Research Projects - Collaborative Project Delivery Lab

Project Delivery & Contracts

In Progress

Owner Readiness Assessment for Design-Build Projects

This research project will develop an assessment tool that evaluates an owner’s readiness to initiate and manage a successful design-build project. This tool will compare an owner’s present capacity and staff competencies against those needed to manage various risks in design-build delivery, ultimately identifying “gaps” in readiness. Then, the tool will recommend specific publications and training resources available through leading professional organizations, such as the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) and the Construction Industry Institute (CII), to fill those gaps over time. When needed, the tool will also provide insight into hiring an Owner Advisor (OA) to complement and extend the owner’s current capacity.

Human-Robot Teams

In Progress

Human-in-the-Lead Construction Robotics: Future-Proofing Framing Craft Workers in Industrialized Construction

This research seeks to define procedures for task allocation between robotic systems and human workers in a semi-automated construction process, in a manner that maximizes the need satisfaction and engagement of craft workers.

Project Delivery & Contracts

Completed

Design Management Guidance for Design-Build Projects

This research project develops an integrated and cohesive suite of design management guides that expand on the Charles Pankow Foundation’s existing resource, the “Professional’s Guide to Managing the Design Phase of a Design-Build Project,” beyond the building construction industry. Specifically, the guides will address the unique applications of Design-Build in a variety of market sectors, including Light and Heavy Industrial, Water and Wastewater, Aviation, Highway, and Federal.

Human-Robot Teams

Completed

Future of Construction Work at the Human-Technology Frontier

This research seeks to re-define construction tasks by translating the means and methods of trade work into common actions that can be interpreted and performed by robotic systems, and explore how robotic systems can be integrated into current and future human-robot construction teams, as an integral part of the worker, knowledge, task, and resource networks on the jobsite.

Project Delivery & Contracts

Completed

Revising Project Delivery Performance

This research effort provides new benchmarks for design-bid-build (DBB), construction manager at risk (CMR) and design-build (DB) performance by repeating the same methodology employed by the authors of the 1998 CII report with a data set of contemporary projects.

Organizational Issues

Completed

Playbook for Integrated Teams

The research seeks to identify a “recipe” for the successful formation and management of cross-functional teams (CFTs) found in collaborative project delivery methods, such as design-build and IPD. The results will be developed into a resource, envisioned as a playbook for owners, designers, and contractors, that will highlight tactics reliably found to improve the performance of these teams.

Project Delivery & Contracts

Completed

Flexible Facility Development for the Manufacturing and Life Sciences Sector

This research explores the application of flexibility in the Manufacturing and Life Sciences (MLS) sector and creates a structured approach for developing flexible, long lead facilities without full knowledge of the facility requirements or the product manufacturing process housed within.

Project Delivery & Contracts

Completed

Evaluating the Impact of BIM on Project Performance

This research quantitatively examines the impact of BIM use adoption and BIM Execution Planning (BEP) on project performance, across a range of project delivery methods.