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This study examines the pattern of coordination and control at the Design-Construction interface on building projects under different conditions of project uncertainty and complexity. It does this in two stages: in a General Interface Analysis and in Comparative Project Analyses.

No description available.

Construction industry is a key player in the UK economy. It contributes 10% of the GDP and employs more than 1.5 million people. Contractor organisations are the public face of the industry. Their policies, processes, and performance directly impact all stakeholders in the industry. However, the performance of contractor organisations on Quality, Health and Safety and Environment issues is far from satisfactory. Organisations of all type, including contractors are increasingly implementing management systems for Quality (ISO 9000), Health and Safety (BS 8800/OHSAS 18001) and Environment (ISO 14000) for many reasons including the fulfilment of legal obligations, creating a better organisational image and the wider demonstration of concern for the society. The standard based management systems have developed individually, independently and at different times fulfilling unique demands. However, the structural similarities in the standards have led to the evolution of integrated management systems (IMS). Chemical, nuclear and manufacturing industries are at the forefront of the emerging initiative of IMS. Contractor organisations in the UK have also shown a keen interest in the IMS development, however, there is a clear lack of guidance on the implementation of integrated management systems. This research develops a unique best practice framework for the implementation of integrated management systems (IMS) in construction contractor organisations. A comprehensive literature review, case studies in some major UK contactor organisations and a questionnaire survey were conducted to encompass the management systems, developments and issues related to the implementation of integrated management systems (IMS) in construction and other industries. The research finds contractor organisations at varying levels of development from very basic to advance in integrating their management systems. Various different approaches and methods are being applied to develop the integrated management systems in absence of any industry specific guidelines. The industry validated framework, developed in this research project will help contractor organisations as a best practice guide, in the implementation of integrated Quality, Health and Safety and Environment management systems. The integrated framework will make systems more streamlined, productive and easier to comply with.

Client satisfaction was identified as one of the most significant challenges facing today's construction industry. It was considered as a key measure for construction projects success. This perspective stemmed from the pivotal role played by clients as the core of the construction process and the driving force for improvement, hence, necessitated the importance to achieve their satisfaction and get their requirements accomplished. Clients are most likely to be satisfied when two requirements have been fulfilled. Firstly, by translating their requirements into a design that specifies technical characteristics, functional performance criteria and quality standards. Secondly, by completing the project on time, as specified and in the most cost effective manner to produce a product that matches or exceeds their expectations. Because of its vital role in eliciting and communicating client's requirements to the design and construction teams, the briefing process represents a cornerstone for achieving client satisfaction. In addition, effective client briefing is crucial to the attainment of client objectives with respect to time, cost and quality, where inadequate briefing is considered as a key source of client dissatisfaction and the reason why buildings have been wasteful of resources or defective in use. For this reason, the briefing process has to be flexible, well organised, and responsive to the client requirements. During the course of this research, formal observations, literature review, analysis of 36 case studies, documentary data and unstructured interviews with projects' architects undertaken by the author showed that very few buildings finished on time or at the right cost and clients often criticise the fact that the finished buildings were not what they expected. In addition, the construction industry was blamed of providing products that do not achieve clients' requirements and meet their expectations. Furthermore, it was articulated that clients' organisations used change orders to achieve their emerging requirements and adapt to the influence of the internal and external brief development drivers. This is attributed to the limitations of the current bri efing theories, which confine the development of the project brief to a certain stage. Permitting brief development throughout the project life cycle without establishing the procedures that control its development leaves the project brief uncontrolled and Jeopardise the achievement of clients satisfaction. This necessitated the need to develop a system that is capable to manage brief development for the benefit of the client. Since brief development either add values or risks to the project or could add both, the well-established methodologies of value management and risk management were the most appropriate tools to manage dynamic brief development, Because of the obvious benefits of their integration since better value could not be achieved unless associatedr isks have been managed,b oth methodologiesw ere integrated to formulate the Value and Risk Management Protocol (VRMP). The developed protocol is an innovative decision making tool designed to enable clients' organisations and construction professionals adopt the proper decision to develop and manage brief development. It consisted of four steps: identifying problem, structuring objectives, scrutinising alternative solutions, and adopting development decision. Due to the time consumption experienced during the application of the protocol on a real case study and the need to manage large amount of information used, it was essential to utilise the benefit of information management and information technology to overcome these limitations. The VRMP was encapsulatedin a computer-baseda pplication called the Brief Development Manager (BDManager) prototype software. The produced prototype acts as a tool to expedite the implementation of the structured steps of the VRMP in a computer based environment and facilitated collecting, verifying, organising, storing, retrieving, sharing and updating live project information database. In addition, it facilitated inquiring, viewing and printing reports of projects information. The BDManager prototype software was applied on real case studies and evaluated by its users. Evaluation results are encouraging and end users recommended the use and adoption of the produced software as an- innovative IT tool for managing dynamic brief development in construction.

