Linda Kestle

Integration of Lean Design and Design Management and its Influence on the Development of a Multidisciplinary Design Management Model for Remote Site Projects

A significant body of literature addresses the application of lean thinking to improving the interface between detailed design and construction production, yet none specifically focuses on remote site projects. These projects range from tourism and scientific investigation to resource exploration developments. The challenges confronting the project teams tend to fit within a sociologically oriented world where designers respond to functional, aesthetic and environmental concerns, or within a production oriented world, where strategic decisions made during the early stages of a project impact markedly upon construction, logistics and sustainability. The research aimed to establish how the integration of lean design and design management thinking influenced the development of a conceptual design management model for remote site projects, and the level of rigour achieved ‘in the field’ when tested. A postdoctoral reflective review is made of a selection of the reviewed literature, the methodology/process undertaken in the model development and testing stages, and the findings from two case studies used when testing the developed model. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with selected ‘working-in-the-field’ participants across a diverse range of remote site projects; the model was found to be robust and portable.

Sustainable Post-Disaster Reconstruction Projects in Remote Locations, and the Fit with a Conceptual Design Management Model for Remote Sites

Reconstruction projects, such as those conducted in Sudan since 2004, need an effective multidisciplinary planning and management framework, capable of responding to transitional and long-term reconstruction requirements. When these sites are in remote locations, the planning and management issues compound further. A preliminary multi-disciplinary framework that design managers can then use to develop better management and design practices, in the context of humanitarian aid and reconstruction projects in remote locations, are discussed in this paper. The future framework will be developed from a validation of a conceptual design management model for remote sites using Sudanese case study data collected from semi-structured interviews, with selected key design decisionmakers working in West Darfur, Sudan. The model was developed from a series of commercially -based case studies in the eco-tourism and Antarctic science sectors. This paper identifies how well the collected Sudanese data matched, or added to, the original design management model, in terms of the four key factors of value generation; knowledge integration; process integration and timely decision-making. The paper also investigates whether, and how, that model may be developed into a relevant multi-disciplinary framework for reconstruction projects in a non-profit and / or humanitarian aid context. The analysis of the semi-structured interviews, suggests that the original conceptual design management model for remote sites is relevant in a non-profit and/or humanitarian aid context. In addition, the model allows for a blending of traditional and modern management methods. The impact of this aspect of the framework would need to be developed further by future applications of the model and by practitioners in post -disaster reconstruction.

Tertiary delivery modes and construction industry sector habits, do they match yet?

Collaboration has become a buzzword, whether describing tertiary educational delivery modes or themes in industry related conferences, or touted by leaders in the construction industry sector. Educational organisations would not thrive without collaboration, and hence the term collegiality. Over the last two or so years Unitec has been developing and facilitating delivery modes involving blended learning, and project based learning for the undergraduate construction management and construction economics students. Teamwork and real-world learning is the norm. The question is, “How real is integrated collaboration in our construction industry as yet and does it yet match the focus of the Integrated design and construction management undergraduate course run at our institute?”. How the course is delivered and assessed is compared with the findings and trends from the industry assignment, and presented in this paper. The findings suggest that whilst the majority of projects are still being run on the Design-Bid-Build basis of design then construct in that order, that there appears to be a slow but obvious shift toward several companies working collaboratively with clients, stakeholders, designers and contractors from the earliest stages of the projects.

How well did a multi-stakeholder management framework for remote sites model the realities on and off-site of a Scottish Highlands infrastructure marine project : reflective case study

The next 20 years will see inward investment of up to £100 billion in construction (and energy) projects in northern Scotland, particularly in the Highlands and Islands. The majority of these projects will take place in locations which are, to a greater or lesser extent, remote. However the performance of many remotely-sited projects across the world highlight the need for more effective management strategies and models. The multi-stakeholder management framework for remote site projects, developed by Kestle (2009), synthesised production and sociological design and management approaches, and has already been tested and validated on Antarctic, humanitarian aid and post-disaster reconstruction projects globally. Participants for this research were designers, construction, and project managers involved on a commercial scale marine infrastructure project in the Scottish Highlands. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and the findings analysed to establish and reflect on whether the framework modelled the realities on this remote site project, and actually provided the value-added sought by the multistakeholders involved. The findings suggested that the stakeholders’ value criteria expectations were indeed met, and that the management framework did reflect the realities of designing and managing this particular remote site project.

Are we Listening, are we Learning?

Abstract New Zealand is said to be coming to grips with the post-disaster situation in Christchurch according to articles published by politicians, government agencies and business entrepreneurs. Christchurch has been subjected to over 13,000 earthquakes since September 10 th 2010, and in particular the destruction and devastation that resulted from the February 22 nd 2011 earthquake. However, key learnings from the Christchurch post-disaster experiences do not appear to have been heeded with the publication, in 2013, of the 30 year Auckland Plan and the Unitary Plan for Auckland, New Zealands largest city, where almost half of New Zealands population live. Compare this with just 400,000 who lived in Christchurch in 2010/11. Therefore the consequences of a similar scale disaster would be catastrophic for Auckland and New Zealand. The paper reviews the short-comings of the Auckland Plan and Unitary Plans with regard to ‘disaster preparedness and response’, based on those Christchurch lessons, but also in respect of the ‘Resilient Cities Framework’(RCF). Therefore the question is posed as to whether we are really listening or learning, or not? The conclusion is, that tragically we are not, and whilst we can plan and write up ‘lessons learned’, the only apparent lesson to be learned is that we do not learn from the ‘lessons learned’. Something is missing.