It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. . .” Charles Dickens could
not have said it better. Although he was speaking of the French Revolution,
the same applies to our time in the fi rst decade of the twenty-fi rst century.
Economic upheaval has spread around the globe, making everyone concerned
about the future. But that is not the worst of times I am referring to. I refer to
the complexity of the building industry, and the diffi culty with which projects
are brought to fruition due to the industry’s fractured, adversarial nature.