Cost vs. production: disparities in social housing construction in Britain and Germany

Abstract

This paper is about the qualitatively different nature of the labour process in the British construction industry compared with that in Germany. The rationale of the British system is based on controlling costs through overseeing contract relations, themselves circumscribing a range of narrow, clearly defined and priced tasks.The production process has become secondary and production expertise restricted.In contrast, in Germany cost aspects are incorporated into, rather than separated from, the production system, built on the interaction of capital and labour and on a high level of production expertise. Employment relations rather than contract relations predominate and circumscribe a set of skills drawn from the potential of the labour force and dependent on broad-based vocational education.The paper is based on a detailed investigation of social housebuilding projects in Britain and Germany. It is the first of two papers concerned with the overriding cost rationale of the British construction process at the expense of considerations of production. The effects of this is examined here in terms of the structure of expertise and skills within firms, the nature of the subcontracting and the 2 composition of the construction team. The paper shows the need for more and a qualitatively different constellation of skills, professional and operative, in Britain. It thus contributes to the debate on achieving a higher skills equilibrium (Crouch et al. 1999;Brown et al. 2001), expands transnational sector comparisons (Stewart 1994)

Perspectives of UK housebuilders on the use of offsite modern methods of construction

“…Effective ways of bringing specialist knowledge holders into the design process at an earlier stage should be established (ibid; Palmer et al, 2003). However, the strong reliance on subcontracting in UK construction projects (Clarke and Herrmann, 2004;Dainty et al, 2001) creates problems for using innovative building techniques (Ball, 1996). Housebuilders' comments reflect the observation in (Hong-Minh et al, 2001) that current housing supply chains are fragmented and underpinned by poor communication, adversarial relationships and a lack of trust and commitment.…”

Cost vs. production: labour deployment and productivity in social housing construction in England, Scotland, Denmark and Germany

“…The fragmentation of knowledge, through the separation of engineering, building technology, production and cost knowledge lies at the heart of the problems (Clarke and Herrmann 2004). But together with this has gone an emphasis on cost exclusive of production that has encouraged the system of endless subcontracting, including labour-only, of all activities, rather than direct employment.…”

“…Our first paper, "Cost versus production: disparities in social housing construction in Britain and Germany", examined differences in the structure of expertise and skills within firms, the nature of subcontracting and the composition of the construction team in Britain and Germany (Clarke and Herrmann 2004). Here our concern is with the effects of this in terms of the efficiency, productivity and organisation of the site process, drawing out in particular differences between Britain, Scotland, Denmark and Germany in labour deployment and the sequencing of production.…”

Request and Potential for Social Housing Projects in Germany, by the example of the Federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia

“…• Financial aspects of social housing (Clarke L. & Herrmann G., 2004;Housing NSW et al, 2011;Lawson J, 2009) Furthermore, there are several external influences which shape social housing in Germany. The following themes have a great impact and should be considered within this investigation:…”