Constructing Excellence.

Byline: By Dave Greenwood

In last week's column my colleague Keith Hogg asked why, as an industry, we don't appear consistently to use a formal process of value management. He discussed a number of reasons that I want to explore a bit further.

Keith considered that the development of the Design Quality Indicator (DQI) was a "significant response to achieving better value".

The early design stage has a proportionately greater influence on a project's success than any other. We have physical proof of how the skill and ingenuity of the construction team can cope with most of the problems thrown at it ( but a bad design is a tough one to cope with.

However, as we all know, not everything is perfect and the DQI has tackled the issues that are relevant to any or all of the people involved in the design and construction process "from project managers to end users".

It was developed by a group led by the Construction Industry Council (CIC) between 1999 and 2003.

One of its champions is Professor Graham Watts, who is chief executive and secretary of the CIC and also a visiting professor at our university.

It provides a structured and customised set of questionnaires that assess quality in the three fields of functionality, build quality and the more intangible "impact".

The designers of the DQI tool have identified the fact that these qualities can come in different positions on a client's wish-list: they can be the must-haves, could-haves and excellence factors.

The DQI is flexible and allows users to put their own weightings on the various elements that make up the assessment criteria, allowing for each project to be judged and assessed in its own right.

Users can apply the DQI tool at various stages in the process to achieve a consensus as to what the project should achieve, to compare alternative solutions, or to evaluate how far a completed project has gone towards achieving its requirements.

The DQI website http://www.dqi.org.uk/ DQI/default.htm gives a number of case studies, including one in Newcastle, and I think many of you will find it very useful.

Academics in the Built Environment School at Northumbria University are looking to evaluate the extent and success of the DQI ( starting here in the North-East.

If any readers have views on the subject or experience of using the DQI, I would be pleased to hear from you.

For more information regarding Constructing Excellence in the North East, please contact regional director Catriona Lingwood on: [phone] or [e-mail].

* Dave Greenwood is Constructing Excellence board member and associate dean (research) in the School of Built Environment at Northumbria University.