Knowledge transfer and capability building: Re-evaluating how industry knowledge is shared within the built environment

Key takeaways
Knowledge transfer and capability building are essential for delivering consistent, high-quality outcomes
Embedding a culture of continuous learning and structured development pathways has long term benefits for our industry
Balancing legislative compliance with people development ensures ethical, resilient, and future-ready programme delivery
Knowledge transfer and capability building are instrumental when creating large teams that deliver with quality, consistently and efficiently.
The volume of live major programmes around the globe has increased by 280% since 2010 and at the same time, their complexity and scale has grown too. Analysis from a report we recently published shows that 11% of these programmes and projects are at risk of significant delay, resulting in missed benefits. As such, improving our industry’s capability to overcome the barriers to delivery must be a top priority. Ensuring that industry-specific expertise and insights are effectively disseminated leads to improved decision-making and collaboration across teams. By fostering a culture of continuous learning and adaptation, we pave the way for sustainable growth, increased productivity and innovation within the built environment.
Today more than ever, we have a mandate to improve our practices, within our industry and beyond. The foundations of innovation, such as reviewing lessons learnt and facilitating incremental gains by individuals, of course, have a crucial role to play in pursuing a sustainable world, delivering distinctive value, growing together with our clients. That’s why, at Mace, we don’t view the benefits that knowledge transfer and capability building provide as optional or ‘nice to have’.
In our large infrastructure projects and major programmes, the pivotal elements of knowledge transfer and capability building significantly contribute to successful delivery and ethical consultation. Sharing ‘the why’, ‘the what’ and crucially ‘the how’ we operate, while being transparent between delivery consultants, constructions experts and clients, is essential not only for achieving immediate project or programme goals but also for fostering a resilient and adaptive culture that leads to best practices and excellence. This is how we leave a legacy of learning that raises the standards for all involved well after the delivery team’s departure.
The importance of knowledge transfer and capability building
Knowledge transfer involves the formalised, systematic sharing of information, expertise, and skills across industries, organisations, programmes, projects, and teams. When it comes to large infrastructure projects, complexity and scale pose significant challenges; here, effective knowledge transfer ensures critical insights are shared widely, maximising learning and efficiency while reducing risk. Other key benefits of knowledge transfer include enhanced decision-making, improved collaboration, and increased productivity. When coupled with formalised learning routes that lead to qualifications, certificates and accreditation it can play a key role in developing our industry’s future leaders.
It follows then that knowledge transfer goes hand in hand with capability building, which focuses on developing the competencies—knowledge, skills, and behaviours—and capacities of individuals, teams, and organisations. In major programmes, sharing experience is a critical factor influencing project success. A robust capability-building strategy offers benefits such as talent development, organisational resilience, performance improvement, and innovation. Winning the war on talent means engaging and developing people, helping individuals get from A to B within their careers.
Legislative compliance blended with people development
Infrastructure projects and programmes must adhere to and maintain legislative compliance within their respective jurisdictions. But, in today’s landscape, fostering people development must also be a priority to retain talent and preserve experienced tacit knowledge. Balancing these two aspects is crucial for achieving operational excellence.
Effective knowledge transfer and capability building achieves this balance by navigating legal complexities, empowering programmes and personnel with knowledge of their legal requirements and ensuring compliance. Adhering to regulations through comprehensive learning pathways – and on a wide variety of subjects – from basic awareness to practitioner-level makes employees well-versed in industry standards, reduces risk of non-compliance, and provides learning opportunities that support the careers of localised talent.
Educating teams on ethical practices also instils a sense of responsibility – and integrity – that provides motivation to develop and grow within the built environment. This point is particularly important to inspire the next workforce generation. Enhancing accountability contributes to a culture of compliance, transparency, and overall trust to build a credible and reliable reputation across the sector.
An imperative to effective programme delivery
With a global reach of operations, we’ve seen the vital role knowledge transfer and capability building plays in driving success for major programmes, in both mature and developing markets. This is why we are clear it’s no longer a ‘nice to have’ and needs to form part of every programme’s long-term vision. In an industry that has seen its fair share of siloed working in the past, it’s not always easy to change minds. It's why we at Mace dedicate time and resource to shifting the dial. Using our organisational capability maturity assessments, individual competency assessments, and learning and development programmes, we make sure effective and measurable knowledge management and sharing happens across our programmes. We also make sure to facilitate continuous improvement between programmes through dedicated lessons learnt processes.
Beyond the programme – a legacy of learning
Embedding this into the culture and fabric of the organisations we work with is a part of our ethos at Mace. We aim to leave our partners more equipped for learning and capability building than we found them so they can continue these practices long after our partnership ends.
The integration of knowledge transfer, capability building, and legislative compliance has proven its value on several large infrastructure programmes and organisations, and further uptake will only enhance the reputation of our industry to get things done. Dedicated support, along with the necessary tools and strategies that can be quickly implemented, are a positive step towards ensuring clients can harness their full potential, drive innovation, achieve sustainable growth, and deliver effectively. Get it right, and organisations can navigate the complexities of large-scale programmes and emerge stronger and more resilient, setting themselves up for long-term success.
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