after all is cheap if you don't want it. The whole field of communications is of the very greatest interest to the quantity surveyor. To some extent this is the raw material for his job. Com- puter techniques will certainly help, although one must remember that in dealing with the construction industry one is dealing with the measurement of human resources and these are forever changing.
Indeed they must change if pro- ductivity in the construction industry is to increase. New plants become available, new materials are tried and the management of men in building is continually changed to effect improve-
ment.
To some extent quantity surveyors are having to work on past data, and project and extrapolate these. For example, a building designed in the last half of 1969 and 1970 may be built in 1971 and the first half of 1972. Analysis of cost data from this project suitably adjusted and projected forward will be used for buildings, based on the same time scale, to be built in 1973 and 1974.
By that time there will, of course, be many more changes to measure and assess. The aim must always be to achieve a knowledge of the costs and
resources that go into building and to process and harness this cost informa- tion so that clients' decisions and design solutions can be made in the light of the best knowledge available.
New procedures
Tendering procedure and contrac- tual arrangements are the means whereby the contractor's resources are harnessed to meet the client's equire ments. Quantity surveyors have a pro- found interest in securing the tender- ing procedure most advantageous to do this.
In fact, their future role will un- doubtedly require them to initiate new procedures in their striving for more economical building. This will apply in all building, particularly with industr- ialised and system building.
There is no doubt, however, that in the quest for more knowledge of construction costs this can be helped on particular projects where the con- tractor is selected before design is complete. Negotiation has advantages and disadvantages over competition. One advantage often lost sight of, however, is that with negotiation goes the right to as much knowledge of costs as the quantity surveyor or estimator negotiating on the other
side. It is inappropriate in this article to deal with tendering procedure in depth except to say it is of vital concern to the quantity surveyor's work and it should never be left to be decided by laymen as though it were outside the total building process.
One is often asked why it is that a profession flourishing in the British Commonwealth does not exist outside it. The answer is that it does, but in a different and far less satisfactory form to the client. It is certainly true that the profession is not organised in Europe or America as it is here but the need for it throughout the world is well demonstrated by the number of chartered quantity surveyors who are now working outside the Common- wealth.
British property companies work- ing in the U.S. realise the need for the profession in development projects there. In Europe and the East many British-trained quantity surveyors are already operating. It is probable that in the field of development they will have their biggest opportunity because of the necessity to predict costs and returns at early stages in such projects if they are to be successful.
Reprinted by permission of The Finan- cial Times, London.
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Hong Kong and Macao-Deacon & Co. Ltd., Hong Kong Bank Building, Hong Kong. The Bolton Gate Co. Ltd. Bolton, Lancs. BL1 2SP, England.
BOLTON
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28
BG. 120
Far East BUILDER, December 1969
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