Research Activities
Two themes guide the research program. The first deals with the design of integrated, computer-based decision tools to support project design, construction, and facilities management. The second deals with decision making about procurement and risk management strategies for large engineering projects.
Design of Integrated, Computer-Based Decision Tools
This research deals with the development of improved tools for modelling projects, representing and selecting construction technologies, encoding construction expertise into systems, automating the interpretation of construction records, and capturing multi-media project information, to name a few. Findings from this work have been put into practice on many construction projects. Thesis students’ research often involves direct interaction with local firms and projects to help ensure that findings are responsive to the realities of construction.
Other research within this area focuses on information sharing and the integration of project functions throughout the design, construction and facilities management life cycle. Active topics include designing standardized data models for describing fundamental project information (such as construction activities, resources, or project costs), using standard models to support communication and information exchange among various stand-alone computer applications (such as planning and scheduling, cost estimating, cost accounting, or CAD), developing flexible coding structures that allow one project management function to be mapped onto another (e.g., estimating to be integrated with planning and scheduling and vice versa), and integrated systems to support facilities life cycle cost analysis and maintenance management.
Procurement & Risk Management Strategies for Large Projects
This research focuses on generalized capital expenditure modelling of large projects, project financing, risk analysis (including risk allocation and mitigation strategies) and the analysis of alternative strategies for procuring large, public infrastructure projects. Of special interest are public/private partnership arrangements such as Design-Build and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) that require engineering and construction firms to assume non-traditional roles such as project proponent, financier, and operator. Issues dealing with process design from both public and private sector viewpoints, risk assignment, economic evaluation, and the development of decision support systems provide the focus of the work.
