Is the British Construction Industry so Far behind the Rest of the Developed World?
Having recently attended a couple of presentations recently that was the nagging question in the back of my mind, is the British Construction Industry so far behind the rest of the developed world?
Not having any experience of the construction industry outside the UK, where I have worked most of my adult life, I was told this week that in Ultra High Performance Energy saving construction, Passivhaus, the UK has but a handful of certificated projects whereas the Germans, Dutch, Austrians and many other central European countries have many and varied projects that they have been perfecting for years. I was also told the UK simply does not have the trained skilled people at this time to develop this type of building on a significant scale, yet in Austria they were building communal swimming pools to this standard and winning design awards for it.
In a presentation on Lean Contracting at the Constructing Excellence Hampshire Club I discovered that the Japanese Construction Industry, whilst comparable in size to the UK has advanced management techniques, zero defect performance and generally a far higher standing in society than the UK Construction Industry does here.
Finding out about the FITS scheme it appears that again the UK is years behind the rest of Europe with regards to the development and implementation of renewable energy technology. The Germans and Spanish have embraced renewable energy and rolled out massive construction projects, whilst here in the UK we seem to have a few wind farms off the east coast and the odd token wind turbine on the canopies of petrol forecourts.
So what the factors that make the UK Construction Industry appear to be so far behind?
Lack of promotion as a professional industry in early education?
Lack of Government investment?
Poor or inappropriate training in Colleges and Universities?
A general scepticism and mistrust of new technologies or work practices?
An unwillingness to embrace change or fear of doing things differently?
All of the above?
It would be great to hear your view on this topic.
Thanks to Graham for his views here, does any one else want to learn more about this opportunity in the UK?
In response, and further to Grahams questions it seems that we (the EU) are so involved with our work procurement processes that we are tending to overlook the reasons why we are procuring in the first place, the presentation this week on LEAN suggested that the Japanese market is focussing more on delivering innovation than trying to present it.
YOur view on this will be much appreciated.
I have found that most of the construction workers that I meet have a very negative view on change. “This is haw we have done it for years why should we change now” Is often used as an excuse for not trying new ideas and techniques. I think that once the construction industry changes this attitude, we will have a higher oppinion even respect for the industry.