Industrialised, Integrated, Intelligent sustainable Construction - I3con

HANDBOOK 2 SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION
The design phase is divided into three stages: criteria design, detailed design and implementation
documents. The criteria design stage main objectives are to evaluate different design options and to
select the most appropriate for the project, to finalize the definition of scope of work, and to define the
basis and criteria of design according to the owner’s project requirements. Ideally the subcontractors
should come on board at this stage. Afterwards, the detailed design main objectives are to finalize the
design and to reach agreement on tolerances between subcontractors. Finally the main objectives of
the implementation documents stage are to determine the construction means and methods and to start
the process of shop drawings and prefabrication. The role of each team member will change
throughout the design process.
For interaction between the sustainable sites sustainability criteria and the criteria design activities the
team participation distribution based on the matrix is: owner 14%, architect 24%, engineer or
specialty consultant 34%, general contractor 21%, trade contractor 7%, and facility manager 0%.
Those percentages change when entering the detailed design as follows: owner 12%, architect 21%,
engineer or specialty consultant 35%, general contractor 16%, trade contractor 16%, and facility
manager 0%. And for the implementation documents the participation is owner 0%, architect 20%,
engineer or specialty consultant 31%, general contractor 25%, trade contractor 24%, and facility
manager 0%. During the criteria design the participation of the owner is very important to finalize the
scope definition and on the selection of design alternatives. During the detailed design his/her main
role is on the establishment of required quality levels. On the other hand for the period of
implementation documents the owner does not have much contribution because major definitions and
decisions have already been made. The participation of the facility manager is not very significant for
the interaction of sustainability criteria and the design phase. On the other hand, the participation of
the architect is high at the beginning of design but is reduced throughout the process, because he/she
is not the main designer for most of the building systems, and the architect acts as support for the
engineers or specialty consultants. The role of the engineers or specialty consultants is very important
because they are the main designers in terms of sustainable sites sustainability criteria. Contrary to the
traditional construction process, all engineering systems are completely defined and the knowledge of
engineers and specialty consultants is included in the schematic design; therefore the sustainability of
the project is optimized.
Another important difference compared to a traditional project is the early input from the general
contractor and the trade contractors, which influence the sustainability of the project. Their
participation allows truly finalizing the design before construction starts, because most design
inconsistencies are detected during constructability reviews of the design phase; therefore changes to
design during the construction phase will be reduced. In addition prefabrication can start before actual
construction begins, allowing a quicker and leaner process.
In terms of the interactions between the water efficiency criteria and the design phase, the team
participation based on the matrix should be during the criteria design: owner 13%, architect 19%,
engineer or specialty consultant 37%, general contractor 16%, trade contractor 10%, and facility
manager 5%; during the detailed design owner 9%, architect 22%, engineer or specialty consultant
38%, general contractor 9%, trade contractor 16%, and facility manager 5%; and during the
implementation documents owner 0%, architect 21%, engineer or specialty consultant 34%, general
contractor 17%, trade contractor 28%, and facility manager 0%. The participation is very similar to
the participation on the interaction between sustainable sites sustainability criteria and the design
phase. The owner has a greater participation during the criteria design but his/her participation is
reduced on the implementation documents. The participation of engineers and specialty consultants is
important and is very constant throughout the design phase, because they are the main designers of the
plumbing and irrigation system; therefore they should participate when the determination of scope is
being finalized, the definition of bases or criteria of design and the final design of the system. The
participation of the general contractor and subcontractors is very similar to their participation on the
past interaction. The architect plays a role of support for the engineers and specialty consultant and
helps on the selection of sanitary artefacts. The participation of the facility manager is higher
compared to that defined in the sustainable sites sustainability criteria because he/she plays an
important role in the scope definition and on the establishment of required quality levels.
71