Göran Lindahl

Clients' goals and the construction project management process

Purpose – The paper seeks to suggest methods that will enable innovative and effective communication and collaboration between clients and construction project management professionals. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology involves workshops with construction clients documented in working documents circulated to participants. Findings – Workshops revealed trends that urge a re-evaluation of the briefing process. The need for better briefing with the focus on end-users is increasing. The findings also pointed to difficulties for construction projects to deliver what the user-clients need. There was considered to be a lack of systems and methods to keep track of user client demands sufficiently and in a satisfactory way. Goals need to be iterated and validated on a regular and coherent basis throughout projects. An increased interest for process-oriented and strategic briefing was indicated. Research limitations/implications – Further studies are required to develop a client/user driven construction process that is more than just new statements. Research needs to address not only issues in the business as such, but also what requirements should be put on the education and training of stakeholders who are active in the construction sector. Practical implications – The paper presents a challenge to the traditional role of several actors; there is a need to communicate core business needs to construction prerequisites in a reciprocal way. There is a need of choosing logic – however, this does not diminish the need for methodologies for capturing, processing and verifying requirements in the process of provision of facilities to a user. Originality/value – The paper proposes the idea that different logics govern actions by construction industry stakeholders, an issue the construction sector needs to address. Keywords Construction operations, Project management, Construction industry, Sweden Paper type Research paper

Shared decision making in designing new healthcare environments—time to begin improving quality

BackgroundSuccessful implementation of new methods and models of healthcare to achieve better patient outcomes and safe, person-centered care is dependent on the physical environment of the healthcare architecture in which the healthcare is provided. Thus, decisions concerning healthcare architecture are critical because it affects people and work processes for many years and requires a long-term financial commitment from society. In this paper, we describe and suggest several strategies (critical factors) to promote shared-decision making when planning and designing new healthcare environments.DiscussionThis paper discusses challenges and hindrances observed in the literature and from the authors extensive experiences in the field of planning and designing healthcare environments. An overview is presented of the challenges and new approaches for a process that involves the mutual exchange of knowledge among various stakeholders. Additionally, design approaches that balance the influence of specific and local requirements with general knowledge and evidence that should be encouraged are discussed.SummaryWe suggest a shared-decision making and collaborative planning and design process between representatives from healthcare, construction sector and architecture based on evidence and end-users’ perspectives. If carefully and systematically applied, this approach will support and develop a framework for creating high quality healthcare environments.

The innovative workplace: an analytical model focusing on the relationship between spatial and organisational issues

This paper presents a research based analytical model that supports the planning of workspace and to contribute to the discussion on how to achieve efficient work places. The research behind this paper aims to develop knowledge regarding the planning and design of work places. Through literature studies, case study research and action research projects the paper considers in what way spatial issues matter in organisations. By relating the various aspects of the analytical model it is possible to illustrate how focus and perspectives change during organisational and workspace changes. A need for new professional roles and processes for workplace design is noted. It is argued that the relationship between the organisation and the workspace should be a continuous process of design. The paper contributes to the process of workspace planning by giving a new insight into the traditional aspects of work environmental issues and metaphoric/symbolic qualities. This is useful for external consultants and facilities managers alike.

Use and Usability of Assisted Living Facilities for the Elderly. An observation study in Gothenburg Sweden.

To meet the demographic development, measures were initiated by the Swedish government entailing changed conditions for municipal eldercare, such as assisted living. Participant observation is used to study the daily use of common spaces in 14 assisted living units in Gothenburg. The results show examples where the current use diverges from the intended use and suggest diverging objectives and conflicts of use. The observations indicate that the degree of usability is determined by the physical environment itself in some cases, by the users and by changes in use in other cases, and by a combination of both in some cases.

Aggregation of factors causing cost overruns and time delays in large public construction projects: Trends and implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact that cost overruns and time delays exert on large public construction projects to clarify how past and current research regard factors causing cost overruns and time delays in large public construction projects. Design/methodology/approach This paper, which is based on an analysis of a literature selection consisting of 40 journal articles, investigates and ranks the occurrence of and the explanations for cost overruns and time delays in large public construction projects. The study makes use of a kiviat diagram/radar chart in order to visualize multivariate data. Findings Aggregated rankings of important causes of cost overruns and time delays are reported. These show a strong emphasis on the management aspect as a primary cause of cost overruns and delays. Additionally, there seems to be a trend toward deemphasizing the role of financial considerations in explaining cost overruns and delays. It is argued that there needs to be a more rigorous assessment of the impact that each factor has on cost increases and delays based on factual observed data as opposed to retrospective accounts from questionnaire respondents. Research limitations/implications Only public construction projects have been considered. The results will not be directly applicable to privately funded construction projects and/or projects of a smaller size. Originality/value The use of trend data, as illustrated in a kiviat diagram, showing how different ranking factors causing cost overruns and time delays has changed in importance over time.

