Russell, E F (2020) Leading role or bit player? Main contractors, supply chain and sustainable construction. PhD thesis, University of Surrey, UK.
Abstract
Driven by increased urbanisation, construction of buildings and infrastructure continues to grow worldwide, further exacerbating the social and environmental impacts created by this sector. Large scale projects, requiring thousands of component parts and globally sourced materials, flow across supply networks to construct built assets. Embodied within these supply networks are minerals, energy, water, labour, waste, modern slavery and other human rights abuses. This thesis focuses on the UK construction industry and the ability of the main contractor, a key procurer of materials and manager of the build process, to affect the sustainability of the final asset. This research is case study based on unprecedented access to staff and key suppliers of a major UK main contractor, Carillion plc. The work is an holistic approach to sustainability, incorporating both social and environmental lifecycle thinking, sustainable supply chain theory, and the fields of stakeholder and collaborative working. Applying grounded theory methodology, four major themes emerge from this inductive research; fragmentation, the role of focal nodes, inter- and intra-company collaboration and knowledge of sustainability. Set within the context of a lifecycle perspective they define the ability of the main contractor to directly implement or influence sustainable build. The research develops theory uniting economic equity, network actor perspective and life stage impacts. The findings demonstrate that operating within current unsustainable business models the main contractor can only play a bit role. Additionally, it provides the basis for recommendations on business model, policy and process change.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | France, C; Lee, J and Winhall, M |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | case study; collaboration; environmental impact; fragmentation; grounded theory; life cycle; materials; supplier; sustainability; UK |
| Index terms: | built asset, environmental impact, human rights, methodology, collaboration, fragmentation, sustainable construction, manager, construction industry, business model, holistic approach, lifecycle, process change, life cycle, grounded theory, case study, main contractor, urbanization |
| Subjects: | industry analysis, management, project delivery, value management, business, data collection methods, asset management, sustainable construction, research methods, theoretical framing, urban planning, criminal law, practitioner, environmental impact |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Research Practice, Roles and Professions, Governance, Organizational Design, Project Management, Sustainability, Legal Issues |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here