Work methods are evolving with the role that the construction industry must play in ecological transition. The approach to problems is deepening and requires a cross-cutting reflection on subjects which were previously ignored : seeking frugality in means, considering the long term through life cycle analysis, new forms of mobility, adaptation to the effects of climate change, and the reconquest of biodiversity in a world diminished by human action.
IT tools open up a realm for a new type of teamwork, materialising in a digital model whose strength lies in surpassing mere graphical representation and allowing the development of collaborative remote work applications.
This dual constraint of achieving environmental results and integrating evolving digital tools, with the resulting implications on how to design, greatly amplifies the importance of the early stages of projects and disrupts established practices : scheduling and content of studies, material specifications and building methods, project economics, the need for more upstream collaboration with manufacturers and contractors.
These changes in methodology place very real demands on all stakeholders : contracting authority (coordination of objectives, adequate planning and councelling to town officials), project owner, consultants, design team, and contractors.
Our approach facing these stakes
- Pioneering work * on building envelopes from mid 1990s, when the Passivhaus principles were launched in Germany, on the occasion of projects located in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and thereafter in the United Kingdom: ensuring the thermal continuity of an envelope in the three dimensional space most often involves insulation from the outside associated with ad hoc technical elements at singular points of the facade (front foot, facing support, balcony, parapet wall); double-flow ventilation could be associated with these projects, which is the only way to drastically reduce energy consumption while preserving air quality.
* Hence a recent participation in the Afnor technical commission (P10E) as an expert for the technique of the double wall with facing bricks: last revision of DTU 20.1 (released in July 2020), DTU 20.12 (coming soon), CTMNC guide on decorative brick masonry design (to come).
- To build the digital mock-up, we work with Autodesk REVIT software. For the practice of BIM, we refer to the contracts "BIM Manager" and "AMO BIM" drawn up in 2018 by the MAF with the FPI (Fédération des Promoteurs Immobiliers) which clarify the expectations laying on each parties.
- Experience in the process of collaborative work within the framework of design and build contracts in the United Kingdom and France, which means that we approach any project with significant and comparative feedback on practical and human aspects. Getting out of traditional patterns (general contracting) requires vigilance to avoid pitfalls:
• Knowing how to assess the level of information that is required in the early stage of a D&B contract (propensity to underestimate this level due to the incomplete nature of the detailed studies, and due to the schedule of design work agreed without having really consulted all the parties);
• Defining a management role in which a share in the productive tasks is requested so as to limit the non-productive tasks required from the other stakeholders, and therefore allow them to concentrate on the production of information and the solving of problems;
• Clearly define the content and frequency of the project (or site) meetings: the purpose of these meetings is not to reassure each other on all the matters but to be effective in solving problems: few participants are required;
• Avoid behaviors reproducing traditional roles (when the contract is not) or contractual entrenchment in the face of difficulties;
• Bearing in mind that designing is made of back and forth* which means accepting that project management will have to include these backs;
* We can thus realise, before it is too late, that an idea that seemed good and simple actually involves too many means and complexity or degrades the project, once it is formalised, and that it is better not to develop this idea.
- An experience of the « co-production of the service », that is to say working in real time with the client, professionals involved and contractors, a true value creation process. Adaptation is intrinsic to this service relationship and its necessity must be understood by the management level, which is too often not the case.
Awareness needed by all stakeholders
Tools are becoming more and more sophisticated but...
- Experience shows that synergy between professionals is never acquired, that it is not straightforward, including within a company with integrated skills, because the human factor remains essential (lack of appreciation of the project leader / business manager, motivation not shared, internal competition, disconnection between sales representatives and site operators, etc.
- The digital mock-up of the project has, as a corollary, a requirement of rigour with an appropriate level of accuracy from the start: it is no longer possible to draw up a schedule of studies (and therefore of the content of the documentation) without agreeing with all the stakeholders.
