Sustainable development comprises of the environmental, economic sustenance and health dimensions. According to World Health Organization, sustainable development encompasses development with the needs of the present generation without compromising the interest of the future generations.In improving the quality of life, sustainable development involves environmental protection, and sustainable environment.Thus, the sustainable development embraces longterm health and integrity of the environment (Price, Dube, p. 9 ).
In the engineering field, sustainable development is absolutely central to the practice of Civil Engineering (Jowitt, p. 5).
It should be noted that Sustainable development is the process that shape contemporary urban Environments, which explores sustainability cities in a rapidly urbanizing world with focus on the infrastructure, land developments, built landscapes, and facilities that collectively make up metropolitan regions (Boyle, p. 26).
Typical civil engineering influence in health, and basic human services such as water, wastewater, energy, transportation, environmental protection and enhancement of global population are uncountable (Boyle, p. 30).
Impact of civil engineering on sustainable development
The impacts of civil engineering in the sustainable development comprise the following:
Economic profitability : There is wide economic benefit of sustainable development that can be derive from impact of civil engineering. It should be noted that, there is need of civil Engineering services for the solutions of global society and the environment enhancement. With development of economic issues, there is impact of civil engineering in better advocating sustainable development in the true sense of the word. The impact of individual civil engineers can help in solving the most challenging and threatening problems that have ever faced humankind with improvement of research and technology (Mulligan, p. 9).
With the need for financial and economic sustainability in the provision of infrastructure. There is need for increase of water quality, which closed the gap between rich and poor (Mulligan, p. 8).
The achievement of environmental sustainability leads to improvement of the health life of the working population and the total economic development.
Environmental Responsibility: Healthy environment applies to the principles that involves the quality of life in the community. It should be noted that, the needs to improve the needs of the people in the community involves the development of the inhabitants for the enhancement of good economic, social and environmental conditions, which should meet the need of the community and the enhancement of environment to meet the future generations (Price, Dube 25 ).
To achieve these, The practice of sustainable development for the environmental protection involves critical planning , designing, developing, building, and managing the urban built environment, which involve energy, water, materials, and the wastes disposal for environmental sustainability (Boyle, p. 30).
It also involves proper maintenance of irrigation system, good water supply and development of infrastructures for environmental enhancement (Boyle, p. 30).
In achieving these objective, the service of civil engineers is very important for designing the urban environment and managing the built environment.
Long term survival: Long term survival of humanity is critical for economic development. The healthy people is healthy nation. The acceptable survival of the community embraces human dignity, human rights, human health, and a moral constraint on human fertility. To achieve this, government is in need to promote the biosphere, and construction of reproductive health care (Lissa, p. 5).
The quality of environment is a major determinant of health, which is an important stimulus to other aspects of development. It should be noted that healthy people are more productive economically, which increases the economic growth rate of countries. This consequently lead to human development and human survival. Proper maintenance of the environment improve the people’s health in the community and this accelerate human development and reduction dealt rate in the community (Price, Dube, p. 38 ).
Thus, a resource management concept recognizes that renewable resources without endangering long-term survival of the resource (Young, p. 1).
This can be achieved by reduction of carbon emission and the enhancement of engineering works that meet the environmental standard.
Reduction of waste : For proper environmental enhancement, there is need for effective control of the waste generation, storage, treatment, recycling and reuse, transport, recovery and disposal of hazardous wastes. The proper maintenance of waste is paramount for the environmental protection, for proper health, natural resource management, and sustainable development. Meanwhile, to achieve these objective of waste disposal prevention of hazardous wastes and the rehabilitation of contaminated sites are the key elements. Thus, there is need for design of waste management facilities by the civil engineers for the maintenance of the community (United Nation, p. 1)
The role of civil engineers is to guide the development process in the waste management to improve the quality of life and improvement of human comfort (Mulligan, p. 4).
It should be noted that the impact of civil engineering in the waste management involves operations and maintenance aspects of project implementation.. This also involves the arrangement of design of waste facility for proper waste disposal and management (Mulligan, p. 6).
Contrary research
Despite the impact of civil engineering field in the enhancement of sustainable development. There are still contrasting arguments on the following issues:
Economic profitability: The argument put forward is that the enhancement of sustainable development is not about giving priority to environmental concerns, it is just the policy of policy makers to raise revenue. For example, the putting prices on the environment, such as carbon emission tax is purposely to increase the government revenue. In this sense, there is little impact of the civil engineers in the enhancement of environmental sustainability (Beder, p. 11).
Depletion of regional resources : There is argument that sustainable development is basically depletion of resources. Depletion of resources is to undermine the economic growth. It should be noted that there wide large number of people that are making living from the natural resources. Meanwhile, the civil engineering construction is basically contributing the environment hazard such as climate change. The depletions of trees for the civil engineering construction lead to increase in climate change that can affect human health (Braun, p. 11).
Lack of knowledge to employ the proper methods: Argument has also been put forward on the lack of knowledge on the sustainable development. There are cases where the people involve to maintain the sustainable development for the environmental protection do not have adequate knowledge of protecting the environment. For example, the civil engineering construction that involves in the proper waste disposal may be accused of environmental pollution from lack of proper building demolition, which can lead to environmental hazard.
Conclusions
Despite the contrary arguments, there is still general belief that there are great impacts the civil engineering in the environment sustainability.
Work Cited
Beder, Sharon, (1994), The Hidden Messages Within Sustainable Development, vol.13, no. 2, University of Wollongong.
Boyle Carol (2007), CONFERENCE HANDBOOK. 2007. PROGRAMME. AND. BOOK OF ABSTRACTS. CONTENTS, Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Aukland.
Braun, Joachim (2005), Depletion of Natural Resources Implication for Development: An assessment by experts, World Bank.
Jowitt,Paul ( 2005), Systems and Sustainability: Sustainable Development, Civil Engineering and the formation of the Civil Enginner, Heriot Watt University.
Mulligan, Catherine, (2008), CSCE Guidelines for Sustainable Development, Canadian Society of civil Engineer
Lisa, Potter (2001), GLOBAL BIOETHICS : Converting Sustainable Development. to Global Survival, Vol. 14 – N. 4
Price Charles and Dube Pierre, (1997Sustainable development and health: Concepts, principles and framework for action for European cities and towns, World Health Organization.
United Nation (2005), Sustainable Development Topics: Hazardous waste, United Nations and Social Affairs Division For Sustainable Development.
Young, Don, (1995), KEY TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, U.S. House of Representatives
The oldest branch of professional engineering is civil engineering. Many things that we got used to and that make our lives comfortable are the products of this engineering. The knowledge of its history and skills that every civil engineer should possess is important. This knowledge can improve the social life of people and prepare young specialists for their future profession.
