Thinking behind the peg

摘要

"So you'll be leaving the sharp-end then?" I was asked by a frank-speaking and slightly cynical general foreman when I announced that I would be taking the leap from contracting into the world of consultancy in the late 1980s. Possibly, at that time, there was some truth in this perspective. But in today's competitive environment, nothing could be further from reality: contracting and consultancy have become much more of a continuum and the distinction between design and construction has become blurred through designer-contractor partnerships with local government, Early Contractor Involvement, and Managing Agent Contractor contracts. The highways industry has become much more complex, and so too have its resource needs. In the past eighteen months the two most senior appointments I've made to my team have both been staff who've joined from contractors.