Intelligent' construction time and cost analysis

The subject of’buildability' has got to the point where it is known that it is advisable to involve the contractor in the early stages of the design process. However, this is very difficult to achieve unless a contract is formed between the parties, which may not be desirable in that it limits competition. The research described in this paper attempts to resolve this problem by taking the knowledge used by the contractor and making it available to the design team through an Intelligent Knowledge Based System (IKBS). In essence it has meant that a deeper understanding of the methods used by contractors to analyse the problems and risks inherent in a design has to be achieved. The work has generated the first step in this understanding by developing the rules of activity identification, thus enabling models of the construction process to be created for subsequent evaluation.