Abstract:
Concurrent Engineering (CE) is considered as one of the emerging methods in the UK construction
industry. The product and process optimisation through ‘integration’ is a key concern of CE. The
integrative aspect is tri-fold, which comprises an integration of product(s), integration of process and
most importantly the integration of supply chain. A correct adoption of the concepts and principles of
CE into construction practice provides significant benefits to project stakeholders, such as reduced
time and costs while improving the quality of products and process efficiency. However, its
implementation is not optimised to its full potential within the construction industry. Therefore, this
paper aims to identify the key factors that hinder the implementation of CE practices within the UK
construction industry. Data were collected from an extensive literature review, observations and semistructured
interviews and thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the collected data. The findings
indicate that the inability of parties within the construction project settings to communicate effectively
is the most significant high level barrier for achieving a wider application of CE practices within the
UK construction industry. In total 4 high level barriers, 13 medium level barriers and 38 low level
barriers to the implementation of CE with the UK construction practices were identified. The findings
of this study will benefit construction organisations, who wish to implement CE practices within
their practice.
