See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/237190193

Fast-tracking of construction projects: A case study

Article  in  Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering · February 2011

DOI: 10.1139/l88-068

CITATIONS READS
9 4,872

4 authors, including:

Paul Fazio Osama Moselhi

Concordia University Montreal Concordia University Montreal
142 PUBLICATIONS   2,015 CITATIONS    344 PUBLICATIONS   4,398 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Cost estimation View project

Operational Clash Detection & Aviodance View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Osama Moselhi on 25 March 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Fast-tracking of construction projects: a case study
P. FAZIO,0 . MOSELHI,'A N D P. T H ~ B E R G E '
Centre for Building Studies, Concordia University, Montre'al, Que., Canada H3G 1M8
AND
S. REVAY
Revay and Associates Ltd., Montre'al, Que., Canada H3Z 1P9
Received April 29, 1987
Revised manuscript accepted January 1 1, 1988

The growing use of professional construction management has been synonymous with the development of new project delivery
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by Depository Services Program on 06/07/13

systems such as the phased construction approach and the fast-tracking technique. This paper establishes the distinction between
these two types of approach which have become increasingly popular for reducing project duration. The paper further illustrates,
through a case study, the possible consequences of compressing and overlapping design activities in a fast-track program to
expedite project delivery. A delay analysis shows the impact of this accelerated technique on construction activities. The
far-reaching effect of mistakes during the early designlengineering phase in a fast-track program is usually underrated.
Accelerating a project through fast-tracking is a major decision, and construction professionals often are not aware of its
implications. Based on the case study examined in this paper and other fast-track constructions previously analyzed, trouble areas
requiring special attention have been depicted and recommendations with regard to the effective use of this technique are
presented. It has also been shown that if intensified effort on problem areas is lacking, such a popular accelerated technique could
result in unexpected delays.
Key words: fast-tracking, phased construction, professional construction management, design management.

L'utilisation croissante de services professionnels de gestion de la construction a coincidC avec l'apparition de nouveaux
systkmes de remise des ouvrages tels que la mCthode de construction par phases et la technique de suivi rapide. Cet article
Ctablit une distinction entre ces deux types de mCthode de rCduction de la d u d e d'un projet de plus en plus populaires. Par
le biais d'une Ctude de cas, l'article illustre les consCquences possibles du chevauchement et de la rCduction de la dude de
certaines activitCs de conception, dans le cadre d'un programme de suivi rapide visant i accClCrer la remise des ouvrages.
For personal use only.

Une analyse de retard illustre l'effet de cette technique sur les acivitCs de construction. L'impact d'erreurs commises durant
la phase initiale de conception et d'Ctude est habituellement sous-estimC dans un programme de suivi rapide. AccClCrer un
projet par le biais d'un su,ivi rapide est une importante dCcision, et les spCcialistes de la construction ne connaissent pas
toujours les implications. A la lumikre de 1'Ctude de cas prCsentCe dans cet article et des autres constructions i suivi rapide
analysCes prCcCdemment, les domaines dvralgiques nkcessitant une attention spCciale sont dCcrits et des recommandations
concernant l'utilisation efficace de cette technique sont prCsentCes. I1 a Cgalement CtC dkmontrC que si l'on ne dCploit
pas suffisamment d'efforts intensifs dans les domaines nkvralgiques, une telle technique populaire risque d'entrainer des
retards imprCvus.
Mots cle's : suivi rapide, construction en phases, gestion professionnelle de la construction, gestion de la conception.
[Traduit par la revue]
Can. J. Civ. Eng. IS, 493-499 (1988)

Introduction project objectives, phased construction and fast-tracking man-

Management of engineering and construction projects has agement techniques have been developed as part of the
unquestionably become more complex in recent years. Prior to professional construction management (PCM) approach. The
the 1970's, construction projects were delivered through the PCM unites a three-party team consisting of owner, designer,
traditional approach with an architectjengineer for designjin- and construction manager in a nonadversary relationship, and it
spection and a general contractor for construction, or through provides the owner with an opportunity to participate fully in the
the design-built approach featuring an engineerjcontractor construction process.
involved in all phases of the project, from inception through Both phased construction and fast-tracking compress the
design to construction. During the 1970's, technical complexi- project duration by overlapping work packages. This growth in
ties of projects, increased government regulations, spiralling phasing the design and construction has been synonymous with
inflation, and political pressures all have contributed to the the growth of PCM organizations (Gray and Flanagan 1984). As
increased cost of construction which resulted in a search for new soon as the design and construction stages are overlapped, a
and imaginative procedures to ensure faster and more economi- whole new series of interrelationships amongst designers,
cal project completions. With the traditional project delivery contractors, and owners are formed which must be managed
system failing to meet the present challenges, the owners found very efficiently to achieve successful completion of construc-
it necessary to become more involved in the administration and tion projects. Today, with the uncertainty of inflation and
management of their projects. interest costs, and with the competitive business world requiring
In an effort to shorten project durations and help meet overall owners to do their utmost to beat market competitors, these
accelerated project delivery approaches are becoming attractive.
NOTE: Written discussion of this paper is welcomed and will be This paper establishes the differences between the fast-
received by the Editor until December 31, 1988 (address inside front tracking technique and the phased construction approach. It
cover). further illustrates, through a project study, the impact of
'Authors to whom correspondence should be directed. compressing and overlapping design activities in a fast-track
 494 CAN. J. CIV. EN(3, VOL. 15. 1988

