US productivity and fast tracking starts on the drawing board

Although much has been written about the rapid rate of construction in the USA compared with the UK, very little investigation has been undertaken to determine exactly how the rates of construction are achieved. This paper briefly describes the differences between the UK and US construction industries, and then uses a case study of a US construction project to examine the relationship between the design of an element and the construction on site. The US designer pays attention to the way the components will be assembled on site, being concerned with the overlap of work packages undertaken by specialty subcontractors. Because each of the work packages is clearly defined and isolated from other work packages, the contractor has better control over the rate of production on site.