On the integration of value engineering in the procurement of public housing in the state of Kuwait

The Kuwaiti government is responsible for ensuring the adequate housing of all Kuwaiti families In the United Kingdom and many other countries in continental Europe, the government provides affordable housing only to those who are deemed by the state to be disadvantaged or in financial need. In Kuwait, all citizens, irrespective of financial status, must register the Public Authority for Housing Welfare (PAHW), the government agency with operational responsibility for housing. It provides a range of housing options including "plots and mortgage", "flats", and "readymade" (i.e. prefabricated) government housing. To meet the increasing demand for housing in the state, the Kuwaiti government is planning to create six new modern cities with the capacity to accommodate more than 125,000 residential units. In order for the Kuwaiti government to address the challenge of meeting its citizens’ housing needs, a sophisticated management system will be required. This thesis proposes that Value Engineering (VE), a proven management approach that uses systematic techniques to identify the best options that balance the costs, reliability, and performance of a product, should form part of that system whilst the implementation and practice of VE within construction projects appears to have substantive merits, this research examine, in particular, how the VE Job Plan may be used as part of a wider Value Management framework to aid housing allocation problems in Kuwait. Whilst this research is positioned within a Kuwaiti context, the emergent issues may also be relevant to a wide number of other social housing providers. Data collection was carried out using a mixed methods approach spanning four phases. The first phase used a quantitative survey of Fahad Al-Ahmad City residents; self-administered questionnaires designed with closed-ended options were distributed and received through personal delivery. The second phase used the findings of the first phase in qualitative face-to-face interviews with these residents. The third and fourth phases involved face-to-face personal interviews with PAHW representatives. The cumulative findings provided understanding of the problems that citizens and PAHW face in selecting appropriate housing solutions. These findings were shared with an expert panel group in Kuwait, and their feedback is discussed. The findings indicate that the major problems that citizens of Kuwait face with government "readymade" houses result from the length and quality of the allocation process. Citizens have to wait 10-15 years from application before taking occupation of a property, consequently, occupants immediately embark on modifications to the property. Through the implementation of bespoke VE Job Plan, citizens’ involvement in the housing design is encouraged at an earlier stage than what would otherwise be the case. It is hypothesised that satisfaction levels will increase whilst the costs incurred by government and citizens as a consequence of reconfiguration will be reduced, leading to improved value for money.