Managing the quality of engineering on large construction projects in the South African context

Abstract

This research focussed on improving the quality of construction in South Africa by exploring best practices for the quality management of engineering. The research was motivated by several international studies and local press reports pointing to a general lack of quality focus in the construction industry and that engineering is one of the major causes of quality problems in construction.The research approach was to obtain expert opinion through a series of semistructured interviews on the best practices for managing the quality of engineering in the South African construction industry, comparing these practices to international best practices and determining if the experts believe fundamentally unique practices are required by the South African environment. The findings of this research make a contribution to improving the quality of construction in South Africa by providing a number of best practices suggested by South African experts that are aligned with the international literature, providing a number of recommended international best practices, that local experts believe are appropriate to South Africa and finally by concluding that experts believe that, apart from special practices needed to address shortages of engineering skills, international practices, techniques, tools and systems are applicable in South Africa.