Managing client value at the strategic briefing stage of construction projects

Construction project briefing is the activity of taking from a client a clear, unambiguous and explicit performance specification of a project. The project is a separate, temporary activity for the client often unrelated in character to that of the client's core business. There is a presumption that the values which are of importance to the client will align with those of the project. A study of current briefing and value management literature highlights the absence of a method for the explicit representation of the client value system as it relates to the construction project although the concept of client value is acknowledged. This leads to the research proposition that it is practical to develop a framework for the explicit exposition of the client value system for use in a value management workshop at the strategic briefing of construction projects. The value system should contain all discretionary variables for the definition of client values at this stage. This thesis describes research into axiology in the context of construction project briefing leading to a method for the explicit representation of the client value system. The method was tested through action research studies. The evidence in this thesis supports the conclusion that the variables of the construction client value system are the nine high order variables of capital cost, operating cost, time, esteem, exchange, environment, politics/community, flexibility and comfort. There are no other discretionary performance variables which are not correlated with these. The client value system at the strategic briefing stage of a construction project can be realised through a matrix model. The model is designed to work within the context of a value management workshop.