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\"For many years the way the design process was managed in the commercial design and construction industry was a topic of great interest to academics and a small cadre of professionals who were early adopters of new project delivery methods. The issue has now burst into the mainstream as the pace of change has quickened the industry's transformation to team-approach design and construction. Through candid interviews with 40 industry luminaries and a set of actionable tools and best practices, the book helps readers do the impossible : manage design. Written in a relatable style this book is a welcome lever for owners, contractors, and designers in search of better ways to work together\"-- Provided by publisher.

This paper analyzes the benefits and problems of the early involvement contractor into projects and the use of project managers from the perspective of each stakeholder. Interviews were conducted with clients, architects, general contractors, and outsourced owner's representative firm as a PM/CM consultants to compare each stakeholder's responses regarding the early involvement of general contractors into projects and the use of outsourced owner's representatives to identify the benefits and problems. The possibility that these two trends can coexist and complement each other's issues was indicated and the characteristics of the expected role of outsourced owner's representatives in Japan were also pointed out.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to determine the barriers and constraints executive decision-makers have to face during the delivery method selection stage of water and wastewater projects using alternative project delivery (APD) methods, e.g. design-build (DB), design-build-operate (DBO) and construction management-at-risk (CMAR).Design/methodology/approachStructured interviews were conducted with 18 executive decision-makers from public agencies to identify the reasons for transitioning to APD from the design-bid-build (DBB) method. Respondents were also asked about the major obstacles they faced during the decision-making process, as well as key positive and negative factors in using APD methods. The executive decision-makers were also asked about their lessons learned during this process. In addition, this study collected key steps in making APD water and wastewater projects successful. All of the findings from the interview phase were validated by seven public agency executive decision-makers of water and wastewater industries.FindingsOne major study finding was that executive decision-makers chose the APD method because it provided cost and schedule benefits and the owner could also choose the designer or builder based on qualifications. The study also found that the main obstacles executive decision-makers faced were: (1) difficulty in implementing APD methods because they do not follow the low-bid process, (2) reluctance to use DB/CMAR because of the status quo and (3) unfamiliarity of city councils/elected commissions with the DB/CMAR process. The validation survey found that most findings from the initial phase of interviews were confirmed by the executives who took part in validation phase.Research limitations/implicationsThe major limitation of this research is the small sample size. As the executive decision-makers are very hard to reach for interviews, the authors failed to get interviews from a large number of them, despite repeated efforts made by the authors. Another limitation of this study is that the authors contacted most of the executive decision-makers listed in the WDBC list. These executive decision-makers worked for public agencies and, therefore, the views from private agencies could not be included in this research. The authors understand that the validation of the study findings is very important. However, due to the scope and limited time available for the research, the authors could not validate the findings of this study with other public agencies.Practical implicationsSelecting APD methods instead of DBB methods in water and wastewater projects for public agencies is a crucial issue during the project planning phase. Agencies' executive decision-makers need to understand the advantages and disadvantages of APD methods, along with the transition process in order to smoothly deliver projects. The findings of this study will assist public agency executive decision-makers to mitigate risks, overcome obstacles and become more educated about the APD method process, so that these projects can be successfully delivered within budget and on time.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the existing body of knowledge by identifying lessons learned related to various APD method issues, which can be utilized by municipal executive decision-makers to successfully complete future APD projects.

Despite convergence shown by different schools of thought on the correlation between efficient risk management practices and enhanced delivery of sustainable construction projects, the knowledge gap on the use of professional indemnity insurance (PII) is still persistent in Africa, particularly in Zambia. This paper examined factors influencing the use of PII to manage construction risks. It has identified the main factors influencing the use of PII, assessed their influence and respondents’ consensus level in the Zambia context. Data were collected qualitatively using a two-round Delphi survey. Ten field experts were selected, including construction professionals, contractors and surety providers. Experts’ opinion positioned premium and legal framework as highly influential with a median of within the range of 9 to 10; surety prequalification and stakeholders’ interest as being influential with a median equal to 7. Except for surety prequalification and stakeholders’ interest, which had weak consensus with an Interquartile Range greater than or equal to 2.75, the other six factors (surety service quality, surety, construction firm relationships, competition in the industry, and construction firm level of awareness) reached a good consensus with an Interquartile Range within the range of 1 to 2.75. Embedded with the ability to influence other factors, legal framework acts as focal point to improve access of PII and therefore needs adequate and contextualized amendments.

