Investigate performance opportunities in the New Zealand construction sector, with focus on the Christchurch rebuild programme

Abstract

The New Zealand (NZ) construction sector is noted as having poor productivity, with many studies finding productivity performance in the building and construction sector comparing poorly to other industries. Significant research has been undertaken over the past ten years, most of which has targeted the cause or identification of low productivity, but there has been relatively little research on developing tools, products and knowledge specifically designed to raise industry performance. This project seeks to move away from problem identification, and apply greater focus on identifying a set of tools that can deliver sustainable performance improvement in the NZ construction sector. Having looked closely at the success of benchmarking and best practice principals in the United Kingdom (UK), research attempted to understand if similar success could be realised in the NZ construction sector. By identifying common construction weaknesses between the two countries, and by demonstrating the UK’s successful application of performance measurement to resolve these weaknesses, research has been able to identify the potential benefits of performance measurement in the NZ construction sector. NZ performance data was provided by four organisations, and analysed to understand if positive performance trends were observed. Research found that there was compelling evidence to support the link between adopting performance measurement and increased performance results. Using a suite of KPI’s across a number of different construction reporting areas (safety, time, cost, quality and particularly client satisfaction) was proven to generate positive performance trends in New Zealand, as was noted in the UK. Furthermore, there was broad support for a partnership between Government, the private sector and an academic institution to act as custodian of a national KPI data set, which would include annual industry analysis and reporting. This partnership would also be responsible for changing the industries view of the boom-bust cycle in construction, with research suggesting the industry see this as a natural part of the construction industry rather than a problem that needs to be resolved. This is a significant challenge for the industry, as performance tools will only be effective if there is a strong will to use them. Research also uncovered good opportunities to include additional innovative KPI measures that are currently being tested in Christchurch, such as ‘innovation’, ‘developing a skilled workforce’ and ‘waste minimisation’ KPIs. These new KPI’s should be investigated in a national context, with additional research and/or trials to test their effectiveness. This research project concluded that performance measurement is capable of producing comprehensive improvements in the NZ construction sector, but that significant funding is required to ii increase awareness, and support the establishment of a partnership that will act as the construction sector’s best practice custodian.