Book Description

There is growing interest in future scenario planning of theconstruction industry but a disconnect between thinking about thefuture at the policy-making level and implementing real change. Constructing Futures: industry leaders and futures thinkingin construction takes a thematic approach to the future of theUK construction industry by presenting the results of a series ofin-depth interviews conducted with leading construction figures andstructuring this material into chapters addressing the keycontemporary issues in the industry. These high-profile figures are drawn from a wide range ofstakeholder groups representing the realities of construction,including architects, client organisations (public-sector andprivate-sector), consultants, contractors, developers, lobby groupswith special interests, policy makers, professional institutions,and trade unions. A total of 15 influential figures were interviewed for the book,from Sir Michael Latham and Bob White to Wayne Hemmingway and KevinMcCloud. Part One looks to the past by reviewing a series of foresightstudies undertaken of the construction industry and re-presentingstories of our interviewees' lives to explain the development ofleadership in the context of the construction industry. In PartTwo, the authors look at the present and discuss two fundamentalissues: sustainable development and governance of the constructionindustry. In Part Three the book concludes with an afterthought forthe future, highlighting key lessons learnt putting forward aseries of research questions derived from this scholarly reflectionof 'futures thinking' in construction. Throughout, the authors juxtapose the views of the 15influential figures interviewed with a review of the salient pointsfound in the relevant and authoritative sources of theoreticalliterature, both in the mainstream literature and the field ofconstruction management. This allows the reader to benefit from thepractical insights of those interviews whilst gaining a rapidunderstanding of the key debates of the theoretical subject underscrutiny.