Enhancing off-site manufacturing through early contractor involvement (ECI) in New Zealand

Procurement strategies that enable early contractor involvement (ECI) in design may enhance off-site manufacturing (OSM) by overcoming previously identified barriers to its uptake. Involving constructors during the design stage can reduce the risk of design buildability issues, and standardising traditionally bespoke ECI processes may help overcome cultural resistance to unfamiliar OSM technology. Following literature review and using case studies, document analysis and legal doctrine, a two-stage ECI conceptual process model for New Zealand is proposed. This was tested and refined following feedback at a conference. The model comprises a first-stage pre-construction contract and a second-stage standard-form construction contract. Key process variables are considered with solutions to provide collaboration and transparency while maintaining competitive fixed pricing across the supply chain. Legal doctrine analysis is used to distinguish between design buildability obligations and design codes compliance. The model contributes towards the development of a standard form for pre-construction contracts

Exploring critical success factors for stakeholder management in construction projects

With a focus on different aspects of stakeholder management, various sets of critical success factors (CSFs) have been suggested in the literature. It is crucial to explore the relative importance and groupings of these factors. This paper aims to identify CSFs associated with stakeholder management in construction projects, and explore their ranking and underlying relationship. 15 CSFs were identified through a literature review, and consolidated by interviews and pilot studies with professionals in construction industry. A questionnaire instrument containing these 15 CSFs was sent out to project managers in Hong Kong, and 183 completed questionnaires were retrieved. The top three ranked factors for stakeholder management were &quot;managing stakeholders with social responsibilities&quot;, &quot;assessing the stakeholders\u27 needs and constraints to the project&quot;, and &quot;communicating with stakeholders properly and frequently&quot;. Using factor analysis and considering the high importance of the factor &quot;managing stakeholders with social responsibilities&quot;, the 15 CSFs were grouped into five dimensions namely, precondition factor, stakeholder estimation, information inputs, decision making, and sustainable support. All these five groupings and their relationship were included in a framework for successful stakeholder management in construction projects. These findings help to clarify what the high prioritized factors are, and could also be used as an assessment tool to evaluate the performance of stakeholder management and thus help to identify areas for improvement. <br /