Conflict, Complexity, and Uncertainty in Building Refurbishment Projects

Abstract

Building refurbishments involve improvement, upgrading, renovation, retrofit, and repair of existing buildings. It is an important sector of the construction industry. Building refurbishment projects are characterized by a high level of complexity and uncertainty which often involves factors such as change in design, inadequate and unavailable information which may initiate conflicts. The aim of this paper is to investigate how the factors cause conflicts. A comprehensive literature review was carried out as part of on-going Ph.D. research program. The review reveals that building refurbishment projects are more uncertain than new building projects and that the uncertainties tend to increase conflicts. This paper concludes that knowledge relating to complexity and uncertainty in refurbishment projects and the factors that cause conflict has to be managed systematically to enable successful project implementation.