Title:
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A best practice for high-rise insitu concrete construction based on French, German and UK contractor performance measures.
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This thesis addresses construction contractor performance for high-rise insitu concrete
building forms. The principal aim of the research was to evaluate and compare the
performance of contractors in three European countries; and from such evaluation develop
best practice model(s) to engender improved construction contractor production
performance.
Initial investigations confirmed that in the evaluation of contractor performance, the
common approach is to measure the extent to which the three 'superlative' client
objectives (time, cost and quality) are satisfied. Due to the lack of a clear uniform
evaluation standard in defining construction quality, this research focused on two of these
performance aspects, namely, time and cost.
A tri-country survey of contractors' planning engineers (implementing a novel
methodology for generating comparable contractor performance data), revealed a
consistent performance ranking. In the context of construction time and (labour) cost
performance, French contractors were most effective, followed by German and then UK
firms.
An appraisal of performance-impacting construction methods and practices revealed
disparity between the solutions preferred by contractors of the three countries. Analysis of
variance and correlation tests identified significant contractor performance factors, from
which two principal best practice models were developed, namely, a cost minimisation
model and a construction time optimisation model. 'European', UK, French and German
versions of these models were produced from corresponding contractor performance data.
Ultimately, the generic concepts developed and best practice recommendations of the two
principal models were validated two-dimensionally incorporating internal and external
validation methodologies. The opinion of experts in France, Germany and the UK
concurred, thus confirming the reliability and robustness of the two models proffered.
Contractors seeking to improve their production performance may wish to consider the
generic concepts and construction 'best practices' identified in the two models. Clients
may observe the performance implications when selecting contractors.
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