Assembling A Collaborative Team - Other - Page 61
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The pros and cons of early contractor involvement
The advantages of early contractor involvement will depend on the complexity of
a project, the nature of the site and the extent to which specialist subcontractors
might add value to a project. The positive aspects would be:
•the contractor’s supply chain can be involved at an earlier point, in order to
harness the knowledge and experience of specialist contractors
•it allows strategies for logistics, health and safety and other considerations
to be developed earlier in the design process
•it allows the contractor to better understand (two-stage design and build) or
be in better control of (contractor-led procurement) the project risks.
The downsides of early contractor involvement are:
• the client does not have direct access to the designers (contractor-led)
• a larger team is more difficult to manage
•design innovation may be stifled or impeded by designers having to address
issues that are not central to the design process.
The timing of contractor involvement establishes the generic nature of the
project team. Once this has been determined, the specific roles required at
each stage can be considered, decisions regarding the party best placed to
undertake each role can be made and the Contractual Tree that links the various
parties together developed.
The pros and cons of later contractor involvement
Traditional procurement involves the contractor later than other forms of
procurement and the pros and cons are considered in relation to this form of
procurement. The advantages are:
•the design team can focus on the design without being unduly influenced by
buildability matters, bringing their experience to bear on those issues
•a smaller design team can focus more clearly on core design development
and coordination issues.
The downsides are:
•the skills of designing specialist subcontractors are not harnessed early
enough in the design process and certainly too late to influence major
decisions such as the choice of building frame
•construction risks and site logistics, including buildability, may not be
considered in adequate detail at a sufficiently early stage.
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