Industrialised, Integrated, Intelligent sustainable Construction - I3con

HANDBOOK 2 SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION
participation of team members does not vary significantly on the interaction of each sustainability
criteria group and the construction phase activities. For the sustainable sites sustainability criteria the
team participation should be: owner 7%, architect 4%, engineer or specialty consultant 8%, general
contractor 37%, trade contractor 36%, and facility manager 8%; for the water efficiency should be:
owner 5%, architect 8%, engineer or specialty consultant 12%, general contractor 31%, trade
contractor 31%, and facility manager 13%; for the energy and atmosphere should be: owner 8%,
architect 4%, engineer or specialty consultant 22%, general contractor 26%, trade contractor 25%, and
facility manager 16%; for the materials and resources should be: owner 6%, architect 5%, engineer or
specialty consultant 0%, general contractor 39%, trade contractor 44%, and facility manager 7%; and
for the environmental quality should be: owner 7%, architect 8%, engineer or specialty consultant
19%, general contractor 27%, trade contractor 27%, and facility manager 12%.
During construction, participation of the architects, engineers and specialty consultants should be very
low and in terms of resolution of inconsistencies in design. Their main participation should be in the
commissioning and acceptance stage. In the sustainable sites sustainability criteria the main players
are the general contractor and the subcontractors; the participation of the owner, facility manager and
design team should be mainly at the acceptance phase. In the water efficiency sustainability criteria
the participation of the team is very similar to their participation in the sustainable sites sustainability
criteria; however the participation of the owner and facility manager should be greater at the
acceptance phase. In the energy and atmosphere the participation of the owner and the architect is low
and mainly affects the acceptance stage. The general contractor and subcontractors play a very
important role, not only on the implementation of the project, but also during training of the facility
manager and final users. The role of the specialty consultants and the facility manager is higher during
the commissioning and acceptance process, because an important amount of equipment, components
and systems should be tested at this point. On the other hand, on the materials and resources
sustainability criteria the main role is the general contractor and subcontractors, the participation of
other team members is very marginal. In the environmental quality sustainability criteria, the
participation of team members should be comparable to their participation on the energy and
atmosphere sustainability criteria.
Finally during operation and maintenance it is expected that the facility serves its function as
intended, that changes are reduced or eliminated, and that call backs are eliminated. There is not a
significant difference on the optimum participation of team members depending on the sustainability
criteria selected, because for most sustainability criteria (with the exception of materials and
resources), the participation of team members is around 75% for facility manager and 25% for a
specialty consultant. On the materials and resources the participation of the facility manager is 100%.
As the opinion of the facility manager and the user has been taken into consideration since the
conceptualization phase, the facility is supposed to reflect all these opinions and no changes are
necessary. During the operation and maintenance phase it is essential to have a program of continuous
training not only for the facility management and maintenance team, but also for all final users. In
addition it is very important to conduct user satisfaction surveys to determine aspects for
improvement.
Conclusions
In order to create sustainable buildings, it is important to provide integrated design, construction and
operation throughout the project; all stakeholders must participate in the planning and design,
requiring a new process for the AEC industry. Factors that need to be considered and that can aid in
successful sustainable buildings include: selection of project team members early in the process,
increased collaborative and open communication, coordination among team members from the start,
and the selection of design options and systems, based on their environmental and social impact
through value engineering.
The integrated project delivery approach has the potential to optimize the sustainability of the project.
Decision making should be incorporated early in the conceptualization and criteria design phases of
the project; therefore, early contribution by all team members is required, so that everyone
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