Be a savvy graduate: know your construction jobspeak

Capital projects: high profile projects such as the Wembley Stadium and the London Eye. 

CIOB: the Chartered Institute of Building. The main professional body in construction management.

CIBSE: The Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers

Consultants: professionals hired by clients to advice them on the implementation of projects. They will be involved with a project from the outset, examining the architect's designs and working out how best to turn them into reality. They will then oversee the construction process and resolve any difficulties.

Contractors: construction companies who are responsible for the actual building of a project. Their involvement only begins once the site has been chosen and the building materials are in place. They are also responsible for co-ordinating the work of subcontractors (see below).

Design and build: a process in which a main contractor undertakes both design and construction work on a project.

Developers: firms that buy land, acquire planning permission, build on it and sell it on.

The Egan report: raised concern as to the state of the construction industry. It claimed that there were problems with quality, value for money, safety, and projects sticking to time and to budget, with the result that clients were dissatisfied.

The Gann report: called for changes in education and training so that there is understanding between disciplines, and the specialist skills required to work with new technologies.

ICE: the Institution of Civil Engineers.

PFI: the private finance initiative. A method of funding major public building projects such as schools and hospitals. Private consortiums raise money to build these facilities and the government pays them back with interest.

PPP: Public Private Partnership. This is a generic term for a relationship between the private sector and a public body; these often introduce public sector resources or expertise to provide public sector services or assets.

Procurement: the process of identifying the materials and methods needed to get a project built.

Subcontractors: companies hired to perform specific operations on site such as roofing, flooring, piling, plumbing and bricklaying.

Sustainable development: construction projects that are built in such a way as to minimise their harmful effect on the environment for years to come.