Management of Construction Practice Flashcards

VOCABULARY flashcards for construction management based on UCEM lecture content.

Project Management

The application of processes, methods, knowledge, skills and experience to achieve the project objectives.

Project Manager (PM)

The professional primarily concerned with the motivation, co-ordination, and management of the entire project team, acting for and representing the client.

Construction Manager (CM)

A specialist in construction who co-ordinates and directs resources such as plant, materials, labour, and subcontractors on site.

Executive Role

The role assumed by a project manager from the definition to the use of a project, performing no technical function.

Synthesis

The skill of a project manager involving the ability to put many pieces of the task together to form a coherent whole.

Analysis

The skill focus of a construction manager, primarily used for analysing site-specific problems.

Traditional Procurement Systems

Procurement methods with a history of conflicts of interest and subsequent construction litigation.

Latham and Egan Reports

Reports from the $1990\text{s}$ that forged a better team philosophy with a shared-goals approach to construction projects.

Win-win Outcomes

Outcomes characterized by openness, honesty, and trust, emerging from partnering and new industry reports.

Project Management Information System (PMIS)

An integrated computer system used to handle the large amounts of information in construction project management.

Building Information Modelling (BIM)

A system such as Revit or Bentley used to manage project information, including the planned master programme.

Float

Spare time available on non-critical activities used to avoid delays in a project.

Project Design Information Manager

A role that addresses queries, approves information flows, and co-ordinates the work of the design team.

Cost Reconciliation

A monthly comparison between the budget cost and the actual cost of the work completed.

Cost Variance Analysis

The analytical process of checking deviations between budgeted and actual costs in interim valuations.

Value Management (VM)

The overall process and range of techniques for managing time, cost, and quality to achieve continuous improvement.

Value Planning

The stage of VM carried out prior to the decision to build, establishing design criteria or business strategy.

Value Engineering (VE)

The stage of VM used during the detailed design and construction stages to eliminate unnecessary cost while maintaining function.

Value Analysis (VA)

The stage of VM used once a building is completed to check if it performs as expected.

Functional Analysis

A VM technique asking questions like "What does it do?" and "What alternatives are there?" to relate cost to worth.

Functional Costing

Relating cost to worth, where worth is defined as the least cost to provide a specific function.

VM1 Workshop

A study occurring at the end of the strategic definition stage to verify the need to build and clear project objectives.

Value Tree

A structured diagram that breaks down primary objectives into sub-objectives used as criteria for evaluation.

Speculation

A workshop phase where techniques like brainstorming are used to help generate alternative ways of satisfying design objectives.

VM2 Workshop

A study occurring at the end of the preparation and brief stage to determine if changes should be made to original design objectives.

Importance Weights

Numerical values assigned to each branch of a value tree to reflect the comparative importance of each objective.

Decision Matrix

A tool used in the evaluation stage of VM2 to assess how well design options satisfy specific attributes.

Sensitivity Analysis

The process of reviewing scores or weightings to see if they impact the final "order of merit" of design solutions.

Brainstorming Rules

The four rules: suspend judgement, freewheel, quantity over quality, and cross-fertilisation of ideas.

Synectics

One of several techniques used to stimulate innovative and creative solutions in value engineering.

Morphological Analysis

An analytical technique used to generate alternative ideas during the speculation phase of a workshop.

Life-cycle Costing

A technique used in the development stage to estimate the total cost of an option over its entire lifespan.

Post-project Evaluation

An appraisal carried out one year after construction completion to check function against the original brief.

Facilitator

The trained leader of a VM workshop responsible for guiding and enabling discussion without imposing solutions.

Co-operative Groups

A group type where people work together but feelings are not part of the work and conflict is accommodated.

Effective Teams

A group type where people trust each other, listen, and work through conflict to reach consensus decisions.

Gatekeeping

A facilitator's job to ensure each individual is contributing and that no single person dominates the discussion.

Single Solution Fixation

The tendency of designers to stick to one idea, which is avoided by bringing in new members for reviews.

Quality

The composite characteristics of materials and assembly that determine if a structure meets client expectations.

Buildability

A measure of how easily a design can be assembled on site; poor buildability arises from poor design.

Kaizen

A Japanese composite word meaning "change for the better" or continuous improvement.

Total Quality Management (TQM)

An environment where all employees contribute to improving performance as a normal part of their job.

ISO 9001

An international standard for quality management used to benchmark and continually monitor performance.

Safety Management Approach

A method used to implement TQM by concentrating on reducing unsafe behavior and promoting safe behavior.

Psychosocial Environment

An environment where the influence of groups affects the behavior of the individual through reactions and sanctions.

Quality Circles

Small groups engaged in related work that meet regularly to propose improvements to working methods.

Active Monitoring

Checking and inspecting standards as tasks occur and things go wrong.

Reactive Monitoring

The process of investigating why things went wrong and taking remedial action after the event.

