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The international construction system
HABITATINTL Vol. 14, No. 2/3, pp. 29-35, 1990. Printed m Great Britam.
0197-3975190 $3.00 + 0.00 Pergamon Press plc
The International Construction System STEP~N
DOER
Bristol Polytechnic, UK
THE GENESIS OF THE SYSTEM
Since 1945 construction has undergone a metamo~hosis. An industry that was once characterised by robust technologies and familiar practices, now has technologies which are complex and composite and practices which are transient and expedient. In the industrialised countries of North America and Western Europe, value added in construction, during this same period, was between 5% and 8% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In terms of gross construction output this represents somewhere between 12% and 15% of GDP. These data reflect a 2%-3% annual average rate of growth of construction output in the developed indust~alised economies throughout the post-war period, which can be divided into three main phases: 1950-1973 greater than average growth; 1973-1983 one of relative stagnation followed by absolute decline; 1983-1989 the recent period of frenetic growth. Construction output in those countries classified by the World Bank as ‘developed market economies’ was estimated to have been some US$1,200 billions in 1988; that is, around 80% of global construction output. International trade in building materials and services also increased significantly, particularly since the early 1970s. In absolute values the largest proportion of this trade was in building materials. However, by the early 1980s transnational contractors and consultants were achieving sales of around US$lOO billions annually. As might be expected, companies and practices from the developed industrialised economies were the major “actors” in these markets. A dominance which was reinforced by the role of materials producers, contractors and consultants, from these same countries, in servicing a significant proportion of the demand for construction in the developing countries. It is argued that the dominant role of the developed industrialised countries, in this area of international trade, constrains the capacity of the poorer developing countries to achieve their economic development objectives. In this paper one particular aspect of the problem is examined, the role and function of the “international construction system” with respect to the construction requirements of the developing countries. The “international construction system” is defined in terms of the leve1 of technological sophistication; hence it includes certain classes of construction activity in both the developed and developing countries. This definition allows us to avoid associating the international construction system uniquely with international trade. The production of building materials and components, ii&B
14:2/3-E
30
Stephen Drewer
design services and the on-site production of buildings and civils works. within the domestic economies of the developed countries, are as much a part of the international construction system as are the international trading activities of their contractors, consultants and manufacturers. Within most countries there are similarities between the structure of demand for construction and the structure of the construction industries. Categorising demand in terms of the size of projects, they are typically distributed lognormally; the same distribution which is apparent when considering the number of construction firms by size. The single most important determinant of these distributions appears to be the technology of the construction product: materials, design services and completed works. Large projects tend to embody more sophisticated technologies than do smaller projects and the larger projects are more management intensive, which is in some ways a proxy for level of technological sophistication. Functions and structures change through time, due to the impact of technical. economic and environmental factors. The construction “product” is purchased from a supply system which is conditioned by specific social, economic and legal environments. The construction “product” can be considered as a set of future services rather than specific buildings or civils works. Consequently, the “actors” enter into contracts with clients and in many cases with each other, to deliver sets of future services, the nature of which are determined - frequently in advance - by the client and/or his professional advisers. (Advisers whose freedom of action is further constrained by an institutional environment which is conditioned by factors such as planning and building regulations and codes of practice .) Firms and organisations who control resources which in principle are elastic in technical substitution between common sets of future services, can be classified, for analytical purposes, as being part of the same industry. The supply function for realising a given construction programme is dependent on the size, type and locational distribution of the specific projects included in the construction programme and the institutional environment which conditions and constrains the organisational structure of the process. Thus, conceptually, the construction “product” can be considered as the end product of a number of industries. rather than of a single industry. THE INTERNATIONAL
ACTORS
Companies who through direct investments in facilities which allow them to produce “goods and services” from locations outside of their “country of base” are typically classified as “transnational” or “multinational”. Many building materials companies satisfy this definition of a transnational company, however, this does not apply so obviously to contractors and consultant firms. The transnational contractor may have these characteristics but many operate internationally in, what might be termed, an “international enclave”. That is, they establish a unique production capability for a specific project. with the clear intention of repatriating or dismantling the facility upon completion of the project. The prevalence of international specialist sub-contractors, suppliers and consortia reinforces the international dimension of these enclaves. Therefore, the transnational characteristics of contractors are somewhat different to those of manufacturers. It is essential to identify both the “actual” and “potential” transnational contractors. “Potential” transnational contractors are those national firms who undertake classes of work, within their domestic markets, which have the technological characteristics of the international construction system.
