What can infrastructure projects learn from “A collaborative project delivery method for design of a high-performance building”?

Several researchers from NETLIPSE partner, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, Norway, published an interesting paper on collaboration. To achieve the shift towards sustainable construction the industry must change the project delivery methods used. Therefore, this paper reports on a high-performance building project that implemented a collaborative project delivery method. Most important findings?

  • Early contractor involvement can allow earlier establishment of good project team relations and clarification of project needs.
  • The use of start-up and follow-up workshops in the early phases of a project can further help clarify project needs and design options.
  • A contract model that includes a formal conflict resolution mechanism where conflicts that can not be solved within the team is presented to a committee can avoid conflict escalation.
  • Joint project goals and shared decision making can create a sense of personal commitment to the project and thus contribute to fulfilling both task and team needs.
  • Collaborative project delivery methods are often powerful, but problems can occur when inexperienced client organisations assume that merely choosing a collaborative project delivery method will produce a high-performance building for them, this requires deliberate effort.

You can find the paper via this link