A case study of collaborated design process in façade subcontract package

Abstract

Construction is an economic sector, which is different from manufacture sector, consisting several elements: complexity, durability, costliness and social liability etc. (Nam and Tatum, 1988). Due to the complexity of construction nature, the traditional contract cannot fulfill the rapid global competition, it is necessary to adopt the innovation approaches to improve the construction demand. Amongst different analysis around the world, Integrated Design (ID) and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) are the two innovated approaches from inception until the handover for construction industry in Hong Kong. By adopting the successful elements of developed projects in Hong Kong, this paper first introduces the literature review of ID and IPD for the past several years and then states the critical factors for a successful collaborated design process. Second Part will focus on studying the hierarchy and workload of the façade subcontractors in Hong Kong. Depending on the special requirements and contractual relationship between the Façade Subcontractor and different stakeholders, this paper will analyze the situation and suggest possible solutions. In addition, a case study of façade project is used on defining the problems encountered during the construction process, and then solve them by applying IDEF0 technique and research method. After reviewing the significant result by listing questions and hypotheses to be tested, good practices were reorganized to improve the current framework in façade industry. Lastly, the proposed suggestion and further works of this paper comprehended the good practice from IPD and ID into a reality situation of construction industry and collaborative design, thus reducing the conflict relationship with other firms.