Search results

Design‐build project delivery will likely yield benefits when it is a rational choice by a program director or owner's construction manager. It is not well understood whether those benefits translate to construction programs where design‐build is mandated for the vast majority of project types. Such a determination for military construction (MILCON) is the purpose of this paper.

The methodology for the research involved a comparison of mean performance metrics for design‐build and design‐bid‐build MILCON projects. Once an appropriate sample of projects was identified, project data were corrected for project location, size and time‐value‐of‐money.

Military design‐build projects did experience a lower total cost of change orders as well as a reduced change order cost associated with field changes. Also, statistical analysis demonstrated no significant difference in project performance metrics based on facility type. These results indicate that design‐build project delivery method can work equally well on all types of MILCON projects and is an effective system for cost and scope control, but that some of the expected schedule performance gains underlying the decision to use design‐build will be difficult to achieve on all MILCON projects.

The paper presents advantages and disadvantages of utilising design‐build to MILCON projects by facility types.

This paper aims to gain more in-depth knowledge in the tendering procedures and organisational typologies of consortia working with integrated contracts for social housing renovation projects and especially in the inherent changes in the role of the architect and his or her relations with the client and consortium members.

In total, 21 Dutch social housing renovation projects using an integrated contract with the involvement of an architect were identified in the period 2005-2013. The study is based on interviews with 13 from 21 architects working in these projects.

The findings indicate that in the majority of these projects, the architect is contracted by the main contractor rather than by the client, the social housing organisation. The new contractual relationship has no significant effect on the relationship of the architect with the social housing organisation and improves the relationship of the architect with the main contractor, consultants, advisors and other consortium members, such as specialist contractors. The architect switches from the role of designer to that of technical and aesthetic advisor, compared to traditional design-bid-build projects.

The findings are based on the first experiences of architects working with integrated contracts for social housing renovation projects. Results may be different for other types of projects.

Architects involved in integrated contracts for housing renovation projects can foresee the implications for their daily work. The study provides useful insights for educational reform to prepare students and practising architects to make the most of the new situation.

The few studies into integrated contracts that refer to the role of the architect have flagged up changes in this role relative to the traditional design-bid-build approach. This study provides in-depth knowledge of the role of the architect in integrated contracts.

For a number of years, the construction industry has seen an ongoing shift from design-bid-build to design-build contracts. This transition in contract type entails changes for both the organizations and the individuals involved. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how the client manages the transition between the different contract types from an organizational change perspective in a project-led organization.

A multiple case study of six infrastructure projects with DB contracts, all managed by the Swedish Transport Administration, was conducted. The major source of data is semi-structured interviews with respondents from both the client and the contractors.

Results suggest that the transition has resulted in a mix of design-bid-build and design-build as contract type owing to issues when changing in a project-led organization. A change in vision also requires a concomitant change in culture, systems and roles.

The study only includes cases from the Swedish transport infrastructure sector, which limits the generalizability. The findings are also indicative owing to the small number of cases.

The findings further our understanding of managing change in complex projects, which might help practitioners to manage change in a more integrated way.

The findings enrich our understanding of the systemic change that a switch in contract types can have in inter-organizational complex projects such as transport infrastructure projects. Furthermore, it emphasizes the intricate task of change management in project-led organizations and its effects on roles and responsibilities.

The renovation of existing building stock is seen as one the most practical ways to achieve the high energy savings targets for the built environment defined by European authorities. In France, the Grenelle environmental legislation addresses the need to renovate the building stock and specifically stresses the key role of social housing organisations. In recent years, French procurement rules have been modified in order to allow social housing organisations to make use of integrated contracts such as Design-Build-Maintain. These contracts have a greater potential to deliver energy savings in renovation projects than do traditional project delivery methods, like Design-bid-Build. This is because they facilitate collaboration between the various actors and boost their commitment to the achievement of project goals. In order to evaluate the estimated potential of such contracts to achieve energy savings, two renovation projects (carried out by two French social housing organisations) were analysed from their inception until the end of construction work. The analysis is based on written tender documents, technical evaluation reports, observations of the negotiation phase (in one of the cases) and interviews with the main actors involved. Findings show that Design-Build-Maintain contracts do indeed offer substantial energy savings. Both projects achieved higher energy targets than those initially required. Furthermore, the energy results are guaranteed by the contractor, through a system of bonuses and penalties. Other results demonstrate that, compared to previous Design-bid-Build renovation projects, these projects were completed in less time (from project inception to completion of the work) and at virtually the same cost. There has also been a substantial improvement in cooperation between the actors involved.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influencing factors of cost performance of design-bid-build (DBB) and design-build (DB) projects and comparing the differences of influencing factors between these two delivery methods.

This research identified and refined 14 influencing factors through literature review and academic expert discussions. Questionnaire survey was conducted to collect data about the influencing factors and project cost performance. Then those factors were reduced to four components by factor analysis. Logistic regression analysis is used to investigate the relationship between four principal components and project cost performance.

The results indicate that the significant influencing factors of project cost performance of DBB projects and DB projects are different. For DBB projects, owner abilities, such as owner team ability, owner experience, and owner finance, are important influencing factors causing cost overruns, while for DB projects cost performance is more sensitive to the contractor abilities, namely, contractor team ability, contractor finance, contractor experience, etc.

