Towards the combination of risk analysis, constructability and sustainability for the lifecycle management of construction projects

Paper in proceeding, 2017

A holistic lifecycle approach for project management is important in all state-of-the-art technical projects and especially those of increased complexity, utilization diversity, purpose multiplicity, and consequences severity in case of poor performance. Such an approach should aim to optimize the success determinants of the overall project’s performance, including cost and time of completion, quality of deliverables and client satisfaction. Constructability is a methodological and managerial concept that is closely interconnected with sustainability and propels design and construction integration, the utilization of construction knowledge and experience and close stakeholders’ cooperation. Risk analysis, on the other hand, while it constitutes a conceptual and mathematical framework for several methods and tools of project and risk management, it is not yet adequately integrated with the notions of constructability and sustainability, towards the creation of a robust framework for the holistic application of all three concepts. Such a holistic approach could be developed, through the establishment of a procedural methodology, the development of tools, process standardization and the creation of lessons-learned databases. In this work, the theoretical requirements and potential constraints of an integrated framework between constructability, sustainability and risk analysis are investigated through a targeted literature review and analysis. A conceptual schema for this integration is proposed based on the key aspects of lifecycle project management. The applicability of the proposed schema is tested for verification in the case of large bridge construction. As a result, the conceptual definition of an integrated framework for the notions of risk analysis, constructability and sustainability in the lifecycle management of construction projects is proposed, as a first step towards the establishment of a respective holistic and comprehensive methodology.