We all know what’s important in property: location, location, location. In construction, it’s people, people, people. It’s people who carry out the work, people who manage the construction process and it’s people who create the designs.

It therefore should go without saying that the quality of the relationships between those involved in a project is key to how successful that project will be. Time after time we hear of a contractual conflict which could have been either avoided or at least resolved so much sooner with some decent communication and negotiation.

It’s people who deliver construction projects, not forms of contract. The contract merely informs and affects the way that people behave. So why do we spend so little time working out how people function, interact and communicate?

These issues are important for Defence Estates, which has developed a method for assessing the ‘soft’ skills and characteristics of a bidding team, together with that team’s interaction with its opposite numbers. Read all about it on page 18.

Particularly where complex or long-term projects are concerned, it is vital to establish relationships between people across the project. These relationships must have the potential to last for the life of this project, and they must be renewed as team members come and go.

Surely the best place to start is by understanding each of the members of our own team members, including their personalities and approach to work? This is what we have done with Network Rail’s core team for the redevelopment of Birmingham’s New Street station where I am programme director.

Thanks to some analysis of all our profiles, we now have a better understanding of what makes each other tick. You can read how we did it on page 16. I’ve even allowed elements of my own personality profile to be published – only the good bits, though!

Martin Chambers Guest editor and president, CIOB

Source

Construction Manager