31
The International Construction.System
International trade in building materials was an estimated US$120 billions in 1986. This trade was dominated by exports from the indust~alised countries who, in turn, accounted for an estimated 60% of the imports. Three countries, the Federal German Republic, Japan and the USA, accounted for 30% of global building materials exports and around 25% of imports (CFCE, 1988). The “country of base” of the transnational designers and consultants was mainly Western Europe (48%) and the USA (26%). Their largest markets were Africa, Asia and the Middle East, a geographical distribution which is significantly different to that for international trade in building materials (Tables 1 and 2). There is a variation in the direction of international trade in construction products and services. Materials trade is dominated by intra-developed country transactions, whilst trade in design and consultancy is mainly between developed and developing countries. Trade in contractor services is also biased towards that between developed and developing countries, but intra-developed country trade has been growing since the middle 1980s. The bias towards trade between developed and developing country in contract awards for design and consultancy services is confirmed by World Bank data. However, contracts awarded for World Bank funded projects in the 15 months to July 1987 show that, in some developing countries, an increasing proportion of
Table 1. (a) International contracr awards I986 by country of base of contracfor
Country of base
Contract awards (US$billions)
% Total
United States of America Japanese Italian Korean British French German Yugoslavs Dutch Other Europe Turkish All other
22.6 9.4 7.4 2.6 7.0 7.1 5.5 1.4 1.1 4.2 2.2 3.4
31 13 IO 4 10 10 8 2 1 4 3 4
All firms
73.9
100
fb) InternatlonuI commissions for design by country of base of designer
Country of base United States of America British Scandmavians Canadians Germans French Dutch Japanese Swiss Other European Korean All others All firms
Commissions (US$millions)
% Total
918 481 227 204 285 306 260 221 175 227 54 185
26 14 6 6 8 9 7 6 6 6 2 5
3540
100
Source: ENR Top internat~o~l Listings, July 1987,
32
Srephen Brewer Table 2. {a) Internationaf conmct awards to confracrors by geographical area (1986)
Geographical area --_--Middle East Asia Africa North America Latin Amertca
-
Contracts (USSbilhons) 16 1 17.3 13.1 10.4 5.2
Total
73.9
(b) International
Geographical
desrgn commlssuxt.~
area
by geographical
area
Awards (US$millions)
Middle East Asia Africa Europe Latin America North America
907 982 853 314 321 161
Total
3540
Source: ENR op. cit. Table 3. Contracts awarded forconstruction goods, works services by the World Bank (April ~~8&-J~~y 1987)
and
Country of award
Goods %
Works %
Services %
Recipient of loan Other developmg Industrialised
46 15 39
60 11 29
20 10 70
156.0
1006.0
108.0
Totai (US$mtlitons)
Source: NotIce of Contract Awards, International Business Opportunities Service, The World Bank, Washington, 198611987.
contracts were awarded to national contractors or contractors from other developing countries (Table 3). Given that the developed countries have a domestic competence across a wide range of construction products and services, a bias of trade towards that between developed and developing countries, of the kind noted in design and consultancy services, might be expected to apply across the board. The design and consultancy services traded are knowledge-based and high value-added, the materials most frequently traded are either resource-specific or technologydependent. International trade in contractor services, however, has many major actors from the developing or newly-industrialised countries. The largest contractors in the developed countries have a major share of the international market, but although the markets are dominated by companies from the USA, Japan and Western Europe, contractors tend to offer a different set of services depending on their country of base. For example, the supply function of the Koreans was originally biased towards the supply of labour, while that of the major US process engineering companies was towards proprietary technologies. The response of the major actors from the developed countries has been to move out of contract construction into design and construct, management contracts and project initiation and funding. International construction has
33
The Internattonal Constructior) System
consequently sophisticated countries.
