This is an excellent book providing an invaluable practical perspective on the cost management of construction projects. It covers all stages of a project from pre-contract to tendering and post-contract. It is firmly in the post-Latham post-Egan era.

The practical nature of the book is a result of Keith Potts's own experience on major projects such as the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway and on the approach to assembling the book. The book is based on data and information from over 60 case studies., I could not quite identify how many 60, 65 and 100 are referred to in the text.

Potts's philosophy is attractively simple that any project can be completed on time and within budget providing appropriate procurement systems, planning and control methods, contracts and financial procedures are in place together with experienced and motivated staff to drive the project. His book sets out to tell you how. His philosophy contains a little practical cynicism that provides a reality in the new post-Latham and post-Egan era with new forms of contract and the development of information technology, it is that the same fundamentals still apply in delivering a project on time and in budget.

The book reviews all the key reports and recommendations and goes on to cover

- Selecting the consultants and contractors

- Pre-contact cost management

- Cost management on PFI projects

- Contractors estimating and tendering

- Value management

- Risk management

- Whole life costing

- Organisational methods

- Project systems and contract administration

- Contractors' cost control and monitoring procedures

- Change management - value variations

- Claims management

- The NEC Engineering and Construction Contract

- FIDIC standard form of international construction contract

- Case study: Heathrow Terminal 5

This is a wide ranging list of topics. The value is in the sub title of the book 'learning from case studies'.

The experience imported from the case studies provides the meat of this book on what works and what doesn't and how to deliver Potts's philosophy of any project finishing on time and in cost. Unusually the book refers to both building and civil engineering projects and the chapters on the NEC Engineering Construction Contract and the FIDIC contract are attractive to those internationally as well.

The Heathrow T5 case study is right for the time we live in, it was one of the most significant projects with an informed client and a novel approach.

Clients? If anything the book reinforces my own prejudice that the quality of the client largely determines the quality of the project. Given an amateurish, interfering, opinionated client projects will unravel and, importantly, it would appear that our industry has insufficient skills to deal with such clients. Thus I think one important group of readers for this book would be all the councillors, MPs, directors and other lay people that find themselves in positions of influence in major projects. Especially those of this group that believe they know best but actually don't.

This book should do well, it has some real advice for a wide group, the clients, as above, the industry professionals and students both post graduate and undergraduate.

Ronald McCaffer

Loughborough University