Body of Knowledge Committee. Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century
The book presents the results of the summit devoted to the future of civil engineering. The main subjects of the summit were the role of teachers, students, and engineer interns in the development of new techniques in the field of civil engineering. The book outlines the requirements to the professional level of civil engineering of the future, and which forms of education should be applied in order to educate professionals of the future.
Engineering Fundamentals
The book is written for the students and teachers studying engineering. It presents a simple and understandable text. Moreover, it brings together all the basics of general engineering. The author supports the explanations with pictures and exercises for every section. In addition, the reader is provided with learning objectives. The book is based on the materials of the previous books of the author. It gives an insight into health issues and effective work relationships. The author also presents detailed information about the engineering materials, drawings, measuring and engineering techniques. It is a great guide for students as well as for teachers.
American Society of Civil Engineers. Civil Engineering Practice in the Twenty-First Century: Knowledge and Skills for Design and Management
As well as a previous book on future of the civil engineering, the given work presents insight into the future of civil engineering. However, it also presents a brief history of civil engineering and predicts what it will be like. The author predicts that the changes in society will lead to changes in civil engineering. As opposed to the previous work that focuses on the education of future professionals and basic course requirements, this book presents the skills of future engineers. Among these skills are critical thinking, communication, and management skills. This book provides a more practical approach than the previous one.
Engineering Legends: Great American Civil Engineers : 32 Profiles of inspiration and Achievement
Almost every student who studies civil engineering heard about major civil engineering accomplishments. However, not everyone knows the backgrounds of these accomplishments and the engineers who made them. This book is a great source for studying the history of civil engineering. It presents the biographies and stories of 32 great American engineers.
Engineering the Future of Civil Engineering in the U. S. In Educating the Engineer for the 21st Century
This paper is devoted to the development the future of civil engineering in the USA. It outlines three major objectives of it. The first one is to focus on the protection of the environment and the creation of the infrastructure of a new civil society. As well as two previous books, this work focuses on the education of future specialists. The main question is the question of education. The author suggests creating a new approach (more practical) to civil engineering education.
Civil Engineering in Context
The book presents the history of the development of civil engineering from the 19th to the 21st century. The narrator is a famous engineer Sir Alan Muir Wood. He presents his personal vision on how the civil industry was developed in the 19th century, what aspects (law, ethics, politics) influenced on systems and design in the 20th century. The author also provides his idea on how the civil engineering should develop in the 21st century.
References
American Society of Civil Engineers. Body of Knowledge Committee. Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century. The United States of America: American Society of Civil Engineers, 2008.
Timings, Roger Leslie. Engineering Fundamentals. Woburn: Roger Timings, 2002.
Grigg, Neil S. American Society of Civil Engineers. Civil Engineering Practice in the Twenty-First Century: Knowledge and Skills for Design and Management. United States of America: the American Society of Civil Engineering, 2001.
Weingardt, Richard. Engineering Legends: Great American Civil Engineers : 32 Profiles of Inspiration and Achievement. Virginia: American Society of Civil Walesh, Stuart. “Engineering the Future of Civil Engineering in the U. S.” in Educating the Engineer for the 21st Century. Netherlands: Klawer Academic Publishers, 2001 163-172.
Wood, Alan Marshall Muir. Civil Engineering in Context. London: Thomas Telford Publishing, 2004.
The subject of this essay is based on a famous civil/structural engineer. Structural Engineering is a field which is concerned with doing research, making plans, designing, constructing, inspecting, monitoring, maintaining, rehabilitating and demolishing of both temporary and permanent structures, along with their components and structural systems. It also considers various aspects of the structures like economic, technical, aesthetic, environmental and social aspects. This is an imaginative profession which makes a significant contribution to industry, infrastructure as well as to developments of recreational and residential nature. (EA, n.d.)
For the purpose of the essay, the person who has been chosen is Peter Rice who was a famous structural engineer, called by Jonathan Glancy, an architecture critic as ‘The James Joyce of structural engineers’. (Arup, n.d.)
He was born in Ireland in 1935. He obtained his early education at the local CBS after which he went to Newbridge College. From Newbridge College, Peter proceeded to Queen’s University Belfast from where he studied Civil Engineering. After receiving the primary degree in engineering, Peter went for further studies to Imperial College in London where he spent a year. In 1956, after completion of studies, he joined Ove Arup and Partners and started working with them on the Sydney Opera House. He also worked as a visiting scholar at Cornell University, after completion of the Sydney Opera House. (Clerkin, P. 2008)
What makes the work of Peter Rice unique is that he has the ability to step out of the limits and constraints which formed a part of his professional training; as a result he was proficient in deriving practical solutions from technical problems. What differentiate his work are his designs which combine order with delight and science with art in a graceful and smooth manner creating amazing structures. The essence of his work rests with the fact that he adopted a fresh approach for each of his new projects, which resulted in producing the best possible building; this was further enhanced by respecting for the part that the architect plays. After a few initial trials and with the passage of time, this approach yielded an inspirational collection of innovative work. (Brown, 2001)
If viewed in the fold of history, Rice belonged to a period of other great architects like Frei Otto, Renzo Piano, I.M. Pei, Richard Rogers, Norman Foster, Kenzo Tange, Ian Ritchie and Paul Andreu. He worked with them on different projects and created masterpieces and landmark structures. Some of his famous works include the Pompidou Centre, Sydney Opera House and Lloyd’s of London. He was indeed one of the greatest engineers of the 20th century, which has also been internationally acknowledged. His claim to fame lies in the justification of innovation and style. (Brown, 2001)
Peter was bestowed with numerous awards due to his magnificent work pieces; such awards included the honor of making Peter Honorary Member of the Royal Institute of Architects Ireland and also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1992 Peter was also presented by the Royal Institute of British Architects with the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture. Besides, Harvard created the Peter Rice Prize in 1994 in his name. (Arup, n.d.)
After being diagnosed with a brain tumor, Peter Rice died on 25 October 1992; leaving behind his masterpieces to be admired in the years to come.
Early life
In 1935, Peter Rice was born in the country of Dundalk Co. Louth, Ireland. His childhood was spent mostly between the local towns of Ireland of Dundalk, Inniskeen and the villages of Gyles Quay. His early education was obtained from the local CBS, after which he joined Newbridge College and then Queen’s University Belfast. His original interest and field of study was Aeronautical Engineering but due to lack of interest and thrill in it, he switched over to Civil Engineering. This shows his quest for innovation and creativity from his early days (Clerkin, 2008).
