New book asks 'Why Is Construction So Backward?'

Edited by the Buildingtalk editorial team Feb 12, 2004

Why does building work suffer from delays, why are homes so expensive and why, in the 21st century, do both these problems still affect millions of people every year?

A new book called answers these questions in ways that everyone from a DIY enthusiast to a site manager will recognise.

Principal author Professor James Woudhuysen, of De Montfort University, Leicester, says one of the main reasons behind our stereotypical experiences of the construction industry is that it still operates on principles that applied in the age of the Victorians.

This, according to Professor Woudhuysen, is the result of political inertia - both within the building industry and within John Prescott's Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

He said: "Construction is big business, and has become a major political issue - Tony Blair himself chairs a cabinet committee on the controversial Thames Gateway development, east of London.

"The snag is that we're still building 130,000 new homes a year, when we need more than 400,000 if young people are ever to be able to afford a home." Why is Construction so Backward? looks at how car industry technologies, IT and new materials - including biological ones - could help us mass-produce the quantities of homes that are needed.

It attacks government wisdom in building design and urban planning, arguing that there is plenty of space to put new houses.

According to Professor Woudhuysen, the British planning system "means that unelected Green quangos are still able to veto everything from a new housing estate to a simple conservatory built on to a garden".

He said: "If we were not in thrall to environmentalist dogma, we could move forward to competitions, in the marketplace, between the Ford Norman Foster Mark 4 three-bedroom flat and the Vauxhall Richard Rogers Mark 3 bungalow.

It's time we all ordered up personalised, high-quality manufactured houses as easily as we specify new cars in car showrooms.

The technology is ready - all we need is the political will.".