changed in composition and direction. The markets are for more construction and are increasingly located in the developed
TECHNOLOGY
AND CHOICE OF TECHNIQUE
Technology, as a concept, is subject to a variety of interpretations. Edqvist (1979) provide a useful working definition:
Edquist and
“Regarding technology, . . . we follow the tradition of using it in a more vague and comprehensive sense, including, besides techniques, also immaterial aspects, such as technical know-how, management, organisation of work, etc.” Construction technologies can be classified as either “hard” or “soft”; “hard” technology being related to product and production as physical entities, and “soft” technology to systems and processes. “Hard” construction technology is related to the product, its associated materials and components and the techniques of production, while “soft” technology is related to the wider environment, which conditions the construction process (see Drewer , 1989). The “typical” developing country is characterised by a relatively low level of efficiency and a general level of technology which, although not necessarily unsophisticated, is not comparable to that used in the developed countries. Their construction technology is either imported from the developed countries, temporarily expedient, or traditional; this latter term being subject to a number of frequently confusing uses. Different technologies can effect significant shifts in the structure of input requirements. Many see this as an argument for appropriate technology which, in some ways and in certain circumstances, is true. However, technology is “appropriate”, only to the extent that it enables an objective to be satisfied, with the minimum of opportunity cost to the economy as a whole. The general problem has been analysed by Stewart. A body of knowledge (technology) exists from which a particular sub-set is available, at a given time, for specific projects in particular countries (Stewart, 1977). In the context of construction, a set of decisions will be made by the various actors involved in the process, which will determine the actual techniques which are to be used. Typically, the main agent for choice will be the design consultant. But their freedom of action is constrained by the specification of the endproduct and the implicit and explicit performance requirements. This will involve the solving of the technical problems associated with the production of the specified services, at a given physical location. The implicit performance requirements may involve satisfying certain social or economic objectives, consequent on a particular development strategy; for example, employment generation and maximising the use of indigenous resources. The design consultant defines the product technologies which, in turn, will influence and constrain the choice of production technologies. The actual choice of production technologies will be the responsibility of the agent responsible for on-site production, typically a contractor. This distinction between product and production techniques is important, because they do not necessarily have similar levels of sophistication. Product and production technologies are conditioned by many other factors, such as: l the balance between capital costs, costs in use and maintenance costs; l time, which defines speed of construction; l and the planned life of the facility.
Stephen hewer
34
Each of these has impiications for choice of technique and raises problems which have to be solved by one or more of the actors involved in the construction process. The way in which they solve these problems is conditioned by their access to knowledge, previous experience, the formal organisation of the process and the possibility of applying a specific solution in a particular context. Designers work within the constraints of planning regulations, building codes and regulations and client budgets, contractors are constrained by the designer’s Materials producers manufacture to specification of product technologies. externally established performance specifications. Each becomes an agent for choice of technique, through a process of accommodation and adjustment. The role of leader changes as the process moves through its various stages. In developed countries these leader roles are in many ways legally defined. Forms of contract, legal responsibilities for various aspects of the work, the definition and accreditation of professional competence. are obviously part of this mechanism. Consequently the client, designer. materials producer and contractor have leader roles in the process, which are defined by their legal responsibilities. The implications for developing countries are obvious. In legislating for responsibilities in the process they are implicitly defining function. But by legislating in advance of an evaluation of domestic construction requirements, they will inevitably tend to borrow from the only legislative models which are available; those of the developed countries.
DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES AND THE INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM
When an efficient indigenous construction capacity is identified as a policy objective, the technology variable can be used to facilitate the maximum use of local human and physical resources. Governments can intervene as a major client for construction, as the authority responsible for allocating various scarce resources (such as foreign exchange) and as the authority responsible for defining the legal and environmental framework in which buildings are produced. The key elements of a strategy for stimulating the development of an efficient indigenous construction capacity are: l the protection of an infant industry by careful choice of appropriate techniques; 8 preferential treatment for indigenous firms in certain categories of work; o unpackaging the process to allow a greater involvement of local specialists; l and increased attention to craft, technical and management training. This paper has been directed to the development of an understanding of a complex social, economic and technical phenomenon - construction. The causal relationships presented are those which, given the balance of the evidence, we considered to be correct. However, there is .)lI . . the cruciaf general problem concerning the nature of the evidence required for ascribing validly causal significance to correlations between data. The history of social study amply testifies to the ease with which the familiar ‘post hoc’ fallacy can be committed when data about sequentially manifested
events are interpreted as indicating causal connections.” (Nagel, 1968) It is argued that construction, in both developed and developing countries, is dominated by technologies and procedures which were developed to satisfy the needs and requirements of construction in the industrialised economies. Global construction outputs reflect this dominance, not only in terms of technologies
The International Consrruction System
35
and procedures, but also through the proportion of this output which is produced either within these countries, or by contractors and consultants from these countries for projects in other countries. The international construction system is a reality, its role is apparently all pervasive but not necessarily negative. For developing countries there are both positive and negative implications consequent on this situation. Probably the most important positive factor is that there exists a body of knowledge, substantially proven in practice, from which to draw for their construction requirements. Equally, there is an international resource base from which scarce resources can be drawn for specific products and services. There are however, also the negative implications of any extended period of dependency. Dependency can be endemic, particularly where it impedes the development of a domestic construction resource base that is compatible with the countries’ wider economic and social objectives. Any country with sufficient non construction resources, can satisfy its construction requirements through the use of the international construction system. This is what happened in the oil rich countries of the Middle East during the 1970s and early 1980s. However, there are few developing countries which are in this enviable position. The growth of international construction in the 1970s and 1980s was a response to the growing demand for construction in developing countries. This was, in part, related to the lack of an adequate construction resource base in many countries, but it was also a function of the technological sophistication of many projects and the development of the “international construction system”. To ignore the potential benefits of the international construction system is foolhardy and, it could be argued, negligent. Developing countries do not exist in a vacuum, they too are part of an international system. Contemporary events suggest that it is mutually beneficial for countries with differing political objectives to expand their trade. The criterion which condition this trade are the issues to be addressed, not trade itself.
REFERENCES CFCE, Le Commerce Paris. 1988. Edqulst
and Edqvlst,
Mondlal des Industries de la Construcrlon.
Centre
Social Carriers of Techmques for Development.
SAREC,
Drewer. S.. “Conflict and Choice: Technology Transfer and Architectural Tidskrrfr for Arkuekrurforskning. Vol. I. No. 4, 1988, Stockholm. Nagel. Stewart,
E.. The Structure of Scrence. Routledge
and Kegan
F.. Technology and Underder~elopment. Macmillan.
Paul,
1968.
1978.
du Commerce
Stockholm,
Practice
London.
London,
Francais
Exterieur.
1979.
in Developing
Countries”,
0197-3975190 $3.00 + 0.00 Pergamon Press plc
The International Construction System STEP~N
DOER
Bristol Polytechnic, UK
THE GENESIS OF THE SYSTEM
Since 1945 construction has undergone a metamo~hosis. An industry that was once characterised by robust technologies and familiar practices, now has technologies which are complex and composite and practices which are transient and expedient. In the industrialised countries of North America and Western Europe, value added in construction, during this same period, was between 5% and 8% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In terms of gross construction output this represents somewhere between 12% and 15% of GDP. These data reflect a 2%-3% annual average rate of growth of construction output in the developed indust~alised economies throughout the post-war period, which can be divided into three main phases: 1950-1973 greater than average growth; 1973-1983 one of relative stagnation followed by absolute decline; 1983-1989 the recent period of frenetic growth. Construction output in those countries classified by the World Bank as ‘developed market economies’ was estimated to have been some US$1,200 billions in 1988; that is, around 80% of global construction output. International trade in building materials and services also increased significantly, particularly since the early 1970s. In absolute values the largest proportion of this trade was in building materials. However, by the early 1980s transnational contractors and consultants were achieving sales of around US$lOO billions annually. As might be expected, companies and practices from the developed industrialised economies were the major “actors” in these markets. A dominance which was reinforced by the role of materials producers, contractors and consultants, from these same countries, in servicing a significant proportion of the demand for construction in the developing countries. It is argued that the dominant role of the developed industrialised countries, in this area of international trade, constrains the capacity of the poorer developing countries to achieve their economic development objectives. In this paper one particular aspect of the problem is examined, the role and function of the “international construction system” with respect to the construction requirements of the developing countries. The “international construction system” is defined in terms of the leve1 of technological sophistication; hence it includes certain classes of construction activity in both the developed and developing countries. This definition allows us to avoid associating the international construction system uniquely with international trade. The production of building materials and components, ii&B
