Professor Rodney Howes, 1943–2005

It was on my birthday—20 August—when during a telephone conversation with Professor Rodney Howes, he enthusiastically spoke like a teenager about his recent purchase of a new bicycle. Ten days lat er Rod was undertaking his daily cycling in Kent's countryside and for no obvious reason he had a severe accident, which before long caused his tragic death. On that day the construction management community lost a distinguished son. Rod was my boss for over 17 years and I could best compliment him by saying that I am extremely sad and will miss him very badly. Indeed, he was widely liked and respected by all the people that knew him and knew of him. There have been numerous letters of support and sympathy to Rod's family, Jane, Sarah and Ashley.

Rod's involvement with the construction industry spans over 40 years covering wide areas of activity ranging from national and international consultancy, management, research to academic excellence. He was party to several decisions with strategic significance for research and innovation within the industry. He was well published and a well known figure within the construction academic community and he was also known to industrialists and professionals through his work with the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) and the Construction Industry Council (CIC). He was chairman of the Building Degree Heads Committee between 1988 and 1990 and he subsequently became chairman of the Council of Professors in Building Engineering and Management between 1997 and 1999. As an academic and ambassador of research and innovation, Rod's reputation extends to several countries across the globe. In particular, due to his work during the late 1990s and in the early 2000s on housing reform in the Peoples' Republic of China, he was awarded contracts by the Hong Kong government and produced publications that are now recognised worldwide as authoritative (Wong et al., 1998; Hui et al., 1999; Wong et al., 2001a, 2001b; Yeung et al., 2003). This research has also created an interest in industrialised housing and the use of manufacturing technology to produce a new generation of high performance sustainable homes (Howes 2000a, 2000b).

Rod was continuously driven by dedication to excellence. He commenced his academic career in 1967 at the highly acclaimed Brixton School of Building. Soon after the transformation and incorporation of the Brixton School of Building to Polytechnic status, Rod became a senior lecturer and by 1986 he assumed the responsibility as the head of the Department of Construction Management. He steered the Department into several developments and maintained his position as the Head until his retirement in 2001. At one point the size of the Department had increased by fourfold to over 70 academic staff, 50 research staff and a student population of 2,000.

Rod's academic career made distinct headway by demonstrating awareness about the importance of research. This started with his PhD from Brunel in 1983. This was immediately followed by supervising PhD students—most notably Martin Betts—followed by obtaining an EPSRC research grant in 1984.

Rod had his share of working in industry as a contract manager and later as a senior planning engineer with Richard Costain. His enthusiasm for research was due to his love for the industry which he frequently criticised for lack of investment in research and for not embracing research outputs. At the DMinUCE 2002 conference, Rod facilitated the ‘Industry Challenge’ event where he skilfully confronted researchers with a representation panel from the industry before guiding the event towards the recognition of the need for better measures to bridge the gap between the two. He had a natural appetite for advancing innovation via research, and through his wide network of contacts in the UK, Europe and worldwide he managed to promote academic expertise and partnership with industry.

As one of the founding members of the Association of Researchers in Construction Management (ARCOM) and its first chair, Rod was instrumental in laying the foundation of ARCOM on a solid ground, thereby securing its sustainability for 21 years and many more years to come. Notwithstanding his early contribution, Rod maintained continuous support for ARCOM in his typical humble fashion. ARCOM recognised Rod's contribution by remembering him during the opening session of the ARCOM 2005 conference and by initiating a ‘best paper award’ in his name.

On his retirement from South Bank University in July 2000, Rod embarked upon a new wave of activity. I saw him being very happy doing the things that he liked—promoting research through communication with decision makers—in the way he liked: ‘I love the industry and now that I am free of any ties I can openly say and do what I feel is right without being too diplomatic about it’. He took up the chairmanship of the Innovation and Research Committee of the Construction Industry Council and he was also appointed as an academic member of the Foundation for the Built Environment. He was a member of the Construction Board of BRE Certification and was privy to many of the latest developments in construction products and processes. As a member of the CIC Executive Board, Rod was party to advising government on the Fairclough Review of Construction Innovation and Research and also the establishment of the Strategic Forum and nCRISP. In March 2002, Rod was asked to represent the European Council of Building Professionals (ECBP) and the CIOB on the European Council of Construction Research, Development and Innovation (ECCREDI).

Rod joined the Construct IT management board in May 2004. During this period he ventured new directions and brokered new relationships with policy makers but most importantly created tremendous excitement into our activities. In the last meeting of the management board the team expressed sadness as well as disappointment that we shall miss the combination of enthusiasm, insightfulness and intellectual input that had become Rod's hallmark.

Rod was a figure among figures in construction management. He held a lifelong track record of participation and achievement. His strengths were firmly rooted in construction technology, procurement processes and management covering the whole of the construction process and the lifecycle period post‐occupation. This was displayed in a recently published book (Howes and Tah, 2003). Also, during the final days of his life he put the final touches into his last book concerned with global strategies associated with the provision of built environment infrastructure (Howes and Robinson, 2005). He will be missed, not just by his family, but by his friends and by several communities within construction management for his intellectual and practical input in his typical constructive and pleasant manner.