Produce an  individual report, analyse and evaluate the impact of innovations on a real-life case study.

Rationale:

The advent of different types of innovations is rapidly growing to improve different aspects of the construction industry. The primary aim is to overcome potential silos, and promote more integrated approaches to manage constructions projects more effectively on the long term. As this module covers a very wide range of topics relevant to innovative approaches and methods within industry, students can demonstrate their in-depth knowledge and understandings of various aspects of innovation that can be implemented to improve the project performance.

Description:

As a lead consultant to the client, you are required to consider a construction project at any stage during its life-cycle development. The aim is to prepare a portfolio report to the client that will enable them to improve the performance of the project using the adopted innovation. Your report will be used for any future similar developments – as a lessons learnt exercise. Below is a description of the expectations based on the learning outcomes:

1. A concise account of the stakeholders’ (e.g. Architects, Contractors, Clients and Facilities Management teams) perceptions of the chosen innovation. This section needs to be contextualised within a stage of the development in question (e.g., design, construction and/or occupancy). The adopted innovation can be a digital solution (e.g. Digital Twins) or a process-based (e.g. Circular Economy) solution. Not more than two innovative solutions should be selected for the purpose of this report. For this section, it is essential that you use a comprehensive synthesis of extant literature to substantiate the narrative (15%).

2. A critical appraisal of the selected innovation related to the issue or the problem that you identified to tackle in the project. The issue you identified can be delivery-based (e.g. an issue that was caused during the delivery stages i.e. planning, design or construction), or it can be management-based during the operation stage (e.g. maintenance management). For this section, you should utilise extant literature and identify the requirements or appropriate mechanisms to explain how the selected innovation can overcome the identified problem (35%).

3. A discussion on improvements and complexities that can arise as a result of applying the selected innovation (e.g. how data and information can be managed and communicated as a result of applying a particular technology). This section requires you to thoroughly review the existing literature and explore lessons learned from the adoption of the proposed solution in similar projects, and then explain how the solution applies to your case study (25%).

4. An overview and appraisal of the adopted innovation in terms of long-term impact on the management and performance