Addyman, Simon; (2025) Designing Project Dynamics: Ways of knowing in construction project organising. The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, UCL: London, UK.

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Abstract

Over the last 40 years, the construction industry has seen many positive developments, such as the reduction of safety incidents, maturity of project management systems, adoption of digital technology and a notable shift towards more collaborative forms of organising and relational contracting. We only have to look at the built environment around us to know that we are a capable industry. However, when Hedley Smyth and myself edited our book Construction Project Organising1, alongside many other well documented performance challenges, we were deeply struck by the notion of the industry as having a toxic culture and the fact that we have the highest in-work male suicide rate of any other UK industry. This is unacceptable by any measure. Alongside my own research into studying the lived experience of project life through the day to day dialogue that we engage in as practitioners2, this inspired me to think critically and understand more about our methods of knowledge creation. I arrived at the proposition that we need to take an evolutionary step from a dominant focus on knowledge transfer or exchange, towards pioneering novel methods of knowledge co-creation for each individual project-based context. To achieve this, in July 2023 I launched a new research centre titled the Centre for Construction Project Organising3 and embarked on a journey to scope out and establish a new Innovation Network (IN) titled Designing Project Dynamics. The aim of the IN is to identify, develop and implement novel methods of knowledge cocreation, bridging the gap between academia and practice for the betterment of the construction industry and the organisations and participants who engage in it. This report sets out the background and rationale for the IN. It presents the aims and objectives of the Scoping Workshop held in February 2025, which resulted in the identification of five knowledge themes, namely: Time and the Timing of Knowledge; Data Collection, Standardisation and Utilisation; Knowledge Sharing and Collaboration; Organisational Culture and Behaviour, and Interdisciplinary Approaches. The report concludes by setting out the aims, objectives and plan for establishing the Innovation Network.

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