WHAT CONSTRUCTION CAN LEARN FROM BEES
When it comes to collaboration and hard work, the natural world sets a shining example
In a profession driven by precision and performance, I sometimes think we overlook one of nature’s most powerful examples of collaboration; the humble bee.
A beehive is a model of community, communication and shared purpose. There’s no adversarial posturing, no hiding mistakes in the hope someone else catches the blame, just trust, clarity and incredible productivity. Every bee has a role, and they all contribute to something far greater than themselves. Our construction industry could learn a lot from that.
Clause 10.1 of the NEC urges us to work ‘in a spirit of mutual trust and co-operation’, a principle championed by Dr Martin Barnes when he first drafted the contract back in 1993. Encouragingly, even the traditionally more adversarial JCT forms have now taken a firm step toward collaboration. The 2024 edition of the JCT suite has made the previously optional collaborative working clause mandatory across all core contracts. Article 3 now requires parties to act ‘in good faith and in a spirit of trust and respect’, promoting early engagement, openness and teamwork from the outset. It’s a welcome move, but contractual intent alone isn’t enough. Culture must evolve alongside the paperwork.
Bees perform a single waggle dance that can direct their hive-mates to a pollen source up to three miles away, an extraordinary feat of communication, navigation and, crucially, trust. To put that in perspective, it’s like a person explaining once how to travel several miles to a specific location with no map or GPS and everyone getting there on the first try. No second-guessing, no withheld details, just shared purpose and belief in one another. If bees can achieve that with a single dance, surely with all our modern tools, technology and meetings, we can do better. Proactive, not reactive, should be the order of the day. Clear, open communication shouldn’t be the exception, it should be our default.
As civil engineering surveyors, we’re not just number-crunchers. We shape infrastructure, steward budgets and, ultimately, help build a better, more sustainable world. Like bees, we work best with a shared vision and a common direction, guided by trust. But for this cultural shift to take root, it starts with leadership. We must model trust in others, not blind trust, but trust grounded in clarity, communication and fairness. Senior professionals must do what they can to change the narrative; contractors are not the enemy, they are partners with the same goal, delivering the client’s vision. Most simply want to be paid fairly for honest, hard work, albeit carried out under increasingly tough conditions. So, what can we do?
We can challenge the assumption that every claim is opportunistic. We can mentor young professionals to lead with transparency, not suspicion. We can set the tone on our projects by encouraging openness, praising collaboration and constructively challenging behaviours that undermine it. We can listen more and assume less. Real change won’t come from clauses alone. It comes when we decide that building trust is just as important as building infrastructure.