Information required in managing the design process of refurbishment projects

Abstract

Building refurbishment is an important sector in the Malaysian construction industry. The high demand for refurbishment projects is due to an increase in the number of deteriorating and obsolete buildings. However, refurbishment projects are more difficult to manage compared to new-builds. The problem mainly derives from the lack of information available to perform a task, especially during the initial stage of the design process. Many authors on management agree on the importance of the design process towards the success of refurbishment projects. Even though design cost contributes a small percent of total project cost, the performance of the refurbishment projects is much affected by the design process. Similarly, about a quarter of refurbishment project time is lost due to problems in design. The main reason for lost time was rework in design due to errors made during the design process. The construction performances have always been reduced by the difficulty of managing the design process. Therefore, management in the design process needs to be improved in order to produce accurate design before work starts on site. This study aims to discuss methods of obtaining design information in refurbishment projects and shows how the methods could affect performance of refurbishment design. The data was obtained from literature reviews, semistructured interviews with 21 principal architects and a questionnaire survey. The results indicate that a site survey was considered the most important method of obtaining design information during the design process of refurbishment projects. In contrast, destructive and non-destructive tests were rated the least important amongst all the method of obtaining information during the design process.