Purposefully-designed buildings are complex by nature, because they are host to a variety of human activities that require them to perform adequately and be well suited to their intended functions. Building ‘performance’ has been an area of major research interest, so that efficient buildings are constructed that operate effectively to support the functional purposes for which they are being used. It is a complex concept that has been difficult to measure and incorporate into building design. Many methods and approaches have been developed to assess ‘performance’ for the purpose of addressing the gap between predicted – and actual – performance. However, it is acknowledged that these methods/approaches lack accuracy, are time consuming and do not provide a holistic view of the complex procedures and processes involved during the design and physical construction of the building. Building Information Modelling (BIM) provides a new way of integrating information technology within the construction industry. Its capability as a digital platform has supported managing, sharing and exchanging interdisciplinary information between multi-disciplinary stakeholders. BIM has supported some aspects of assessing building ‘performance’ by emphasising energy consumption, sustainable design and building behaviour. BIM technology excels in situations that have quantitative-based aspects, which often are derived from those involved in the building delivery process. However, the design of successful buildings-in-use, through concepts like building performance, requires incorporating information from multiple perspectives, which requires going beyond the consideration of the characteristics that are quantitative. This investigation aimed to explore how BIM can enhance the delivery of better construction performance for buildings. A case-study research method was used in this research where data was gathered using semi-structured interviews, documentary analysis, and feedback reports from the building delivery team, facility management team and building occupants. The research journey was developed through three case studies where one case study influenced the direction of the next case study. Initial findings showed that ‘space’ as one of the building aspects was used as a reference concept for building performance because it provided a way for situating different meanings of building performance by different stakeholders. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the findings for each case study. The key finding from the case studies showed that there is a gap between data and experience. ‘Systems thinking’ analysis was used to investigate this gap, as it concerns the complexity, the handling of information modelling and supports addressing ‘softer’ human aspects. It showed that the reason for the gap between data and experience is that different stakeholders see the parts and the whole differently. Soft systems analysis was then used to explore this gap, as it provides a holistic approach to the situation being investigated. The use of this approach allowed the opportunity to understand the problems and possible conflicts within a particular situation. Wilson’s approach of ‘soft systems’ was also used, as it goes beyond conceptual models to information categories, which can support bridging the gap between data and experience. An overview of the problem, emphasising its complexity through proposed themes is presented. The delivery of building performance requires richer representation that acknowledges the significance of different parts in a construction project and how they influence stakeholders. Using the information requirements identified through soft systems analysis, a ‘space strategy model’ was proposed, which suggests that space designs in BIM should, in Zuboff’s concept, be informated in order to identify the significance of different parts of a the build and build design, and support richer cognition of emergent characteristics that influence different experiences within a building project.

This research focuses on developing a Construction Supply Chain Risk Management (CSCRM) framework that can be adapted by developing countries to help construction projects make better use of materials procurement in their organisations, and to improve construction project management by effectively controlling the project to avoid project cost overruns. The research is conducted in Myanmar and all the companies studied, including the case-studies, are operating in Myanmar. The proposed CSCRM framework includes the plan, resources, process and control model part. The model suggests the development of close relationships with various stakeholders of the project for better use of the Risk Management Model. Without a proper CSCRM framework, a construction company in Myanmar can encounter a cost overrun of about three times the estimated total cost. However, the use of the proposed CSCRM framework can minimize the cost overrun by amounts of two times the total project cost. The results of case studies in three construction companies in Myanmar confirm that the proposed model is effective in managing the supply chain of construction projects in Myanmar, with effective mitigation of cost overrun risks and maximization of competitive advantages of the company.

