Abstract
Purpose
How knowledge exchange (KE) can be used for the continuous assessment and improvement of collaborative performance of project-based organisations in construction is explored. Collaboration on construction projects must be facilitated by people alongside practice of continuous performance assessment and improvement. Currently available assessment tools fail to explicitly define appropriate behaviours and actions due to a poor understanding of what it means for people to collaborate. In contrast, it is established that KE is the focus of collaborative efforts on construction projects; therefore, as most knowledge resides with people, it represents their role in collaboration. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
Through a phenomenological/interpretivist and qualitative methodology, how KE can be used for the continuous assessment and improvement of collaborative performance in project-based organisations in construction is explored. A single case study of a UK rail strategic alliance was adopted and six semi-structured interviews were conducted and analysed through a thematic analysis.

Findings
An assessment tool is proposed based on a set of 20 characteristics of KE, divided into seven categories and linked to indicators of collaboration. The tool can be applied to highly collaborative projects where BIM and Lean are implemented, and project participants are collocated. By measuring their performance against the set criteria, project teams can assess which of their behaviours and actions are inappropriate, and focus their efforts on correcting them.

Originality/value
Defining the abstract indicators traditionally used to assess collaboration in terms of characteristics pertinent to day-to-day communication amongst participants on collaborative projects to facilitate the continuous assessment and improvement of collaborative performance.