Dr Doug Forbes

Doug is a Director with Whole Life Consultants Ltd and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Dundee. He is an experienced researcher and project manager. As a Chartered Civil Engineer, working for a University of Dundee spin-out company has allowed him to gain a wealth of experience at the interface between academia and the construction industry.

Since 2008 Doug has been responsible for the development of the CITB Labour Forecasting Tool which can predict labour requirements across a range of project types and standard occupational classifications. It has been used to estimate the labour demand for more than 25 LEPs and local areas along with major projects.

He also managed the development of a web-based labour productivity benchmarking tool. The tool allows contractors to collect productivity data, including the causes and durations of delays, at the task level in a consistent and simple way so that comparisons can be made between projects and across organisations.

Most recently, Doug has been involved in:

• leading research for HS2 labour and skills demand and supply forecasting and analysis
• CITB funded comprehensive review of the literature relating to construction labour productivity in the UK which identified the principal external factors affecting productivity
• the TCN+ project “Consistent Benchmarks to Drive Improved Performance in Construction Projects”
• managing the work on metrics, benchmarking and the central repository for transport infrastructure as part of the Living Lab

Doug is currently Deputy Chair of the Analytical Consortium of the Transport Infrastructure Efficiency Strategy’s Living Lab. He has been a member of the scientific committee of the Association of Researchers in Construction Management since 2012. Doug has previously served as Honorary Secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers in Scotland and currently represents the ICE at the CITB Scottish Construction Skills Observatory.