Editorial

Citation

McCaffer, R. (2006), "Editorial", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 13 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ecam.2006.28613baa.001

Editorial

Volume 13 Number 2 of ECAM has papers from the USA, Hong Kong and the UK. The six papers took 16 authors to produce with one single authored paper, three with two authors, one with three authors and one with six authors. I always imagine long interesting discussions when papers have six authors, and in this case the paper has authors from industry as well as academia. One other paper with two authors has two different institutions involved. The subjects range from a new way of comparing construction costs between countries, reliability of building systems, impediments to the use of IT in formal communications, how some companies manage the environment, a variation of public private projects and the factors that make for exemplary construction projects. A rich diverse range of projects, surprisingly and unusually without any mathematical modelling being offered.

The papers in this issue, Walsh, Sawhney and Vachris take ECAM into a different topic that we have not previously looked at, at least not in the way the authors approach the subject. The issue is international price comparisons for construction. An area that is bedevilled by so many variables that the fundamental comparison quickly gets lost. These authors propose a basket of construction components approach and the formulation of construction sector purchasing power parities. An interesting paper.

Wu, Clements-Croome, Fairey, Neale, Sidhu and Desmond tackle the very real issue of reliability in building systems throughout the working life. The paper establishes the importance of reliability in building systems to business and promotes reliability analysis as a means of improving performance of building systems. Existing UK approaches are reviewed.

Rowlinson argues that formal communication in construction projects using IT is still limited although informal communication using IT is well established. The author establishes that Hong Kong is at the same level of IT maturity as UK and Australia and so the results of his survey of Hong Kong professionals is valid elsewhere. The benefits of more formal IT communication were well perceived but the obstacles to implementation were cost, security, confidentiality and lack of incentives.

Fergusson and Langford address the strategies that construction organisations have for dealing with environmental issues. Six companies are studied and the variables that influence strategies for managing environmental issues identified. The paper is seeking to establish whether better stewardship of the environment gives a competitive advantage. Looking after the environment seems a noble cause but the paper assumes only base motives for doing so, i.e. competitive advantage, surely our aspirations are longer than that

Ng and Wong study public private partnerships (PPP) in maintenance project and presents a case study. This reports a case study of a Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s use of PPP in maintaining facilities without private finance. This is an unusual approach and is extending the use of partnership agreements.

Barrett and Barrett attempt to highlight the key characteristics of high-performing construction projects. The paper is based on workshops in Australia, Singapore, and the USA where the participants identified their best construction projects and the major reasons for success. In effect this produces 17 mini cases and three full cases. As well as the issues of procurement, briefing, design and construction management the issue that emerges is selective priority setting as a key issue in project success.

Ronald McCaffer