The Importance Of A Better Information Exchange

Management of construction projects needs skills and knowledge in modern management and comprehension of construction and design process. In construction projects, the relevant technology processes, and arrangements differ, but common sequence of events apply. Construction projects generally require a specification of the project plans and objectives that entail budgeting, scope, setting of performance requirements, scheduling, and project participants (Rojas, 2009). It also requires project management specifics like the resource utilization by procurement of materials, labor, and equipment to project plan and schedule. In addition, it leads to implementation of several operations by effective control, estimation, design, construction, and contracting (Mincks & Johnston, 2010). The sequence of events occurring in the construction phase is categorized into three broad areas including foundation, structural, and finishes sequence.

Over the past few years, the construction industry has been changing dramatically. One of the most important stages in the construction management and business management is the planning phase. They share similar two main levels of planning which are the strategic and operational planning. However, business management planning to decide in advance what should be done, and how to do it, when you do and you are done. On the other hand, Construction management strategic planning is to deal with selection on a high level of overall objective of the project, including the scope, procurement methods, schedules and financing options but the planning of operations, including the

This essay aims to offer an outline of the main points and aspects of the scope and importance of Building Information Modelling in three key areas in construction projects:

In his paper, the author explains us how the technology advancement is taking place, how 2D modelling started initially, how it led to 3D modelling and now how building information modelling techniques are being linked to 3D modelling. BIM is not just about modelling, but it also includes project planning, design and construction. He clearly explains what BIM is in the form of a flow chart. Where he says that B in BIM stands for Residential, commercial, healthcare, institutional, sports and entertainment, I in BIM stands for Spatial, element, systems, quantities, schedule, operations and M in BIM stands for site, architectural, structural, MEP systems, sustainability and management. This all phases of the program are a continuous chain where programming, design, pre construction, construction, operations, and demolition are done. This research also supports that the concept of building information modelling is not only useful for the building’s geometric modelling, but also it can assist in the management of construction projects. In this research, the author has collected information from 35 construction projects that have already utilized BIM. The most common result that was observed was the cost reduction. For some people, BIM is a software application, where as for others, it is a process for designing and documenting

The design and construction of buildings can be a complicated business involving different professions, contractors, sub-contractors and operatives. This type of work is varied and employs many construction personnel with different roles and responsibilities, working together to complete a project in as successful way- on time, on budget and to the right specification. A large project would involve a great number of different activities:

The Sydney Opera House was constructed in the year 1973 and is considered as one of the greatest constructions made ever in the history. Even though construction of project faced several problems due to lack of presence of project management skills in the effectively managing resources available and integrating them to the business activities involved in the completion of the project (Anter, Hansson, McNaught-Reynolds, & Tessard, 2009). Sydney Opera House is a huge construction that involves various phases of development of the project, and complexity involved in construction of the project is also high. When a project that was expected to consume lot of resources in terms of time and cost is more crucial for the organisation to adopt appropriate project management technologies to manage resources and provide integration between various departments working for the organisation. Construction of Sydney Opera House was started in the year 1959 and its budget was estimated to be $ 7 million and project has to be completed before 1963 therefore estimated duration was planned

It is clear to see that throughout the project the tasks and progress were monitored very closely. The project is heavily dependent on the resources provided by its shareholders and in turn they rely on regular updates to reassure them on their investment. In the construction and building industry the methods and application of project management tools are very reliable and well tested. Therefore, it could benefit the project if the it was managed with detailed and defined practises and also follow standards set and agreed upon on a international level.

Let’s discuss the second phase first. Upon approval of architecture and engineering plans by respective authorities, actual construction works begin. Construction firm would then need to decide whether to carry out the work on its own or engage market construction players. In view of the uniqueness and the need of wide range of technologies characteristic of construction industry, Costantino (1996) assert that economies of scale (i.e. faster construction time, reduce construction cost, reduce liability exposure and greater flexibility) can only be met by using a variety of resources that are generally not entirely available within a firm.