In his young days, he was overwhelmed by the beauty and innovations at places like Louvre Musuem, Paris or National Gallery, London; since he himself grew up in the rural areas of Ireland which were at a distance from the urban areas which were the centers of culture. This influenced his works which were meant to produce such buildings where the lay man will feel good and not isolated or intimidated by the surrounding environment (Lin & Danziger, 2007).
As a result of Rice’s broad based secondary education, his following approach to venture beyond the domain of narrow professional confines was stimulated; consequently, this endowed Peter Rice with an exceptional understanding and a unique perspective towards design context. In 1956, he joined Ove Arup and Partners to work with them on the project of Sydney Opera House Peter also went to Imperial College in London after receiving his engineering degree from Queen’s university, a year later after he joined Arup. (Arup, n.d.)
Career
The career of Peter Rice is spread on the designs of various building that are today considered the ‘icons of structural achievement’. He worked with Arup and also later started his own practice called RPR in partnership with Martin Francis and Ian Ritchie. His famous works include Pompidou centre and ‘green houses’ in Paris, Pavilion of the future in Seville, Lloyds of London and Sydney Opera House. (Lin and Danziger, 2007) The Opera house was the first project on which Rice worked and this paved way for his future progress. Due to the limit of the essay, only three of his most notable works and unfolding of his career in chronological order are briefly discussed below:
Sydney Opera House:
The early career of Rice was mostly spent working on the project of Sydney Opera House at Arups. He was initially a component of a small team which was putting in efforts and working a way to find out how to create Utzon’s shells for three years. After the work on the project for three years in London, he went to Sydney to assist engineer Ian Mackenzie but merely after a month MacKenzie was hospitalized due to illness and this left Rice in total charge of the project, giving him the opportunity of being a resident engineer of one of the world’s most recognized buildings at the young age of 28. (Clerkin, 2008) His success in the project was a result of doing efforts and succeeding towards making contribution to geometric and model studies and conducting analytical studies to get a grip of the work to be done in Australia. It was only after all the preparations that he actually moved to work on site in Australia. (Arup, n.d.)
This initial phase of his career is very important as this is the key to his following works which came due to deep influence of the artistic concept which lied behind the Opera House structure, along with the later controversies and debates which surrounded this iconic building.(Arup, n.d.)
Figure 1. Opera House
After completing the Opera House, Rice worked as a visiting scholar at Cornell University, United States for eighteen months. This was due to his desire of studying means of applying pure mathematics to engineering problems. Rice perceived that an in depth understanding about the nature of the equations which solve structural problems in design had the potential to result in “a better conditioned solution and ultimately to a better choice of structural component.” (Arup, n.d)
In 1968, Peter returned to Arup and successfully formed creative relationships with different architects, who later became leaders in their respective fields. The event that led to forming associate relationship with other architects initially was a competition announced by the French government for the centre of Paris. Rice was of the view that one of the good reasons for taking part in such competitions is not just the idea of winning but the idea of exploring designs and relationships. Rice approached Richard Rogers, who had at the time, recently set up a joint partnership with Renzo Piano, and persuaded them to enter the competition with Arup, since they had an apparent idea of what that they wanted in the building and is structure based on the works of Cedric Price and Archigram. As a result of their efforts, the team won the competition on 13th July 1971 and reached Paris the same evening the government and the jury forfeited them. (Clerkin, 2008)
His project with Frei Otto included the development of ideas on lightweight roof structures, but his later work with Piano and Rogers on designing the Centre Pompidou in Paris was a critical phase in his career which contributed towards developing his unique talent. (Arup)
Centre Pompidou
Figure 2. The Pompidou Centre
The Pompidou Centre was built in between 1971-1977 and was named after Georges Pompidou, President of the French Republic. The building holds within the Centre national d’art et du culture Georges Pompidou, the Musée mational d’art moderne, the Institut de recherche et de coordination acoustique-musique and Bibliothèque publique d’information. The designing team for the structure included Peter Rice besides architects, Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano. The building is pretentiously modern as compared to the surrounding historic buildings. (OUP, 2008) the designers used means which provided the long spans that were needed to support a heave library that was mobile anywhere in the building. Peter’s contribution is most notable in the use of cast steel for these pieces which was a result of his insistence and successfully fulfilled the purpose. (Lin & Danziger, 2008)
Lloyds of London
Figure 3. Lloyds of London
Afterwards, Rice worked on projects, with yet other architects. Another major Roger project in which he was involved in was Lloyds of London. This was completed in 1984 and suffered delays and problems like in 1980, it was apparent at one stage that its architects, engineers, and contractors were clearly not working in collaboration with each other. Arups also delayed in providing the structural solutions for the design due to sometimes prolonged agonizing about the engineering by Rice, it took an entire year to bring things back on track (Clerkin, 2008).
At the time that Rice was working on Lloyds of London, he was also working on other projects of which the Fleet guard Factory in France, and Stansted Airport in London is most notable. After completing the Pompidou Centre, Rice had also established his own practice called RPR and his partners were Martin Francis and Ian Ritchie. He also continued to work with Arups as a partner as a result of which his workload and output multiplied. Many of the works by RFR were based in Paris and include the ‘green house’ at La Villette and the tent-like canopy at La Défense. In 1985, he assisted I.M. Pei in his projects at the Louvre where he was responsible for engineering the shell structures for the glass roofs that turned it into internal spaces in the courtyard (Clerkin, 2008).
Figure 4. London Stansted AirportFigure 5. The Stansted FleetGuard FactoryFigure 6. Louvre in Paris
The essence of Rice’s work
The domain of his work was not limited within the traditional boundaries of structural engineering since he worked on almost anything to which his skills were applicable in a useful manner. The way he worked was informal and due to this he usually seen in multi-coloured jumpers rather than in a suit. He made use of visual memo pads which were created as a result of brain storming with his project team and scribbling of ideas in the A4 notebooks. His attitude towards work was very enthusiastic and he demanded dedicated support from his team to make sure that the ideas get through. He often required extra effort from his people but this was stimulated by elements of enocuragement and originality supplemented by his keeness to listen and warm humour. (Arup, n.d.)
Peter was well aware of the fact that it is the people who carried out his design structures and people for whom the end products were made; therefore in his approach, people lied at central position. His worked revolved as much around people, their abilities and perceptions, as it did around engineering. When it came to technology, pushing his his fascination beyond the boundaries of technology was of great important. In his work, he looked for opportunities of incorporating new materials, techniques or structural forms as he believed that innovative solutions were better and safer than code-based designs since they were more thoroughly tested. (Arup, n.d.)