Audit

An internal or external identification of whether policy, organization, and systems are achieving required results.

Segregation

The separation of concrete mix components, often caused by transporting it too fast over bumpy ground.

Grout Loss

The loss of concrete slurry due to leaking containers or formwork.

Formwork

Temporary structures or moulds used to support concrete during the pouring and setting process.

Release Agent

A substance applied to formwork to prevent the concrete from sticking to it.

Vibrating Poker

A tool inserted upright into concrete to mechanically compact it and remove air bubbles.

Curing

The process of maintaining concrete in a wet condition for approximately $7$ days to ensure strength.

Ponding

A curing method involving the flooding of the concrete surface with water.

Spalling

The breaking away of concrete surfaces, often caused by the rusting and expansion of steel reinforcement near the surface.

Best Practice Benchmarking (BPB)

A technique for identifying best practice in key business or manufacturing processes to improve competitiveness.

OFT

The Office of Fair Trading, responsible for assessing potentially anti-competitive agreements.

Article 85 (Treaty of Rome)

The legislation prohibiting agreements that affect trade between EU member states and distort competition.

Parallel Industries

Non-competing industries with similar problems used as sources for radical benchmarking ideas.

Lateral Thinking

A method used in benchmarking to uncover similar processes in industries different from your own.

Desk Research

The first step in benchmarking, gathering data from magazines, reports, and specialist databases.

Upfront Analysis

The initial phase of a benchmarking project, typically taking $4$ to $6$ weeks.

International Benchmarking Clearinghouse

The body that issued the code of conduct outlining the "etiquette" of benchmarking.

Sir John Egan

Author of the "Rethinking Construction" report ($1998$) which called for performance measurement.

Commit to Invest

KPI Stage A: the point where the client decides to invest and authorizes conceptual design.

Commit to Construct

KPI Stage B: the point where the client authorizes the start of construction.

Available for Use

KPI Stage C: the point where the project is available for substantial occupancy.

End of Defect Liability Period

KPI Stage D: the point where the contractor's obligation to rectify defects ends, often $12$ months after Stage C.

End of Lifetime of Project

KPI Stage E: the theoretical point over which concepts such as full life costs can be applied.

Headline Indicators

KPIs that provide a general measure of the overall state of health of a firm.

Operational Indicators

KPIs that bear on specific aspects of a firm's activities to identify areas for improvement.

Diagnostic Indicators

KPIs that provide information on why certain changes may have occurred in other indicators.

Time Predictability — Design

The change between the actual design time at Stage B and the estimated design time at Stage A.

Cost in Use

A KPI defined as the annual operating and maintenance cost expressed as a percentage of design and construction cost.

Reportable Accidents

A KPI measuring accidents per $100,000$ hours worked, including fatalities.

TickIT

A scheme offering third-party certification of ISO $9001$ for software development quality.

BSI

The British Standards Institution, responsible for preparing standards used in all industries.

Domino Theory

A theory suggesting that accidents are prevented by removing an unsafe act or condition to break a chain of events.

Multiple Causation Theory

A theory that accidents occur from a complex range of factors interacting at a particular time and place.

Error of Violation

A category of human error where an individual intentionally acts in contradiction to established rules.

Three Es of Safety

The traditional method for improving safety: engineering, education, and enforcement.

Code of Hammurabi

An ancient Babylonian code stating that if a building collapses and kills the owner's son, the builder's son shall be killed.

Dr Agricola

A Bohemia-based doctor who recommended ventilation and veils in mining $450$ years ago.

Dr Ramazzini

The first doctor to advise that physicians should ask about a patient's occupation when diagnosing illness.

Dr Percival Potts

The doctor who identified the link between chimney sweeps and scrotal cancer due to soot exposure.

Factories Act 1833

An Act giving the King power to appoint four factory inspectors to regulate child labor.

HWSA 1974

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, which introduced self-regulation and a single framework.

Lord Robens

Chairman of the committee ($1970$) whose report led to the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

Self-regulation

The revolutionary era of health and safety where duties shift toward pre-emptive action by employers.

HSC

The Health and Safety Commission, responsible for administering occupational health and safety law.

HSE

The Health and Safety Executive, the body responsible for enforcing H&S legislation.

So Far As Is Reasonably Practicable

A qualification allowing risk to be balanced against the time, cost, and physical difficulty of safety measures.

Absolute Duty

A legal requirement that must be complied with regardless of cost or difficulty.

Edwards v. National Coal Board (1949)

A landmark case defining the meaning of "reasonably practicable" in common law.

Regulations

H&S laws approved by Parliament that control specific hazards and apply across organizations.

RIDDOR

The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations.

ACoP

Approved Code of Practice, which offers examples of good practice and has special legal status.

Guidance Notes

HSC/HSE documents that assist in understanding the law but do not have special legal status.