Industrialised, Integrated, Intelligent sustainable Construction - I3con

SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION HANDBOOK 2
The knowledge of the construction professionals
The separation of the responses between each construction professional (Quantity Surveyor, Building
Contracting and the Architect) will highlight differences in the opinions. As all of these professionals
are included within a construction contract in the development of a new building, differing views may
contribute to further barriers to the inclusion of sustainable FM at an early stage in the construction
process as shown in Table 1. The table shows the top three/four barriers reducing the level of
integration of FM at the early stages of a construction project. Lack of knowledge rates highly with
both the architects and building contractors and can be linked to the knowledge of design, the enduser
or management to implement it within a facility. Client constraints are the only top barrier to
focus within each profession and are most important in 100% of the design/architecture organisations.
This furthers on the focus of construction being around the client as they are the party who will
finance the completed facility. Financial constraints also rate at a 100% level within
design/architecture organisations which also links with strict budgets they must design within.
Financial constraints rate highly with Quantity Surveyors as they understand the process of cost
management on construction projects.
The design/architecture organisations are the only professional sector to agree the FM will ensure the
design of a new building meets the needs of the end-user. Excluding 9% of quantity surveying
respondents, all major respondents agree that the inclusion of FM within the design of a new building
is a route to achieving sustainable development. These differing views of the professionals within
construction show a knowledge chasm between what can be achieved by including the FM in design.
Unless all parties to a contract can agree, then the client is unlikely to be influenced and the barriers
will remain.
Table 1. The main barriers reducing the level of FM integration at the briefing and design by
profession
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Quantity Surveyors Building Contractors Architects
1 Lack of awareness Lack of awareness Client Constraints
2 Client Constraints Client Constraints Financial Constraints
3 Financial Constraints Lack of Management Commitment Lack of Knowledge
4 Time Constraints Lack of Knowledge
Conclusions
Construction is a fragmented industry, due to its nature as a project delivery industry. Furthermore,
the industry has a huge impact on the environment. It is therefore well positioned to leverage the
sustainability agenda. The current literature highlighted an abundance of industry criticisms regarding
its poor performance, lack of co-ordination, communication and learning processes. The goal of the
industry is to deliver well-designed, quality products to fully meet client requirements on time and
within budget. This severely clashes with the critique of the Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) reports
which highlighted the lack of co-ordination between the design and operational phases that often does
not provide value to the end-user. A holistic view of construction is required to provide value
throughout lifecycle of project.
Two questionnaire surveys were conducted to evaluate the drivers and barriers for the practice of
integrated sustainable design and FM. The research showed the overwhelming fragmentation of
interests that currently exists within construction and provides little value to the client/end-user. The
results showed that construction professionals agree to a large extent that FM will ensure the design of