ABSTRACT
Input to all project phases of both the ability to construct and the importance of construction, in particular the conceptual design phase, is one of the factors which leads to an optimal use of available knowledge, money, and time, in respect of functionality, safety, durability (see also Tatum, 1985). In order to be able to integrate constructability in the design phase the present management methods often fall short. Usually selection of alternatives is based upon decision methods and decision techniques like ‘rating and weighting’ method, ‘datum’ method (Pugh, S.), etc. The shortcoming of these methods is that constructability is but one of many selection criteria and allows constructability only partially to take into account. The use of grouped criteria such as is the case for the s-diagram, Kesselrings method, seems more appropriate for this aim. In this paper an analysis is made of the proposed theoretical concepts and a study is presented of the conceptual design process of seven large civil engineering construction designs. Particular attention is paid to the suitability of the proposed selection methods in design management, as far as constructability is concerned. It is found that in the conceptual design phase four steps can be envisaged: selection of alternative designs, selection of feasible designs, selection of promising designs, preparation of conceptual designs. The decision methods applied in the first three steps are rather simple. In the investigated projects, constructability was assured, because of the design and construct approach.
