1. Sir John Egan, Strategic Forum for Construction, Accelerating Change (Rethinking Construction, London, 2002) page 10
4. Respect for People Working Group, Respect for People - A framework for action (Rethinking Construction, London, 2002) page 26
5. Sir John Egan, Strategic Forum for Construction, Accelerating Change (Rethinking Construction, London, 2002) page 21 to 22
6. Jack Rostron, Environmental Law for the Built Environment (Cavendish Publishing, London, 2001) page 35
7. Sir John Egan, Strategic Forum for Construction, Accelerating Change (Rethinking Construction, London, 2002) page 10
8. Alison Maitland, 'Raising a hard hat to all-round team players', Financial Times, 16 September 2002, page 17
9. Design Council, Design has the power to transform every corner of our lives (The Design Council, London, 2002) page 15
10. Ministry of Defence, Better Defence Buildings (Defence Estates, Sutton Coldfield, 2001) and posted on www.defence-estates.mod.uk
11. Richard Rogers and Anne Power, Cities for a small country (Faber and Faber, London, 2000) page 189
12. Ken Livingstone, quoted in Simon Kuper, 'Soggy brained bid would create a host of problems', Financial Times, 25 January 2003
13. Rachel Crossley, 'Green Buildings & The Bottom Line: An Investor's Perspective, speech to the British Institute of Facilities Managers, 16-18 October 2001
14. Peter Davey, 'Greening the European city', flyer for a conference by The Architectural Review, 19 March 2003
15. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 'Businesses "BID" to help communities thrive', News Release, 21 January 2003, and posted on www.odpm.gov.uk
16. International Working Group of the Institute of Structural Engineers, Safety in tall buildings and other buildings with large occupancy (Institute of Structural Engineers, London, 2002) page 11
Construction 2034: New Labour's vision realised
Following his book - which forcefully answers Why is construction so backward? - James Woudhuysen imagines what the British construction industry might be like in 2034 if current policies are pursued to their illogical conclusion.
While the scenario is satirical, the references are real.
Throughout the UK construction industry in 2034 there is a culture of continuous improvement based on performance measurement. (1)
Official
Design Quality Indicators, complete with two kinds of trained and registered
DQI Facilitators, are everywhere and rigorously applied. (2)
An official website devoted to construction industry KPIs counts no fewer than 69 separate and free sources for indicators, and a further 54 sources '...for which there may be a charge'. (3)
The conduct of
construction firms in health and safety matters is excellent, ridding
construction of its 'cowboy' image. Building workers are screened for their
health and tested for drug and alcohol abuse. (4) There are no accidents on
site, so clients find themselves engaged in fewer legal liabilities, delays,
defective work and higher prices. (5) Indeed, the only legal dimension to the
building trade is the protection of natural ecosystems not simply for the
pleasure of people, but as a biotic right: for nature is regarded as having its
own purpose, which should be respected as a matter of ethical principle. (6)
And has become protected under the law.
The 2012 Wembley Olympic Stadium represents a triumph of teamwork. In its construction, behaviour was based on mutual respect and people treated others as they wanted to be treated themselves. (7) There are no screaming matches between designers and contractors, no horror stories pitting architects against engineers. Role-playing exercises in management training courses have seen to that. (8) Architects are no longer hunched-up CAD monkeys, either. They do everything on site with Web-based tablet PCs.
All government buildings design employee and user wellness, both physical and mental. In schools, well-designed furniture helps deliver a 21st century curriculum and helps teachers and learners get more out of education. (9) In hospitals, after an immense programme of physical renewal, design motifs jostle with surgery to produce healthier, happier patients. In Bradford, Stockport and North Hertfordshire, town halls have been redesigned and, as a direct result, local democracy is rejuvenated. Even the Ministry of Defence, whose buildings are devoted to the management of wars, adheres to the following highly ethical principles of construction:
- Lightweight panel technology
- High levels of insulation
- Solar screening to reduce discomfort
- Orientation - to maximise and control passive solar energy gain
- The use of atria and intermediate zones to significantly reduce energy demands
- Whole life calculations, including the energy used in manufacturing components, and the impact on landscape (10)
In urban regeneration, all new housing is built to London densities. Not just greenfield sites in the process of development, but also suburbs of 20-25 dwellings a hectare and rural housing at lower figures are, as a matter of routine, further built up. The countryside is inviolable. Demands on greenfield sites are zero. (11)
No new roads are felt necessary, since a brownfield, high-density, mixed-use, car-free café society dominates.
Indeed, people flock back from the countryside into the cities. Employers give key urban workers in health, education and transport their own stylish microflats for as long as they hold on to their jobs and are able to pay the rent. People live cheek by jowl, because that is the best way to save energy, reduce transport use and build social cohesion. The Olympics have also helped here. They have given London its third world-class swimming pool, and a warm-up running track, too. (12)
In the world of office work, environmental imperatives have proved victorious. Bike storage and showers are universal. All old toner cartridges and IT equipment are recycled in Stockholm and Brussels. Furniture incorporates no toxic glues, no synthetic dyes, and minimal engineering. In the event of a fire, the chemicals used to suppress the flames do not deplete the ozone layer. Each floor of every office building uses meters to track water and electricity usage. Environmental reporting systems collect data, calculate savings, and communicate employee indiscretions to management, building tenants and others. (13)
Facilities Management: The Blair Commandments
As the people who invented the modern city, Europeans are unique in living in some kind of harmony with the planet. (14) But as Europeans, Britons have also taken a leaf from America in their fondness for Business Improvement Districts. These encourage people to remain within them, so stemming the exodus from our towns and cities. (15)
All buildings are bespoke, highly differentiated in terms of aesthetic, and are therefore one-off brands in themselves - in part, at least, because they are designed by branded, superstar architects. All corporate offices reflect the therapeutic and naturalistic values of their tenants. All Britain's cities have branded one-off visitor attractions, and each is successful in using architecture to bring in tourists of every kind, as well as raising local self-esteem.
Architects, too, enjoy esteem. That is, in part, because they are charged with dealing with every aspect of the fire, evacuation and security routines that are necessary in order to maximise protection of building occupants for a wide range of possible extreme events - terrorist attacks emphatically included. (16)
In short, UK construction is a wonder to behold. All other countries follow Britain's lead, with the exception of China.
There, they do things a little differently.
Since China's peaceful annexation of Japan in 2023, China has used techniques from Toyota, and also from a bankrupted Boeing, to build mass housing on industrialized principles.
Of course, to British eyes, all the homes built look the same. But China's Internet enthusiasts are able to use their screens to customize their homes themselves - and, even after the upward revaluation of the renminbi, they buy them at a tenth of UK prices.
UK Prime Minister David Milliband is unworried. Britain's creative industries, which count architecture among their ranks, have no rivals. All our cities are creative. Our DIY is creative.
The Chinese can copy us, of course; but it would never do for us to copy the Chinese. James Woudhuysen 3 August 2004
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