Chicago BIMForum - When Does Design End and Construction Begin?

Spatial coordination spans the transition of Design to Construction. We all know that design never really stops until construction is completed. The expectation that design is completed at some point in time and then spatial coordination begins and ends with construction beginning only works in someone else’s presentation. There is natural overlap between all three processes and managing the interfaces and data is the key to making the right decisions (decision support). Contracts typically define these as sequential activities but in fact they overlap and interplay throughout the project delivery. This doesn’t have to be a bad thing … it certainly can be and conversely it can be good for the project. A late design change to add new life saving technology into a hospital project seems like the right thing to do. Design incompleteness discovered during the spatial coordination process can be frustrating but it certainly is cheaper than discovering/fixing in the field.

In this presentation, we will walk through several examples on the LAX Bradley West Gates expansion project showing the impact of design, coordination and construction happening at the same time. There are several possible outcomes from decisions made in this scenario. It often feels like we’re repeatedly reliving Groundhog Day with results that are far from efficient, but greater lessons are often learnt from our mistakes than our perceived successes.