A review of recent trends in house construction and land prices in Great Britain

Over the last few decades, house prices in the UK have risen at a higher rate than general prices, as measured by, for example, the retail price index. Construction prices, on the other hand, tend to have risen broadly in line with general prices. Assuming the same things are being measured in each case, this implies that, over the period, the price of land, the most significant non-construction element of house prices, has risen at a faster rate than house prices and a much higher rate than construction prices. This paper reviews past price trends and concludes that not only have house prices risen faster than construction prices but also that, as a result, construction prices represent a smaller proportion of house prices. The paper also considers briefly what might be the implications if that trend continued- or if it did not.     

Implementing a multiskilled workforce

Recent studies show the construction industry in the USA is facing a long term labour shortage. Multiskilling has been suggested as a strategy to address this issue by utilizing existing workers more efficiently. Multiskilling decreases the number of workers hired for a project and can improve productivity. Additional benefits include higher income and increased employability of the workforce. To take full advantage of these benefits, the workforce strategy and the planning and scheduling processes of a construction project must be adapted to use multiskilling effectively and efficiently. The multiskilled workforce should be scheduled and organized to maximize the duration of employment for workers, reduce the overall labour requirements and cover the skills combinations required by the project. This research synthesizes and formalizes the methods that successful construction companies are currently applying to implement a multiskilled workforce. A methodology for implementing multiskilling is outlined as well.     

Intra-team boundaries as inhibitors of performance improvement in UK design and build projects: a call for change

The success of the design and build (D&B) procurement route could be undermined by issues arising from the rigid professional cultures of individual participants within project workgroups. These have the potential to inhibit the achievement of a key espoused benefit of D&B procurement, i.e. that it promotes the integration of the design and construction processes for improved project performance. Cultural non-interoperability is identified as a significant potential barrier to effective change management, and to the achievement of innovation within the design and construction processes. This note argues that project responsibilities, which currently are delineated along professional identity lines, produce design and construction solutions that fail to fulfil the potential of D&B procurement. It is suggested that addressing cultural interoperability will require a fundamental and long term reshaping of the industry's structure, beginning with the professional bodies and the higher education system that underpins their future membership.     

网络流算法的分析及研究

为了改善网络的性能,提出了一种网络流的分析方法,流量控制与某个发送方和接收方之间的点到点的通信量控制有关,即解决网络中出现快发慢收的问题,还受到通信线路容量的限制.网络的流量问题是一个网络传输中的重要问题,这里给出的算法可以解决实际问题.     

地下水开采可靠性的随机模拟与三角模糊数耦合模型

在地下水允许开采量的计算过程中,存在着一些不确定性的因素,直接影响着计算结果的精度.本文探讨了将三角模糊数理论用于描述和处理影响地下水开采量的各参数随机性、模糊性,以及资料信息的不完整、不精确性等不确定性特征的具体实现途径.采用Monte Carlo方法模拟三角模糊数,把三角模糊数及其函数之间的运算转化为普通实数之间的运算,建立了水环境风险评价的随机模拟与三角模糊数耦合模型(SS-TFN).经风险分析所得结果较传统的水文地质学方法计算的结果, 更符合实际情况. 为在今后的地下水资源评价工作中,更加合理地、可靠地确定水源地的允许开采量提供了一种切实可行的方法, 使得与地下水开采有关决策的失误减小到最低程度.     

Developing world class construction companies in Singapore

The construction industry in Singapore is under pressure to improve its performance and the quality of its products and services. The Government is looking to see Singapore develop into a knowledge-based economy, and construction cannot be left behind. A recently published report about re-inventing construction has called on the industry to become a world-class industry. This study examines the attitudes and views of contractors, operating in Singapore, on how and where developments should be focused to bring about such a transformation. The results show that local contractors are not overly enthusiastic about becoming worldclass. The study found also that contractors expect the development to be Government led, with policies and incentives to support such an effort. At the same time there is a feeling that current Government policies are not effective in enabling the industry to become world-class.     

Employment generation in public works: recent South African experience

Unemployment remains one of South Africa's most pressing problems while at the same time there is a great need for physical infrastructure in both urban and rural areas. Concurrently there is also a lack of individual skills and institutional capacity. From a theoretical perspective, substantiated by large scale experience elsewhere in Africa (and research and development in South Africa) there are reasons for advocating the establishment of carefully formulated, long term programmes using employment-intensive methods for the construction and maintenance of the required infrastructure. These programmes have also improved institutional capacities and developed individual skills. Proper employment-intensive construction results in a significant increase in employment generated per unit of expenditure. It can be financially competitive with conventional (equipment-based) construction and can produce the same quality of product within the same time. From a development perspective there are additional socio-economic benefits to be gained such as the development of individual skills and institutional capacities and a contribution to the alleviation of poverty. The concepts and principles, taken together with the processes and results of successful long term, large scale programmes provide criteria by which to evaluate other projects and programmes. In 1994 the South African National Public Works Programme (NPWP) was launched based on the principles outlined above. This paper briefly describes the NPWP and evaluates progress in satisfying its objectives.     

Capital budget planning practices of building contractors in Hong Kong

This paper explores the current practice of capital budget planning and control in the Hong Kong (HK) construction industry, based on two surveys undertaken in 1994 and 1999. The aims of these surveys were to uncover the financial planning, monitoring and control procedures used by building engineering contractors in HK. The results of the current survey reveal that less than half of the respondents undertook any form of capital budget planning. The most common form of capital budget planning was a review of the minimum rate of return. Despite the low prevalence of planning, most respondents adopted some method of capital budget control, especially by way of monitoring project performance. The 1999 study was compared with a similar survey conducted in 1994. The results indicate that there was no significant improvement in capital budget planning practices over the five year period. In addition to these findings, this paper concludes with a classification of firms, according to their capital budget planning behaviour, using discriminant function analysis.