Perspectives on ambitious goals and collaboration

Abstract

How can we ensure that buildings/areas are realized as intended? How can we ensure good processes for a zero-emission area? What are the possibilities, limitations, and effects of collaboration in meeting ambitious goals? Addressing these questions is critical because in many projects something is lost from the early phase, when the client must decide on ambitions for a building/area, until completion. Well-known challenges include weak goals formulation and poor decision-making. Even though they might be characterized as an owner problem, who is unable to clarify goals and follow up on decisions, such an assumption seems like a gross simplification. In the face of the complexity that ZEN projects bring to the picture due to high ambitions and multiple owners involved, we need to examine processes and practices that can help meet the project’s goals, closing the gap between expectations and delivery. This is what the reader can find in this report: literature- and case-studies-based knowledge, with a focus on collaboration, helping us to succeed in building projects and when scaled up to ZEN. Success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Failure is the lack of success. This implies that for success you need to set an aim, goal, or purpose. Goal formulation must follow certain good practices (e.g., clear and concrete, linked to perspectives, organized in a hierarchy, referred to as a final status, and more). Not least, the entire project must understand the goals, and the goals must be followed up during the process as they provide management opportunities. Most research in ZEN focus on success criteria (i.e., criteria and KPIs used to determine if the project is a success), while lesser attention has been given to success factors (i.e., factors that lead to success), which we investigate in this report with a more in-depth look into collaboration. Multiple aspects contribute to the overall performance of the completed building/district, which, together with the fragmented nature of the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry, calls for an integrated approach to project delivery and innovation, where collaboration is a key element. Most of the literature around collaboration in building projects covers two macro topics: Project Delivery Methods (PDMs) and Building Information Modelling (BIM) and digital tools. A PDM is the way a project is brought from idea to realization. As a complex system of organizational, contractual, and cultural elements, it largely determines the level of collaboration. Among PDMs, Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is a hot topic in the literature about collaboration. BIM, as a methodology, offers great potential for collaboration. With such a knowledge basis, three cases located in the Trondheim area (Norway) and characterized by high ambitions and collaborative arrangements were analysed through a qualitative approach (interviews) to learn how they worked with ambitious goals, what the actors recognized as success factors, and what are challenges and opportunities for collaboration. Discussing findings with the theory we can conclude that:

• Clarity in the project mission is a success factors in literature that is also recognized as such by all parties in the project’s organization. Ownership over goals is also mentioned as such. • Sometimes priorities are unclear, and differences are not only among parties, but also within, which brings more complexity. Aligning the owner’s and project’s goals as well as looking for top management support is crucial. • The contract must enable collaboration and the ability to solve the clients’ goals. Proper economic frameworks and more communication and transparency are needed to alleviate the differences among parties. • Locking down alternatives for the project too early and without the proper competences on board leads to suboptimization. Process management is a success factor; to have the right competency at the right time to solve the issues. • Economics influences the collaboration dynamics, as it should be in balance with ambitions. Letting the project develop with continuous cost control helps the client to make sound decisions and the project develops within the frames. • Influence in the project, in terms of roles and responsibilities, should be both clarified at the contractual level and backed by a culture of trust, which collaboration allows to build. • It is important that processes and tools are agreed upon and effectively communicated to all parties in projects, including project plan/schedule, communication, and communication channels. Planning is a success factor in projects. Communication should involve the owner, as they are the main decision-maker. • The informants mentioned that the collaborative culture that they experienced in the projects did not just happen, it was a point of focus and hard work. • Trust is a fundamental element of collaboration, which is built on relationships and transparency. At the end of the report, this and other findings are scaled up into recommendations for ZEN Research Centre’s partners and researchers to be aware of challenges/threats in pursuing ambitious goals and to leverage good practices/success factors when developing a ZEN.