14:2/3-E
30
Stephen Drewer
design services and the on-site production of buildings and civils works. within the domestic economies of the developed countries, are as much a part of the international construction system as are the international trading activities of their contractors, consultants and manufacturers. Within most countries there are similarities between the structure of demand for construction and the structure of the construction industries. Categorising demand in terms of the size of projects, they are typically distributed lognormally; the same distribution which is apparent when considering the number of construction firms by size. The single most important determinant of these distributions appears to be the technology of the construction product: materials, design services and completed works. Large projects tend to embody more sophisticated technologies than do smaller projects and the larger projects are more management intensive, which is in some ways a proxy for level of technological sophistication. Functions and structures change through time, due to the impact of technical. economic and environmental factors. The construction “product” is purchased from a supply system which is conditioned by specific social, economic and legal environments. The construction “product” can be considered as a set of future services rather than specific buildings or civils works. Consequently, the “actors” enter into contracts with clients and in many cases with each other, to deliver sets of future services, the nature of which are determined - frequently in advance - by the client and/or his professional advisers. (Advisers whose freedom of action is further constrained by an institutional environment which is conditioned by factors such as planning and building regulations and codes of practice .) Firms and organisations who control resources which in principle are elastic in technical substitution between common sets of future services, can be classified, for analytical purposes, as being part of the same industry. The supply function for realising a given construction programme is dependent on the size, type and locational distribution of the specific projects included in the construction programme and the institutional environment which conditions and constrains the organisational structure of the process. Thus, conceptually, the construction “product” can be considered as the end product of a number of industries. rather than of a single industry. THE INTERNATIONAL
ACTORS
Companies who through direct investments in facilities which allow them to produce “goods and services” from locations outside of their “country of base” are typically classified as “transnational” or “multinational”. Many building materials companies satisfy this definition of a transnational company, however, this does not apply so obviously to contractors and consultant firms. The transnational contractor may have these characteristics but many operate internationally in, what might be termed, an “international enclave”. That is, they establish a unique production capability for a specific project. with the clear intention of repatriating or dismantling the facility upon completion of the project. The prevalence of international specialist sub-contractors, suppliers and consortia reinforces the international dimension of these enclaves. Therefore, the transnational characteristics of contractors are somewhat different to those of manufacturers. It is essential to identify both the “actual” and “potential” transnational contractors. “Potential” transnational contractors are those national firms who undertake classes of work, within their domestic markets, which have the technological characteristics of the international construction system.
31
The International Construction.System
International trade in building materials was an estimated US$120 billions in 1986. This trade was dominated by exports from the indust~alised countries who, in turn, accounted for an estimated 60% of the imports. Three countries, the Federal German Republic, Japan and the USA, accounted for 30% of global building materials exports and around 25% of imports (CFCE, 1988). The “country of base” of the transnational designers and consultants was mainly Western Europe (48%) and the USA (26%). Their largest markets were Africa, Asia and the Middle East, a geographical distribution which is significantly different to that for international trade in building materials (Tables 1 and 2). There is a variation in the direction of international trade in construction products and services. Materials trade is dominated by intra-developed country transactions, whilst trade in design and consultancy is mainly between developed and developing countries. Trade in contractor services is also biased towards that between developed and developing countries, but intra-developed country trade has been growing since the middle 1980s. The bias towards trade between developed and developing country in contract awards for design and consultancy services is confirmed by World Bank data. However, contracts awarded for World Bank funded projects in the 15 months to July 1987 show that, in some developing countries, an increasing proportion of
Table 1. (a) International contracr awards I986 by country of base of contracfor
Country of base
Contract awards (US$billions)
% Total
United States of America Japanese Italian Korean British French German Yugoslavs Dutch Other Europe Turkish All other
22.6 9.4 7.4 2.6 7.0 7.1 5.5 1.4 1.1 4.2 2.2 3.4
31 13 IO 4 10 10 8 2 1 4 3 4
All firms
73.9
100
fb) InternatlonuI commissions for design by country of base of designer
Country of base United States of America British Scandmavians Canadians Germans French Dutch Japanese Swiss Other European Korean All others All firms
Commissions (US$millions)
% Total
918 481 227 204 285 306 260 221 175 227 54 185
26 14 6 6 8 9 7 6 6 6 2 5
3540
100
Source: ENR Top internat~o~l Listings, July 1987,
32
Srephen Brewer Table 2. {a) Internationaf conmct awards to confracrors by geographical area (1986)
Geographical area --_--Middle East Asia Africa North America Latin Amertca
-
Contracts (USSbilhons) 16 1 17.3 13.1 10.4 5.2
Total
73.9
(b) International
Geographical
desrgn commlssuxt.~
area
by geographical
area
Awards (US$millions)
Middle East Asia Africa Europe Latin America North America
907 982 853 314 321 161
Total
3540
Source: ENR op. cit. Table 3. Contracts awarded forconstruction goods, works services by the World Bank (April ~~8&-J~~y 1987)
and
Country of award
Goods %
Works %
Services %
Recipient of loan Other developmg Industrialised
46 15 39
60 11 29
20 10 70
156.0
1006.0
108.0
Totai (US$mtlitons)
Source: NotIce of Contract Awards, International Business Opportunities Service, The World Bank, Washington, 198611987.
