Developing an effective front-end planning framework for sustainable infrastructure projects

Front-End Planning (FEP) is a crucial part of project management that ensures successful project delivery and improved project performance of construction projects. With the increasing demand for sustainable development, particularly for infrastructure projects, diligent FEP is required for such projects to ensure achieving sustainability goals while improving project outcomes. This paper investigates the use of an infrastructure sustainability rating system, i.e., the Envision™ rating system in FEP of sustainable infrastructure projects by developing pragmatic frameworks that combine Envision™ credits, and a widely used FEP tool for infrastructure projects, Project Definition Rating Index (PDRI). This research conducted a manual comparison between 59 Envision™ credits and 46 PDRI elements to develop Envision-PDRI frameworks for small and large infrastructure projects. The study validated the frameworks by surveying 109 construction stakeholders. The frameworks conclude that linking the Envision™ credits with FEP can support stakeholders to improve the decision-making process of infrastructure projects.