Introduction

Over the last decade there has been an increasing recognition that the construction industry has to work collaboratively if it is to achieve the savings in time, cost and quality demanded by clients and customers alike.

In the UK, for example, collaborative working has been extolled by Latham,1 Egan,2 and now by the Strategic Forum for Construction, as the basis for improved value delivery. Terms such as ‘breaking down the silos’ are commonly used to express the need for the different construction disciplines to beak away from operating in specialised units and work together to investigate and solve...