contracts were awarded to national contractors or contractors from other developing countries (Table 3). Given that the developed countries have a domestic competence across a wide range of construction products and services, a bias of trade towards that between developed and developing countries, of the kind noted in design and consultancy services, might be expected to apply across the board. The design and consultancy services traded are knowledge-based and high value-added, the materials most frequently traded are either resource-specific or technologydependent. International trade in contractor services, however, has many major actors from the developing or newly-industrialised countries. The largest contractors in the developed countries have a major share of the international market, but although the markets are dominated by companies from the USA, Japan and Western Europe, contractors tend to offer a different set of services depending on their country of base. For example, the supply function of the Koreans was originally biased towards the supply of labour, while that of the major US process engineering companies was towards proprietary technologies. The response of the major actors from the developed countries has been to move out of contract construction into design and construct, management contracts and project initiation and funding. International construction has
33
The Internattonal Constructior) System
consequently sophisticated countries.
changed in composition and direction. The markets are for more construction and are increasingly located in the developed
TECHNOLOGY
AND CHOICE OF TECHNIQUE
Technology, as a concept, is subject to a variety of interpretations. Edqvist (1979) provide a useful working definition:
Edquist and
“Regarding technology, . . . we follow the tradition of using it in a more vague and comprehensive sense, including, besides techniques, also immaterial aspects, such as technical know-how, management, organisation of work, etc.” Construction technologies can be classified as either “hard” or “soft”; “hard” technology being related to product and production as physical entities, and “soft” technology to systems and processes. “Hard” construction technology is related to the product, its associated materials and components and the techniques of production, while “soft” technology is related to the wider environment, which conditions the construction process (see Drewer , 1989). The “typical” developing country is characterised by a relatively low level of efficiency and a general level of technology which, although not necessarily unsophisticated, is not comparable to that used in the developed countries. Their construction technology is either imported from the developed countries, temporarily expedient, or traditional; this latter term being subject to a number of frequently confusing uses. Different technologies can effect significant shifts in the structure of input requirements. Many see this as an argument for appropriate technology which, in some ways and in certain circumstances, is true. However, technology is “appropriate”, only to the extent that it enables an objective to be satisfied, with the minimum of opportunity cost to the economy as a whole. The general problem has been analysed by Stewart. A body of knowledge (technology) exists from which a particular sub-set is available, at a given time, for specific projects in particular countries (Stewart, 1977). In the context of construction, a set of decisions will be made by the various actors involved in the process, which will determine the actual techniques which are to be used. Typically, the main agent for choice will be the design consultant. But their freedom of action is constrained by the specification of the endproduct and the implicit and explicit performance requirements. This will involve the solving of the technical problems associated with the production of the specified services, at a given physical location. The implicit performance requirements may involve satisfying certain social or economic objectives, consequent on a particular development strategy; for example, employment generation and maximising the use of indigenous resources. The design consultant defines the product technologies which, in turn, will influence and constrain the choice of production technologies. The actual choice of production technologies will be the responsibility of the agent responsible for on-site production, typically a contractor. This distinction between product and production techniques is important, because they do not necessarily have similar levels of sophistication. Product and production technologies are conditioned by many other factors, such as: l the balance between capital costs, costs in use and maintenance costs; l time, which defines speed of construction; l and the planned life of the facility.
