A CIOB Construction Manager of the Year Gold Medal winner has published a free guide to project management, drawing on more than two decades of experience to help construction professionals improve project delivery.
Andy Pritchard MCIOB, founder of consultancy Constructing Culture and winner of the CIOB Construction Manager of the Year Awards Gold Medal in 2019 for the Woodmansterne School project in Lambeth, has released Going for Gold: Constructing Project Managers as a free PDF for the industry.
The 64-page book distils lessons learned over 22 years delivering construction projects, covering topics including planning, programme management, recovering delayed projects and developing workplace cultures that support successful delivery. Each of its 13 chapters concludes with practical actions that readers can apply immediately.
Pritchard said he wrote the book to capture knowledge that is often gained only through experience. “The knowledge that finishes jobs walks out of our industry every Friday in the heads of the people about to retire,” he said. “This book is my attempt to leave the recorder switched on. Twenty-two years of delivery, the failures included, written down where anyone can use it.”
The book also highlights the cost of poor project performance, arguing that relatively small delays can have significant financial consequences on major projects. Pritchard believes many of the industry’s challenges stem not from a lack of technical solutions, but from organisational culture.
“Almost nothing in this book is complicated, and that is the uncomfortable part,” said Pritchard. “The industry’s problem was never that the answers are hard. It is that the culture stops us using them. That is also why it is free. You cannot fix a culture problem from behind a paywall.”
While the digital edition is available free of charge, all royalties from the paperback version will be donated to the Lighthouse Construction Industry Charity, supporting the emotional, physical and financial wellbeing of construction workers and their families.
Pritchard founded Constructing Culture after more than 20 years working for national contractors. Alongside his CIOB Gold Medal success in 2019, he now advises contractors on planning, project delivery and performance culture.
The free PDF of Going for Gold: Constructing Project Managers is available from Constructing Culture’s website, while a paperback edition is also available.
