Integrated Project Delivery: 5 Tips for Enhancing IPD for LEED

Continuous process improvement is not a new concept to LEED professionals. We see concrete examples with the anticipated launch of LEED v4, which is designed to raise the bar on leadership. So how do we do the same for IPD? After all, that’s where the role of leader first starts. This article highlights five tips for professionals who wish to enhance how they deliver projects as part of an integrated team.

1. Owner Driven: Behind the Wheel or Sitting on the Passenger’s Side?

Being “owner driven” is recognized as one of the key contributing success factors for IPD. A potential owner drawback to the IPD process is the additional demand at the onset on both time and resources. At some point in the process, often during the consultant interview, the owner will typically ask, “just how much of my time and effort is required?”.

Although successful projects require the owner’s time and commitment for the duration of the project, owner commitment is seen to be the most critical during the design phase. During this period, owners are tasked with setting the project parameters, determining the performance criteria, responding to the myriad of consultant questions, and providing timely feedback on the designs presented.

It is imperative that the owner or owner’s representative be available to the team - but what if the owner is in absentia? In order to avoid such an occurrence, the team needs to ensure that a communication management plan is prepared as part of its due diligence and that it includes roles and responsibilities along with project time frames. The communication plan is an effective tool that assists the team in establishing protocol for communication activities. It includes the channels to be used, the frequency of interfaces and whose signature is required for approvals. Effective planning keeps team members accountable and on track.

2. Building a Better Team: Just Ask a Goose

When working in a studio environment, we soon learn the importance of teamwork. It’s as simple and as uncomplicated as the “Lessons Learned from Geese.” For the geese, it is all about their formation. When one of the flock deviates from the V-pattern, the bird is soon taxed with added drag since it no longer has the benefit of the lifting power of the geese directly ahead. Quickly, the goose re-adjusts to move back in formation, recognizing the importance of the lifting power of the rest of the flock.

Integrated Project Delivery requires trust and respect amongst the team members as well as a willingness to participate in open communication and collaboration. Without these attributes amongst the team members, individuals will soon feel the “added drag” and a successful project outcome is in jeopardy. There are a multitude of checklists available on team engagement, but what really matters the most?

Successful project teams know the importance of the following:

• Understanding and collectively agreeing to the project objectives
• Identifying and then prioritizing the critical success factors
• Having a clear definition of roles and responsibilities
• Creating a team identity
• Making collaborative decisions

3. Lean Principles: How Lean Is Lean?

Lean design and construction is recognized as one of the critical means to a sustainable environment. The “lean” principle originated with Toyota’s “production system” and is based on a minimal use of resources and the elimination of all waste. Older design practitioners were schooled in the “less is more” paradigm, but not necessarily at the expense of their own ideologies.

Integrated project delivery requires the careful weighing of brand architecture with the overall project objectives and the ranking of the associated success factors. These decisions start at the pre-design stage when the design professional is first conducting the needs analysis for the functional program and continue throughout the project’s duration. It is incumbent upon the team to challenge the most obvious and to look for new and innovative solutions in order to attain elevated results.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a successful tool in the team’s decision making process. BIM represents a fully integrated design model that captures such building attributes as spatial relationships, light analysis, quantities of materials, costing elements, product data, performance analysis, and scheduling for the procurement of materials. BIM goes further, in that it can also include such attributes as sensors and controls, which become necessary once the facility is operational. BIM not only enables lean design and construction, but its benefits can also extend throughout the full life-cycle of the project.

4. Recognizing the Triple Bottom Line: "Why You Can't Improve What You Don't Measure"

The quote is attributed to W. Edwards Deming, but the triple bottom line is a concept borrowed from an innovation leader named John Elkington. He first coined the phrase back in the mid-nineties. Mr. Elkington believed that the true cost of a company’s performance needed to address not only the financial aspects, but also the social and environmental performance of the operation as a whole. In this respect, triple bottom line (TBL) accounting recognizes the true cost of a project and its true value. It consists of profit, people and planet, also known as the 3Ps. Mr. Elkington was the founder of a consulting practice called SustainAbility (2012 having been its 25th anniversary), so it is no wonder that the LEED rating systems we use today can be seen as linking back to Elkington’s vision of corporate responsibility.

As previously noted, one of the IPD drawbacks for an owner is the higher upfront costs. A second drawback is the lack of definable measures for TBL accounting. What kind of metric do you use to measure sustainability when there is no universally accepted methodology? On the plus side, TBL is scalable and it is adaptable to whatever the project parameters. As a result, the IPD team has the latitude to make it project-specific and to establish measures that are relevant and support the overall project objectives. What is of key importance is that the measuring take place on whatever level is deemed appropriate and that owners' decisions be made with full knowledge of the long-term effects.

5. Embracing Collaborative Innovation: Taking It to the Next Level

Current LEED Rating Systems include points for Innovation credits, which are based on “innovative performance.” This means that if the IPD team can demonstrate “quantifiable environmental benefits" that not already part of LEED Rating Systems, then additional credits can be achieved. One of the recommendations for enhanced team building is the co-location of the IPD team. Sharing a work space provides the opportunity for greater collaboration among team members. This concept first originated with the “skunk works project,” developed by Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Projects Division during World War II. Lockheed recognized that one of the key success factors of any newly formed team is communication. More importantly, communication is what fosters collaboration and, ultimately, innovation.

For IPD team members to truly excel, it is critical that they be given the opportunity to function as an integrated team. An optimal condition for this to occur would be to house the team all under one roof. Under these conditions, the team can maximize its efforts and possibly take their project to a whole new level.

And one final note on the topic of IPD – there is an African proverb that says“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” The intent of IPD is to increase value while reducing waste and redundancy; and that means it’s a long journey that requires the skills and expertise of the entire team.