Zoya Kpamma, E and Adjei-Kumi, T (2011) Management of waste in the building design process: The Ghanaian consultants' perspective. Architectural Engineering and Design Management, 7(2), pp. 102-112. ISSN 1745-2007
Abstract
Waste associated with building design is one of the causes of the high cost and slow progress of construction projects in Ghana. Proper management of waste at the design stage is therefore a fundamental step towards achieving speedy delivery of building projects at minimum cost. This paper seeks to examine the level of awareness of sources of waste and the application of waste reduction tools in the building design process by Ghanaian consultancy firms. Data on the design activities of the firms were collected by distributing questionnaires to consultants, while contractors and clients were interviewed. Involvement in various building design processes was also used to obtain data for the study. Results revealed a generally low recognition of sources of waste in the building design process and little awareness of waste reduction tools such as design structure matrix, batch size reduction and set-based design. It was also found that inadequate familiarity of the firms with lean thinking was among a number of limitations to the application of waste reduction tools in Ghana. This suggests that there is a need to improve the awareness of lean design management in both education and practice in Ghana.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | design management; Ghana; lean thinking; value; waste |
| Index terms: | Ghana, design structure matrix, building design, consultancy, waste reduction, questionnaire, design stage, construction project, design management |
| Subjects: | organization, data collection methods, design methods, architectural design, professional practice, sustainability assessment, design process, production management, Geography |
| Topics: | Project Management, Geographical Context, Research Practice, Sustainability, Design Practice, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here