This latest issue (Volume 176, Issue 2) of the ICE’s Management, Procurement and Law (MAPL) is a collection of three articles demonstrating contemporary ideas on constructing and operating immovable-built environment assets with contract, health, safety and sustainability issues in mind. The articles align with the targets of sustainable development goals three (good health and wellbeing) (SDG3), eight (promote sustainable, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all) (SDG8), and eleven (sustainable cities and communities) (SDG11).
In the first article, Huang et al. (2023) used building construction projects as an example to demonstrate where the principles of sustainable construction, including health and safety (H&S), could work together to provide worksites with less potential for harm to people or damage to properties. The golden thread running through the article is that construction work can be executed without harming people (H&S) and the environment (sustainability). The systematic literature review (SLR)-based article foregrounds several lessons for integrating ideas when managing projects. One, while delivering projects that include sustainability rating systems (SRSs) (i.e., BREAM in the UK or Leed in the USA), environmental and social pillars of sustainable development should be balanced. For example, using an alternative material for road construction should not create health hazards that may later be activated as a ‘toxin’ detrimental to the wellbeing of people in construction and the public. Two, activities related to SRSs and the credits obtained post-construction negatively impact workers through ergonomics and similar agents. However, awareness and mindfulness ensure that the goals of SRSs do not marginalise the wellbeing of people in construction. Other points raised in the article advocate for preventing or reducing identified sustainability-related H&S hazards and risk factors in construction.
The following article also addresses H&S concerning contracts. A construction contract is a legal document about the rights and responsibilities of parties to a project. The terms of conditions of the relationships of project actors are often captured in several documents, which include the agreement, general conditions, specific conditions, technical specifications, and drawings, to mention a few. In this document, the duties of clients, designers, contractors, and subcontractors are set out with project deliverables such as H&S. However, some contracts, such as the NEC family of contracts, only sometimes close the gap between explicit H&S expectations and general conditions. That is why Ndekugri et al. (2023) analysed the H&S provisions in NEC contracts to advocate for future reviews. The 2015 edition of the Construction Design and Management (CDM) Regulations realise statutory duties for project actors, starting with the client. Please see Chapter 2 of the ICE Manual of Health and Safety in Construction by Oloke (2015) for the responsibilities of crucial duty holders in CDM. The practice implication of the article is that contractual terms (through the use of the NEC family of contracts) should empower compliance-based H&S for all duty holders under the CDM Regulations. Competence in contract drafting and administration is a requirement that supports the article’s recommendations.
Contract administration, which involves managing the actual contract documents and payment issues at the execution stage of a project, is the focus of the third article in this issue. The article by Premaratne et al. (2023) affirmed that the dual role of contract administrators helps independence and impartiality in discharging their duties in the New Zealand construction industry. The case-based article suggests that contract administrators in New Zealand construction can conduct their duties reasonably. The perceptions of the practice in New Zealand are worthy of emulation in an industry that suffers from corruption and transparency maladies. However, more work is required concerning assessing variation orders and their costing.
From SDG 3 to 11, the articles in this Volume 176 Issue 2 of MAPL urge the readers and the learned society to pay close attention to H&S issues, contract administration and sustainability under the banner of building better facilities for human activities. These articles are published Ahead of Print on the ICE Virtual Library homepage. The Ahead of Print options allow the community faster access to new content. As a CIB Encouraged Journal, it is unsurprising that the current Ahead of Print MAPL articles highlight the latest think and best practices in circular construction practices, digital built environment, H&S, lean construction, procurement and sustainable development.
The editorial panel of MAPL is grateful for the continued support of this journal.
