Construction project contracts form a key role in collaboration
Construction projects form a complex entity that involves actors from designers to builders to finally the customer. A new Master’s thesis shows how collaboration between actors is an important factor for the success of a construction project, and design contracts play a key role in enhancing collaboration.
Riku Riiheläinen has recently published his Master’s thesis about collaborative design contracts in building construction BIM-projects for the LiveCol project, which studies collaboration in 3D virtual environments. Tampere University, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Trimble, AFRY and Senate Properties collaborate in the project, which ends this year.
Design contracts determine the responsibilities of the actors
“The understanding of collaboration in the construction industry is still inadequate, which is why it is very important to develop it. Design contracts play a key role in enabling effective collaboration, as they enable continuous collaboration right from the start of the project. However, the current contract practices do not sufficiently support collaboration or information modelling,” Riiheläinen says.
Construction projects are defined by several types of contracts, which define the obligations, responsibilities and powers of the actors regarding, for example, costs, schedule, quality and safety. For this reason, they play a significant role in the project’s success. The drafting of contracts involves its own practices and factors that affect, for example, the quality and quantity of collaboration.
Rules for co-operation as a part of design contracts
“Collaboration is an essential part of problem-solving in construction projects, which requires jointly scheduled meetings, plans and ground rules. In order for the project’s collaboration to be smooth and goal-oriented, it is important to agree on the practices and different rules in the design contracts. In this way, the parties know how to prepare to act according to uniform operating methods,” Riiheläinen emphasises.
According to Riiheläinen, it is important to agree on the practices of collaboration in the design contract. They should also be mentioned in the invitation to tender, so that there is a commitment to collaborative practices right from the start of the project. In the past, practices that support collaboration have not been sufficiently utilised, even though they are known.
“Collaboration could be encouraged by moving from hourly pricing to target bonuses or bonuses tied to goals. For example, the inclusion of such concrete collaboration objectives in the contracts and the inclusion of a Building Information Model (BIM) coordinator in the contract process could provide good conditions for the implementation of collaboration,” Riiheläinen says.
Benefits of BIM in construction projects
A BIM is a comprehensive digital representation of a building. For example, it includes information about building components and materials, but also some project information.
“It is important that the schedule for the production of the BIM and the practices for delivering the BIM are agreed upon in the design contract. In my Master’s thesis, I discussed the benefits of BIM to get an idea of why it should be used in projects and what kind of benefits it offers to the project parties,” Riiheläinen says.
According to the thesis, the full potential of BIM is not yet utilized, even though BIM is commonly used in the construction industry. For example, the use of a BIM reduces the number of errors made in construction and design and the risks associated with projects. Using BIM also improves information flow and work efficiency.
Especially in BIM-based design, collaboration between actors is important to ensure there are no conflicts regarding the BIM in contracts, for example. To summarize the earlier points of the research, it can be said that to succeed in the project, it is beneficial to include both the BIM and the desired collaboration practices in an early phase of the contract-making process.
Read more about contract models, information models and collaboration in construction projects from Riiheläinen’s Master’s thesis in Finnish.
More information:
Kalle Kähkönen
Professor, rakennustuotanto ja talous
Faculty of Built Environment
Tampere University
kalle.kahkonen@tuni.fi
Riku Riiheläinen
Master of Science (Technology)
Faculty of Built Environment
Tampere University
riku.riihelainen@tuni.fi