Construction Procurement

This book is an easy-to-read introduction to the principles and methods of building procurement and is aimed at first year students or non-cognate graduates starting out on a career in construction, property, quantity surveying and construction management.

The book starts with a brief introduction to the construction industry, including how the industry is organised into contractors, consultants and clients. After a discussion of the historical development of procurement methods, which show a steady shift of risk and responsibility towards the supply side (contractors), the various roles and responsibilities which must be carried out in any project are discussed in detail. The aim is to show the reader that procurement routes are effectively a permutation of these responsibilities between the various parties. The book then explains the various methods by which the contractor(s) are paid, either by pre-negotiated lump sums or by some form of cost reimbursement. Variants of these two systems are also discussed. Several chapters are given to the detailed discussion of the main procurement routes together with the appropriate standard forms of contract designed for that route. More modern developments such as Private Financing and PPP are discussed and a chapter covering emerging trends in procurement completes the book.

Containing discussion points, chapter summaries and case studies, this book is ideal for use in a variety of degree programs and courses across the built environment and engineering.

Brian Greenhalgh is an experienced construction commercial/contract manager having worked in the UK and overseas on a variety of large projects. He was also formerly a principal lecturer in quantity surveying and construction project management at Liverpool John Moores University with responsibility for postgraduate programmes in quantity surveying and construction project management. In addition to Introduction to Building Procurement, he has also written two further complementary textbooks, Introduction to Estimating for Construction, and Introduction to Construction Contract Management, all published by Routledge.

Graham Squires is an International Economist, Geographer, and Planner with expertise in Property and Housing. He is the author of six books and has written over 100 peer-review journals, conference papers, grant-funded reports, and book chapters. Graham is Professor in The School of Economics and Finance at Massey University, New Zealand. He has lectured in the United Kingdom at The University of Manchester, the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol and Birmingham University. He has been a visiting scholar at the University of California Berkeley, University of Illinois and Delft University. Graham is President-Elect of the Pacific Rim Real Estate Society (PRRES), and Council Member of the New Zealand Association of Economists (NZAE). He is a Fulbright Scholar, CEO of The Property Foundation and Member of The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS).

Abdul-Majeed Mahamadu is senior lecturer at the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol and Visiting Researcher at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He has expertise in Building Information Modelling (BIM), quantity surveying and cost consulting. His interests span procurement and the application of digital emerging technologies in construction. Abdul has been involved in several projects including procurement capacity evaluation projects funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and projects developing infrastructure cost intelligence for the UK transport sector.