The document discusses construction productivity in the UK and other countries. It provides factors that impact productivity such as site/project management, resource management, labor characteristics, and motivation. Productivity in the UK construction industry has improved over the past decade but still lags countries like Germany and France. Reasons given for relatively lower UK productivity include issues with subcontracting, materials handling, training, and technology adoption. Improving areas like planning, prefabrication, and reducing waste could further increase construction productivity.

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CONSTRUCTION
PRODUCTIVITY

2. CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• Productivity level have a direct
impact on the macro-economic
success or failure of modern
industrialised economies.
• The industry employs a large
number of skilled, semi skilled
and un-skilled workers.

3. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• The industry deals with a wide range
of building and civil engineering
projects.
• Improving construction productivity
depends on many factors.
• its activity also provides work for
the economic sector.

4. RESEARCH MODEL
(Process model productivity on site)
 Organisational Factors
 Contract management
 Finance
 Etc
PROJECT WORK ENVIRONMENT
Pre-construction
Activities (1)
D1. Client brief
D2. Project objectives
D3. Specification
D4. Design/build-ability
D5. Contractual
arrangement
D6. Planning
D7. Scheduling
D8. Estimating
Site/Project
Manager (2)
Characteristics
D9. Experience/capability
D10. Leadership style
D11. Authority/influence
D12. Goal commitment
D13. Involvement
Labour (6)
Characteristics
D39. Subcontracting
Labour
D40. Direct labour
Management (3)
Factors
D14. Clarity of tasks
D15. Team work
D16. The style of
management
D17. Safety management
Management (4)
System
D18. Planning
D19. Communication
D20. Controlling
D21. Co-ordinating
Resource (5)
Management
D22. Labour selection
D23. Labour control
D24. Material selection
D25. Material handling
D26. Plant
D27. D31. Waste on site
D32. D38. Delay and
Disruption on site
Motivating
Factors (7)
D41-D46
Hygiene
Factors
D47-D55
P
R
O
D
U
C
T
I
V
I
T
Y
Project
Performance
 Time
 Cost
 Quality
 Safety
Job
SatisfactionEffort Rewards
Ability and Skill of worker

5. PRODUCTIVITY MODEL
• site/project manager Characteristics
• management Factors
• resource Management
• management Systems
• labour Characteristics
• waste on site
• delay and disruption
• motivating Factors
• hygiene Factors

6. CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• The role of project manger:
• Mobilising resources
• Remove constraints and difficulties
from the site
To study construction productivity is
complex and difficult.
• Construction companies find it
difficult, or are unable to study the
level of productivity within their
organisation.
• Mainly, because of the limitations.

7. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
Common failures within the
construction industry are often
manifest in:
• cost and time overruns;
• poor quality workmanship;
• repetitive work;
• wastage on site and at the head
office;
• idleness within the workforce;

8. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• incorrect estimating;
• poor planning;
• lack of good quality product;
• safety management-site safety
and the level of accidents;
• Claims;
• Disputes;
• poor quality machinery on site.

9. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
•Harvey and Ashworth (1998)
have investigated that,
despite Britain’s improved
productivity,
•West Germany, France and
Italy are 104%, 41% and
12% more productive than
Britain respectively.

10. CONSTUCTION
PRODUCTIVITY
•In 2008 only 2% difference in
productivity amongst top 100
firms.
•Amongst average and small
UK construction firms, up to
45% more manpower is
required to complete a
project compared to other
European Countries.

11. CONSTUCTION
PRODUCTIVITY
• Dispute in February 2009.
• The use of foreign contractors and
skilled labour force on UK civil
engineering construction projects.
• Lord Mandelson appointed Mark
Gibson (The Whitehall and Industry
Group)

12. CONSTUCTION
PRODUCTIVITY
• To review the UK construction
productivity and make
recommendations.
• Larger index numbers indicate
poorer productivity.
• For example, relative to US Gulf
Coast, UK projects have 11% worse
productivity.

13. CONSTUCTION
PRODUCTIVITY
• Table1.01 shows comparative labour
productivity between years 1998 to
2008.
• US Gulf Coast 1.00
• Germany 1.05
• Continental Europe 1.06
• The Netherland 1.08
• UK 1.11
• France 1.20

14. CONSTUCTION
PRODUCTIVITY
• In his report Mark Gibson compared
the productivity level amongst
several European countries.
• With USA construction contractors
• His investigation showed that UK
productivity has improved compared
to earlier reports.

15. CONSTUCTION
PRODUCTIVITY
• Countries represented in Continental
Europe were France, Germany, The
Netherlands, Italy, Spain and
Ireland.
• However, to compare with earlier
report UK productivity has been
improving over the past 10 years.

16. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• Q 1) Today’s Productivity level in
West Germany, France and Britain
are? 1-5% difference.
• The construction industry employs
more than 7% of Europe’s
workforce and represents
approximately 12% of GDP.

17. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• The world economic forum 2009
ranks Britain 76th out of 134
nations on productivity/
efficiency of public sector.
• UK is behind countries such as:
• Greece
• Ethiopia
• Mozambique.

18. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
Sir Michael Latham also identified:
• potential for cost reduction in his
report entitled ‘Constructing the
Team’ (HMSO July 1994).
• A potential 30% saving was also
strongly advocated.

19. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
There are five basic resources used
to produce goods. These are:
• Capital
• Land
• Materials
• Plant/ Machinery
• Manpower

20. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
Use of high quality
management
techniques such as;
•Planning
•Scheduling
•money invested in the
project

21. CONSTUCTION
PRODUCTIVITY
Including:
• improved Communication
• efficient use of labour
• efficient use of material and
equipment
Use other methods of construction
productivity improvement such as:
• Lean construction;

22. CONSTUCTION
PRODUCTIVITY
• Last planner system;
• JIT & Quality Management Systems;
• Construction Productivity-Logistics;
• Productivity Improvement;
• ISO 9000, ISO 9001, ISO1400;
• Quality Assurance.

23. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• Sir Michael Latham set up the Working
Group II.
• To find out what steps are required to
improve Productivity.
• The board agreed that a single solution
to the problem is unlikely to be found.
• The board concluded that some
important tried and tested measures
had already been taken.
• These methods had proven to be
successful.

24. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
Their recommendation suggested
that issues such as:
• Value Engineering (VE)
• Life cycle costing
• Pre-fabrication
• Standardisation
Which will improve the level of
productivity.

25. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
Group II recommended the
promotion of other techniques
not commonly used in the UK.
This included:
• Total quality management
• Total quality control and bench-
marking

26. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
Project mangers can also
improve construction productivity
by:
• The use of best practice productivity
data which has been collected
carefully and accurately.
These information should cover areas
such as:
• Tendering;
• planning processes;
• The use of IT – based information
management systems (MIS) for
material procurement.

27. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• Training site workers so that they
become multi – skilled craftsmen.
• The introduction of post
qualification training on new
products.
• Methods and time management
techniques.
• The promotion of pre-fabrication
and assembly.

28. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
Some researchers give reasons
for the decline in productivity
due to:
• A big step in communication
channels;
• Often on large construction
projects where there is a lack
of a clear communication
method.

29. CONSTUCTION
PRODUCTIVITY
• The time that members of the
management team spend on site
obtaining data.
• Writing reports and sending to
different departments.
• All these paper work diverts
them from giving adequate
attention to managing the
project.

30. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• Over looking areas on the
construction site which need
improvement during the construction
period.
• Lack of a ‘team effort culture’, which
would bind all levels of the workforce
together.
• The lack of a speedy feedback
system.

31. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• Technological Factors-The smaller
construction firms are less
adaptable.
• They are slower to accept the arrival
of new technology.
• They delay the Policy of increased
mechanisation on site.
• In general they are less competitive.

32. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• BSRIA in mid-90th has identified
that the UK construction labour
force lags behind other
countries in terms of:
• Skills;
• Salaries;
• working conditions;
• Job motivation.

33. CONSTUCTION
PRODUCTIVITY
•The report also claims that
UK workers loose around
19% of their working capacity
through late starts and early
finishes.
•compared to 5% in America
•and 3% in Sweden and
Germany.

34. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
•Q-visit BSRIA site and
investigate if the trend has
changed in 2009.
•The reasons given by BSRIA
for productivity decline in
early 2000 were:

35. CONSTUCTION
PRODUCTIVITY
• Many UK sub-contractors do not
organise and execute their work
in a productive way.
• mechanical/electrical (M&E)
installation work that was
monitored was characterised by
numerous levels of sub-
contractors.

36. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• There was a loss of 12% as a
result of poor management.
• storage of materials on site
very poor.
• Handling of materials were
found to cause delay on all of
the UK projects monitored.

37. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• On the more than 90 UK sites
monitored, workers were found to
have received no post-qualification
training.
• The average level of productivity in
the UK projects monitored was
only 56%.
• Compared with the best-achieved
productivity figures (benchmark).

38. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• Site workers in the UK were
engaged in too much office
administration
• Above average inappropriate design
and specification.
• As a result, slowed down work.
• Resulted in poor levels of house
keeping.

39. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• time wastage was identified at all
levels of the construction process;
• from contract strategy;
• Procurement;
• project organisation;
• services design;
• and in the whole philosophy of
construction.

40. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• There are other factors, which
may cause a decline in
productivity;
these factors may arise from:
• shortage of equipment
• information
• bad weather

41. CONSTUCTION PRODUCTIVITY
• management style
• wastage on site or at the head
office
• lack of training
• variations in the scope of work,
• disruption on site.