assurance at head office level. The site level systems provide the functions of information control, cost control, materials control and progress control. The integration of information flow among these functions is the main consideration in the development of the system. The system has been put into field tested using the construction projects of Hong Kong as described in the thesis, and has been found to be effective.

Logistikhanteringen inom byggbranschen har varit en oförändrad process under lång tid. Nu börjar däremot branschen vakna till liv och se att med effektiv leveranshantering både till och på arbetsplatsen leder till positiva effekter på både ekonomi och arbetsmiljö. Det är däremot okänt hur stora de ekonomiska effekterna är. Denna studie är skriven i samarbete med Skanska och syftar till att undersöka vilka ekonomiska och tidsbesparande fördelar som finns när tjänsten inbärning köps in. Studien behandlar också förbättringspotentialer och vad som är viktigt att tänka på vid beslut om tjänsten ska köpas in eller inte. Tjänsten inbärning syftar till att med hjälp av en tredje part frakta in material in i byggnaden. Tjänsten kan utföras under dag- och kvällstid. De största fördelarna med tjänsten är att yrkesarbetarna slipper bli avbrutna i sitt arbete för att lossa material och att transporten av material på arbetsplatsen kan ske till en lägre kostnad. Inom byggbranschen finns mycket kunskap och det är inte ovanligt att de som nu är projektchefer en gång varit yrkesarbetare. Mycket tid har därför lagts på intervjuer med personer som jobbar med projektledning i byggprojekt, där har uppsamling av kunskap om logistik och inbärning gjorts. För att öka förståelsen kring hur materialhantering går till och hur arbetsplatsens utformning påverkar tiden för att frakta material in i byggnaden har observationer på arbetsplatser och frekvensmätning vid inbärning av kök gjorts. Resultatet i rapporten visar att det finns en optimism inför att i framtiden använda tjänsten inbärning, men den har fortfarande barnsjukdomar som behöver lösas innan den fungerar fullt ut. Ett större kunskapsutbyte behöver ske och styrdokument behöver utformas. Resultatet visar också att stora delar av det som påverkar kostnaden för tjänsten inte går att kostnadsbestämma. Slutligen följer en rekommendation om vad som bör beaktas om tjänsten ska köpas in. Slutsatsen är att det finns åtta parametrar som påverkar om tjänsten är lönsam eller inte att köpa in. Några av dessa är typ av projekt, personal, arbetsmarknad och leveranser. / The logistic management in the construction industry has for a long time been an unchanged process, but the industry is now starting to understand that effective delivery management, both to and on the workplace, will lead to positive effects on the economy and the working environment. It is uncertain, however, how large the economic effects are. This study is written in collaboration with Skanska and aims to investigate the economic and time saving advantages of using carrying services. The use of carrying services is a logistic solution where the transportation of material from delivery to the point of installation on the construction site is carried out by a third party. The foremost advantage of the service is that the construction workers do not have to disrupt their work to take care of deliveries and unload materials, and that the transportation of material can be done at a lower cost. A large amount of time has been invested in interviews with people who work with management of construction projects. The interviews were focused on the service carrying and logistics in general. Observations of work sites have been done in order to increase the understanding of how the configuration of the work space affects the time it takes to carry materials into buildings. The results of the study show that there is optimism concerning a future use of the service, but that there are some aspects that still need to be fine-tuned. There needs to be a more extensive exchange of knowledge, and control documents need to be formed. The results also show that it is difficult to specify the exact costs of current logistic management, and therefore the economic advantages of carrying services cannot be determined within the scope of this study.

Jag har jämfört de två vanligaste sätten att bygga med betong på byggarbetsplatser, Prefabricerade byggdelar eller Platsbyggda. Det är ofta svårt att veta vilket man ska välja då det bästa alternativet inte alltid är detsamma. Det finns många faktorer som kan påverka så som avstånd, storlek, kvantitet, egenskaper med mera.Prefabricering är förtillverkning av byggdelar som vanligtvis görs i en fabrik, där har jag inriktat mig på prefabricering av betong. I och med prefabricering har man industrialiserat en stor del av byggprocessen då man flyttat stora delar av arbetsmomentet från en provisorisk arbetsplats till en väletablerad fabrik. Detta medför ett mindre spill och svinn av betong och formvirke tack vare den standardiserade processen. Standardiserat betyder att man har begränsat sig till vissa mått och former för att öka produktionstakten. De flesta studier pekar åt att prefabricering är ett miljövänligare arbetssätt, under byggskedet har en platsgjuten betongstomme med kvarsittande form ett utsläpp på 331kg CO2-ekv/m2 jämfört med en prefabricerad betongstomme som har endast 276kg CO2-ekv/m2. Prefabricering kräver en noggrannare och längre projektering men resulterar i ett mycket snabbare och effektivare byggskede. En prefabricerad stomme byggs färdigt på mindre än halva tiden jämfört mot en platsbyggd vilket är uppskattat då en byggnadsentreprenör oftast har stor press på sig att hinna färdigt med byggnationen inom en viss tid.Men att platsbygga har också sina fördelar, det blir en mer homogen konstruktion med en tätare anslutning av vägg mot bjälklag. Man har mer anpassningsmöjligheter för oväntade fel och oftast blir transportkostnaden lägre då tillgängligheten är större av betongstationer samt byggvaruhus än fabriker som tillverkar Prefabricerade betongelement. Platsbyggt är ett byggsätt som använts under en längre tid och är mer beprövad, det är oftast ett bättre val om man ska bygga i små skalor eller i ovanliga former. Att specialbeställa egna mått och former på prefab tar bort den största fördelen som är standardiserade mått och former.Den kortfattade slutsatsen blev att kostnadsvis är prefab generellt billigare, speciellt vid större projekt. Det är även ett snabbare och miljövänligare byggnadssätt. Tidsåtgången för montering av prefab är näst intill omöjlig att matcha med att gjuta på plats.

