... action had occurred. These problems are centered around the financial aspects of construction projects. In the UK, construction takes 50% more man-hours than in Washington DC (1995) and it is the engineers duty to attempt to minimise costs and improve efficiency wherever possible. 2 THE NEED FOR LATHAM The Latham reform started in 1992 following a "talk-in" by Conservative ministers Tony Baldry and Sir George Young at the DOE. The invitees, drawn form a wide cross section of industry, convinced the ministers that the whole construction process was grinding to a halt, disputes were legion and co-operation was minimal. Probably more alarming appeared to be an apparent resignation, by those within the industry that construction was inherently complicated and dispute ridden and that clients could only get what industry produced, regardless of what they wanted. Before I look at the remit given to Latham and the recommendations that followed, it will be instructive to ...

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