Dr Barry Gledson

Professor

Department: Mechanical and Construction Engineering

Dr Gledson is an Associate Professor of Construction Project Management. Before commencing his academic career as senior lecturer he spent a decade in the employment of major construction organisations working in a project management capacity planning construction operations, managing on-site activities, and winning new projects across the UK and for a brief early period in Washington DC. The contract values of his live projects ranged from £6M - £45M and were a mix of new build, demolition and refurbishment schemes in the following sectors: residential, hotel and office accommodation, retail space, and medical and laboratory facilities.

Barry holds chartered membership status within the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) as a Chartered Construction Manager (MCIOB), is a Full Member of the Association for Project Management (MAPM), has good standing as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) is a member of the BIM Academy and sits on the BIM academic Forum (BAF). He referees for a range of quality peer-reviewed journals, regularly presents his research work at academic conferences and sits on a number of conference scientific committees.

Read more about Barry's role in the APM's accreditation of our Project Management programmes in this case study.

Watch Barry's profile film to hear more about his experience working at Northumbria.

Campus Address

Office 303a
Wynne Jones

Email Barry

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Research interests and expertise revolve around digital innovations (e.g., 4D Building Information Modelling etc), their diffusion, and potential for improving construction project delivery and performance, and CPM practice. Additionally, themes of built environment sustainability and organisational learning from project experiences (e.g., the impact of digital technologies on-site processes) are also evident throughout work and higher-degree project supervisions.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Digital leadership framework to support firm-level digital transformations for Construction 4.0, Gledson, B., Zulu, S., Saad, A., Ponton, H. 9 Jan 2024, In: Construction Innovation: Information, Process, Management
Enhanced model of the innovation-decision process, for modular-technological-process innovations in construction, Gledson, B. 28 Nov 2022, In: Construction Innovation: Information, Process, Management
Individual Characteristics as Enablers of Construction Employees’ Digital Literacy: An Exploration of Leaders’ Opinions, Zulu, S., Saad, A., Gledson, B. 12 Jan 2023, In: Sustainability
The adoption of 4D BIM in the UK construction industry: An Innovation Diffusion approach, Gledson, B., Greenwood, D. 20 Nov 2017, In: Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management
A smart sewer asset information model to enable an ‘Internet of Things’ for operational wastewater management, Edmondson, V., Cerny, M., Lim, M., Gledson, B., Lockley, S., Woodward, J. 1 Jul 2018, In: Automation in Construction
Exploring Leaders’ Perceptions of the Business Case for Digitalisation in the Construction Industry, Zulu, S., Saad, A., Gledson, B. 7 Mar 2023, In: Buildings
Hybrid project delivery processes observed in constructor BIM innovation adoption, Gledson, B. 4 Apr 2016, In: Construction Innovation
Exploring organisational attributes affecting the innovativeness of UK SMEs, Gledson, B., Phoenix, C. 3 Apr 2017, In: Construction Innovation: Information, Process, Management
Surveying the extent and use of 4D BIM in the UK, Gledson, B., Greenwood, D. 3 May 2016, In: Journal of Information Technology in Construction (ITcon)
Rapid LEED evaluation performed with BIM based sustainability analysis on a virtual construction, Alwan, Z., Greenwood, D., Gledson, B. 2015, In: Construction Innovation Information, Process, Management

Current and Recent Projects

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Creation of a digital design management service for construction projects with an integrated decision support platform to facilitate collaboration and increase productivity., Gledson, B. (Principal Investigator), Innovate UK, 01/06/19 - 31/05/21, £168,718.00

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Publication Peer-review: Construction Innovation (Journal) 2025
Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: Centralising digital information in the construction sector: Workshop convened by the Open Innovation Team (OIT) and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government of the United Kingdom (MHCLG) 2025
Editorial work: Smart and Sustainable Built Environment (Journal) 2024
Examination: Internal Examination of Doctoral Thesis (Northumbria University) 2024
Publication Peer-review: Smart and Sustainable Built Environment (Journal) 2024
Examination: Internal Examination of Doctoral Thesis (Northumbria University) 2024
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: The 40th Annual ARCOM Conference 2024 2024
Membership of committee: Association of Researchers in Construction Management (ARCOM) (External organisation) 2024
Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: The 41st Annual ARCOM Conference 2025 2024
Examination: External Examination of Doctoral Thesis (Leeds Beckett University) 2024

PGR Supervision

Fereshteh Ahmadi A DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR IMPROVING RESILIENCE OF MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS OF BUILT ASSETS Start Date: 29/11/2023
Daniel Musselwhite Time predictability in the UK Construction Sector: An analysis of activity-level planning and its effect on project-delivery time performance Start Date: 01/03/2020

Further Information

Dr Gledson is an Associate Professor of Construction Project Management. Before commencing his academic career, Barry spent a decade in the employment of major construction organisations working in a project management capacity planning construction operations, managing on-site activities, and winning new projects across the UK and for a brief early period in Washington DC. The contract values of his live projects ranged from £6M - £45M and were a mix of new build, demolition and refurbishment schemes in the following sectors: residential, hotel and office accommodation, retail space, and medical and laboratory facilities.

Barry holds chartered membership status within the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) as a Chartered Construction Manager (MCIOB), he is a Full Member of the Association for Project Management (MAPM), has good standing as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), is a member of the BIM Academy and sits on the BIM Academic Forum (BAF). He referees for a range of quality peer-reviewed journals, regularly presents his research work at academic conferences and sits on a number of conference scientific committees.