Development of constructability concepts, principles and practices

Constructability is a system for achieving optimum integration of construction knowledge in the building process and balancing the various project and environmental constraints to achieve maximisation of project goals and building performance (CII Australia 1993). Constructability concepts and principles, considered during conceptual planning, design, procurement, construction and use, can make the total building process easier to manage, quicker and more cost effective. When constructability becomes an implied and accepted aspect of the total building process it has the potential to deliver real benefits to clients, consultants, contractors and users. Constructability practices have developed from application and a considerable body of research conducted over the last thirty years. This paper reviews the development of constructability concepts and the identification of the key principles of constructability, and identifies the likely future developments in constructability research and practice. Historically, the attention given to constructability has been somewhat narrowly focused on individual project stages, and therefore, the multi-dimensional aspects of constructability have not been fully considered and the real benefits may have been missed. The findings presented in this paper indicate that the construction industry has begun to address more purposefully the concerns and difficulties of actively managing the interface between the various stages of the building process in addition to considering the facets of the individual stages themselves. In this way, constructability is becoming an important and powerful concept which can be applied beneficially to the total building process.