doi:10.3850/978-981-08-7920-4_S1-CP03-cd

ABSTRACT

Design changes, whether voluntary or imposed, are common and inevitable in construction projects. If these changes are not properly identified, analyzed and coordinated, design-related conflicts and other associated consequences may result in inefficient design, poor performance of the downstreamphases, or even failure of thewhole project. This paper provides a theoretical framework to identify design changes and to quantify and predict the impact of changes on engineering effectiveness throughout project execution. The research method includes an extensive review of the literature, a series of interviews with industry experts, and structured knowledge-mining from completed projects (case studies). Using findings from investigations, a comprehensive list of tangible and intangible factors which have an influence on the impact of design changes are identified and categorized. Based on these factors, a number of rating indices are proposed to be considered in the prediction model. The quantifiable indicators which can be used to measure engineering effectiveness at each phase of project are then introduced. In the last part, the theoretical framework consisting of model components and model development and validation procedure is portrayed. The result of this study forms part of a wider research project which develops and tests a prediction model for pattern recognition of the impact of design changes in construction projects.

Keywords: Design changes, Change causes and effects, Engineering effectiveness, Theoretical framework, Prediction model, Change management, Construction projects.

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