Much of Peter’s work was influenced by the Victorian engineers as he looked into the structural engineering history for obtaining inspiration. The reason his work was influenced by Victorian engineers was that he found their presence evident in the form of the earlier structures that they made. Their construction reflected their personality through the materials that they chose, the manner in which they detailed the joints and the way of overall construction and fabrication (Lin & Danziger, 2007).
Rice was genius who was trusted to create design possibilities; this is not anywhere close to the idea that engineering is merely about enacting what is required of it. The part played by the engineering of Rice was as important as the part played by a designer in the construction of a building. Rice was often called an “Architect Engineer,” which he acknowledged, yet resisting it as a ‘flawed definition’ on the basis of the justification that basic differences lie between the jobs and processes performed by a designer and an engineer. According to Rice, the work of designers is subjective wherein it comes essentially from within them where they are merely responding the challenge posed by a design by understanding the way in which to respond to the main elements of the problem and its context. At the other end, Rice perceives that an engineer transforms a design challenge in such a manner that it may be objectively tackled. For instance in the Lloyd’s of London building, the essence lied in the properties and use of concrete and the job of the engineer was to do his best in making the structure an expression using concrete (Curry, 2008).
There are basically three themes that are evident in the work of Peter Rice. Firstly, the use of structural forms and materials in an innovative manner where they are used to express architectural ideas, collaborations with other great architects that were creatively strong and lastly, the ability and success in challenging the building industry in a manner that went beyond conventional boundaries (Lin & Danziger, 2007).
Engineering as viewed by Rice
The approach of Rice towards structural engineering enhances the understanding towards the role of an engineer. As mentioned above that Rice perceived engineering to be more of an objective nature, it requires the art and the ability for setting limits and appropriately framing the problem. Consequently, according to Rice, the objective focus usually receives solutions that are completely formed after a certain period of reflection. According to Rice engineers are given training to starting thinking in terms of constraints rather than solutions and application of successive constraints is made until only possible solution comes up which contributes equally in the solution which is implied by these constraints. According to Rice, even though constraints do eventually play an important part, rarely a few visual designers focus on them unless they have explored possibilities. This implicates the use of “funnel” approach where a broad brainstorm is later filtered down. Sometimes, engineers are also bestowed with tasks of working towards subjective requirements. For instance, in the creation of floor trusses for Pompidou center, the solution had to be not only sound in structural terms, appropriate in use weight, but it had to be visually appealing in a manner that would allow the entrance of more light through rather than a design which even though, had equivalent strength but conveyed greater visual bulk. In this aspect, subjectivity lies in perception of end user and this is needed in visual designers in a way that cost consideration is needed by engineers (Curry, 2008).
“An engineer imagines”
‘An engineer imagines’ is the autobiography of Peter Rice brilliantly written at the end of his career. The book gives a considerate perspective towards the role of an engineer who operates closely to visual (or in case of Rice, architectural) designs. The book is among the few which successfully conveys a retrospective wisdom and clarity in a manner which could only be achieved at the end of a life like that of the writer-Rice, such is a life that is found to be full of continuous learning, investigation and learning at the very border of such a profession (Curry, 2008).
According to RSA Journal, the book is “a worthy memorial to a gifted man who died far too young”. (Amazon, n.d.)
Achievements
Due to his outstanding works, Peter Rice was given various honors and awards in his lifetime which marked his achievement. He was not only a Member of the Royal Institute of Architects Ireland but also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. His greatest accomplishment was the RIBA Gold Medal with which he was awarded in 1992 by the Royal Institute of British Architects. He is the second engineer who received the award after Ove Arup and Renzo Piano, as well as the second Irishman to be honored with it after Michael Scott. This medal was inaugurated in 1948 by Queen Victoria and is conferred to an architect or person who can be distinguished on the basis of his/her work which directly or subtly promoted the advancement of architecture. After his death in 1992, Peter Rice Prize was created by Harvard in 1994 with the objective to honor those students whose work echo the innovation of Rice (Arup, n.d.).
Testimonials
Peter Rice earned a reputation for becoming known among the most creative engineers who existed in his generation, and even a long time after his death, is still remembered with respect and warmth. His longest collaboration in work over several years was with Renzo Piano, according to him, “Peter Rice is one of those engineers who has greatly contributed to architecture, reaffirming the deep creative interconnection between humanism and science, between art and technology,” Piano also acknowledged the contribution made my Peter Rice to the bonding of the architectural art to the reality of life, science and modernity. Rogers found in Rice “a sense of inner peace” which he found reflecting in all his work (Clerkin, 2008).
Conclusion
An engineer is meant to introduce innovations that provide means of supporting the creativity of architects. Peter was a structural engineer who placed a lot of effort pondering over his projects and their possibilities as a result his projects had the most amazing designs for which he was recognized. He introduced innovations through his work which paved the way and opened new gates of idea of others who followed him. He contributed to the society through his works which form a strong connection between science and humanism; technology and art.
His legacy lies in building the environment which is visible through his engineered structures specially the ones that were done with the efforts of multiple collaborators. Peter Rice was a genius whose analytical tools and selection of designs made great contribution towards public enjoyment and remarkable structures for the society.
His work is among one of the greatest that were created and will remain that way in the times to come; such has also been acknowledged by other great architects and through the different honors and awards that he had been bestowed with.
Major Chronological Events
1935- Year of birth
1956- Joined Arup
1957-1958- went to Imperial college
1959- Started construction of Sydney Opera House
1968- Returned to Arup from USA
1971- Won competition announced by French Government for Centre of Paris
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a professional body that is exempted from taxation. ASCE was founded in 1852. It provides “essential values to members of the civil engineering profession globally” (American Society of Civil Engineers 1). The professional body has over 140,000 members.
It is also “the oldest national engineering society in the US” (American Society of Civil Engineers 1). ASCE’s mission is to “provide essential value to its members and partners, advance civil engineering, and serve the public good” (American Society of Civil Engineers 1). ASCE relies on several strategies to fulfill its mission to stakeholders.
These include the promotion of “professionalism and the engineering professions, usages of advanced technology, development of leadership in civil engineering, emphasize continuous learning, and encourage infrastructure and environmental stewardship” (American Society of Civil Engineers 1).
The major areas of focus for ASCE are many. These include the design and development of bridges, airports, dams, interstate highway systems, skyscrapers, and railways transportation. Also, ASCE also provides services related to wastewater treatment, sanitary landfills, solid waste management, water supply, transportation, and distribution.
The institution also has a large library of various publications in the field of civil engineering. These include books, journals, and magazines with different information about technical aspects of civil engineering. ASCE also runs some institutions for professional developments among its members.
