Enabling Lean Design with Management of Model Maturity - A Study of Maturity-Based Construction Design in Norwegian AEC-Projects

Abstract

Traditional construction management tend to employ ad hoc approaches to design, increasing the number of negative iterations and sacrificing potential value. Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been driving information management in design, but its use has yet to be described in a way which makes it compatible with planning tools such as Last Planner . Level of Development (LOD) could allow for this by attributing maturity to the BIM, yet previous studies of LOD implementations have shown potential for improvement. Recent developments in the Norwegian AEC-industry have seen the deployment of an LOD-based system called Model Maturity Index (MMI) in order to solve this issue, but documentation of experiences from these projects are limited.

The following thesis is a study of maturity-based construction design management using the research questions

1. What are the current approaches to maturity-based construction design management? 2. What are the experiences from current approaches to maturity-based construction design management? 3. How should maturity-based construction design management be approached?

Two large projects employing maturity-based design management were studied using semi-structured specific interviews of project participants, in addition to a document study.

The thesis uses a literature scoping study to formulate key aspects of BIM-based workflows, which were used as an explanatory model to investigate implementations in case projects. This approach reveals how use of maturity-based management can provide the necessary conditions for managing BIM-based workflows according to lean principles, and serves as a guiding framework to formulate sound implementation strategies.

Finally, the thesis concludes with practical recommendations for successful implementation of maturity-based management as an enabler of lean practices in BIM-based design, such as how to specify maturity levels or how to disaggregate the model into disciplinary sections.