Creating greater project value through constructability

Traditional project delivery philosophies involve the separation of planning, design and construction functions; this is equivalent to designing a product without thinking about how to produce it. Integration of design and construction is a major opportunity to improve total project performance – to begin with the end in mind. Constructability is not the review of completed drawings. It is not a criticism of design. Nor is it the optimisation of construction operations at the expense of other project functions.

Constructability means thinking about how to build a project before it is designed. It is the integration of construction and start up expertise into all phases of the project.

Integrating construction resources into engineering design has been identified as a key factor in achieving reductions in the capital cost of new facilities. The benefits of constructability are cost and schedule improvement by:

• Optimising the design and construction relationship.
• Optimising details and sequence to meet construction needs.
• Dev eloping simplifying methods.
• Minimising labour intensive designs.

Major cost savings and programme improvements can result from effectiv e implementation of constructability. This paper presents guidelines for effective constructability and provides examples where constructability has enhanced project outcomes.