Communication between the parties in a project of an integrated collaborative engineering system has been the subject of active research for many years. The construction industry has a long tradition of collaborative working between the members of the construction team. At the design stage, this has traditionally been based on physical meetings between representatives of the principal design team members. To aid these meetings, the information and communication technologies that are currently available have been used. These Information Technology (IT) tools have produced some success but are held back by the problems posed by the use of diverse software tools and the lack of effective collaboration tools. The collaboration tools are necessary to reduce the time and distance constraints, in the increasingly global design teamwork. IT-supported collaborative construction design refers to actors in product design processing, working together on the same project with IT networks used for mediation to overcome time and geographical constraints. Fragmentation of the project management of a building construction between different specialists may be necessary, but good communication and coordination among the participants is essential to accomplish the overall goals of the project. New information technologies can be helpful in this process, especially the Internet and specialised extranets. A collaborative Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) design environment has been proposed by this research to integrate the work of distributed project participants. Based on identified functional requirements, the conventional building product models have been extended to incorporate high-level concepts such as activity and organisation, which are essential for coordination and collaboration. A generic human-project-human interaction model has been developed, which could not only make the building domain models interaction-aware, but also serve as a base model for developing general interaction utilities. A collaborative design environment prototype has been described, covering the common project workspace, general interaction utilities and multi-user interfaces. This study characterises collaboration as a function of time, space and shared working environment with enabled real-time design tools over the World Wide Web (WWW). To realise the proposal of this research the inter-mediated design communication, visual presentation, integration and organisation frameworks, groupware technology, and interactive multimedia tools are used. This study presents the CODE (COllaborative Design Environment) system. This Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) virtual working space is argued to support collaboration and teamwork in real time. The evaluation of the system showed its feasibility and reliability through a workshop. The results showed that the CODE system can assist the collaborative AEC design process.

Performance measurement has the main aim of helping organizations to realize how decision-making processes can be harnessed to improve success rate in past activities and how the understanding from the current and past can lead to future improvements. Specifically, a comprehensive performance measurement practise must enhance the achievement of the key aim of the project stakeholders, the objectives of the project itself, and the needs of the users all of which should be capable of being represented in raw data to be manipulated and measured by a performance measurement tool. The performance of a project is directly related to its potential for success, and on the other hand, the CSFs of a project have a direct bearing on the project's performance. In essence, the efficiency and effectiveness measures of a project are essential yardsticks for assessing project performance and success. The stakeholders in a project have needs and expectations which the project is being conceived to satisfy, therefore, these needs and expectations must be held paramount during the conceptual design, development execution, and operation stages of a project. This is applicable to the general construction industry and in particular, in construction projects implemented by municipal organisations. However, municipal construction project have been fraught with delays, cost overruns and failure in operational performance. Hence, the overall aim of this research is to develop a framework within which municipal construction project performance can be measured in the SA at any stage of the project, and specifically to increase its effectiveness and efficiency of the project in order to improve the project's performance to the satisfaction of stakeholders. This study was implemented through the administration of a questionnaire survey based on a hypothesis that requires the identification of the challenges and obstacles that are facing the implementation of municipal construction project in SA. The collected data is based on responses from three major organisations; government, contractors and consultants that are involved in the delivery of municipal construction projects in SA. Mean and analysis of variance (ANOVA statistic) was used to manipulate the data from the questionnaire within the SPSS v.20 software environment. The resulting framework was subjected to a validation procedure which involved a structured interview process based on a focus group consisting of experts that were specially selected for the purpose establishing the extent to which the framework is practical, clear, applicable and comprehensive. Also, the focus group was used to determine the significance of the CSFs, PMs, and success (efficiency and effectiveness) measures. Overall, this study found that a total absence of performance measurement concept process permeates the management of construction projects in SA and in the municipality construction projects in particular. To close this gap, this study was embarked upon to investigate and identify the various performance measurement approaches and frameworks that are used to support the guidance of project performance toward success. Notably, this study emphasises the importance of stakeholder needs and expectation forming the bases of municipality construction projects in SA. Specifically, this study suggests that the measurement of project performance in municipality construction projects in SA should be integrated in a holistic framework containing several elements that will help to guide construction projects toward success.