National Academies Press: OpenBook

The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building (1992)

Chapter: Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation

« Previous: Appendix F: Tort Law, Deterrence, and Innovation: Too Much or Too Little?
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×

APPENDIX G
POINTS OF ENTRY FOR BUILDING INNOVATION

Facilities are developed and used in a multistage process, over a period of years. The process is often described in terms of four principal stages: (1) planning, (2) design, (3) construction, and (4) operations and maintenance, but in fact includes many more detailed and distinct steps. In the absence of any major delays, the first three stages are typically accomplished over 12 to 24 months. Operations and maintenance continue throughout the facility's several decades of service life. A fifth stage—renewal, reuse, or demolition—is beyond the scope of this discussion, but can be an effective return to the first stage of the process for many facilities.

Opportunities for innovation, for adoption of new building technology, can occur at many points in this process, through the actions of any of the large numbers of people and organizations involved. The owner, designer, and builder comprise the major participants, but each of these three is in fact a complex group of individuals and organizations that must work together to accomplish the aim of a completed project.

The initiator and central figure in the process is the facility owner (see Figure G-1), who is responsible for stating his or her needs and employing appropriate resources to meet those needs. The user is normally the basis for determining needs, but in many cases the owner and user are different and possibly separate organizations. In government, agencies or parts of agencies that will occupy a building may have little involvement in facility design and construction. The General Services Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Naval Facilities Engineering Command undertake facility development for other agencies as well as for themselves.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×

Figure G-1 Overview of design construction process.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×

The owner's relationship to the facility is, in principle, long term. The ''completed project'' is not completed in fact until the owner replaces, sells and vacates, or otherwise breaks this relationship. The owner must typically consider both administration (i.e., related to the organization) and operations (i.e., related to the facility and its occupants) in determining what resources are appropriate and how they are employed. Developers of government facilities may contend with budgetary constraints imposed by legislative decisions that have limited relationship to the facility's characteristics.

While operations and maintenance may continue for many years, the greatest management complexity is concentrated in the early stages of the facility's life cycle, during planning, design, and construction. These stages also represent the greatest proportion of potential entry points for new technology. For these early stages, the owner enters into contractual relationships with the designer and the builder (see Figure G-2). The contract vehicles contain, in principle, a clear statement of all of the owner's requirements that are to be met during the work leading to the completed project. The contract also states the amount of money the owner agrees to pay for construction. In practice, the requirements may shift during project development, leading to contract changes, negotiations, and sometimes disputes.

The designer is typically a multidisciplinary team of a lead architect or engineering firm and one or more specialist firms that work as subcontractors to the lead firm (see Figures G-3A and G-3B). The lead design firm generally is completely responsible for selection and direction of the design subcontractors, but many government agencies selecting designers will ask for a list of specialists on the team, prior to making a selection.

The builder (see Figure G-4) also is typically a team of a general contractor and one or more specialty subcontractors. The owner, sometimes with advice from the designer, enters into a contract with the general contractor, who is then totally responsible for construction.100 The owner's requirements, presented in drawings and specifications prepared by the designer, are the basis for this contract.

The construction general contractor will employ specialist subcontractors, and each organization will employ skilled and semiskilled workers. These contractors may have to deal with trade unions that have specific rules regarding utilization of their workers (e.g., trade jurisdiction, work hours, apprenticeship). Each craft's areas of responsibility are often strictly defined, and the contractor must coordinate the work of various specialty workers. The general contractor

100  

Some government agencies contract separately with several specialty constructors (e.g., structural, electrical, and mechanical) and must then coordinate these separate contractors. In New York and a few other states, such separate prime contracts are required by law.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×

Figure G-2 Detail of design and construction process: owner and contractual relationships.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×

Figure G-3a Detail of design and construction process: designer.

Figure G-3b Primary elements under control of design contractors.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×

Figure G-4 Detail of design and construction process: builder/constructor.

will also work to ensure that safety is achieved at all levels of the construction work.

New technology may be visualized as entering the process from the lowest levels and moving upward to appear in the final product, the completed project. Innovations can be initiated anywhere in this process, springing from two primary sources: (1) new products, tools, and procedures offered by vendors, and (2) new procedures and relationships initiated by labor, craftsmen, designers, managers, and others working on the project.

Although innovation can start at any point, each of the parties to the process may have particular and differing points of view on the costs and benefits of a proposed new technology (e.g., materials, products, procedures). For example, an improved material may lead to the substitution of that material for another, leading in turn to the loss of sales for some vendors and the loss of work for

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×

those who deal with the replaced material. Some participants in the process may oppose new technologies that other participants favor, because the costs and benefits are (or appear to be) distributed disproportionately or simply because the new idea has been proposed by someone else.

New products and processes may then face a tortuous path on the road to becoming innovations. The owner may have great difficulty determining the ultimate value of the potential innovation and may not even have the opportunity to make that judgment. A sophisticated owner may be able to maintain good information on new developments in each of the fields that represent opportunities for innovation, but most owners must generally depend on designers and builders for information and guidance.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×
This page in the original is blank.
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×
Page 125
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×
Page 126
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×
Page 127
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×
Page 128
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×
Page 129
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×
Page 130
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×
Page 131
Suggested Citation:"Appendix G: Points of Entry for Building Innovation." National Research Council. 1992. The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2070.
×
Page 132
The Role of Public Agencies in Fostering New Technology and Innovation in Building Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $50.00
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

This book explores innovation in the U.S. construction-related industries (i.e., design services, construction, building materials and products manufacture, and facilities operation and maintenance) and recommends a strategy for fostering new technology.

These industries account for about ten percent of the U.S. economy; federal agencies themselves spend some $15 billion annually on construction. A government strategy based on federal agencies that encourage applications of new technology for their own projects, activities to enhance the pursuit and effective transfer of new technology to the U.S. private sector, and increased support for targeted efforts to develop new technologies in specific areas will yield many benefits. These include better cost, quality, and performance in government facilities, generally improved quality of life, and enhanced U.S. industrial competitiveness in international markets.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!