Community of Practice Software Management Tools: A UK Construction Company Case Study

Abstract

This chapter describes an action research project, Building a High Value Construction Environment (B-Hive), involving: two major construction clients, a privatised utility company (Thames Water), and a major leisure services provider (Whitbread Hotels); a large construction company (Taylor Woodrow); two leading construction consultancy firms; and Leeds Metropolitan University and London School of Economics. The research method, action research, was particularly appropriate for this project because it promoted learning and understanding through action and reflection, culminating in the production of a workshop-based approach that facilitates externalisation of knowledge and organisational learning. The approach facilitated the sharing of knowledge amongst construction project partners that would traditionally be very protective, and even adversarial, towards each other.