Student numbers take a dip
The number of undergraduate students applying for and being accepted onto construction-related degree courses has taken a worrying dip in the recession, according to figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).
In 2010, a total of 5,846 people applied for places on undergraduate courses with “construction” or “building” in the title, a drop of 6.4% compared with the 6,251 who applied in 2009*.
But there was a 12.1% fall in the number of candidates being accepted onto courses, with just 1,989 offered a place this year compared with 2,263 in 2009.
The squeeze on places is a reflection of universities’ stricter “caps” on student numbers, as they are fined by government if they over-recruit.
At the University of the West of England, applications to its three construction degree programmes were broadly in line with last year, but it offered just 36 places compared with 50 last year, and around 60 at the height of the boom. “We would have liked to have made more offers to good candidates. We were constricted last year, but more so this year,” says Julian Spicer, admissions manager in the faculty of environment and technology.
Academics have suggested that construction courses, which are relatively expensive to run compared with traditional academic subjects, are vulnerable to universities seeking efficiency gains.
The University of Abertay Dundee stopped running construction courses in 2007 partially because the cost of running them was high in terms of staff/student ratios. “Surveying equipment is very expensive, as are several software licences, journal subscriptions and essential books,” said Edward Simpson MCIOB, a lecturer in the University’s environment division.
Meanwhile, some universities also report a decline in the number of part-time students, whose studies are supported financially by their employers. At the University of Northumbria in Newcastle, part-time applications are down by 50% compared with 2009.
“Most contracting organisations appear to be cutting training, particularly where they are involved in publicly-funded projects,” said Dr Andrew Platten MCIOB, associate dean of the faculty of arts, environment and society at Leeds Metropolitan University. “Elsewhere the need to reduce overheads is preventing students from gaining sponsorship on courses from their employers.”
*The UCAS figures do not include students on courses without the search terms in the title, such as quantity surveying.
Peter Eisenegger
The National Consumer Federation is supporting the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST), which aims to increase accountability in public sector construction projects. Peter Eisenegger of the NCF’s executive committee explains why.
Why is this project so important?
Our experience in other markets shows that if an industry determines what it’s going to tell you and what it isn’t, people don’t tend to trust it. We’re at the very beginning of a process that will see transparency play a significant role in the way various different markets and public services operate.
What are consumers’ biggest concerns regarding construction?
The CoST pilot study focused purely on construction projects, but many people also want transparency on planning and proof that completed buildings actually match up to what was promised — they need to see that their money has been well spent and that a building is fit for purpose. They are also concerned about sustainability and recycling issues.
How will information on projects be made available?
Our steering group meetings have shown that a broad range of data needs to be made available and the way that’s analysed and brought together will likely be the responsibility of the organisation charged with ensuring transparency.
We expect local councils to provide information to consumers on local projects, because construction tends to affect public opinion at a local level. National public bodies such as the Highways Agency and the Environment Agency will also have to publish information on costs online.
Will increased transparency keep costs down?
Increased transparency keeps businesses on their toes. Vince Cable has been talking about breaking large businesses down into smaller chunks to increase competition, but I believe pushing them to increase transparency is a more effective alternative.
What happens next?
Over the next three months we will work with other CoST members to develop a coherent plan for increasing transparency in UK public sector construction projects. We’re hoping
to get funding to develop a set of online software tools that will allow people to search for specific projects and specific data on them.
Group seeks standardised products
A new industry task force has been set up to investigate whether improvements in the design, manufacture and supply of construction products could lead to better, cheaper buildings, writes Stephen Cousins.
The initiative is being led by engineering consultancy Buro Happold and the Associate Parliamentary Design and Innovation Group, with input from Constructing Excellence and support from Paul Morrell, the government’s chief construction adviser.
After an initial meeting of construction leaders, parliamentarians and government officials in March, a steering group was formed to take the idea forward. The group is working towards a proposed parliamentary inquiry, where an influential Select Committee report could ultimately put pressure on government to change procurement practice and legislation.
Rod Macdonald (pictured right), chairman of Buro Happold, is leading the group. His main concern is that construction has fallen behind other industries in its use of new technology, and should be delivering unique buildings using a range of highly developed parts.
“Too many products are bespoke-made for individual projects, which means a lengthy design process during each project to ensure compatibility,” said Macdonald. “It’s obvious a much larger range of products should be available which are pre-engineered to fit together.”
During its first meeting in July, the group highlighted a failure among many manufacturers to utilise skilled product designers, compounded by their lack of investment in product development.
“It is partly because the industry is notoriously cyclical, and manufacturers don’t always see how they can get a
return on their investment,” adds Macdonald. “But despite this, products are getting more and more expensive, unlike every other industry sector in which products innovate and either stay the same price or get cheaper.”
In future, public and private sector clients could be required to ensure projects specify high-performance products. “The government should already be doing this, and several large clients and developers do, but we need consistency across the board,” he says.
More standardisation could help drive down costs, added steering group member Don Ward, chief executive of Constructing Excellence: “It’s partly the old Egan agenda — why do we have such different specifications for similar products? Aren’t there savings from standardisation?
We’re pushing the integrated design model, and moving towards catalogues of standardised components.”
