posted on 2009-08-27, 15:42authored byNigel Davison, Chris GoodierChris Goodier, Alistair Gibb, Simon Austin, James M. Saker, C. Gregory
The concept of mass customisation is not new yet the UK construction industry has yet to
grasp this opportunity to deliver greater value to its customers. The government report
Rethinking Construction [Egan 1998] clearly identifies this issue: ‘ We have repeatedly
heard the claim that construction is different from manufacturing because every product
is unique. We do not agree. Not only are many buildings such as houses, essentially
repeat products which can be continually improved but, more importantly, the process of
construction is itself repeated in its essentials from project to project.’
Egan delivered this report in 1998 but CLASP, for example, highlighted the advantages
of standardisation in 1959 in the conclusions to their Annual Report [CLASP 1959]:’The
consortium is now an established and powerful force in building, responsible for a
significant number of the country’s new schools as well as for a growing number of other
public buildings. The second year of operations has confirmed that the consortium with
its big orders and its design resources, is the kind of organization most capable of
realizing the full economic advantage of factory production methods. It leads therefore
towards the more enlightened building industry for which we all strive.’ A review of
government funded construction reports between 1944-98 [Murray 2003] emphasises the
continued presence of these recurring themes in appraisal of the construction process.
The opportunity is seemingly clear. Designing and constructing from scratch, each time a
client requires building infrastructure, is wasteful and inefficient. A radical market
change is needed where built environment customers experience much greater certainty
and value whilst retaining choice, and at the same time enabling constructors to improve
their profit margins by sharing the rewards of jointly maximising value.
This vision requires the replacement of a significant portion of the current bespoke
market for the design, delivery and procurement of non-residential buildings with a
combination of standardised and customised product offerings.
This paper details information obtained to date from an ongoing IMCRC funded study
entitled ‘Building the Brand’ at Loughborough University.
History
School
Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering
Citation
DAVIDSON, N. ... et al, 2006. Factors influencing the market for branded mass customized buildings. IN: Proceedings 22nd ARCOM Conference, Birmingham, UK, 2006, pp 489-497