Enhancing project outcomes through the early consideration of constructability

Abstract

Constructability is the extent to which a project design is optimised to ensure the project can be constructed and maintained practically and efficiently, while meeting project objectives. This could include project life cycle objectives for cost, time, quality, WHS and environmental management. Experience has shown that the ability to reduce project costs through identifying issues and addressing them is much greater early in the life of a project. Much of this opportunity to reduce project costs is lost once the construction contract is out to tender. Thus, an effective constructability process throughout the design phase can be of great benefit in subsequent stages. A constructability review or assessment is one of the established methods for integrating design and construction phases, taking construction knowledge and experience into consideration in the early stages of a project’s lifecycle. A secondary purpose is to ensure that construction flexibility and innovation are not unnecessarily constrained by the design documentation. This will maximise opportunities to reduce costs by innovation during construction. This paper will introduce the benefits of incorporating constructability considerations as part of the design process. This will include a brief introduction to the concept of constructability. It will then examine and compare the constructability processes and procedures of several major jurisdictions within Australia. The paper will illustrate the major constructability issues commonly overlooked in design, using several project examples to demonstrate the implications and impacts where constructability is not adequately incorporated or considered during the design phase. The paper will also provide several examples of where constructability was incorporated early in the design phase, and the benefits and project outcomes that this achieved.