Construction industry classification systems: Defining the construction sector in New Zealand

Abstract

CanConstrucNZ is a partnership programme between New Zealand universities, government agencies, and professional bodies to develop a smart system that enables mapping future pipeline projects with the industry capacity and capability to advise the stakeholders whether the sector will be capable of delivering the proposed construction projects. Defining the scope of the construction sector itself is the first step of the programme that helps measure the construction sector capacity. This paper compares different definitions and approaches of the construction sector boundaries and discusses similarities and differences in the selected classification systems, usually used to define, collect, and generate data for measuring the construction sector. The findings highlight the need for a more comprehensive classification to help generate the correct level of data for measuring the construction sector’s true scope and size, resulting in better policy initiatives, and informing changes in the industry. The findings of this study recommend future research to develop a customised classification system to represent the value of the New Zealand construction sector in a holistic manner.