The document discusses the fragmentation within the construction industry, highlighting the negative impacts of silos and the need for improved education and collaboration among building professionals. It emphasizes that the current structure and educational practices contribute to this fragmentation, limiting innovation and creating barriers to a more integrated approach. The document also explores historical context, key issues in built environment education, and potential future changes needed to address these challenges.

1. BARRIERS BETWEEN THE BUILDING PROFESSIONSFragmentation, silos and the impact on built environment educationProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011TONY BURKESchool of Architecture & the Built Environment

2. A few quotes…….ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011

3. “The relationship between those responsible for design and those who actually build must be improved through common education”ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011The Placing and Management of Contracts for Building and Civil Engineering work Sir Harold Banwell1964

4. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011“The industry is fragmented because of the many disciplines involved….”“The endemic fragmentation is exacerbated by the defensive stance of the various professional institutions which strictly maintain their independence…..”Rethinking Construction Innovation & Research Sir John Fairclough 2002

5. “…..it is scarcely possible that the innovation and change that is essential …can be secured through the industry as it is currently structured and engaged, .......and in the silo-based habits of the industry’s institutions.”ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Low Carbon ConstructionInnovation & Growth Team(chaired by) Paul Morrell 2010

6. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Fragmentation

7. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Fragmentation- professional bodies:

8. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Silo mentalityAn attitude that occurs when groups do not want to share information or knowledge with each other. It reduces the efficiency of the overall operation and may contribute to the demise of a productive culture.

9. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Historical context:The construction industry….

10. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Medieval construction industryTraditional, craft based industry organised around guilds and lodges

11. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Eighteenth centuryGradual breakdown of medieval modelIncreasing use of intermediary between employer and tradesmen

12. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Early nineteenth centurySeparation of design and constructionEmergence of the ‘measurer’ (QS)Growth of general contracting

13. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Professional institutions1818 Institution of Civil Engineers1834 Institute of British Architects1834 Builders’ Society1868 Institution of Surveyors..... fragmentation institutionalised

14. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011“The System” (Bowley, 1966)ArchitectsEngineersSurveyorsBuilders

15. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Historical context:Built environment education….

16. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Victorian education systemDominated by a “high minded classical academism” (Barnett, 2001)Technical /professional education treated with suspicion

17. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Influence of professional bodiesAbsence of state control allowed professional bodies to take a leading role in technical educationProfessional examinations establishedInfluence over early university courses

18. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Built environment education in 20CArchitecture and engineering established in universitiesBuilding and surveying - tradition of part time education – relatively late in universitiesAll disciplines subject to control from professional bodies

19. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Range of courses offered by UK Universities:Architecture: 80 coursesCivil Engineering: 174 coursesConstruction Management: 80 coursesQuantity Surveying: 48 coursesBuilding Surveying: 37 courses

20. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Professional accreditation:RIBA: 44 universitiesCIOB: 31 universitiesICE (Engineering Council): 56 universitiesRICS: 70 universities

21. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011The key issues:Built environment undergraduate education reflects the fragmented nature of the professions. Curriculum heavily influenced by professional bodies through accreditation.Some argue that the ‘silo mentality’ is embedded before students graduate.

22. “We educate in very narrow silos…they come out of university with preconceived ideas”ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Peter Rogers Chairman of Strategic Forum for Construction 2002

23. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Previous initiatives….

24. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Crossing Boundaries 1993Professor John AndrewsSir Andrew Derbyshire

25. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Crossing Boundaries: Findings and Recommendations“There is considerable scope for greater commonality in the education, training and continuing professional development of the construction professions.”“Agree common criteria for accreditation possibly leading to a single body for the accreditation of all professional courses in the built environment”

26. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Construction Industry Board 1996Educating the professional team: Students enter degree courses with ‘professional intent’General built environment degrees viewed with scepticismDifferent disciplines have different requirementsProfessional institutions have duty to ensure competence of members

27. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011So ……..?

28. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Virtually no undergraduate courses which are genuinely inter-disciplinary across the built environment disciplines

29. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011University of Westminster Construction Studies ProgrammeBSc (Hons) Architectural TechnologyBSc (Hons) Building EngineeringBSc (Hons) Building SurveyingBSc (Hons) Construction ManagementBSc (Hons) Quantity Surveying & Commercial ManagementBut……..

30. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Courses accredited by four different professional bodiesRequired to demonstrate specific learning outcomes for each professional body

31. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Why?Barriers …..

32. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Professional bodies Effectively impose very specific requirements on accredited courses

33. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Employers Many have a preference for graduates from accredited courses

34. StudentsAttracted to courses which provide them with professional accreditation and thereby improve employment prospects ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011UniversitiesUnlikely to do anything which might impact on student recruitment.

35. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011What of the future?Possible drivers for change…

36. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011The low carbon agendaNeed for innovationA catalyst for new ways of working

37. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Professional institutionsWill they survive?

38. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Professional disciplinesBlurring of boundaries

39. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Ownership of knowledgeNo longer the preserve of professionally qualified people

40. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011The nature of University educationLess emphasis on knowledgeMore emphasis on: creativityproblem-solvingusing judgement working collaborativelycoping with constant changeA new culture of learning

41. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Impact of tuition fees?Possible decline in applicationsUniversities will have to be more responsive

42. ProBE Symposium - 20 May 2011Concluding comment“As the universities continued to produce knowledge-soaked graduates who were excellent at routine but unable to exercise judgement, the professions struggled to reform themselves”Will Hughes, University of ReadingLooking back 20 years from 2023