The Construction Industry

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INTRODUCTION

The construction industry like many other industries has changed and evolved with time. It is the fourth largest contributor to Australia’s GDP and has played a major role in determining economic growth of the country. In terms of employment, the industry has employed 9% of the Australian workforce making it the fourth largest industry (ABS data).

The industry caters to both the public and private sectors. The type of construction can broadly be classified into three categories; residential, commercial and engineering construction. The demand and supply for these activities is driven by a number of factors such as population growth, changes to interest rates, inflation, income, government policies, availability of resources and also the links to other industries.

CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY OVER THE YEARS

As described earlier, the industry has gone through many changes. Technology has greatly improved within the industry. In the past, all designs and calculations were done by hand, and any rework would mean starting from scratch which involved significant amounts of time wastage. Efficiency in these aspects has greatly been increased by the use of computers. Advanced construction equipments have improved construction efficiency by reducing project durations to a great extent.

Health and safety has greatly been improved. Although present in the past, the guidelines and procedures in implementation today ensure safety of staff and customers. In Australia especially, the importance of health and safety standards are very high with external agencies in place to make sure they are implemented.

There is an increasing demand to create unique projects. Homeowners and businesses no longer want to go with the standard proje...

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...ks for a contractor and the other a client. The other is that of a contracts administrator which involves negotiating contracts, making claims for provisions, monitoring compliance to contract requirements, etc. Junior project coordinator is another role which seems pretty interesting and is one of the best positions to get the right kind of experience to become a project manager.

Research and evaluation

Short term planning

Long term planning

REFERENCES

Isikdag, U, Underwood, J, Kuruoglu, M, Goulding, J & Acikalin, U 2009, ‘Construction Informatics in Turkey: Strategic Role of ICT and Future Research Directions’, Journal of Information Technology in Construction, Vol. 14, pp. 413-426.

Eir, A 2004, ‘Construction Informatics: Issues in Computer Science, Engineering and Ontology’, Thesis (Ph.D.), Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Demark.

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