Built Environment Sustainability – A Critical Need

By peter.cholakis@verizon.netBuilt Environment Sustainability, Why LEAN Construction Matters

Built environment sustainability is critical.

Facilities and other structure are responsible for 50% of material resources taken from nature, 40% of energy consumption and 50% of total waste resulting is significant land an air degradation.  From an economic perspective, waste is also extremely high with 80% of all projects being over budget, late, and otherwise poorly completed.

The GAO has issues reports for several decades noting the mismanagement of the built environment in the federal sector.   Cost visibility, cost management, and accountability are lacking.

Built Environment Sustainability is critical to environmental and economic security.

Robust processes and supporting tools and services are readily available to ensure that repair, renovation, maintenance, and new builds are consistently delivered on-time, on-budget, and in a quality manner.

All that is needed is leadership and accountability.

  1. Planning, procurement, and project delivery teams and processes must be integrated
  2. All repair, renovation, maintenance, and new builds work scopes should be documented in a detailed manner and reviewed by all appropriate team members.
  3. Project teams should include owner and design/builder.
  4. Technical and cost data should be standardized via a locally researched line item cost database using expanded CSI Masterformat and expanded UNIFORMAT as appropriate.
  5. Ongoing operations and maintenance impacts should be considered.
  6. The knowledge/expertise of those doing the work should be leveraged.  All individuals can be enabled to control or influence their
    multidisciplinary development. Outcomes will be enhanced by encouraging the site personnel to carry out needed updates/corrections.  Good contractors should be rewarded based on quality and time, and type of work, and associated information documented  construction work awarded accordingly.
    Concept C23 Evaluation, documentation and feedback of the issues of the constructability concepts
    should be maintained throughout the project to be used in later projects as lessons
    learned.
  7. Lack of understanding the importance and benefits of managing and waste.Built Environment Sustainability

 

Traditional construction procurement and even traditional IPD and JOC  project delivery do not resolve conflicting objectives of participants, skills and interests.   The latter resulting in higher costs without significant benefit.  Fragmentation and adversarial relationship between project participants can only be resolved with robust LEAN process implementation and a common data environment inclusive of locally researched granular unit price data.

Potential Owner barriers to consistent positive outcomes:

• Lack of awareness and resistance to robust LEAN, integrated construction planning, procurement, and project delivery frameworks.
• Perception that early planning and integrated teams are more costly
• Reluctance to invest additional effort in early project stages
• Lack of genuine commitment
• Distinctly separate procurement and facilities management teams
• Lack of construction experience
• Lack of team-building or partnering experience
• Disregard of level of collaborative skills when selecting contractors and consultants
• Contracting/procurement teams simply wanting to speed projects through process
• Misdirected objectives and performance measures

 

Benefits of integrated planning, procurement, and project delivery.

 

Steps to improvement…

1. Raise awareness of benefits

2. Identify barriers and key factors that influence adoption

3. Review/improve organizational capability

4. Remove barriers