Brooks, T and Spillane, J P (2015) The impact of the recent economic recession on the NEC contract in Northern Ireland: A preliminary study. In: Raiden, A and Aboagye-Nimo, E (eds.) Proceedings of 31st Annual ARCOM Conference, 7-9 September 2015, Lincoln, UK.
Abstract
In comparison to the rest of the United Kingdom (UK) the Northern Irish Construction Industry was disproportionately affected by the recent economic recession. During this period, use of the New Engineering Contract (NEC) has proliferated in the public sector, however no study has been undertaken to examine the impact of the recession on this contract in Northern Ireland. The aim of this paper is to explore NEC contract implementation in Northern Ireland and the impact of the recession on its operation. A qualitative methodology is adopted using a literature review and semi structured interviews with six construction professionals. Qualitative analysis identifies themes and issues arising exploring connections between them using thematic coding. The initial findings are that the introduction of the NEC contract in Northern Ireland makes demands of contractors and consultants in terms of additional resources and training. Some consultants show a clear lack of understanding of the contract. Whilst there is general agreement that the contract does help to stimulate good project management, the interviewees find the contract time consuming and complicated to administer, describing it as 'unforgiving for the architect and unforgiving to the contractor.' Due to the impact of the recession, both contractors and consultants are still reporting a drop in income from pre-recession levels. Project resourcing levels have dropped significantly since the onset of the recession. Adversarial and opportunistic behaviour has increased. Many consultants and contractors are struggling to adequately administer the NEC contract at current income levels. The introduction of the NEC contract and the economic recession have exerted opposing forces on the implementation of the contract, hindering its execution. As the pressures exerted by the economic recession abate and a greater understanding of the contract develops, these opposing forces will ease leading to a more consistent implementation of the contract.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | NEC; procurement; recession |
| Index terms: | interview, recession, literature review, United Kingdom, public sector, New Engineering Contract, Northern Ireland, income, methodology, construction professional, qualitative analysis, architect, opportunistic behaviour, construction industry, implementation, project management |
| Subjects: | administrative law, industry analysis, professional development, project management theory and practice, Geography, research methods, physical geography and landforms, economic analysis, data analysis and analytics, contractual arrangements, business, research design and methodology, data collection methods, profession |
| Topics: | Legal Issues, Organizational Design, Information Management, Research Practice, Geographical Context, Project Management, Business Strategy, Procurement, Roles and Professions |
| 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