Design- build (DB) is a much-used project delivery system with operational variations for different needs and situations. Yet, novel applications have to be strived for as all current applications have some drawbacks. Accordingly, by means of a constructive research approach, this study focuses on a DB procedure that exploits the parties' collaboration in order to improve the economic efficiency of construction projects. It is called \"design-build with a development phase\" (DBd). In the procedure, the owner and the selected contractor continue the development of the project solution in co-operation, adhering to the principle of benefit sharing, which is enabled by pre-agreed rules and the benchmark solution, formed as a result of price-inclusive contractor selection. More precisely, this paper presents the DBd procedure and how it was initially constructed and eventually applied in some road infrastructure projects. The paper also reports the related experiences, which were positive based on the improved value for money in the trial projects. Thus, the paper offers a novel option for the industry to improve its performance and contributes by disproving the dominant view, which has been guiding the formulation and use of the current project delivery practices, that price-inclusive competition and collaborative development thereafter could not be matched successfully.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate and determine the time and cost performance of progressive design-build (PDB) projects compared with that of design-build (DB) projects. The objective is to provide empirical evidence on the performance of PDB delivery method.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative research approach was used by analyzing time and cost data collected on 75 PDB and 92 DB projects from the database of Design-Build Institute of America. One-way analysis of variance was used to determine statistical difference in time and cost performance between PDB and DB.FindingsPDB projects have a comparatively better time performance than cost performance. When compared with DB projects, there was a statistically significant difference in time overrun with PDB performing better than DB (0.41 vs 8.0%). Additionally, about 80% of PDB projects had shorter or as scheduled duration compared to 74% for DB. There was no statistically significant difference of cost performance between PDB and DB.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation is the sample size of 72 PDB projects. It is recommended that further research should be conducted using a larger sample size to confirm the findings of this study.Practical implicationsPDB will be more beneficial for projects with sensitive deadlines. For an owner deciding between PDB and DB, the advantage of using PDB is in its time performance, which may lead to the project being completed on or ahead of time. As such, PDB can serve as another “tool in the toolbox” for owners to help in reducing construction delays.Originality/valueThis paper is the first attempt to provide an empirical evidence of the cost and time performance of PDB based on analyzing multiple projects. Owners will be better informed when selecting PDB for their projects.

The design–build (DB) project delivery method has been used for several decades in the US construction market. DB contracts are usually awarded on the basis of a multicriteria evaluation, with price as one of the most salient criteria. To ensure the project’s success, an owner usually has to invest enough time and effort during scoping and early design to define a program, scope, and budget, ready for procurement and price generation. However, this process can become a burden for the owner and may lengthen the project development duration. As an alternative to the traditional DB, the progressive design–build (PDB) approach permits the selection of the DB team prior to defining the project program and/or budget. PDB has the advantage of maintaining a single point of accountability and allowing team selection based mainly on qualifications, with a limited consideration of price. Under PDB, the selected team works with the project stakeholders during the early design stage, while helping the owner balance scope and budget. However, the key to the effectiveness of PDB is its provision for the ongoing and complete involvement of the owner in the early design phase. Due to the differences between PDB and the other project delivery methods (e.g., traditional DB), project teams must carefully consider several factors to ensure its successful implementation. The research team conducted a case study of the University of Washington’s pilot PDB project to complete the West Campus Utility Plant (WCUP). This paper carefully explores and summarizes the project’s entire delivery process (e.g., planning, solicitation, design, and construction), its organizational structures, and the project performance outcomes. The lessons learned from the WCUP project will contribute to best practices for future PDB implementation.

Public clients’ procurement strategies are central in facilitating innovation towards sustainability. In the infrastructure sector, the three main project activities—design, production, and maintenance—are traditionally not procured in an integrated way, which results in sub-optimizations and a lack of life cycle perspective. As project actors are accustomed to traditional, non-integrated forms of contract, implementing integrated contracts imposes fundamental changes to the interdependencies among actors, resources, and activities. This study analyzes the interfaces among key project actors and the related interdependencies across design, production, and maintenance in Design–Build–Maintain contracts, and initiates a discussion on how to manage these interdependencies when implementing integrated contracts. This study of circular public procurement (CPP) focused on three infrastructure projects using integrated contracting and applied the industrial network approach (INA) to analyze interdependencies in how they may influence innovation and sustainable development. The study found significant obstacles to clients obtaining the benefits of integrated contracting and concludes that understanding interdependencies is necessary to implement integrated contracts successfully. The study contributes to the construction management literature by adapting the INA to contracting, and to the CPP literature by providing empirical evidence of sustainability and circularity in infrastructure projects.

Purpose>The success rate of design-build (D-B) implementation in Malaysia’s private construction projects is low compared to the nation’s public projects. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical success factors (CSFs) for D-B implementation in Malaysian public construction projects.Design/methodology/approach>To achieve the research objectives, 111 questionnaire survey responses from construction-related professionals were collected and analysed using multivariate analysis, including t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and factor analysis.Findings>The results indicate that while the client’s briefing effectiveness remained the top CSF among many nations, the other top CSFs in Malaysia D-B construction projects vastly differed compared to those countries. Moreover, the underlying components for successful D-B projects in Malaysia include the project management team, leader competency and “stakeholder” management.Originality/value>This is one of the first studies that identify the CSFs for D-B implementation in the Malaysian construction industry. The outcomes provide a valuable reference and resource for academic scholars and construction practitioners to increase D-B implementation in the Malaysian private sector.

Purpose Design-Build (D-B) is a project delivery method in which the owner procures both design and construction services in the same contract from a single legal entity. There is limited research on how communication among parties influences the success of D-B projects. The purpose of this paper is to examine D-B communication issues and provides effective practices on communication to improve D-B procurement processes in the USA. Design/methodology/approach The research methodology for this study includes a comprehensive review of literature, survey questionnaire, and structured interviews. A questionnaire was developed to collect data from professionals with an average of 23 years of experience related to D-B procurement. Eight structured interviews were conducted to verify and validate the survey questionnaire results. Findings The results showed that the communication issues vary along with each phase of the D-B process. The primary communication practices influencing the success of D-B projects are: establishing clear points of contact; providing clear and understandable information among stakeholders during the D-B process; and the timely sharing of information to all stakeholders. Research limitations/implications The chief limitation of this research is that the primary data were mostly opinions from experts although several empirical data were collected for cross-validation. This research did not consider the relationship of relevant contract clauses and communication issues. Practical implications The findings from this paper will help professionals better understand the D-B procurement process. Originality/value This is one of the first attempts to discuss D-B communication issues in each different phase of a D-B project.