Integrated Project Delivery
Integrated Project Delivery (pureIPD, Lean Construction)
A project delivery method that contractually requires collaboration among the primary parties; owner, designer, and builder; so that the risk, responsibility and liability for project delivery are collectively managed and appropriately shared.
Lean construction principles underlying design and construction are used to drive out waste. Representatives of the three Parties manage the project through consensus decision-making. While the designer retains ultimate design responsibility in accordance with state licensing laws, the constructor and specialty Contractors and suppliers participate in the development of the project design.
Based on principles of trust and mutual respect, mutual benefit and reward, collaborative decision-making, early involvement of key project participants, early goal definition and intensified planning, and open communications, IPD is emerging as an effective project delivery choice for the industry. Leveraging new technologies like Building Information Modeling (BIM), organizing in new ways and implementing "best-for-project" thinking, teams are achieving significant benefits in terms of project outcomes for all involved.
Design/Construction Sequencing:
Parallel-- Some aspects of preconstruction services are provided by a contracting entity and happen concurrently with design activities. These services often include budgeting, scheduling, construction technology and feasibility.
Advantages:
- True collaboration among all project participants.
- Strengthening and aligning the relationships and interests of the Parties to the project.
- Project participants making commitments to work and schedule that can be relied upon by others, and that drive out waste in the form or RFIs, changes and rework.
- Focusing on what is best for the project as a whole and not just certain component parts.
- Seeking constant improvement through continuous assessment and implementation of "lessons learned".
Disadvantages:
- Actual agreement on the criteria and the final IPD contract can be very difficult and can take an inordinate amount of time and effort, for which the owner may be paying, if not in money then in time.
- Industry inexperience with working in non-adversarial team relationships makes the chance of failure most dependent on the behavior of individuals within the team. Damaging behavior is very difficult to control or to correct and can cause the breakdown of collaborative processes that are critical to success.
- IPD contracts have not yet been tested in law, so the result of a failure within the team is unpredictable.
