BRE IP16/02/1 PDF

Introduction

Like other industrial sectors, construction has experienced the ups and downs of the dot.com boom and bust. According to a Construction Product Association (CPA) survey in 2000, the construction industry was estimating that, by 2005, 50% of all business would be conducted electronically. Today the situation has changed and the estimate has been revised down to 22% in CPA's 2001 survey.

The electronic services that are now being offered on line to the construction industry are procurement, collaboration and knowledge management. Take up of these services is expected to increase over the next few years, with the industry estimating that 25% of new projects over £10 million will be using them.

The next significant development in information and communication technologies (ICT) for the construction industry is the adoption of handheld devices, wireless technologies, barcodes and electronic tagging for tracking the movement of materials and goods in the construction supply chain. These technologies have proven track records in several other sectors; for example, tracking of livestock in agriculture, and improving the logistics in retail and other industries. BRE, Bovis Lendlease and others have developed several such tools, but in the construction sector the technology is still in its infancy. They have shown, though, that the industry would use these devices if clear business benefits could be demonstrated.

BRE together with CPA, Movement for Innovation (M4I), Certification Authority for Reinforcing Steel (CARES), and technology provider Initiative Business Systems Limited, were commissioned by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), through its ICTCarrier programme, to carry out a feasibility study in the use of ICT in construction.