Professor Will Hughes BSc(hons), PhD, MCIOB

Photo of Will Hughes

Will Hughes is Professor of Construction Management and Economics and Head of the School of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading, having started his career as a joiner in the West Midlands. He has an international reputation in the field of construction procurement and project organization. His PhD is on Organizational analysis of building projects and he has researched and published extensively in this topic. His current research interests are in the costs of the commercial processes in construction and contracting based upon paying for the performance of a building, rather than for what it is made of. He has co-authored seven books on construction management and contractual issues, including a best-selling text book, Construction Contracts: Law and Management that is an essential text in most universities running such courses. Now in its third edition it has been reprinted every year since it was first published in 1992. He is editor-in-chief of the international refereed journal Construction Management and Economics, a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Construction Research and the Journal of Asian Architectural and Building Research, as well as an editorial adviser to Spon Press, the leading publisher in this field. He is an active member of ARCOM (Association of Researchers in Construction Management), having completed two years as chairman 1998-2000, and remains responsible for developing and maintaining their information resources for researchers in this field.

Books

  • Hughes, W.P., Hillebrandt, P., Greenwood, D.G. and Kwawu, W.E.K. (2006) Procurement in the construction industry: the impact and cost of alternative market and supply processes. London: Taylor and Francis xiii + 208pp ISBN 0-415-39560-7
  • Hughes, W.P. and Murdoch, J.R. (2001) Roles in construction projects: analysis and terminology. Birmingham: Construction Industry Publications. vi + 184pp ISBN 1 85263 898 2
  • Murdoch, J.R. and Hughes, W.P. (2000) Construction contracts: law and management. 3ed. London: Spon. xxvi + 381pp. ISBN 0-419-26170-2 (hbk), 0-419-25310-6 (pbk).
  • Gray, C. and Hughes, W.P. (2000) Building design management. London: Butterworth-Heinemann. vii + 177pp ISBN 0 7506 5070 2
  • Hughes, W.P., Hillebrandt, P and Murdoch, J.R. (1998) Financial protection in the UK building industry: bonds, retentions and guarantees. London: Spon. 190pp. ISBN 0 419 24290 2
  • Hughes, W.P., Gray, C. and Murdoch, J.R. (1997) Specialist trade contracting: report. London: CIRIA Publications. 102 pp. ISBN 0 86017 465 4

Sections in books

  • Hughes, W.P. (2006) Contract management. In: Lowe, D with Leiringer R. Commercial Management of Projects: Defining the Discipline. London: Blackwell, 344-355.
  • Hughes, W.P. (2003) Technological scenario: de-professionalized, automated construction procurement. In: Foxell, Simon (ed.) The professionals’ choice: the future of the built environment professions. London: Building Futures (a joint initiative of RIBA and CABE), 82-98.
  • Hughes, W.P. and Hil lebrandt, P.M. (2003) Construction industry: historical overview and technological change. In: Mokyr, Joel (ed.-in.chief) The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History , Oxford: Oxford University Press, Vol 1, 504-512.

Refereed journal papers

  • Gruneberg, S.L. and Hughes, W.P. (2006) Understanding construction consortia: theory, practice and opinions. RICS Research Papers. 6(1), 1-55.
  • Gruneberg, S.L. and Hughes, W.P. (2005) UK construction orders and output: a comparison of government and commercially available data 1995-2001, Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction, 10(2), 83-93
  • Gruneberg, S. and Hughes, W.P. (2004) Analysing the types of procurement used in the UK: a comparison of two data sets. Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction.9(2), 65-74.
  • Hughes, W.P. (2003) A Comparison of two editions of the RIBA plan of work. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management.10(5), 302-311.
  • Lingard, H., Hughes, W.P. and Chinyio, E. (1998) The impact of contractor selection method on transaction costs: a review. Journal of Construction Procurement.4(2), 89-102.
  • Loosemore, M and Hughes, W.P. (1998) Reactive crisis management in construction projects. Journal of Crisis Management.6(1), 23-34.