The Impact of Strategic Planning on The Success of Construction Project Outcomes in England, United Kingdom

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to establish the impact of impact planning in construction project concerning retention of success in the United Kingdom Construction Industry. Some of these are aims at identifying the relationship between strategic planning and project performance, identifying factors that hinders effective planning, and how sustainability consideration is integrated when designing strategic frameworks. It also focuses on how the aspect of strategic planning affects cost, time, quality and satisfaction of stakeholders in construction ventures. Through a mixed-methods approach, incorporating interviews and a systematic review of literature, the research answers the following questions: To what extent, therefore, does strategic planning impact on project implementation in the United Kingdom? What issues can make its efficient adoption an issue or restrict the use of the methodology? There is also a need to consider the way strategic planning enables sustainability particularly in construction. Key findings indicate that instrumental concepts prove the utility of the concept of strategic planning in structuring projects regarding the time, cost and quality, but they reveal difficulties in fragmentation of the industry and short-term sustainability concepts. The analysis also reveals that it is possible to overcome all these barriers if there is increased focus on sustainability, some form of strategic pre-emption, and measures tailored for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Therefore, to enhance the effectiveness of construction projects’ outcomes, this paper calls for a comprehensive strategic vision across UK construction firms with special emphasis to SMEs that integrates sustainability. This means that resources must be allocated towards improving development initiatives that build the strategic competence of construction practitioners as well as encouraging long-term perspective. It is also important that government policies should encourage SMEs through appropriate financial and technical assistance to address the issue of resource constraint and the requirement on sustainability standards. Through the implementation of the above measures, firms can be able to optimise the performance of their projects, increase stakeholder satisfaction and therefore gain a competitive advantage in an industry that is fast being defined by sustainable standards.