Building on knowledge : developing expertise, creativity and intellectual capital in the construction professions

Knowledge is supplanting physical assets as the dominant basis of capital value and an understanding of how the processes by which knowledge is acquired, shared and used is crucial.

Improving these is vital and is being absorbed into management good practice.

In the construction industry, where commercial rivalry tends to engender a 'silo' mentality, effective knowledge management is essential to maintaining a competitive edge.

Design is a knowledge-based activity and project managers and contractors, as well as architects and engineers have always shared their knowledge with immediate colleagues.

But the intuitive methods used in small practices break down alarmingly quickly as they grow; even simply dividing the office over two floors can noticeably reduce communication.

At the same time, increasingly sophisticated construction technology and more demanding clients make effective knowledge management ever more important.

Other knowledge-intensive industries (e.g. management consultancy, pharmaceuticals, and IT), are already adopting a more systematic approach to sharing knowledge and seeing that this can bring improved technical capacity, efficiency, customer satisfaction and redThis manual for professional practices in the construction industry on how to set up and implement a knowledge management strategy covers the techniques of learning and knowledge sharing most relevant in design practices.

The complex, IT-based solutions, bought off-the-shelf at high cost often fail.

The emphasis in Knowledge Management Toolkit is on people-centred techniques, which understand and meet real business knowledge needs and fit in with the organisational culture.