A European perspective on the Pearce report; policy and research

The Social and Economic Value of Construction (2003), also known as the Pearce Report after its author, has been extensively discussed in the UK, but has not yet attracted the attention of the European construction industry and the wider international research and development community. The international significance of the Pearce Report is that it provides a general methodology that differs substantially from other attempts to describe the construction industry and its contribution to sustainable development. Using capital theory, it provides a conceptual framework for relating the different dimensions of value (or wealth) as ecological (physical), economic, social and cultural capitals; it explores how these dimensions interact; and it examines the possibilities of substituting one capital for another. The Pearce Report also stresses the importance of maintaining and improving value over time in the sense of a sustainable development. This Forum discusses the theoretical framework, compares this with other approaches within the European Union, considers these aspects mainly in the field of social, human and cultural capital, and proposes additional research directions that should be tackled internationally.