A conceptual framework for sharing knowledge and information between facility management/operations and building design teams

Long, PW

Abstract

It is generally accepted that decisions made in early design phases significantly impact the quality of a built project. However, much of the information necessary to assess the validity of early design decisions is not available until later in a project’s lifecycle. The impact of early design decisions on project quality suggests that accurate, relevant, and timely information is important at the earliest design phases to improve a designer’s ability to make well-informed design decisions. This thesis proposes that because of their active engagement with the built environment, facility managers (FMs) have unique insights that strategically position them to play an essential role in the early phases of building design by providing knowledge and feedback from buildings in use.
Because early design sets the foundation for linking strategic and technical decisions, the most significant opportunities for improving overall project results are at the beginning of a project. Facility management and operations (FM/O) involvement in early architecture and engineering (AE) design phases makes it possible to incorporate construction and FM related knowledge into design decisions. This involvement may lead to buildings that are better suited to owners’ needs, more attractive, easier to maintain, more cost-effective, and better at addressing occupant needs. However, while research suggests design teams and design processes will increasingly become integrated and multi-disciplinary as advanced automated construction and information management systems become standard, obstacles persist, limiting the sharing of information and knowledge between FM/O and AE-design teams.
This thesis evaluates and develops mechanisms and procedures to enhance the sharing of information and knowledge between FM and AE-design teams. With a focus on built environment industries in the midwestern region of the United States (US), data is collected from AE and FM professionals to support the development of a framework that offers solutions for enhancing information sharing between FM/O and AE-design. The developed framework is presented as a design decision support system (DDSS) made up of conceptual design decision support tools (DDSTs). The thesis describes a mixed method, design science research (DSR) strategy, used to develop the conceptual DDSS framework and DDSTs.

Citation

Long, P. A conceptual framework for sharing knowledge and information between facility management/operations and building design teams. (Thesis). University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 5, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 5, 2021
• Award Date: Aug 1, 2021