ABSTRACT
In this chapter I describe the roles and activities of and relationships between the various parties that held interests in the Keyworker House build, and I show how this impinged on the organization, culture and process of the build. I explain the organizational hierarchy, roles and practices of Topbuild’s site managers and quantity surveyors, and examine their interactions with the two building consultants. The relationships between the building contractor group and the consultants were characterized by high levels of conflict that were mediated, and partly produced, by the application of formalized contractual mechanisms. These formal characteristics were unusual in comparison to almost all other forms of social relationships at the build, which were predominantly informal and non-contractual. Indeed, formalized relationships occurred only in the office and not outside of it; formalized management agreements and controls affected the work practices of the builders’ working ‘on the tools’ in only minimal ways.