ASCE also has sponsorship programs for spectacular works in civil engineering. Moreover, the institution has identified certain landmark constructions to serve as wonders of the civil engineering profession.
Planning
ASCE uses a strategy management process under its Board of Directors, who gets assistance from the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) to identify and plan its operations (American Society of Civil Engineers 1-7). The process of planning involves the following stage. First, ASCE normally studies its environment to identify strategic issues.
The aim is to note important factors and trends, which could have significant impacts on the profession, engineers, and ASCE. These are factors, which the institution needs to tackle to serve its stakeholders effectively in a diverse environment.
Second, ASCE applies a ‘radar screen’ as a way of sorting out the most pressing issues in the civil engineering profession. These issues must be “within the ASCE mission, must have the greatest impact on the profession and the institution, and ASCE must have abilities to deliver them effectively” (American Society of Civil Engineers 1).
The radar screen links ASCE with the issues at the grass root, as well as a way of providing feedback to stakeholders. ASCE categorizes issues within the radar screen based on high-priority issues, which are under its mandate and funding and issues that the society concentrates on but ASCE has no significant role to play in their strategic management. These issues are critical, and ASCE needs time to study and understand their impacts.
Third, the ASCE Board prioritizes important issues and determines the desired goals and potential outcomes. This is an open process in which the Board invites all stakeholders to make their contributions. Invited people must identify priorities and note the relative importance of all issues.
However, the ASCE Board and the SPC have the ultimate role in determining priorities. This role is critical because ASCE requires significant funds, volunteers, and employees to fulfill such obligations. Given the number of resources required to fulfill these roles, the institution can only work on a limited number of issues at any one time. After setting the priorities, the ASCE Board must decide on what it intends to achieve by focusing on the selected issues. The SPC must assist in this process.
Fourth, all stakeholders develop action plans to achieve the preferred outcomes. These stakeholders include various committees, local bodies, institutions, and ASCE employees. The SPC engages all key stakeholders to consolidate different aspects within the strategy. The organization must identify the most suitable entity for a specific task to deliver the desired outcomes. At this point, stakeholders produce their action points for their projects.
This provides an overview of the way ahead. All action points must reflect key issues of a project for ease of reference. The Board must provide the project guiding principles and identify all potential pitfalls that stakeholders must avoid during their project execution. These may include policies and financial issues for the project.
Fifth, the Board reviews the strategy proposal and pitches it for the annual budget. During the budget process, “the SPC, the Program Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Board consider the overall strategies (presented as strategy sketches) and their viability and affordability and then allocate funds” (American Society of Civil Engineers 2).
Thus, any shortage in funds may affect the intended project, and the Board must look for other sources of funds to execute the project. After this process, ASCE’s Board hands over all management strategies to the identified stakeholder to run the project.
Finally, the Board must address the project progress during its meetings. It also addresses “the strategic environment, the radar screen, and the needed mix of strategies” (American Society of Civil Engineers 2). The Board also conducts its agenda under two core issues, which include management oversight and leadership of the project and its strategic issues. It must also address matters related to:
strategy management, such as scanning the environment for strategic issues, seeking to understand a strategic issue better, determining or refining desired outcomes, setting policy, overseeing a strategy’s action plan, and determining which new strategies might be launched and which existing ones are ready for “graduation” to a standard, ongoing effort that is no longer part of Board and SPC strategy management” (American Society of Civil Engineers 2).
This is an effective approach to planning in a large organization. It ensures that the process accounts for the needs of all stakeholders based on their contributions. ASCE also notes available resources and potential challenges its project may face during implementation. Regular meetings ensure that ASCE’s Board updates and informs all stakeholders about the project progress, strategies, and future directions, including leadership issues.
Budget Systems and Programming
ASCE relies on strategic budgeting and programming to fund its projects. It has a marked part of the budget for addressing and funding issues that the Board considers as priority strategies. These issues fall under the main elements within the ASCE Report Card, which include water and the environment, transportation, public transportation, and energy.
Under the priority of strategies, these projects usually get special consideration and importance during budget preparation in the overall fund allocations.
ASCE’s Board normally conducts a strategic assessment of all issues to determine priority strategies and their overall performance. The institution has an Annual Report Card to show performances of all areas. They normally evaluate available funds against the required funds to achieve the desired outcomes after the implementation of the strategies.
Strategic budgeting is critical for ASCE because it focuses on other issues like policies, liability exposures, fiscal threats for the strategies, and possibilities of successful completion.
From the strategic budgeting and programming, one can note that budgeting forms a crucial role of the ASCE Board. Budget systems and programs provide methods of expense and management controls for the institution. Also, they provide an effective method of planning priority strategies and service delivery under various programs.
The strategic budget systems and programs eliminate challenges that ASCE may experience during budget preparation and priority strategies. The strategic budget system reduces the amount of time and resources that the Board spends in preparing and finalizing priority strategies and fund allocations. The approach provides a snapshot of the annual budget focus. It ensures that the Board follows the budget documents concerning available resources and potential benefits for the profession, stakeholders, and ASCE.
At the same time, strategic budget system and programs allow the Board to understand and choose among competing for priority strategies for additional funds. The Board can eliminate difficulties associated with aligning of its goals and strategies and including all stakeholders’ priorities. This happens during the strategic planning process in which all stakeholders must provide their opinions about the scanned priorities. Thus, inputs from various stakeholders are significant for the budget planning process of ASCE.
Strategic budget systems and programs are ways of reforming budget approaches among tax exempted institutions. Strategic budgeting systems and programming are seamless approaches that include ASCE strategic priority planning, budgets, potential challenges and performance measure, and issue evaluation.
Figure 2: Strategic budget system and programming
ASCE’s Board uses the strategic budgeting system to control decisions on resource allocation based on priority strategies, goals, and potential desired outcomes. Given the nature of the strategic budgeting system and program, the Board must define its priority strategies and objectives.
It must also provide the annual projections of all priorities that may require several years to complete. The process allows the Board to enact an effective communication system with all stakeholders during regular meetings for the project reviews and progresses.
The Board can also account for potential difficulties with funds and account for non-financial issues like future leadership of the project. Finally, strategic budgeting systems and programming have allowed ASCE’s Board to implement an effective performance measure of the project based on the progress and the desired outcomes.
The major strength of strategic budgeting systems and programming are the strategic planning processes, which offer the overall context and the projects, which all stakeholders and the Board consider as priorities for the budgeting decisions. Thus, the strategic budget system protects the interests of all stakeholders by ensuring balanced implementation of important projects.