To cover the current housing shortage there is a need to increase the amount of buildings to be constructed. 13 % of the total cost is due to lack of communication. There is therefore an apparent need to increase communication between these actors. This so that the buildings can be built efficiently to cover living needs. For this study we have used Interviews as our main method. Five actors have been interviewed to get their opinion on what is lacking in communication between each other. What the actors think is presented in the results. Reported by the actors is that one common reason for the lack of communication depends on personal chemistry but that it generally works well. Three factors have been identified as being the most common reasons for break downs in communication. These are the understanding for the other actors, collaboration and trust. / Idag är det många byggnader som behöver byggas för att täcka bostadsbristen. 13 % av byggnadskostnader beror på bristande kommunikation. Det tillsammans med bostadsbristen gör att kommunikationen måste effektiviseras mellan aktörerna. Detta för att på ett effektivt sätt kunna bygga bostäderna för att täcka behovet. I denna studie har intervju använts som metod. Fem aktörer har intervjuats för att få deras åsikt på vad det är som brister i kommunikationen mellan varandra. Vad aktörerna tycker framgår i resultatet. Där redovisas det bland annat att kommunikationen mellan aktörerna är personberoende men att den generellt fungerar bra. Tre faktorer som är vanligt förekommande vid bristande kommunikation har också identifierats, vilka är förståelse för den andra aktören, samarbetet och tilliten mellan aktörerna.

Byggbranschen har återkommande problem med stora produktionskostnader relaterade till byggfel. Samtidigt ökar beställarnas krav på korta byggtider till lågt pris. Många beställare kräver dessutom att entreprenören ska arbeta efter kvalitetsledningssystemet ISO 9001 eller likvärdigt. För att möta dessa krav, och samtidigt behålla lönsamhet, behöver företagen ha ett väl fungerande erfarenhetsåterföringssystem som ett verktyg i arbetsplaneringen. I produktion säkerställs kvalitet, säkerhet och produktionsekonomi genom arbetsberedningen. Därför är arbetsberedningen ett viktigt dokument för att konkretisera erfarenhetsåterföringen.  Syftet med detta arbete är att undersöka hur erfarenhetsåterföring från arbetsberedningarna hos Selbergs Entreprenad i Umeå AB fungerar idag och hitta ett sätt för att enklare kunna kommunicera erfarenheter inom företaget.  I Selbergs Entreprenads verksamhetssystem finns idag ett system för erfarenhetsåterföring, men på grund av att det upplevs som otillgängligt och svårnavigerat delas erfarenheter oftast muntligt istället. Det framkommer också i intervjuer med medarbetarna att dokumenterad uppföljning på arbetsberedningarna sker i mycket liten utsträckning. För att förbättra arbetet med arbetsberedningar har Selbergs Entreprenad tidigare i år tagit fram en ny mall för arbetsberedningar. Utmaningen är nu att få alla att börja arbete efter den.   Slutsatserna av denna studie är att det krävs tydligare rutiner för att klargöra vad som förväntas av medarbetarna. Delavstämning och avslutsmöte för momenten behöver bli standard, erfarenheter måste dokumenteras och arbetsberedningsdokumentet måste uppdateras vid förändringar samt finnas lättillgängligt. / The construction industry has recurring problems with large production costs related to construction defects. At the same time, customers' demands for short construction times at low prices are increasing. Many customers also require the contractor to work according to the quality management system ISO 9001 or equivalent. To meet these requirements, and at the same time maintain profitability, companies need to have a well-functioning experience feedback system as a tool in the work planning. In production, quality, safety, and production economy are ensured by the work preparations. Therefore, the work preparation is an important document for concretizing the experience feedback.  The purpose of this study is to investigate how the experience feedback from work preparations at Selbergs Entreprenad in Umeå AB is working today and to find a way to easier communicate experiences within the company.  In Selbergs Entreprenad's operating system, there is currently a system for experience feedback, but since the system is perceived as inaccessible and difficult to navigate, experiences are usually shared orally instead. When interviewed, employees brought up that documented follow-up on work preparations takes place to a very small extent. To improve the use of work preparations, Selbergs Entreprenad earlier this year developed a new template for work preparations. The challenge now is to get everyone to start using it.  The conclusions of this study are that clearer routines are required to clarify what is expected of employees, status meetings during the activity and final meetings for the work steps need to become standard, experiences must be documented, and the work preparation document must be updated in the event of changes and easily accessible.