New Cambridge Framework Aims to Transform Measuring and Improving Construction Productivity

A new framework, just published by the University of Cambridge, aims to help organisations unlock the value of construction project data to understand how projects are delivered and where productivity can be improved.

Construction projects generate enormous amounts of data, yet productivity remains variable and poorly understood.

Construction Productivity

The Cambridge Framework for Construction Productivity: Measure · Benchmark · Improve has been developed using data from 25 projects over the last 3 years from UK construction companies.

Delivered by a research team based at the University of Cambridge Laing O’Rourke Centre, the 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. It can also 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 through consistent, evidence-based benchmarks across projects.

Consistent Framework

The Framework was developed by Dr Danny Murguia, Dr Ashan Asmone, Dr Asitha Rathnayake and the late Professor Campbell Middleton.

Prof. Middleton said, “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 a milestone in a collaboration between academia and industry that began in 2021.

The Cambridge team worked 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.

Evidence Based Improvement

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.

Productivity Software

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 its implementation.

The longer-term vision is for Camentis to support better project controls, benchmarking more advanced analytics, including AI, helping teams make evidence-based improvements to productivity.

The Framework and software were presented at a pre-launch at the University of Cambridge on 22 September 2026.

The development of the Framework has received interest and support from the UK Construction Productivity Taskforce and members of the World Construction Leadership Forum, a Cambridge-founded global platform of construction companies.

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.

Access the full Cambridge Framework for Construction Productivity: Measure · Benchmark · Improve.

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