The results of the paper are mainly derived by quantitative research method based on the survey of 144 samples, so the results may need validation by qualitative studies. Further research could apply case study or interview to validate the findings in this research. In addition, project type and location are not considered as control variables due to the limited number of samples, future research could be conducted to investigate their relationship with project performance.

The findings of this research not only help practitioners have a better understanding of the factors influencing project cost performance, but also provide some guidelines for practitioners to pay attention to different factors to better control the cost performance within different delivery systems.

Owner ability and contractor ability are found to be of different importance in influencing cost performance of DBB and DB projects. This research extends previous research on cost management by considering different significant factors in influencing project cost performance within DBB and DB projects.

Despite growing evidence of the impact of school facilities on wellbeing and educational outcomes, no attention has been given to understanding this impact in relation to the interrelationship of design and procurement and their combined effect. This paper aims to address this gap by presenting the outcomes of a study of the design/procurement relationship pre-opening and post-opening of schools.

Qualitative case study methodology enabled in-depth exploration of six Australian Government schools procured through “public private partnerships” (PPP) or “design & construct” (D&C) and “design, bid, build” (DBB). Data collected through interviews with architects, education department officers, school principals and teachers were analysed thematically using techniques aligned with grounded theory methodology.

The paper reports three key findings: pre-opening of schools, budget impacts design similarly for procurement across PPP and (D&C/DBB) case schools; pre-opening of schools, prescriptive design impacts procurement similarly across PPPs and D&C/DBB schools; post-opening of schools, procurement impacts design and school operation in different ways across PPP and D&C/DBB schools. These findings point to a fundamental finding that it is design and procurement together that impacts well-being and educational outcomes as experienced by principals and teachers.

This research may be of practical value for education departments, architects, facility managers, school principals and teachers.

This paper provides original evidence of the relationship between procurement and design and their combined impact on student well-being and educational outcomes.

Effective inter-organisational relationships are key to engendering innovation and ensuring the successful delivery of infrastructure projects. Relationship-based contracts are thus widely used to stimulate best-for-project ideals and attenuate the otherwise adversarial relationship that often exists between clients and contractors. This study examines the effectiveness and limitations of a project facilitation model as coaching tool for developing conducive inter-organisational relationships for construction project delivery.

The study adopts a case-study approach using evidence from triangulated data sources of focus group workshops, semi-structured interviews and document analysis.

(1) The facilitation model enabled an environment for psychological safety to be developed, which engendered a platform for effective cooperation for problem-solving and achieving quasi best-for-project ideals. (2) The model provides the mechanism to develop team behaviours that support enhanced performance and create an environment less adversarial and more collaborative than traditional contracting.

The novelty of this research is that relationship-based principles have been utilised as part of a traditional design-bid-build contract with lump-sum payment arrangements.

Delays during construction are one of the common scenarios in the construction industry. The purpose of this paper is to identify the primary causes of delays in the construction phase of building construction projects in China.

Questionnaire survey approach was adopted across the four typical cities in China, namely, Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Shenzhen. In total, 115 sets of valid responded questionnaires were collected and analyzed.

The results show that the causes of variations, delays in progress payments, exceptionally low bids and subcontractors’ poor performance and communication issues were the most important causes of delays in China.

This research is the first questionnaire survey on the causes of delays in the construction phase of building construction projects in China. The comparative analysis shows two unique causes of delays in the Chinese construction industry, such as “difficulty in claiming indemnity” and “unreasonable upfront capital demanded by client.” It also reveals different ranked causes of delays as per distinguished political and economic situations in China. The research findings can be referred by construction projects in other countries that are funded or partnered with China.

The paper aims to reveal the most functioning project delivery systems for nearly zero-energy building (nZEB) projects. The focus is set to reveal the qualities of the systems that support the nZEB goals and sustainability.

Research method used in this paper is inductive reasoning. The reasoning is based on existing literature, and conclusions are drawn by combining pieces of that literature.

The state-of-the-art heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) and insulation requirements of nZEB technology and the lack of experience in the industry regarding nZEB projects suggest that modern collaboration-based project delivery systems should be favoured. The authors found that the most suitable project delivery system for a standard nZEB project is the integrated project delivery (IPD), which binds the financial goals of the main parties together via a reimbursement solution: target pricing. The authors also found the construction management (CM) at-risk system a suitable solution, especially if it is modified by adding the tools utilised in the IPD approach, thereby making it an IPD lite system.

The paper has value for the entire construction industry in Finland and European Union (EU). The owners and construction companies can use the findings in their development efforts towards nZEB construction. The EU 2020 nZEB degree makes all the findings concerning practicalities of nZEB projects valuable due to the lack of time and the lack of experience in the industry.

While many procurement systems govern the construction sector, Design/Bid/Build is still prominent among the French building actors. The research applies Lean thinking (via a kaizen event) to the bidding phase of a building construction company to improve its bidding outputs.

The method used in this study is “Action-Research”. A two-month preparation phase was needed to prepare for the kaizen event. The results were based on an assessment conducted after 6 months of the kaizen event. Performance was measured following selected indicators related to ‘Time’, “Economical Impact”, “Quality” and “Sustainability”.

The Lean implementation had positive side-effects on the company’s organization and strategy as well.

The findings of this action-research project can be used to help researchers and practitioners assess the potential application of Lean in the bidding phase. It also provides insights into the importance of the cultural and existing practices for a successful Lean implementation.

A few research projects investigated the application of Lean thinking in bidding as it is considered as a wasteful process. However, waste can also be organized. The research proves that bidding can benefit from Lean thinking.