There is an ongoing trend in the development of lean culture and the implementation of lean principles within the construction industry. The term “lean” was borrowed and developed from a range of industries and converted to a suitable form for use in the construction industry. Lean construction relies on the production management principles inspired by the Toyota Production System. The principle of lean is mainly aimed at eliminating waste in process activities in order to reduce process cycles, improve quality, and increase efficiency. In the lean context, waste includes all forms of overproduction, overprocessing, delay, excess inventory and motions, failure, and defects. Lean construction is a philosophy based on lean manufacturing concepts. The application of lean production principles to construction is based on the transformation (T), flow (F), and value generation (V) theory of production management. The TFV theory identifies transformation (achieved by resources, equipment, workers), materials flow, and customer focus as three independent angles to production. Lean construction emerged due to the failure of the traditional project management approach and results in significant improvements in terms of management and project deliverables. The emerging concept of lean construction is concerned with the application of lean thinking to the construction industry. The ideas of lean thinking within the UK construction industry seem to be predominantly targeted to improving quality and efficiency.

Today's construction projects are becoming more complex and more capital intensive. Governments of developing countries of the world are responsible for the provision of infrastructural facilities to its citizenry. Many researchers have however found that these projects are delivered late by contractors and disputes have been found as a major cause of such late deliveries. Disputes have also been found as a cause of cost overruns on construction projects. Therefore the use of ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) in resolving construction disputes cannot be over emphasized. This study examines the issues which militate against the use of ADR as well as the ADR techniques which give satisfaction to disputants in terms of cost, time and maintenance and sustainability of relationship. The study gathered information from both primary and secondary sources. Data from primary sources were collected from fifty seven construction and legal practitioners in the public and contracting organisations with the use of questionnaires. The sampling technique that was employed was stratified simple random sampling and data was analysed with the use of SPSS. The study found Lack of awareness of ADR as one of the factors that militate against the use of ADR. The ADR techniques which give satisfaction to disputants in terms of cost, time and maintenance and sustainability of relationship are adjudication and negotiation respectively. The study recommends that awareness of ADR techniques in resolving construction dispute should be increased in order to maximize the full benefit of the use of ADR in construction projects.

Purpose – The contribution of lean construction techniques in sustainable construction cannot be over emphasised, as sustainable development is now enshrined in government policy. In addition, lean construction is now faced with the challenges of sustainable development, continuous improvement, waste elimination, a stronger user focus, increased value for money along with high quality management of projects and supply chains, and improved communications. This paper presents an exploratory study from extant literature and the results of the use of questionnaire survey among construction participants to explore the contribution of implementing lean construction techniques in sustainable construction. Design/methodology/approach – Surveys of UK-based construction professional were conducted. The data collected were analysed with SPSS 19.0 version software using the percentile method, Cronbach ' s α reliability test, Kruskal Wallis test, Kendall ' s coefficient of concordance and one sample t -test. Findings – Results from this study indicate that there are several benefits associated with implementation of lean construction and sustainable construction. The overall perspective of professionals within the construction industry, according to questionnaire survey, shows that benefits such as improved corporate image and sustainable competitive advantage, improved process flow and productivity, improvement in environmental quality and increased compliance with customer ' s expectations are realised following integration of principles of lean construction and sustainable construction within construction industry. Just-in-time, visualisation tool, value analysis, daily huddle meetings and value stream mapping are the most common lean tools/techniques for enabling sustainability. This study also identified several areas of linkage between lean and sustainability such as waste reduction, environmental management, value maximisation, and health and safety improvement among others. Originality/value – The originality of this paper lies in its consideration of lean construction principles to better understand its impact on sustainable construction. This research contributes to the awareness of the benefits that can be derived from the implementation of lean construction in sustainable construction within the construction industry.

The UK Government has recognised the importance of the construction industry in achieving the overall goals of sustainable development. Therefore the Government has put several policies and strategies in place to achieve a more sustainable construction. Sustainable construction is considered as the application of sustainable practices and sustainable development principles to the activities of the construction sector. Lean construction is a new production philosophy which has the potential of bringing innovative changes in the construction industry. The Lean principles focus on the minimisation of both material and process wastes which in turn contribute to sustainable construction in terms of energy consumption and improvement in health and safety etc. This study aims at exploring the concept of sustainable construction and examines how the lean approach can impact on the sustainability practices within the construction industry. The study uses literature review to achieve the stated aim. The findings revealed that the application of lean construction principle, tools and methods have direct contributions to the attainment of sustainable practices within the construction industry. However, the study postulates that the better understanding of lean concept, proper implementation and integration of lean and sustainability concepts are required for lean construction to contribute to sustainable construction.

Lean construction is characterised by a set of clear objectives in project delivery involving the concurrent design of products and processes, and the application of production control throughout the project life cycle to maximise value for money to customers. The successful delivery of construction projects requires the effective use of project management techniques such as risk and value management to achieve the optimum performance of a constructed facility over time. However, it has been argued that lean construction came about as a result of the failure of traditional project management to provide an integrated project delivery process in which design, construction, operation, and maintenance are considered as a whole with an understanding of how to enhance value delivery to clients, stakeholders (including occupants), and society in general. This paper explores in depth the lean construction techniques that support environmentally sustainable benefits and value enhancement in the design and construction processes (including supply chain management). It also explains how the implementation of lean techniques in construction project delivery and procurement strategy (including partnering relationships between contractors, consultants and manufacturers) delivers a high level of benefits and value. Keywords: construction project, lean construction, procurement, value, value management

The prevalent theory of construction has been seen as a hindrance to construction innovation. The concept of lean construction is concerned with the application of lean thinking to the construction industry. However, in lean construction there are many arguments supporting the view that ‘the prevalent theory of production (or specifically, theory of construction) is counterproductive, and leads to added costs and reduced overall performance through the deficient production control principles based on the theory’. Presently, the construction industry and all other organisations face various problems as a result of the uncertainties of the global economic climate; including labour redundancies, delayed projects and zero margin contract bids. The construction industry is seen as one of the worst performing industry as regards innovation. This calls for concern about the poor state of construction innovation. The emergence of lean construction is to bring significant reform to the construction industry to achieve the objectives of sustainability within the built environment in the critical social, economic and environmental aspects. Increasingly, lean construction offers new techniques of constructing sustainable projects. It is about reducing costs by cutting waste, innovating by engaging people and organising the work-place to be more efficient. Hence, the aim of this paper is to highlight the cost and benefits of the potential contribution of lean construction to the attainment of sustainable innovation in construction. An exploratory method of investigation is adopted in achieving the aim of this paper by critically reviewing, exploring, and synthesising literature and industry case studies related to the subject matter. Evidence from the literature reveals that innovation through lean improvement in construction processes has provided proof of sustainability outcomes in terms of reduced waste, effort and time. Hence, lean construction impacts significantly on innovation by enhancing competitiveness, innovativeness, and resource efficiency within the construction industry. Keywords: Construction industry, Construction innovation, Lean construction, Sustainability