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collaboration: integrated information and the project life cycle in building design, construction and operation
The Architectural/Engineering (AE) Productivity Committee, comprised of representatives from the architectural, engineering, construction, building management, and operations, technology and building products industries, was convened by The Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) to address the perception of inadequate, poorly coordinated AE drawings and the resulting difficulties in the field.
Building owners, particularly those represented within CURT, regularly experience project schedule and cost overruns. As a result, CURT has directed this task force to evaluate how alternative processes—namely, use of information technology combined with changes in project structure and delivery processes—might address these issues. In its initial incarnation, this task force was asked to exclusively address the question of coordination, errors and omissions, and similar quality challenges in AEC documents and processes. After much discussion, it was agreed that these issues are symptoms of the larger issues identified in this paper, and that the larger root causes of quality issues with the AEC production process would be best addressed with the recommendations contained in this paper.
The goal of everyone in the industry should be better, faster, more capable project delivery created by fully integrated, collaborative teams. Owners must be the ones to drive this change, by leading the creation of collaborative, cross-functional teams comprised of design, construction, and facility management professionals.
The Committee concluded that the difficulties experienced in typical construction projects, including those identified by CURT members, are artifacts of a construction process fraught by lack of cooperation and poor information integration. The goal of everyone in the industry should be better, faster, more capable project delivery created by fully integrated, collaborative teams. Owners must be the ones to drive this change, by leading the creation of collaborative, cross- functional teams comprised of design, construction, and facility management professionals. Toward that end, the Committee makes four recommendations and articulates a vision of the future.
The Committee proposes the following four elements of a new policy framework for CURT:
- Owner Leadership: Owners, as the integrating influence in the building process, must engage in and demand that collaborative teams openly share information and use appropriate technology. CURT should establish policy and procedures for implementing change in the AEC industry and encourage other building owner organizations to join the effort.
- Integrated Project Structure: The building process cannot be optimized without full collaboration among all members of the design/build/own project. CURT and other owner organizations should establish policies that support such collaboration.
- Open Information Sharing: Project collaboration must be characterized by open, timely, and reliable information sharing. CURT should advocate the establishment of procedures and protocols to achieve this end.
- Virtual Building Information Models: Effectively designed and deployed information technology will support full collaboration and information sharing and will lead to a more effective design/build/manage process. CURT should endorse establishing technology-based project lifecycles that optimize the creation, interaction, and transport of digital information throughout the building process.
The AE Productivity Committee envisions a building environment substantially changed in the future, where building projects are undertaken by deeply collaborative teams that include all disciplines that contribute to project fruition, and where better, faster, more capable buildings are the norm rather than the exception.
