There's a sneaking suspicion that all this talk of 'lean construction' is just a ploy by refugee consultants from manufacturing.
It's repackaging things we are doing already: value engineering; watching waste on site; partnering with suppliers – with a smattering of Japanese for authenticity.

Well, doubters, lean construction is not all hot air. It is already transforming our industry. And if no one seems to be shouting particularly loudly about it, that's probably because a) they aren't a big contractor with a publicity machine and b) they're too busy securing their own niche in the market.

In search of lean, we found Thomas Vale (page 12), one year down the road after introducing lean thinking, already demonstrating huge improvements. And not one word of Japanese on their sites. Look at Barrett Steel. The word lean doesn't pass their lips, but if you examine what they have done, you'll get the picture.

So, watch out. Lean construction is coming to a sector near you soon. And if the competition can do it more efficiently, to a better standard and in a shorter time scale, you are going to be looking very flabby indeed.

Peanuts get monkeysYes, £55,000 a year is a lot to pay a carpenter. But if you are building a world-class airport development, do you really want to settle for second best?

The news of the deal struck between Laing O'Rourke and the unions at Heathrow's Terminal 5 couldn't have come at a better time. As the Labour Government unveils its plans to discourage all but the affluent from attending university, our youngsters hear that you can make a decent wage being a chippie!

It's going to mean pressure on wages. But that's the only way the skills shortage will ever be righted.

Terminal 5 is going to be five years in the building. We can attract a lot of new tradespeople to the industry in that time.

Source

Construction Manager

Postscript

Kristina Smith, Deputy editor