Developing a framework to enhance building handover practices in public sector construction projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Many public sector construction projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) are marred by communication and coordination problems, with owners having to pay a high price for schedule delays and cost overruns. The process by which building information is conveyed to owners lacks standardisation, a holistic approach, and consistency. This often results in KSA public sector owners receiving building information in a variety of formats, resulting in buildings operating at sub-optimal levels and relevant building data being unavailable at required times to support decision-making and optimal operations and maintenance. Existing systems of data management within KSA public sector projects cannot match the demand of operations and maintenance, as buildings are becoming more complex, in terms of space management, energy demand management, and addressing environmental concerns, due to the functional requirements of modern infrastructure. This research focuses on investigating key technology and processrelated challenges in order to ensure smoother transition of information from project design and construction to maintenance and operation phases of a building’s lifecycle. This research aims to develop a framework to enhance data management in building handover practices of public sector construction projects in the KSA. This framework helps improve the operation and maintenance of buildings by establishing a relationship between the project design and construction team, and the operations and project maintenance team. The research identifies key data requirements for effective building handover from a Saudi client perspective. In order to achieve the research aim, an empirically based systems analysis of a singledetailed case study organization of Al Madinah Al Munawwarah, Regional Municipality in KSA was carried out. Substantial fieldwork was undertaken using both qualitative and quantitative methods to match specific research questions. The questionnaire survey provides a wider view of building handover practices in the KSA, while the qualitative study provided an in-depth understanding of the state-of-the-art in practice. Many tools were used to collect the data, including semi-structured interviews supplemented by survey questionnaires together with documentation review. The implementation of more than one method to collect the data was used in order to achieve data triangulation, to explore implementation of data management in building handover practices, and to provide a more an in-depth understanding. The finding of this research concludes some unique factors that affect the implementation of actual building handover practices within the public sector construction industry in KSA. These factors include: high manager turnover; lack of knowledge and experience; lack of use of technology; lack of training; lack of communication during project data at the Handover Stage; unclear responsibilities. However, the finding indicates that it is important for all managers in public sector construction to understand that the handover is started already at the beginning of the project. Furthermore, early handovers must be reviewed and strengthened during the final project handover. Also, the research findings confirmed that the lack of communication was possibly because of the fact that the project team is big and multi-cultural. Thus, the individuals were afraid to ask any questions as they assumed others would think that they were too inexperienced to understand some technical specifications. Hence, it is highly critical to define and use a clear communication procedure. Every manager is responsible for communicating internally and externally about status and issues. These findings will strengthen the existing literature on effective data handover at project completion stage and will narrow the gap in knowledge in KSA studies in particular and to Arab studies in general. Therefore, significant recommendations to the policy, practitioners, and researchers, within both the public and private sector projects, are made to aid and improve construction industry practices. This research provides specific original findings, which include an in depth understanding of factors that affect the facilitation of data management in building handover practices of construction projects in the KSA via a case study conducted within the KSA public sector construction context. This research is the first study in KSA regarding issues that affect data management in building handover practices of construction projects in the KSA. It is also the first academic study of the Al Madinah Al Munawwarah, Regional Municipality in KSA.