INDIVIDUAL ESSAY 1

BUQS4029
MARK ELIAS
563464
Introduction

This essay is a reading response to a study from the Journal of Construction Engineering and
Management titled “Benefits of Constructability on Construction Projects” by George Jergeas, P.E.,
and John Van der Put, P.E. The study focuses on how the application of constructability principles,
throughout the project life cycle, can have a wide array of benefits for all project stakeholders. The
study highlights the gaps between the potential benefits and the actual realised benefits of applying
constructability principles on construction projects. The study then discusses the various barriers
that are currently hindering the implementation of constructability principles on construction
projects.

Main thoughts and ideas

The authors of the study first and foremost wish to position the reader to gain an understanding that
there are potential benefits of using constructability principles that are not being realised on
construction projects. The authors then compare, through a case study, done in Alberta, Canada the
potential benefits and the usual benefits realised in practice on the construction project.
The authors are trying to address the issue of unrealised benefits that the utilisation of
constructability principles can bring to a project and raise awareness to construction professionals
that there are benefits to be had.

The authors’ argument is that although there are these potential benefits and gains to be had, they
are not realised due to the implementation of constructability principles facing many barriers within
the industry, the study explores some of those barriers for the reader. The study’s overarching aim is
to illustrate to the reader that there are benefits to be had by optimising project delivery through
the use of constructability principles, these principles being one piece of a four-part package which
includes value engineering, strategic alliances and risk management.

One of the key concepts of this study was learning of the various constructability principles and the
gaining of a better understanding of terms such as constructability, maintainability and operability.
The study explains that constructability should be an important aspect of each phase of the project.

The meaning of the word “Constructability” as defined by The Construction Industry Institute is “the
optimum use of construction knowledge and experience in planning, engineering, procurement and
field operations to achieve overall objectives” (Jergeas and Put, 2001). With this definition of
constructability, one would be correct in saying that constructability goes hand I hand with
collaboration of project stakeholders. This seems extremely similar to collaborative BIM practices,
which have been used to plan construction activities in a virtual environment before undertaking the
activities in the real world. This collaborative BIM effort does directly translate to an increase in
constructability, maintainability and operability of the project.

One of the more modern ways of increasing a project’s constructability, maintainability and
operability is the use of BIM and common data environments. Common Data Environments (CDE)
are platforms used to store ALL the project’s information which can be accessible by all involved
stakeholders, at any time. The main objective of using BIM is to maintain “a golden thread” of
information pertaining to a specific project. This information would have been generated throughout
the complete project life cycle, from conception to operation and management, and would have
relied on collaborative inputs from all stakeholders linked to the project. The topics of collaborative
BIM, CDE’s and BIM itself have been explored thoroughly throughout the year in more than one of
our courses. These all contribute to an improved understanding of construction management
profession and principles.

Authors’ thought and ideas

The concept that is the most interesting to me is the fact that previous construction projects had a
little to no collaboration between the different stakeholders. This seems counter productive from
the outset and opens the project up to failure, should one of the independently working
stakeholders, not perform as intended at any stage of the project.
The main idea the author’s are trying to impart onto the readers is that stakeholder collaboration
can benefit a project in many ways, ranging from cost and time savings to meeting environmental
regulations and government policies (Jergeas and Put, 2001).
Another concept that I found to be interesting was that of “integrated value management”, which
seems to be brought about through project and construction managers.

If I could speak to the authors a question, I would ask them what they thought about BIM being used
as a tool for stakeholder collaboration?
Does the use of BIM make it easier for constructions projects to implement constructability
principles and to tap into the potential benefits?

Conclusion

Applying constructability principles from the outset of projects is a must if projects are to be
completed on time, on budget and with little, to no harm done to the surrounding environment. The
article being published in the year 2001 may be lacking current information and trends regarding
stakeholder collaboration on construction projects. The article argues that constructability principles
rely heavily on stakeholder collaboration throughout each phase of the project. This concept has
strong ties to collaborative BIM practices and the idea of a “golden thread” of information,
generated and used from the inception of a project right through to the operation and maintenance
of the asset.
References

Jergeas, G. and Put, J. Van der (2001) ‘Benefits of Constructability on Construction Projects’, Journal
of Construction Engineering and Management, 127(4), pp. 281–290. doi: 10.1061/(asce)0733-
9364(2001)127:4(281).