INTEGRATED DIGITAL DELIVERY: IMPLEMENTATION STATUS, PROJECT PERFORMANCE, BARRIERS AND STRATEGIES

Abstract

IDD is one of the three key initiatives launched by the Building Construction Authority under the Construction Industry Transformation Map to transform Singapore’s approach to construction. Whilst the technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been largely implemented in local construction projects, there is limited study on the level of implementation of other digital and cloud technologies used in different phases of the projects. Hence, this research seeks to examine the level of implementation of technology, assess the level of performance improvement contributed by the IDD implementation, investigate the barriers in implementing IDD, and finally propose some feasible strategies that can tackle the barriers and promote effective IDD implementation. Based on the literature review carried out, 35 digital and cloud technologies have been identified for the four phases of IDD, i.e., Digital Design, Digital Manufacturing and Fabrication, Digital Construction, and Digital Asset Delivery and Management, which were implemented in the Singapore as well as the global construction industry. In addition, a total of 23 barriers and 18 strategies have been identified through the literature review and validated by the industry experts. Then, a survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to the targeted respondents, and the responses were collected and analysed using non-parametric analysis techniques to determine the significance and differences among different construction designations, years of experience of respondents and organisations, and size of organisation. Post interviews were also carried out to validate the results. The analysis results show that BIM, Prefabrication, BIM-to-field mobile apps, and Building Management System are the four technologies that are most frequently used in each phase of Digital Design, Digital Manufacturing and Fabrication, Digital Construction and Digital Asset Delivery and Management respectively. The analysis also reports that the respondents largely agree that there is improvement in overall, cost, quality and schedule performance when IDD is implemented. However, the top three barriers to IDD implementation are found to be Inclination to stick with tried and tested methods, Complexities of implementing IDD technologies into project, and Higher investment costs. The top three strategies that can tackle ii the barriers are reported as Government to spur demand by adopting IDD in public projects, Government to provide financial incentives such as tax rebate or grants to reward companies that implement IDD in their projects, and Client to provide a clear information on procedures to fulfil IDD technological requirements during tendering stage. The study has shown that in order to increase the implementation of IDD, strong cooperation between the government and construction firms is required. The construction firms also should explore the different types of cloud and digital technologies available in the industry and adapt the strategies to overcome the barriers that they may face during the implementation of IDD technologies. The findings from this study provide valuable information for organisations that plan to be involved in IDD projects in Singapore through the analysis results on project performance when IDD is implemented, identification of barriers of IDD implementation and strategies to tackle the barriers faced during the implementation of IDD technologies are presented.