Integrated Project Delivery – IPD

I think that IPD – Integrated Project Delivery could be as important from an organizational change point of view to the New AEC (is that a good way to describe it?) as BIM. The other critically important 3 letter acronym is VDC – Virtual Design and Construction. In fact they all go hand in hand, and if treated as a system, the cummulative effect is going to result in something much greater than the sum of the parts – can you say revolution?

Markuu Allison from the AIA gave a very insightful talk on the paradigm shifting impact that IPD will have the production of a new building , or the retrofit of an exising, and as he pointed out, ‘Change is not optional”. This has to occur if we want to produce the kind of efficiency required to stop wasting as much as 50% of the money that goes into the average construction project.

He noted that severe fragmentation exists within the industry with 1.2 million AEC firms in the US alone. Architectural firms with more than 50 employees account for only 2% of the population. Approximately 30% of construction projects come in either over budget or beyond the schedule. And worst of all buildings are the primary source of greenhouse gases.

He stressed that IPD is both a philosophy and a delivery method. At a minimum he described it as a single contract that the owner, designer and contractor all sign agreeing to share the risks and rewards depending on the outcomes. This kind of agreement changes everything.

Today only 2% of the projects are using IPD. 34% are using BIM. He sees a faster adoption rate for IPD.

More in the next blog.