The recent COVID-19 ‘shutdown’ in April and May saw many of us in the Australian construction industry realise that the pandemic would be a potential game-changer for our industry. Construction would be called upon to help drive economic recovery. It would however require a much improved focus on the limited resources and budgets, and a significant
improvement in the way projects are delivered if they are to be of the greatest benefit to a pandemic affected economy.
Attempting to emulate William Shakespeare who reported wrote King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra during isolation from London’s plague of 1606, many of my colleagues in the construction Industry also used their time in isolation to write a paper for the Society of Construction Law Australia’s annual Brooking Prize. I collaborated with my friend and colleague Kiri Parr in writing a paper that highlighted the challenges the COVID-19 brings to the industry and which outlines the steps we should make to improve historically poor outcomes. In short, a pre COVID-19 business-as-usual approach will not shift the construction industry’s poor performance outcomes, particularly in the areas of collaboration, productivity, innovation, and mental health and which are desperately needed to drive change. Our paper is a call to action for industry leaders to drive strategic change. A more collaborative procurement approach in our projects which in turn facilitates the adoption of new technologies and a better mental health outcome is one recommendation that is easily adopted.
Kiri & I were delighted to join a distinguished list of industry professionals who have had their papers recognised by the Society, with our above titled paper being awarded a Commendation. A full list of the awards is here: https://www.scl.org.au/what-we-do/brooking-prize. Congratulations to all.
Given the timeliness of our paper and our view that it will be of maximum benefit by having the most people read it and take action, Kiri and I have decided to forgo seeking formal publication and are instead making it available to everyone. It is available below.
We hope you enjoy reading it.