Integrating design and construction to improve project performance

Construction industry projects contain many inherent hurdles that can negatively impact the project team's performance. But by using an approach that integrates the design and construction phases, project managers could surmount these obstacles and improve their team's performance. This article discusses the benefits of using an integrated design and construction approach when realizing building projects. In doing so, it outlines the key implementation actions and explains the types of integration--vertical and horizontal; it lists four benefits of improving the way buildings are realized and four actions for realizing these benefits. It then outlines concepts developed by the Construction Industry Institute (CII), concepts for improving constructability and for implementing constructability. It also reports the finding of four CII studies on improving constructability, identifying the elements and methods of achieving this goal.