Editorial

Citation

(2005), "Editorial", Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 12 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ecam.2005.28612caa.001

Editorial

Edition 12.3 of ECAM presents five papers. There are two modelling papers: modelling cost estimating in Turkey as a means of improving Turkish estimating practice; and modelling the effect of human errors in safety planning in Brazil in order to improve construction safety planning.

The other three papers are on “softer”, more discursive issues: the views of end-users on the use of extranets with the aim of increasing the use of extranets for the greater good; an approach to how to improve on “lessons learned” from past projects – arguing that there is commercial sense in using this “past knowledge”; and how to manage stress amongst construction participants – arguing that the less stress the happier and more productive the project team will be. Something leaves me wondering that if we reach a stress free utopia will we ever do any work? It is the publisher breathing down my neck that has me sitting here on a Sunday morning writing this editorial. You could call that stress!

ECAM continues its international authorship with authors from Hong Kong, Turkey, Australia, Brazil and the UK. One paper is single authored, one has two authors and three have three authors. I always look for papers authored by different organisations and countries. Given the communication technology we have we ought to be able to bring together the best in each subject wherever they are. The example we have in this issue is Ng from Hong Kong University, Skitmore from Queensland University of Technology, Australia, and Leung from Engineers Drainage Services, Department of the Hong Kong Government, giving us two countries and three organisations in one paper. I am keen that this approach develops – I think it will be good for the subject.

The papers in this edition are the following.

Ruikar, Anumba and Carrillo in their paper “End-user perspectives on use of project extranets in construction organisation” examine the use of project extranets in construction organisations. Extranets have been used to manage information and document flows throughout the project. This paper reports on case studies of end-users to determine the benefits and drawbacks of using extranets. On balance they report that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks and call on the market leaders to promote the use of extranets.

Carrillo in his paper “Lesson learned practices in the engineering, procurement and construction sector” argues that lessons learned from past projects are not well organised and that the vision of an organisation recalling project experience and recreating successes and avoiding mistakes is attractive commercially. Carrillo uses case studies to investigate how Canadian engineering, procurement and construction companies approach “lessons learned”. The paper ends with recommendations as to how “lessons learned” could be implemented.

The Tas and Yaman paper “A building cost estimation model based on work packages” reports on the development of cost estimating in Turkey. They base their approach on cost significant work packages and have supporting software. Their work reflects the stage of development of the Turkish construction industry.

Ng, Skitmore and Leung in their paper “Manageability of stress among construction project participants” address the issue of stress amongst those involved in construction. They identified 33 stressors and investigated how to manage the most common by a questionnaire. This work reveals the most difficult stresses to manage and the different patterns of stress and manageability between clients, consultants and contractors.

Saurin, Formoso and Cambraia in their paper “Analysis of a safety planning and control model from the human error perspective” are concerned with human errors, of both managers and workers, on safety and in particular on the planning of safety and its control. The authors analysed the main types of human error on five sites. They developed a safety planning and control model which they integrated into the production planning and control process. They claim that the model makes the boundaries of safe work more visible and respected, but their analysis indicates that failures occur by violations of these boundaries mostly by the workforce. Their quest to make Brazilian construction safer is ongoing.