The steering group is also looking at how product information could be made more accessible and user-friendly for building designers, for example, by providing online data on specification, dimensions, performance and pricing which
can be fed directly into BIM design programs.
Agreement hands Building Control officers health and safety powers
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Building Control Alliance have signed an agreement that formalises Building Control officers’ responsibility to report health and safety problems seen on sites to the site duty holder or to the HSE.
Under the agreement, Building Control officers will also provide sites with best practice advice on health and safety matters and help promote HSE campaigns.
It’s hoped the initiative will improve compliance on smaller building sites which the HSE does not have the staff to monitor, explains Diane Marshall, group head of Building Control at the National House Building Council.
“The HSE doesn’t have the resources to target smaller sites, which Building Control professionals visit regularly, giving them the opportunity to educate and identify problems they may have been missed,” said Marshall.
The agreement will not increase the responsibilities of Building Control officers, who already have a professional code of conduct which requires them to identify unsafe practice. However, it should make it simpler to identify sites that require urgent attention.
“The HSE will give priority to any calls received from Building Control and their expertise should improve identification of problems,” said Marshall.
New primary up in weeks
Contractor Neilcott has just delivered Cannington Road primary school for the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
The contractor was already part of the borough’s framework and was appointed to deliver the three-form entry school in October 2009.
After going on site in January this year, a 27-week base-build programme saw the new primary handed over in time for the start of the new term.
The client opted for a PPC 2000 partnering contract. The school was built in KLH laminated timber panels at a cost, excluding
furniture, of £1,541 per m2.
The design was completed in just five weeks with each 70m2 classroom exceeding Building Bulletin suggested sizes.
Month in numbers
50,000
The minimum value, in pounds, of contracts that major contractor ISG is prepared to tender for, according to chief executive David Lawther.
14
The percentage drop in a typical site agent’s salary, according to the annual salary survey from Hays Construction. Assistant QSs suffered a decrease of 8% and general foremen 6%.
20m
The value, in pounds, of a “secret” music venue being built beneath Chelsea FC’s Stamford Bridge stadium by Roman Abramovich. The 500 capacity club is being built by interiors specialist Cumberland.
6.2m
The amount, in pounds, the drywalling sector received in training grants and benefits from CITB-ConstructionSkills in 2009, despite paying in £14.5m of levy. The Federation of Plastering and Drywall Contractors is urging the government to disband the body.
Dehli: it could have been different
The budget inflation and suspicions of corruption that dogged the construction programme at the Delhi Commonwealth Games could have been avoided if the Games’ organising committee had followed the procedures laid down in a new international pro-transparency initiative, writes Michael Willoughby.
The Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST) is examining barriers to greater accountability in public sector construction projects in the UK, Ethiopia, Malawi, the Philippines, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zambia.
“Greater transparency could have led to extra eyes looking at the process and more openness about the procurement process and how the projects were running on the way through,” said Bob McKittrick, who chaired the multi-stakeholder group of the UK CoST pilot study.
“If the Games had been constructed with the CoST process in place, there would have been material released on the project from cradle to grave — at the start and at three-month intervals.”
“If the organising committee had committed to releasing quality certificates and details of risks at regular stages, alarm bells could have started to ring,” said McKittrick.
The CoST initiative, which is supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Bank, is being piloted internationally as well as in the UK. The UK has already published its reports, and the other countries are due to publish their results over the next month.
The pilots aim to find effective ways to promote transparency, accountability and efficiency, including greater openness about procurement, programmes and assessing the quality of what has been built.
The process was carried out in a broadly similar fashion in each country, although with some subtle differences. Vietnam’s government is set to publish the raw project data into newspapers. Ethiopia, meanwhile, had to change its procurement legislation to allow for disclosure of project data.
The launch of the pilot reports will be followed by a consultation period, when each country will discuss how the lessons learned can be embedded in current procurement practice.
McKittrick outlines the range of information that could have been gathered in India. “It would include the project specification, tender process (including those who have taken an interest in the project), ultimate beneficiaries, outcome feasibility and prices. This could have provided an early warning system. Questions would have been asked by the media and the public.”
The Commonwealth Games’ original budget of 12bn rupees (£168m) rocketed to 115bn rupees by August this year, making it the most expensive Games ever. It’s estimated that between 42 and 70 people were killed building the project.
See comment, p12
Barcelona, Dublin, Chicago and Rome open doors to top buildings
Open House, the 18-year-old annual event when members of the public are given free access to notable buildings, is fast becoming one of the UK’s most successful exports.
Barcelona has launched its own version of the programme this year and 150 architectural projects will admit the curious on 16 and 17 October. New York, Dublin, Galway and Tel Aviv already have their own Open House events, which are accredited by Open-City, the organisation behind Open House London. Chicago and Rome are planning to take part in 2011.
To use the Open House name, participating cities have to prove they will show a sufficient number of high-quality buildings and that the public will have access for free.
Nathalie Weadick, director of the Irish Architectural Foundation, said Open House Dublin had helped to reverse the negative view of buildings built in Ireland’s 15-year boom (right). “People said they didn’t know that some really good buildings came out of it,” she said.
