Understanding site offices challenges to communicate and exchange information using technology in UK: main contractor perspective

The construction industry is a complex, dynamic, fragmented environment that involves many stakeholders and, by being based on team collaboration, integrates various groups through the use of a range of systems. One of the major difficulties in the construction industry is to ensure that the correct information is available on site at the point of application. The global shift from paper-based documents and drawings to electronic-based files has tended to overload project teams with information. Currently, the work of site operatives still depends on the timely ability to access documents, paperwork, drawings and personal data together with the retrieval of relevant information. This creates a divergence between proven construction information and information on the building site itself, which can result in contradictions and misinformation. The volume of information increases in parallel with the development of technology and this complexity puts the construction industry under pressure to keep pace with other industries. This is particularly evident at the construction stage, when actual construction activities are carried out and a huge amount of information needs to be exchanged. However, most research into, and development of, IT usage to support construction industry collaboration is largely technology driven (Wikforss & Lo?fgren, 2007). This has resulted in the failure of information communication technology (ICT) systems to adequately support construction operations (UKCES, 2015). Inadequately configured construction processes have, very often, resulted in the misalignment of technological deployment and construction processes (Marti?nez-Rojas, 2015). Moreover, the inappropriate use of technology could result in the creation of extra work for other on-site stakeholders. Therefore, an improved alignment between information, communicators and technologies through enhanced communication techniques for the profession should be considered in order to overcome the challenges of complex projects. Studies have focused on effective and successful communication, and found that inefficient communication throughout the lifecycle of a project is one of the major causes of project failure in the construction industry. Many previous studies have addressed poor communication in construction; however, this study aims to: • Identify the impact information and communications technology (ICT) on on-site construction operations • Critically evaluate site office communication in order to identify which features have the most impact on construction site management; and • Assess how the effective use of ICT can enhance site management efficiency. Understanding the challenges that take place from the main contractor perspective helps to establish a set of recommendations that can improve the exchange of information between stakeholders, ease communication, and consider the use of technology to improve site office information flow. In other words, the purpose of this research is to understand how to improve site information management using technology through the perspective of effective communication.