Construction projects generate enormous amounts of data, yet productivity remains variable and poorly understood.
A new framework, just published by the University of Cambridge, aims to help organisations unlock the value of that data and use it systematically to understand how projects are delivered and where productivity can be improved.
The Cambridge Framework for Construction Productivity: Measure Benchmark Improve has been developed by a research team based at the University of Cambridge Laing O’Rourke Centre, using data from more than 25 projects gathered over the last three years from leading companies in the UK construction sector.
This new, unique Framework provides industry with a practical, consistent approach to understanding and improving productivity at project, work-package, and activity levels. A new accompanying software tool, Camentis, is currently undergoing pilot testing.
By connecting production rates, labour productivity, production flow, variability, and the factors affecting delivery, the Framework helps construction teams understand where inefficiencies arise, identify blockers, and determine where intervention can have the greatest impact and outcomes. For construction clients, the Framework can build confidence in project programmes and outcomes by providing access to more consistent, evidence-based benchmarks across projects.
This is not simply a theoretical framework
The Framework was developed by Dr Danny Murguia, Dr Ashan Asmone, Dr Asitha Rathnayake and the late Professor Campbell Middleton, who highlighted the potential for a consistent approach to productivity measurement to become embedded more widely across industry: “To really shift the dial, we believe that this framework should be embedded within the procurement process, with clients requiring the collection of productivity data as a matter of course during project delivery. This could be one of the most consequential shifts the industry can make.”
Publishing the Cambridge Framework for Construction Productivity marks an important milestone in a fantastic collaboration between academia and industry that began in 2021. The relationships and trust established over that time have been exemplary.
The Cambridge team has worked closely with industry partners to collect and analyse data and to test and refine the methodology through live demonstrator projects. Industry partners have shared real project data, opened live projects to the research team and challenged the methodology as it developed.
Dr Danny Murguia, Assistant Research Professor at the University of Cambridge Laing O’Rourke Centre and lead author of the Framework, said: “The framework is about using data when it can make a difference: during project delivery, when teams still have an opportunity to intervene and improve outcomes. But it is also about learning from every project, building an organisational evidence base so that the next one can be planned, scheduled, priced and risk-assessed using better information than the last.”
The Framework is particularly timely in the context of the upcoming PAS 4010:2026, Improving productivity in infrastructure development and delivery, which sets out requirements for a productivity management strategy to manage, assure and continuously improve productivity. The Cambridge Framework directly supports this ambition by providing a consistent approach to measuring key productivity metrics, identifying blockers and turning project data into actionable insights to measure, benchmark and improve performance.
From framework to implementation
The research team is developing Camentis, a software tool designed to operationalise the Framework on live construction projects.
The software is currently being piloted on live construction projects, marking the next stage of the research and supporting its continued development towards wider implementation.
The longer-term vision is for Camentis to support better project controls, benchmarking and more advanced analytics, including AI, helping teams make more evidence-based interventions to improve productivity.
The publication and Camentis were presented at an exclusive pre-launch at the University of Cambridge on 22 September 2026, bringing together senior executives from leading organisations across the construction sector that have contributed to the research and helped shape the Framework’s development.
The development of the Framework has also received significant interest and support from the UK Construction Productivity Taskforce and members of the World Construction Leadership Forum, a Cambridge-founded global platform bringing together senior executives from leading construction companies worldwide.
The wider ambition is to help construction move from fragmented, retrospective productivity reporting to a more consistent, evidence-based approach to delivery, creating a stronger foundation for continuous improvement across projects and organisations.
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