Implications of Cost Overruns and Time Delays on Major Public Construction Projects

For decades, the construction industry has been characterized by costs exceeding budgetary limits and completion times reaching further than what was set out initially. This has been particularly noticeable for large public construction projects where cost overruns and time delays have long been regarded a common occurrence. Due to the magnitude and frequency of these overruns, they have come to pose a significant financial risk to both clients and contractors, in addition to the impact exerted on the sustainability of the project. In dealing with this, researchers, auditors and practitioners have suggested a broad range of solutions, ranging from technical and economical to psychological and political approaches. In doing so, the contractor’s role has been emphasized whereas the role of the client organization has often been overlooked. This paper which is based on a literature review investigates the occurrence of and the explanations for cost overruns and time delays in major construction projects from the public client’s perspective. It also explores the implications of cost overruns and time delays; the purpose of which is to offer an extended understanding of the relationship between the client’s actions and effects on cost, time and sustainability parameters.

Take a chance on me? Construction client's perspectives on risk management

Having been overwhelmed with a strikingly large list of things that can go wrong, public clients have consistently found themselves subjected to many risks associated with construction projects. As the scale of projects increases, the severity of risks intensifies. This study sets out to highlight a particular set of risks associated with strategic decision making in public construction projects. Of particular importance stands the client organizations’ capacity to properly manage risks rooted in poor decision making that leads to many types of project failure. To curb the negative effects of poor decision making, varying organisational configurations have been adopted by clients. This paper investigates the six Swedish public client organizations’ risk management procedures, the risk types and the frequency by which they reference risk management in their internal documents. The purpose is to explore how organisational measures influence a clients ability to undertake major construction projects in a manner that is conducive to effective project delivery. The present study is part of an ongoing research project concerning the capabilities of public clients in managing large scale construction projects.

Developing Capabilities for Public Construction Clients

Clients in the public sector face a large number of challenges in designing, procuring and managing major construction projects in a manner that is conducive to the organization’s overall goals. The role of the client in bringing about successful project completion has more recently been emphasized with a growing number of studies focusing on developing dynamic client capabilities that facilitate the handling of a project through all of its different phases. Though the capabilities of the client carries immense importance in all construction projects, the importance is further exacerbated by the sheer scale of the projects involved in major construction projects, a development which has prompted governmental agencies to inquire into ways to improve processes in the client organization. To address such inquiries, this paper which is based on a literature review, explores the types of dynamic capabilities that emerge with respect to public construction clients and in particular, if and how a specific client capability influences a specific project outcome. The mapping of capabilities constitutes a theoretical foundation for a forthcoming empirical study on the same topic.

Conceptualizing health promotion in relation to outpatient healthcare building design – a Scoping review

Objective: This review explored different conceptualizations of health promotion in the context of, and in relation to, outpatient building design. Background: Today’s healthcare organizations are implementing holistic healthcare approaches such as health promotion, while simultaneously increasing their outpatient services. These health promotion approaches, focused on empowering people to take control of their health, are expected to have implications for the outpatient healthcare building design. Yet there is limited knowledge what these may be. A review of the literature on the current state of the art is thus needed to enable and support dialog on future healthcare building design. Method: A scoping review of 4,506 papers, collected from four databases and three scientific journals in 2015, resulted in 14 papers relating health promotion to building design and outpatient healthcare. From the subsequent content analysis, multiple common themes and subthemes emerged. Results: The review reveals diverse range of health promotion interpretations, three health promotion perspectives (health behavior, health equity, and sense of coherence), associated design approaches, design objectives, health-related outcomes, building features, and solutions. Conclusions: While diverse health promotion perspectives might merely represent variations in focus, these differences become problematic when relating to building design. To support further dialogs on development of health promotion in, and in relation to, the build environment, there is a need to strengthen the health promotion vocabulary. Further research is needed to compare different design approaches and how these can be combined to minimize contradicting implications for building design.

A Study of Relationships Between Content in Documents From Health Service Operational Plans and Documents From the Planning of New Healthcare Environments

Aim: The aim was to investigate the content and quality of the governing documents created in the planning and design phase of new healthcare environments and in the related healthcare strategic and operational plans. Background: Quality deficits in buildings can often be traced back to the initial stages in the planning and design phase. Although large investments have been made to improve the process of planning new healthcare environments and linking the requirements to health service strategies, healthcare organizations rarely relate their strategy goals to the built environment. Method: A retrospective review of documents created in the planning and design stages of new healthcare environments and the operational plans of the target organizations was conducted. Results: The organizational operational plans did not contain any statements or information about the built environment or how a building could or should support the organization’s goals. Important information was frequently absent from the documents governing the planning and design of buildings. The documents lacked information about what and how to follow-up and what to measure once a construction project had been completed. There were no references to evidence. Conclusions: Poor documentation might undermine the quality of the planning and design phase and ultimately the opportunity to create environments that support health outcomes. Therefore, more emphasis must be placed on the importance of documentation but above all to strengthen and clarify the relationship between the healthcare organization strategy to achieve an effective and efficient care process and the intention made in the planning and design process.