The strategic budgeting system deviates from the traditional approaches to budgeting. It is critical for an organization to make gradual changes to strategic budgeting to implement it effectively. ASCE has noted that it must plan all aspects of the budget by identifying priority strategies, evaluating the project proposal, defining the desired outcomes and indicators, and identifying the main body to implement the project.
Also, it also provides effective communication strategies for all stakeholders, assesses internal factors and available financial resources and employees for the project. The Board has also noted that various projects require different strategic budgeting systems. Thus, it must evaluate all projects based on the importance and desired outcomes for all stakeholders. Strategic budgeting and programming have served as effective tools for meeting diverse needs and circumstances within ASCE.
Budget Process
ASCE has an annual budget process. The Board must review the entire strategies, which are in the form of strategy sketches. It must determine the viability and affordability of the project. After this process, the Board must allocate funds to the projects.
However, if ASCE has fixed, then it may need to “liberate funds from existing programs or from reserves to fund new or expanded actions” (American Society of Civil Engineers 2). After allocation of funds and other resources, the Board then hands overall project management aspects to the noted team, which will ensure the project execution.
ASCE also has an operating budget. This is the budget, which the institution uses to fund all its ongoing projects and other administrative responsibilities.
At ASCE, the main bodies responsible for strategic budgeting and programming include the Strategic Planning Committee, the Finance Committee, the Program Committee, and the Board. They are responsible for establishing the viability and affordability of a given project.
Budget Execution
ASCE is a tax-exempt institution. Thus, it could face serious challenges that relate to the effective and efficient management of financial resources. Thus, budget execution has become a critical issue in the turbulent economy of the US.
The aim of effective budget execution is to assist ASCE to realize the project desired outcomes and fulfill its mission. Thus, the process requires established schedules, integrated cost management, and control and an appropriate method of estimating the required resources. This would ensure that ASCE has enough resources for specific projects within schedules.
ASCE has a yearly budgeting system, which has the Board’s consent and high-level of participation from the Strategic Planning Committee, the Finance committee, and the Program Committee. There are also regular meetings to assess the progress of the project.
The organization conducts both formal and informal reviews of the budget as ways of assessing the project progress against the established budget. This allows ASCE to identify potential financial difficulties during the project implementation. However, the current economic difficulties have forced the Finance Committee and another stakeholder to conduct continual forecast to identify potential gaps.
The most important elements of the budgeting cycle at ASCE are the sources of funds and expenses. The organization relies on various sources of revenues to drive its mission.
ASCE budget depends on factors like contributions from all members, campaigns, charged services, events, advertising, sales of publication, royalties, rental incomes, conferences and seminars, and other revenue generating activities.
ASCE must ensure that funds for the projects are available through proposals and effective management of available resources and budgeting system. Funds may come from members’ contributions, but these may not be adequate to support the massive infrastructures in various areas the organization has identified for improvement.
The organization incurs labor and other operating expenses. As a result, ASCE normally evaluates its goals, mission, and strategies against the available resources and the desired outcomes from an identified project. The major challenge has been matching all programs with expenses. A fall in expenses can increase service delivery for ASCE. This would allow the organization to determine key issues and make assumptions about issues efficiency in its budgets and cater to projects, which may face financial difficulties.
General and administrative expenses are the major expenses that ASCE incurs. The institution has based its expenses on the available funds. It is appropriate for ASCE to rely on its organizational chart to determine pay scales for its staff. However, it must evaluate potential issues like bonuses, incentives, pay scales, benefits, and union considerations when budgeting for general and administrative expenses.
ASCE has an effective mechanism of tracking all data for revenues and expenses. The institution must avoid possible integration challenges because of various modes of data inputs. Thus, integrating data between its systems could enhance efficient budgeting and programming systems.
Figure 3: ASCE Revenues and Operating Expenses FY 2012
Accounting System
While few regulations exist to guide how tax-exempt organizations can run their finances internally, there are several regulations with massive indirect impacts on their accounting systems. The major aims of accounting systems for ASCE are to meet IRS reporting requirements and the general accounting standards, which contributing members may require from the organization.
Accounting approaches must rely on all approved standards and other best financial procedures and practices within the tax-exempt organizations. In this context, ASCE follows nonprofit financial accounting systems, specifically concerning legal requirements.
Accounting plays a major role in regulating the financial reporting system of ASCE. ASCE must follow guidelines and categories for nonprofit organizations under revenues and expenses. Revenues and expenses are a major consideration for nonprofit organizations.
Hence, failure to follow the established standard can result in difficulties when preparing IRS reports. Hence, the IRS sets the required accounting standard for nonprofit organizations. Luckily, most of these accounting practices and procedures are general ones found in all revenues and expenses and balance sheets of all organizations.
Financial Management
ASCE has proper financial management in place to account for its accounting systems and fiduciary responsibilities of the Board of Directors. ASCE is a large organization that requires robust financial management systems. However, it seems that the organization relies on its internal staff to perform financial management.
The available records of ASCE are simple to follow. Thus, detecting any errors and other irregularities in the system could be easy. There are several committees and bodies, which are responsible for the strategic budgeting system within ASCE. These bodies ensure that ASCE has adequate measures to safeguard its assets and investments. Moreover, there are no existing serious mistakes from ASCE’s Board of Directors and bodies responsible for financial management.
The Strategic Planning Committee, the Finance Committee, the Program Committee, and ASCE’s Board have the fiduciary responsibilities of upholding trust and confidence among members and other stakeholders about financial management within the organization. Specifically, the directors have fulfilled their roles based on three main areas as required by the law.
First, the Board ensures that all its decisions are within its responsibilities and power. Second, the Board must fulfill their duties as expected, including efficient use of available resources for maximizing outcomes and ASCE’s mission. Finally, the Board must put the interest of ASCE first.
ASCE’s mandate is to provide services to the society, and not to generate maximum returns for stakeholders. Thus, the budget must account for other factors like the well-being of the society apart from the project desired outcomes and profitability.
In most cases, ASCE’s projects may have significant noneconomic factors, which may outweigh financial factors. Nevertheless, effective decision-making on financial management, project affordability and viability, and future of the organization requires the Financial Committee and other stakeholders account for all investments.
Financial Reporting and Auditing
The major role of the ASCE Finance Committee is to “examine and consider matters related to the financial control and auditing of the Institute” (American Society of Civil Engineers 1). The organization relies on internal audits to prepare the audited reports. ASCE must present transparent records of all its transactions for IRS reporting and other stakeholders. This ensures that the organization meets legal requirements under financial reporting and audit provisions.
