33% Reduction In The Initial Cost Of Construction AND The whole-Life Costs of built Assets. Dissertation Introduction

Introduction

The construction industry is a very substantial component of the industry of the Great Britain. In 2014, this sector contributed over £100 billon into the national economy, which covers about 6.5% of the UK GDP, and employed over 2 million people (Rhodes, 2015).This explains the motivation of the present research and confirms the importance of the topic of the dissertation. Its aim is to investigate, outline, and estimate the government efforts to support this economy area, manage it, and provide its stable growth. To achieve this aim, we gather the primary data by means of interviews, questionnaires, and other appropriate tools and analyse the gathered data in order to answer the main questions of the current research: whether the current involvement of the British government ensures that right steps towards the improvement and support of the national construction industry are made nowadays and, if not, then what (and how) has to be changed. If the government plans to build a strong economy and preserve it strong, then the construction industry should be treated as a key factor.
The great recession of 2008-09 has damaged the construction industry even stronger than the economy as a whole. However, the economy is going up again now, and the government has announced Plan of Growth (see The Budget, 2011). A substantial part of this document is allocated to steps to assist the construction industry.
In July 2013, Construction 2025 is introduced (see Construction 2025, 2013). This document is intended directly for the construction industry. According to it, the following strategies are set to be accomplished strategies within the upcoming future:

50% reduction in the overall time, from inception to completion, for new-build and refurbished assets.
50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the built environment.
50% reduction in the trade gap between total exports and total imports for construction products and materials.
We investigate whether those figures are realistic and, if yes, then how the government is able to achieve them. More detailed, our objectives are as follows:
The intervention of the UK government into the national construction industry is investigated in various economic studies. In the framework of the present dissertation, it is reasonable to select four main directions. The first one analyzes the impact of the construction industry to the world economy (see, e.g., Latham, 1994; Ruddock & Lopes, 2006). The second one investigates the importance of the sustainably in the industry (see, e.g., Sayce, Ellison, & Parnell, 2007; Alani, 2015). The third one is the detailed review and analysis of the document Construction 2025 sited above. The last one analyzes advantages and disadvantages of the government investment policy (see, e.g., Sayce, Ellison, & Parnell, 2007). All the four directions are developed in the present dissertation as well.
This research applies mixing design methods (see, e.g., Creswell, 2003; Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2009) involving gathering, analysing, and “mixing” both quantitative and qualitative approaches.

References

Rhodes, C. (Oct 6, 2015). ‘Construction industry: statistics and policy’ http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN01432/SN01432.pdf (accessed Jan 11 2016)
The Budget (Mar 2011). ‘Budget 2011’ http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130129110402/http:/cdn.hm-treasury.gov.uk/2011budget_complete.pdf (accessed Jan 11 2016)
Construction 2025 (July 2013). ‘Construction 2025. Industrial Strategy: government and industry in partnership’ https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210099/bis-13-955-construction-2025-industrial-strategy.pdf (accessed Jan 11 2016)
Latham, M. (July 1994). ‘Constructing the Team - Final report of the government/industry
review of procurement and contractual arrangements in the UK construction industry’,
The Department of the Environment, HMSO.
Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Ruddock,L. and Lopes, J. (2006). 'The construction sector and economic development: the Bon curve', Construction Management 24:717-723
Sayce, S., Ellison, L. and Parnell,P. (2007) 'Understanding investment drivers for UK sustainable properly', Building Research and Information 35: 629-643
Alani,B. (2015). Achieving an Effective and Sustainable Approach to Site Waste Management to Satisfy Legislations, Bsc (Hons): University of Kingston.
Teddlie, C. & A. Tashakkori (2009). Foundations of Mixed Methods Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.