Across the AEC industry, the non-technical skills possessed by organisations are key to their overall performance. In this study, the particular importance of optimising the so-called "soft power" of organisations, is addressed. Things like organisational culture, responsible corporate behaviour, and building trust-based relationships with other stake-holders are seen as facets of a broader organisational capability, and the advantages of this strength are also explored.

The internationally conducted research behind this book will provide readers with new insights into...

The relationship between project managers representing project owners and those on the contractor side is often threatened by communication risk. The main communication risk minimization strategy in the construction phase is trust, which plays a major role in the success of key working relationships across the construction industry. This book investigates this phenomenon, and goes on to show that once developed, trust outshines all other strategies of communication risk minimization and is essential for project success.

As part of this investigation, communication risk in...

Conventional air conditioning is not a sustainable solution to the challenge of a hot or humid climate. The climate problem is compounded in so-called Urban Heat Islands, urban areas where the air can be 3-5C hotter than its surrounding areas and where pollution levels are consequently raised.

Including a colour section with thermal images and maps, this book explores the complex relationships between climate, buildings and plants, especially in urban heat islands. These relationships bear very critically on a range of environmental issues and point to some corresponding...

Innovation in Small Construction Firms promotes the benefits of innovation, and stimulate innovation capability within and between small and medium sized (SMEs) construction firms in an effort to bring in a new 'can innovate, should innovate, want to innovate' culture to the construction industry. Presenting new theoretical and practical insights and models grounded in descriptive case studies, the issues addressed include:

• what is the motivation to innovate?
• what is appropriate innovation?
• how can small construction firms create, manage and exploit...

Construction is one of the largest and most people-intensive industrial sectors. In many countries, however, construction is also one of the most highly criticized in terms of its employment practices and industrial relations. People and culture are too often seen as variables that must be manipulated in the cause of improved productivity.

This important new work provides an essential corrective to the current literature by focusing on people and culture rather than sector efficiency. It presents the latest thinking from a diversity of perspectives derived from a major ESRC...

The problems inherent in the traditional design-bid-build procurement method often lead to the adversarial working relationships within the construction industry. Target cost contracts, accompanied by a gain-share/pain-share arrangement serving as a cost incentive mechanism, have emerged in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Hong Kong with the aim of achieving better value for money and more satisfactory overall project performance under a collaborative working relationship.

This book presents the underlying principles, practicalities and a series of short...

Valuing People in Construction provides contemporary perspectives on the 'glue' that binds the construction process together; people.

The book addresses people issues in the construction industry where behavioural outcomes impact upon business and project performance. The main proposition of the book is that as people continue to lead the completion of construction activities, their health, safety, and well-being should be seen as a priority, and valued by stakeholders. As employers and employees, the role of people in construction must be to strive for the...

This book seeks to enhance understanding of the impacts of project setup and its implementation environment on project performance by leveraging information from the study of a rich set of European transport infrastructure project cases. It puts forward a system's view of project delivery and aims to serve as a strategic tool for decision makers and practitioners. The proposed approach is not limited to specific stakeholder views. On the contrary, it allows stakeholders to formulate their own strategies based on an holistic set of potential implementation scenarios.