Development of a concurrent engineering construction process protocol

Many of the problems encountered during the construction phase of a project are initiated during the front-end phase of the project planning process. This paper identifies poor client briefs, pre-project planning and uncoordinated design as contributory factors to overall poor project performance. It is known that manufacturing product development techniques have proven success in the pre-planning phase of product manufacture. This paper reviewed the product development process as used in the manufacturing sector to identify potential processes, such as product design specifications, which may be transferable into construction practice and aid the development of a generic construction process protocol. The paper presents a draft process model which aims to optimise the working processes within construction.