Required Financial Reports
ASCE financial reporting system conforms to IRS reporting requirements. The institution must submit and publish its annual report, Form 990, and other necessary information. These require massive preparation. In short, ASCE must complete the following obligations. First, it must submit an instrument of revenue and income accounts with clearly categorized areas.
Second, it must provide a balance sheet with all the required fields. Third, ASCE must avail accounts of all its functional expenses and their related programs. Fourth, a report that expenses in specific programs. Finally, ASCE must submit a report with all its sources of funds with specific entities and contributors.
Performance management
ASCE ties its performance management approach to specific desired outcomes in all priority strategies. The Board has the responsibilities of allowing the most qualified stakeholder to run a given project. The aim is to achieve the desired outcomes and maximize the use of available funds and resources.
ASCE conducts public hearings constituents of performance management. All stakeholders must give their opinions about a given project before its execution. The organization uses feedback for evaluating the project viability and affordability against available funds and staff.
The Board and other project stakeholders conduct regular meetings to evaluate project outcomes during various implementation phases. At this point, the Board emphasizes the importance of regular feedback and constant communication about the project. It measures such performance feedback against its mission and intended outcomes. Performance management at ASCE has been effective because of constant communication and reviews of progress.
Risk Management
ASCE has made a major improvement in areas of risk, susceptibility, and uncertainty management. During stakeholders’ meetings, they engage in the identification of potential risks and methods of mitigating them. They also share information about emerging trends of risks and vulnerability. This allows the organization to prepare adequately for such risks.
The organization has also noted that changes in technologies, discoveries, and exploit of resources exposure communities to new forms of risks. Thus, it aims to protect society too in its mitigating risk strategies. Also, ASCE has also noted that novelty of risks can pose serious challenges to decision-makers and committees on technical assistance and recommendations. ASCE’s Council on Disaster Risk Management is responsible for risk mitigation in the organization.
Management Control Decisions
ASCE relies on its Board of Directors, various committees, and the public to make control decision-making processes. The organization bases its decisions on the core mission and potential impacts of a given project on the profession and stakeholders. Generally, ASCE focuses on the design and development of bridges, airports, dams, interstate highway systems, skyscrapers, and railways transportation.
Moreover, ASCE also provides services related to wastewater treatment, sanitary landfills, solid waste management, water supply, transportation, and distribution. Moreover, the organization releases annual reports on performances based on grading systems to reflect its decisions on performances on infrastructure development.
ASCE’s Board and other committees conduct regular meetings (between three to four months) to formulate important decisions about projects and their desired outcomes. The feedback mechanism has been effective in improving other projects.
Continuity
ASCE is the “oldest national engineering society in the United States” (American Society of Civil Engineers 1) and probably in the entire world. The organization has been in existence since 1852. This could suggest that ASCE has one of the most effective continuity programs in place to ensure that it achieves its mission and pursues its future endeavors.
Nevertheless, the organization continues to grow as it gains worldwide recognition. ASCE has defined its roles clearly to ensure that it stays to serve the profession and civil engineering professionals.
Works Cited
American Society of Civil Engineers. ASCE in Brief. 2013. Web.
The inclusion of new conditions of contracts in the construction industry is an indicator of the modernization and modification of contracts. In other words, the introduction of a New Engineering Contract (NEC) and legal requirements for the implementation of Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) policies indicates the value of these documents in the construction industry. The NEC, JCT, and International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) are the major institutions that ensure standard forms of contract in the modern construction industry are achieved. Theoretically, the law of contracts considers two main issues, its concepts, and how it regulates commercial and social transactions (Li et al., 2020). The paper aims at analyzing the most common forms of contracts that are currently used in the construction industry and their value in promoting quality service delivery.
Standard Forms of Contract (SFoC) Studied
SFoC area agreements put emphasis on the use of standard and non-negotiated requirements in civil engineering operations. In the construction industry, the implementation of SFoC is supervised by various organizations including NEC, JCT, and FIDIC. These organizations form the basis of the main SFoC model. They give a reliable outcome of agreements between parties in the engineering when compared to bespoke contracts, housing grants construction, and the regeneration act. The objective of SFoC is to specify chief variables in the construction activities and processes (Li et al., 2020). The concept helps in standardizing terms of contracts within the industry and aids in balancing the obligations of both the supplier and the consumer.
Joint Contracts Tribunal
The Joint Contract Tribunal known as JCT is tasked with the production of standard forms of contracts for the construction industry. It also publishes guideline notes and standard documentation used in the industry within the UK. Since its inception in 1931, JCT has increased the contributing organizations with the aim of increasing efficiency (Mewomo et al., 2018). JCT has 17 traditional contracts which include lump-sum contracts, measurement contracts, and cost reimbursement products among others.
New Engineering Contract
NEC is a chain of contracts that are designed with the ability to manage any project from the beginning to the end. Its aim is to stimulate excellent project management by focusing on the obligations of both the supplier and the customer. The structure and design of the contract are straightforward to enable easy understanding. It was developed in 1993 with the aim of averting costly disputes. NEC contracts have a positive track record in the successful delivery of large-scale projects (Mewomo et al., 2018). Some examples of NEC contracts include the engineering and Construction Contract (ECC) and Professional Service Contract (PSC) among others. There have been key changes in the provisions of the NEC which are in line with the changes in the industry.
International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC)
The FIDIC contract embraces a multi-tier dispute and conflict resolution process. It emphasizes the amicable dispute settlement between various parties. Generally, it is used in low-cost projects that are under $500,000 in value and are developed within 6 months. Some of the prominent examples of FIDIC are the Red Book, Yellow Book, and Silver Book. Its organization is usually the same hence it has a general provision. The contracts have been developed for over 50 years (Chen et al., 2018). As such, they have become the international standard in the Consulting Industry.
Forms of Contract and Their Roles
Joint Contracts Tribunal
The main type of work for JCT is to facilitate the building construction processes. It sets out responsibilities and obligations for all parties involved in the construction. It is the leading creator of standard forms of contract. JCT works on the principle of promoting the adaptation of the established benchmarks that suit a variety of projects. The standard form of building contract contains conditions applicable to a diversity of building works. In this area, JCT specifies a set of requirements that meet the defined needs. It also apportions risks in an appropriate manner for procurement methods used (Chen et al., 2018). Its main objective in building production processes is to minimize transaction costs when contracting and provision of benchmarks.
International Federation of Consulting Engineers
The FIDIC forms of contract which are most frequently used are the Red FIDIC and Yellow FIDIC. The Red FIDIC is used in conditions of contract such as in engineering and building works designed by the employer. The Yellow FIDIC is used in contract conditions which include the mechanical and electrical works designed by the contractor (Fischer-Lescano and Teubner, 2019). FIDIC also represents the global Consulting Engineering through the promotion of the interests of engineers.
