Trends in buildings and procurement: Implications for construction economists in the twenty-first century

Abstract

This article discusses trends that are reshaping traditional procurement and delivery systems used by clients of the building construction industry. Procurement appears to have significant potential for innovation and improvement, particularly its potential for reorganisation to deliver better value for clients by making it both more open to design innovation and by encouraging best practice. Procurement is here broadly defined as the process that deals with project definition and delivery and the technical capabilities of the industry. A survey of online databases on current journal articles and reporting on procurement identified trends and issues. The argument is made that a changing business environment will lead to fundamental changes in the roles of building project participants in general, and construction economists in particular.