ABSTRACT
The UK government started to take a lead on driving quality standards across industries and the British Standards Institution evolved its Mark Committee into the Quality Assurance Council. The poor quality standards in building, especially housing in the UK, have reached the ears of government ministers with monotonous regularity. Eminent gurus of quality understandably focus on customer satisfaction as the end goal. The quality engineer is predominantly site-based on larger construction projects, working closely with the project manager. Quality managers may report to a head of quality or head of Safety, Health, Environment and Quality, who will formulate and drive business-wide continual improvement initiatives and advise executives on quality performance. In the rare circumstances that a director of quality is appointed, then there is a champion at board level to bend the ear of the CEO and strategically affect the direction of quality management issues by inputting into the business strategy and annual business plan with quality objectives.
