6^th International Workshop

WHEN SOCIAL SCIENCE MEETS LEAN AND BIM — AGENDA

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Monday 8 January

Tuesday 9 January

Keynotes

Professor Robert M. Leicht

Robert M. Leicht is an associate professor and graduate of the Department of Architectural Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University, as well as the Director of the Partnership for Achieving Construction Excellence (PACE). Dr. Leicht delivers courses under the Construction Engineering and Management option within AE, and teaches courses dedicated to Mechanical and Electrical system construction, project delivery systems, and production management.

Dr. Leicht’s research explores the integrated design process within the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industry. Dr. Leicht uses organizational theory, information and process modeling, and communication theory to focus on the methods of assembling integrated teams and developing integrated processes, with the ultimate goal of delivering high performance buildings. In addition to these research thrusts, Dr. Leicht studies enabling an approaches, including human factors for teams, concurrent engineering, building information modeling, and interactive workspaces, in the context of supporting team communication, processes, and decision-making.

Exploring the capacity for Innovation in construction – A case study of IPD

Construction is often cited for challenges in adopting new innovations, slow diffusion of innovations through the industry, and significant barriers to adoption for firms. These boundaries that divide firms by area of expertise, timing of involvement, and alignment with project goals offer little incentive for seeking innovative solutions, or may even penalize firms that pursue innovative solutions. The rise of multiparty contractual agreements have enabled discussion regarding means of increasing collaboration, decreasing the negative effects associated with fragmentation, and ultimately increasing the potential for innovation in the delivery of construction projects. This presentation will introduce a case study that employed a multiparty Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) contract as a platform for enabling team innovations. It will focus on a lessons learned workshop regarding the adoption of targeted activities associated with an integrated team. The presentation will discuss some of the challenges and dynamics encountered in pursuing innovation solutions and process. A framework of Innovative Capacity will be used to help understand the challenges encountered by the project team as well as the considerations for more widespread adoption of innovative techniques and processes.

David Philp

David is a well-known figure regarding the BIM deployment in the UK industry for his work being Head of the BIM task Group from 2011 to present. The content and details regarding his presentation will be confirmed shortly.

Professor Jennifer Whyte

Professor Jennifer Whyte has research interests in how things are coordinated and integrated in the delivery of buildings and infrastructure, particularly as there are differing rates of technological change and innovation across this production process. She has a particular focus on digital transformation (Building Information Modelling, etc.) and the use of systems approaches to design and delivery. Her research is published in high-impact journals including Organization Studies, Research Policy, Automation in Construction, International Journal of Project Management and Building Research and Information. She is the Laing O’Rourke / Royal Academy of Engineering Professor of Systems Integration (http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/j.whyte) in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London. The Centre for Systems Engineering and Innovation (www.imperial.ac.uk/csei), which she leads, aims to bring systems engineering and innovation to the built environment, with themes on production systems, infrastructure interdependencies and lifecycle. She was on the steering group for the Institution of Civil Engineers 2017 State of the Nation on Digital Transformation and is co-curator of the World Economic Forum Transformation Map for Engineering and Construction.

From digital transformation to digital maturity: making sense of BIM-enabled practices

The design, operation and maintenance of buildings and infrastructure is being transformed through the use of digital data.  Using the examples of London mega-projects (Heathrow Terminal 5, London 2012 Olympics, Crossrail and Tideway) and work with infrastructure owners and operators, first I will argue that there is a need for innovation in major infrastructure clients and projects to visualize and understand complex product systems and support collaborative working. Second, I will illustrate how engineers and managers can make use of digital information to improve decision-making drawing on research examples in areas such as systems integration, configuration management, visualization, Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) and the hand-over of digital asset information from project delivery teams to long-term owners and operators. Third, I will draw particular attention to theory, explaining what I take from traditions of work in innovation and organization studies and identifying where there are contrasting theoretical implications in related work on systems engineering, project management and lean construction. Finally, I will propose new directions of research to support the growing digital maturity of the sector and deepen our understanding of BIM and digital transformation in the production of buildings and infrastructure.