An integrated hybrid modeling framework for construction project delivery

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Canada's industrial base depends on infrastructure and facilities, which are planned, engineered, constructed, and operated by a segment of the construction industry called the capital projects industry. These projects will account for approximately $145 billion in investment in 2011 alone, according to Statistics Canada predictions. Improvement in their delivery will greatly impact national aggregate productivity and ultimately the economic welfare of our country. Estimates of what is possible range from 5% to 15% reduction in costs, representing billions of dollars in potential savings. Experts agree one major area of improvement involves addressing project- and company-level challenges, such as the dynamic and uncertain environment of construction, one-off projects, lack of industry-wide information technology standards that facilitate seamless integration and collaboration among project participants, and hasty and unstructured propagation of advanced technologies and equipment without appropriate frameworks, among other issues. This research program will focus on creating new knowledge and applying it to construction project delivery processes in an effort to realize a vision of integration, automation, and assimilation of advanced technologies. We will pursue process automation in support of efficient project delivery, the creation of streamlined, efficient and automated construction operations, and advancing the state of the art in modeling and simulation of construction operations in order to facilitate deployment of automated processes and provide industry with the tools required to design and analyse construction processes. Throughout the research activity we will evaluate the impacts of the proposed advancements on productivity and competitiveness, and will support their transfer into industry. Potential benefits of this program include improvements to project delivery, reductions in project costs and schedule, and enhancements of the construction supply chain, along with training a new generation of HQPs to facilitate transfer of these discoveries into construction.