One team, one purpose, one goal
Cost overruns, delays, loss of quality, inefficient planning and execution, disgruntled investors, purchasers and users – the list of challenges typically faced by the real estate industry is long. Implenia wants to promote transparent, goal-oriented, partnership-based collaboration and is launching pilot projects based on the principles of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD). A new project to build a multi-family dwelling on Schaffhauserstrasse in Zurich is just getting under way.
IPD is still uncharted territory for many. Katja Lässer, Implenia’s project manager for the pilot project, says: “Initial discussions have shown that a lot of clarification is still needed.” So the pilot project plays a key strategic role: “Our aim is for Division Real Estate to initiate and implement IPD projects in future. Division Buildings, as the ones actually doing the construction work, should be actively involved in integrated projects and be able to position itself in the market accordingly.”
The IPD approach creates a project environment that encourages collaboration, innovation and value creation. It also includes elements of the Lean Management philosophy, such as Target Value Design. The aim is to increase the efficiency of real estate projects and improve results.
FIVE EQUALLY IMPORTANT CORE ELEMENTS OF IPD
- Early involvement of stakeholders: Continuous collaboration between clients, planners and builders from the start to the end of the project
- Joint opportunity and income strategy: Performance-related, transparent compensation for all parties involved in the project: “everyone wins or everyone loses”
- Joint project management: All project team members work across company boundaries as an integrated whole with equal rights and joint responsibility for the success of the project
- Multi-party contract between clients, planners and builders: All the parties involved agree the goals and set collaboration rules covering culture, organisation, methods, processes and the compensation system
- Liability and project insurance: Reciprocal liability exclusions help to marry together everyone’s interests and foster trusting working relationships
Areas and trades that can generate additional costs if the planning isn’t careful enough are planned in more detail than usual during the validation phase. Other things are deliberately not planned if planning wouldn’t create any added value. This avoids wasting time and focuses the work on customer needs and on cost certainty during execution. IPD has obvious benefits for investors in real estate projects and, therefore, for Implenia’s customers: they can expect greater customer value, better risk management, more accurate costings, more reliable timetables, and overall better results across the whole real estate lifecycle.
HOW AN IPD PILOT PROJECT WORKS
Following an intensive preparatory phase, a kick-off workshop was held for the Schaffhauserstrasse project the end of September 2020. An assessment was then made of all the future project partners, including the architects, to examine their professional skills and ability to collaborate.
Planners and trades were selected for the project in early summer 2021 and integrated into the joint compensation system. As the validation phase began, the project participants started working together more at the “co-location”, though the coronavirus pandemic meant that digital collaboration was often the preferred option. During this phase, target values are being refined, costs planned and different drafts compared.
Early collaboration between everyone involved in the project, as well as the application of Lean principles and methods, and the consistent use of BIM during the validation and subsequent optimisation phase, resulted in a higher degree of detail and, therefore planning certainty – the prerequisite for smooth execution.
Sustainability
The Schaffhauserstrasse project should be certified under the SNBS Gold sustainability label. Thanks to its location, it has excellent links to Zurich’s public transport network, with tram and bus stations just a few minutes’ walk away.
Challenges
Stakeholder involvement:
- The project phases overlap
- More work initially
- Finding the manpower
- Tight schedule
Project management:
- Internal coordination, because the IPD model gives members of the project team larger areas of responsibility
- Role identification and harmonisation with current tables of responsibility
Contractual model (not a traditional construction contract):
- Relapse into old ways of thinking
- No existing experience or reference points
- Takes time to set up new structures
- External support required
