Sustainable Design in Project Delivery: a Discussion On Current and Future Trends

Sustainability principles have become an integral part of the design and construction process for many new construction projects. The selection of the project delivery method (PDM) is extremely important in the effective execution of the project, and plays a critical role in establishing communication and coordination between the key entities: owner, architect, and contractor.

The goal of this paper is to hopefully serve as a starting point for further discussion to improve on the AEC industry's current integration of sustainability principles in PDMs. The first step consists of an assessment of current project delivery systems from a sustainable design perspective. This is followed by a determination of the current limitations, and examination of the various disruptions in the industry. Various literature sources are analyzed to form a framework to discuss improvements and optimization strategies beyond the current system. Thereafter, proposed solutions are introduced at both stakeholders, as well as PDM scales.

In this paper, the focus for the conducted analysis and proposed methodologies is predicated on new construction projects instead of retrofits due to the resources available. However, the principles can similarly be applied to retrofit scenarios as well, depending on the specific requirements of the individual project at play.