The productivity decline in the construction industry in recent years is mainly due to the schedule and cost overruns, poor coordination between the project participants and ineffective planning. Integrated project delivery (IPD) solves these issues by integrating project participants, processes, practices, systems, business and work structures into a process that collaboratively harnesses the talents, ideas and insights of everyone involved in the project. This method

The current state consists of fragmented processes, which is the source of all productivity issues and inefficiency in the construction industry. The future state should be “project focused” rather than “process focused”. To achieve this desired future state it is essential that these processes are transformed to a more integrated approach. There should be better collaboration between the different stakeholders in the industry such as architects, builders, owners and regulatory agencies that issues permits. In the current, traditional system of project delivery, the relationship between these involved parties are adversarial. This can lead to the project being marred with schedule delays, budget overruns, poor quality, and disputes and litigations between the parties involved, as they play the “blame game” refusing to take liability or responsibility for the different processes. The desired future state can be reached through incorporating the more collaborative delivery methods that are gaining popularity, like Design Build and Integrated Project Delivery. These systems are based on information and risk sharing. IPD especially has a potential to incorporate Lean Construction practices and Target Value Design in the process. The alliance of the owner, builder, design professional and other specialty consultants for the project, can communicate effectively with each other on a common platform of knowledge sharing. Problems that may arise during construction or design

Over time, businesses are adopting the integrated project delivery and project partnering in place of traditional delivery methods. Adopting integrated project delivery methods are advantageous since they help reduce costs, do away with waste as well as improving productivity hence positive project outcomes (Burcin &Karen, 2010). IPD works in a way such as all team members integrate with each other. For instance, the owner, construction manager, architect, engineers, subcontractors, and even technical vendors work together. IPD is an effective tool because it involves all team members who work collaboratively to ensure the success of the project. In the construction industry, IPD goes hand in hand with BIM. The alignment of the software BIM is leading the path for collaboration and the merging of all facets of project delivery – architectural, engineering, mechanical, construction, costing, programming, and life cycle management. The ability to unite all facets of the design and construction into a shared model is beneficial from numerous

It is hard to find any industry that has not been significantly impacted by the technology revolution, and the construction industry is no exception. In this technology driven age, construction project managers and contractors have access to a number of software options that offer the logistic and administrative support necessary to create a streamlined, efficient process that has the capacity to increase productivity, improve communication and reduce overall costs.

The complexity of a modern construction project, especially in a fast track environment, necessities the use of Building Information Management (BIM) system to manage such a project to provide the necessary probable cost outcomes of alternative designs ahead of the actual construction times. The visualization of such alternative designs through ‘prototyping’ design solutions has the definite advantage of identifying

interdependence of activities, phase evedaPs- work fragmentatioti, complex organisational sitneture and uncertainty in accurate predictton of desired outcomes. In the engineering and construction industry, larger usually use matrix Organization for the management of projects. Matrix organilation iemains-a complex structure. project activities an= highly inter-dependent as they are intricately connected and have a complex process relationship. For example, it is not only upstream activities, which affect the downstream activities, but the reverse is also true. Thousands of These interdependent activities make up an intricately linked human activity system. in the case of a large engineering project. Information transfer is essential and iterations typical. De la Can (1994) considers work fragmentation involving multiple organizations, 4 major challenge:Owner, design firms, construction firms. equipment, agencies, end users, facility operators, maintenance teams and demolition firms are some of the participants involved in the life cycle of any constructed facility. The large number of participants in the project causes the problems of fragmentation. Project participants exchange infommtion back-and-forth at all times. Adversarial relationships between organizations may also arise due to work fragmentation. The duration of some activities is unpredictable, especially in negotiation, obtaining

The construction industry has the most adverse and complex projects due to the involvement of large funds, infrastructure, economy of a nation and also large portion of the society. Due to this complexity, the projects suffer a lot of fragmentations, conflicts and disputes, large production of waste, project cost and time overruns etc. Due to increase in these types of projects, there are lots of new techniques being developed in the industry i.e. partnering, joint venture, outsourcing, alliances, enterprise resource planning, Total quality management(Hai, Yusof et al. 2012) to tackle the challenges. We have seen a lot of projects which are not delivered on time due to all these reasons. All the techniques work on one important and vital aspect i.e. coordination, without it there can be no successful completion of any project. The more the project is complex the more complexity involved in coordination. Christchurch rebuild has faced similar problems during the last 5 years, the reason to which it has not been completed until now is lack of proper coordination between the involved parties. There is lot of misunderstanding between the parties involved in the process of construction due lack of proper coordination mechanisms and techniques. The delay in delivery of the project is hampering the image of Christchurch on a global scale. I have addressed a few