Towards an agent-based construction supply network modelling and simulation platform Joseph H.M. Tah School of Construction and Property Management, The University of Salford, Bridgewater Building, Salford, Greater Manchester, M7 1NU, UK Received 1 February 2004; received in revised form 1 July 2004; accepted 1 August 2004 Abstract The construction industry is being asked by more progressive clients to change its crude ways of working and to adopt more efficient business processes to improve its performance by adopting supply chain management (SCM) practices that have evolved in more advanced industries. This represents a major risk for many companies given the bone offQ and complex nature of construction projects. The long-term aim of the work presented in this paper is to develop a modelling and simulation platform, which will provide an inexpensive and risk-free environment for organisations to experiment with emerging SCM practices prior to implementation. The wider adoption of such best practices has the potential to save the industry large sums of money. The case for the use of a multiagent systems framework for developing the platform is presented. A prototype system developed to explore the potential for the use of such an approach to model and simulate collaborative project supply network preplanning is presented. Future research work required to achieve the long-term aim is then presented. D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Simulation platform; Network modelling; Construction supply 1. Introduction Construction projects are characterised by long supply chains that extend across different product/ service types and commercial interests. This is at the core of many contemporary problems including poor delivery to time, cost, and quality, the fragmentation of design and construction responsi- bility, the bclaims consciousnessQ of many contrac- tors/suppliers, poor trading relations between parties, etc. The industry is experiencing unprecedented change and dynamic conditions resulting from clients demanding better value-for-money, higher quality and shorter cycle times [1]. Increasingly, these demands cannot be effectively met by isolated change to specific organizational units, but instead depend critically on the relationships and interde- pendencies among different organizations or organ- izational units. The ongoing competitiveness of an organization is tied to the dynamics of the supply chains in which it participates, and recognition of 0926-5805/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.autcon.2004.08.003 E-mail address: j.h.m.tah@salford.ac.uk. Automation in Construction 14 (2005) 353 – 359 www.elsevier.com/locate/autcon