Three Things to Know about “Integrating Project Delivery”
by Yumi Clevenger
This article is included in the 2017 Year in Review edition of the DPR Newsletter.
"What if every building and every piece of infrastructure truly worked? What if they were all designed not simply to fill a need but to enhance our way of life? What if every building performed as highly as possible, with all systems working in concert to support its purpose?" (Integrating Project Delivery, Chapter 1.2)
If you are someone who believes there is a better way to design and build buildings, infrastructure, dwellings, etc., then you should spend some time reading Integrating Project Delivery written by Martin Fischer, Howard Ashcraft, Dean Reed and Atul Khanzode. Written as a textbook, it is the first comprehensive look at the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) system. If you tackle it in bits and pieces, you’ll discover a road map for integrating project delivery filled with stories, practical knowledge and applications, legal structures for supporting the process, and real-life examples—all written with a dose of inspiration that there are actually many different ways teams can achieve better outcomes.
Following are three things to know about Integrating Project Delivery:
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Integrating Project Delivery is organized around a Simple Framework, a road map for producing a high-performing building, a “building that supports its end users in performing their activities as optimally as possible."
- Each chapter asks and answers one or two big questions, including “what does success look like?”
| Chapter | Title | Question |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What Would Make Us Proud |
What do we want to do and what can we do? |
| 2 | Transitioning to IPD: Owners’ Experiences | What do owners who have used integrated project delivery (IPD) think about what they can do to improve outcomes? |
| 3 | Putting it All Together: A Simple Framework | What is the roadmap, the strategy to successfully produce a high-performance building? |
| 4 | Defining High-Performing Buildings | What is a high-performing building? |
| 5 | Achieving High-Value Buildings | What makes a high-value building? |
| 6 | Integrating the Building’s Systems | How can systems be integrated to achieve a high-performing building? |
| 7 | Integrating Process Knowledge | How can process knowledge be integrated? |
| 8 | Integrating the Project Organization | What is an integrated project organization and how is it created? |
| 9 | Managing Integrated Project Teams | What is an integrated project delivery team, and how do you create and manage one? |
| 10 | Integrating Project Information | What does it mean to integrate project information, why is this so important, and how can we do this? |
| 11 | Managing with Metrics | How do define and uphold the client’s value goals for their unique high performing building? |
| 12 | Visualizing and Simulating Building Performance | How do we enable stakeholders to visualize and understand how their building will perform through every step of design, long before it is built? |
| 13 | Collaborating in an Integrated Project | What does it mean to collaborate in an integrated project? |
| 14 | Co-locating to Improve Performance | How can we leverage co-location to improve behaviors and outcomes? |
| 15 | Managing Production as an Integrated Team | How do we manage the production as an integrated project team? |
| 16 | Avoiding the Pitfalls of Traditional Contracts |
Why is it so difficult to use traditional contracts to support project integration? |
| 17 | Contracting for Project Integration |
How does an integrated form of agreement support integrated organization and behaviors? |
| 18 | Delivering the High Performance Building as a Product | How high-performing, valuable buildings can be developed and delivered as a product? |
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Chapter 2 is dedicated to the owners’ experience in their own words and observations as they transitioned to IPD. Fourteen industry leaders, who were all involved in IPD projects, participated in a series of interviews that confirmed that IPD is an owner-driven process and frustration with existing project delivery systems was the most common reason for turning to IPD.
When asked what it took to be a good IPD owner, the group identified five key characteristics:
- Clarity – Define what you want and what the IPD team must achieve
- Commitment – An ongoing willingness to support the process with training and resources
- Engagement – An active and knowledgeable participant who maintains a daily presence on the project
- Leadership – Knowing when to lead and when not to lead, how to set the expectations for the project but also share leadership responsibilities
- Integrity – Setting the project tone and creating an environment of trust
Published by Wiley, Integrating Project Delivery details the “why” and “how” of IPD and how to organize and execute projects to achieve better value for all participants as an integrated team. It is a guide for aligning project collaborators and a promise for designing and building a better, higher performing built environment for us all.