Stephen hewer
34
Each of these has impiications for choice of technique and raises problems which have to be solved by one or more of the actors involved in the construction process. The way in which they solve these problems is conditioned by their access to knowledge, previous experience, the formal organisation of the process and the possibility of applying a specific solution in a particular context. Designers work within the constraints of planning regulations, building codes and regulations and client budgets, contractors are constrained by the designer’s Materials producers manufacture to specification of product technologies. externally established performance specifications. Each becomes an agent for choice of technique, through a process of accommodation and adjustment. The role of leader changes as the process moves through its various stages. In developed countries these leader roles are in many ways legally defined. Forms of contract, legal responsibilities for various aspects of the work, the definition and accreditation of professional competence. are obviously part of this mechanism. Consequently the client, designer. materials producer and contractor have leader roles in the process, which are defined by their legal responsibilities. The implications for developing countries are obvious. In legislating for responsibilities in the process they are implicitly defining function. But by legislating in advance of an evaluation of domestic construction requirements, they will inevitably tend to borrow from the only legislative models which are available; those of the developed countries.
DEVELOPING
COUNTRIES AND THE INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM
When an efficient indigenous construction capacity is identified as a policy objective, the technology variable can be used to facilitate the maximum use of local human and physical resources. Governments can intervene as a major client for construction, as the authority responsible for allocating various scarce resources (such as foreign exchange) and as the authority responsible for defining the legal and environmental framework in which buildings are produced. The key elements of a strategy for stimulating the development of an efficient indigenous construction capacity are: l the protection of an infant industry by careful choice of appropriate techniques; 8 preferential treatment for indigenous firms in certain categories of work; o unpackaging the process to allow a greater involvement of local specialists; l and increased attention to craft, technical and management training. This paper has been directed to the development of an understanding of a complex social, economic and technical phenomenon - construction. The causal relationships presented are those which, given the balance of the evidence, we considered to be correct. However, there is .)lI . . the cruciaf general problem concerning the nature of the evidence required for ascribing validly causal significance to correlations between data. The history of social study amply testifies to the ease with which the familiar ‘post hoc’ fallacy can be committed when data about sequentially manifested
events are interpreted as indicating causal connections.” (Nagel, 1968) It is argued that construction, in both developed and developing countries, is dominated by technologies and procedures which were developed to satisfy the needs and requirements of construction in the industrialised economies. Global construction outputs reflect this dominance, not only in terms of technologies
The International Consrruction System
35
and procedures, but also through the proportion of this output which is produced either within these countries, or by contractors and consultants from these countries for projects in other countries. The international construction system is a reality, its role is apparently all pervasive but not necessarily negative. For developing countries there are both positive and negative implications consequent on this situation. Probably the most important positive factor is that there exists a body of knowledge, substantially proven in practice, from which to draw for their construction requirements. Equally, there is an international resource base from which scarce resources can be drawn for specific products and services. There are however, also the negative implications of any extended period of dependency. Dependency can be endemic, particularly where it impedes the development of a domestic construction resource base that is compatible with the countries’ wider economic and social objectives. Any country with sufficient non construction resources, can satisfy its construction requirements through the use of the international construction system. This is what happened in the oil rich countries of the Middle East during the 1970s and early 1980s. However, there are few developing countries which are in this enviable position. The growth of international construction in the 1970s and 1980s was a response to the growing demand for construction in developing countries. This was, in part, related to the lack of an adequate construction resource base in many countries, but it was also a function of the technological sophistication of many projects and the development of the “international construction system”. To ignore the potential benefits of the international construction system is foolhardy and, it could be argued, negligent. Developing countries do not exist in a vacuum, they too are part of an international system. Contemporary events suggest that it is mutually beneficial for countries with differing political objectives to expand their trade. The criterion which condition this trade are the issues to be addressed, not trade itself.
REFERENCES CFCE, Le Commerce Paris. 1988. Edqulst
and Edqvlst,
Mondlal des Industries de la Construcrlon.
Centre
Social Carriers of Techmques for Development.
SAREC,
Drewer. S.. “Conflict and Choice: Technology Transfer and Architectural Tidskrrfr for Arkuekrurforskning. Vol. I. No. 4, 1988, Stockholm. Nagel. Stewart,
E.. The Structure of Scrence. Routledge
and Kegan
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