Similarly, companies’ interests are enhanced by dealing in technology-based services in the natural and built environment. It is also used by the World Bank which ensures that international funding institutions adopt the use of FIDIC contracts. The Green FIDIC is commonly applied in low-value developments where payments are done on monthly basis (Fischer-Lescano and Teubner, 2019). Its application condition ensures the availability of market legal systems that guarantee free and fair competition.
New Engineering Contract
NEC contracts are frequently used in crucial infrastructural schemes of high profile. Some of the projects it has been used in include Crossrail, London 2020 Olympic Games, and Christchurch International Airport among others. As a family of contracts, NEC facilitates the implementation of critical projects management practices and legal relationships definition. NEC is suitable for the procurement of a different range of works spanning from major task frameworks to minor works (Fischer-Lescano and Teubner, 2019). Its implementation often results to both international and national project benefits in terms of quality improvement, time, and cost savings.
NEC also works in the area of promoting partnerships and collaborations. It sets out the contract data needed for the operation of the agreement and in the identification of work information. It is made up of options 3, 4, C, and E where NEC Option C is used in target cost agreements in sharing the risks between suppliers and clients. NEC Option E refers to a cost-reimbursement accord that involves the reimbursement of the contractor costs incurred in delivering the work (Ran and Xu, 2019). Option 3 is the major construction contract that is used in the appointment of a contractor for the designated work. Additionally, NEC 4 consists of construction contracts for the promotion of collaboration and partnering.
Aspects of Contracts Administered by SFoC
The majority of Civil Engineering projects are dominantly connected with substandard performances associated with costs, product quality, and time. Therefore, SFoC promotes the adoption of contractual behavior of participants in a construction project. The aspects of contracts that are administered by SFoC mainly deal with prompt payments and environmental uncertainty (Ran and Xu, 2019). These aspects can be categorized into two main areas including contractual conduct and task characteristics.
Quality as an aspect of consideration plays a critical part in a construction project. It refers to the production of services or products which are of a high standard and fit for purpose. As such, ensuring quality is an important variable that is ensured by the standard forms of contract (Ran and Xu, 2019). Other major features of contracts that are administered by SFoC are stiff project milestones, project budget, and definition of project scope, complexity, and size. It also emphasizes the clarity of a venture which is an important role in governing all aspects of the mission.
The predominant features of SFoC contract are that it acts as an offer, an acceptance, intent for the creation of legal relationships, and a consideration. It has a structure that includes details of constricting parties. They contain the period of the agreement and the definition of key provisions used in the contract (El-Adaway et al, 2020). SFoC also ensures that the contract describes the services or goods that a business receives or provides with its major deliverables.
Key similarities and differences between JCT and NEC forms of contract
Key Similarities between JCT and NEC
The aspects of time, quality, and cost are considered the main principles that cause the differences and similarities in the contracts. Both contracts allow a person to represent the employer in case the employer does not have appropriate people with capacity (El-Adaway et al., 2020). In such situations, in NEC, the project manager usually assumes the role of employer, while in JST the contract administrator assumes the roles of both the contractor and customer.
In regard to time, both contracts allow the employer to specify the commencement date, completion date, the date of access, and any other required timeframe for sectional completion. They also provide for the inclusion of damages in case of late completion of work by the contractor. Further, on costs, both NEC and JCT provide for contractor payable price to be based upon bills of quantities (Gransberg and Molenaar, 2019). They rely on the provision of lump-sum arrangements including cost-based open-book contracts.
On quality issues, the contracts expect a specific employer quality obligation which is provided on a different technical document. Such a document is further expected to express the agreement conditions by determining the level of quality be provided. Generally, both NEC and JCT are considered standard forms of contract that facilitate the procurement of consultancy, goods, works, or services (Gransberg and Molenaar, 2019). They both entail obligations that relate to cost, time, and quality.
The key differences between JCT and NEC
In terms of price; the JCT contract is presented as a fixed lump sum contract. While NEC option B has a fixed price lump sum contract, options C and D present a target cost agreement. Similarly, in regard to provisional sums; the JCT contract entails provisional sums and NEC contracts do not contain the variable. In Cost Scrutiny; the JCT contract has cost scrutiny through tender negotiations, while the NEC contract implements an open book system and emphasizes disallowed and defined costs (Birtch et al., 2016). In terms of Ground Risks; the JCT contract position risk is defined by the contractor, as the NEC contract adopts the ICE test.
The JCT contract program is not defined as an agreement document; whereas in the NEC contract the program is the major factor of ethical consideration. NEC also has key features including float, time risk allowance, and completion float. Considering payment, the JCT payment section is clearer and contained in one section. Although, in NEC the payment is not clear since it is placed under three diverse locations (Birtch et al., 2016). JCT gives separate employer-design contracts even as NEC identifies a completion state defined within works information. Similarly, JCT depends on the subjective judgment of practical completion determined at a given time.
Wider Perspectives on SFoC
The absence of clarity within the contract document often results in disputes and conflicts between the constricting parties. SFoC has evolved as a result of the increasing complexity of the construction business across the globe. This has been caused by the difficulties in drafting bespoke conditions of a contract in every project. There have been numerous advantages in the adoption and use of SFoC. However, some clauses of SFoC are often modified by clients to capture some specific requirements for the development (Salmerón-Manzano and Manzano-Agugliaro, 2019). The modification of these clauses should ensure that SFoC established standards are either enhanced or restored.
Effective use of SFoC brings with it numerous advantages to both the employer and the client. It plays a significant role in both engineering and construction works. There is a wide array of SFoC which suites specific types of works, parties, and procurement routes in all construction and engineering initiatives (Salmerón-Manzano and Manzano-Agugliaro, 2019). The major objective of SFoC is that it works to cut the negotiation time, disputes, and costs.
Conclusion
The main SFoC which are used in the construction industry is the JCT, NEC, and FIDIC. They are often supplemented by other types of contracts which widen the focus of a project requirement. SFoCs are highly adopted by both consumers and suppliers due to the fact that they reduce the drafting time, provide a checklist of items to be agreed upon, and also provide a negotiable benchmark. As such, the implementation of SFoC in the modern construction and engineering field has become one of the key standards which ensure the success of projects.
Ran, F. X. and Xu, D. (2019). ‘Does contractual form matter? The impact of different types of non-tenure-track faculty on college students’ academic outcomes.’ Journal of Human Resources, 54(4), pp. 1081-1120. doi.org2F10.33682Fjhr.54.4.0117.8505R
