Benchmarking on-site productivity in France and the UK: A CALIBRE approach

Construction is an increasingly global industry, and benchmarking initiatives that are restricted to a single country run the risk of complacency, as national best practice falls out of line with international best practice. The aim of this article is to report the results of a detailed comparative analysis of the on-site performance of the UK and French divisions of a major UK construction corporation. It focuses on structural concrete because this is potentially a major element in the budget and programme of any construction project, and an area of known French strength. It deploys an innovative computerized productivity measurement tool based on activity sampling, 'CALIBRE', in order to provide detailed comparative data. The results show that the UK productivity performance is poorer than in France, and that the poor UK performance compared with the French is explained by elaborate divisions of labour, lack of investment in plant, and less effective work organization. However, as will be argued in the conclusions, these differences cannot be understood without reference to the overall contracting system and the constraints upon action that it imposes.