program in order to expedite project delivery. An in-depth delay Fast-tracking conditions

analysis is presented to show the impact of fast-track-related As long as the uncertainty of inflation and high interest costs
problems on the construction duration. Finally, based on the persists, schedule and cost benefits will continue to dictate the
project study presented in this paper and in reference to other use of accelerated construction programs. In theory shortening
fast-track projects that experienced difficulties, recommenda- the construction period should result in lower financing risk and
tions are made for the effective utilization of this accelerated reduction of indirect construction costs. Accordingly it would
technique. seem profitable to adopt the fast-tracking technique on a general
basis. In fact, however, only certain construction projects are
Fast-track versus phased construction potential candidates to this management approach.
Both phased construction and fast-tracking concepts are The traditional project delivery system is still being applied to
being used interchangeably in the literature and by construction a number of commercial and governmental projects. Other
professionals. Admittedly both concepts shorten time through projects such as power plants, petro-chemical facilities, oil
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by Depository Services Program on 06/07/13

overlapapping of design and construction phases, but this refineries, and industrial complexes that require extensive
similarity should not be misinterpreted. design and procurement periods are potential candidates for
Phased construction basically calls for overlapping of dis- fast-track and phased construction. Commercial projects were
crete work packages, by issuing them at different intervals their earlier start-up may decide the ultimate profitability of the
throughout the construction period. Design packages for exca- enterprise are also potential candidates.
vation, foundations, structural, mechanical, etc. are separately he following conditions or project characteristics encourage
produced in sequence by the architect, with the earlier packages design and construction overlapping:
let for bids and work commenced thereon before the later 1. Financial conditions: Important cost reductions and higher
packages are completed. The design of each of these work overall project profitability can be achieved by shortening the
packages is substantially complete when they are awarded. In project duration.
order to shorten the whole project duration, critical work 2. Project complexity: It is advantageous to award separate
packages are issued to contractors as they become ready for early contracts for portions of the work that are identified as
construction. potential constraints.
In an effort to further reduce construction duration the 3. Political conditions: Political decisions and budgetary
fast-track technique has emerged, where overlapping goes one policies can fix the start and completion dates on construction
step further. This is achieved by overlapping the design and facilities.
For personal use only.

construction phases within each individual package. Under this In practice, by attempting to maximize the benefits of a
approach the owner's architect develops schematic drawings shorter project duration or in order to meet a fixed delivery date,
and preliminary specifications, which are immediately used to a phased cbnstruction program often slips into the characteris-
estimate the project budget and get construction started. tics of a fast-track one. There is also an important condition
Without a full set of detailed plans and specifications, prospec- which qualifies fast-tracking from the start of the project:
tive bidders who are getting a rough idea of the work are asked to 4. Market conditions: For industrial buildings there are
formulate a contract price. As soon as the construction progress distinct advantages to being in production while the competition
of preceding packages is sufficent, the next work package is is still designing or building.
awarded with its design being completed in parallel with All of the above conditions demand that the project proceeds
construction. at as fast a pace as possible and call for a dynamic teamwork
Also using the approach of overlapping work packages, under the PCM approach, uniting the owner, acrhitectlengin-
fast-tracking could be viewed as an "accelerated phased eer (A/E), and the construction manager (CM), who could be a
construction." The time normally required for the cumbersome general contractor as well, early in the preconstruction stage of
reconciliation of all drawings and specifications is being traded the project. Through this "team approach" a good harmony is
for a "finish as you go along" approach. It is then the owner's created from design through completion, in which the CM
responsibility to complete the drawings and specifications in a exploits his management skills to a greater limit to intergrate and
manner consistent with the initial documents used by the coordinate design and construction overlapping (Linthicum
contractors to begin construction. The status of design develop- 1982).
ment for an individual work package at the time of award is
therefore a prime determinant in classifying projects as fast- Performance evaluation of fast-tracking
tracked or merely phased construction. There are basically two methods of analysis available to
Despite the similarities between the two approaches, the evaluate the performance of the fast-track construction
fast-track technique requires considerably more attention in approach. The first consists of a comparison between schedul-
order to achieve successful project completion. Ruby (1978) ing activities of a fast-track project and those of a traditional
and Sidwell (1983) pointed out two major challenges in case hypothetically derived from it. The second uses the actual
fast-track construction: coordinating the construction work and fast-track project to carry out an in-depth analysis of the
providing subcontractors with the information they need for accelerations and delays by comparing the as-planned and
bidding. Clearly defined independent work packages are cer- as-built schedules.
tainly important for both phased construction and fast-tracking A recent study utilizing the first approach (White 1980) is
(Schich 1982), while the latter specifically stresses the need for based on the "TREND" analysis technique presented in 1972 by
a flexible design (Trombley 1985). The importance of effective Benningson. The "TREND" model draws upon three indepen-
management during the design phase is stressed in several dent theories, namely: interdependence, uncertainty, and pres-
papers (Ruby 1978; Schich 1982; White 1980) and will be tige with due assumptions to enable the derivation of the
reviewed briefly. hypothetical traditional case. Typical assumptions required to
 FAZIO ET AL. 495

derive the traditional case include no change in activity duration vendor information and of complications with design coordina-
from the fast-track to the traditional approach, the same tion, drawings were not completed on time for the scheduled bid
construction activity precedences, and the same level of dates. As a result, the tendering of the main construction
uncertainty for activity duration. packages was postponed and compressed towards the end of the
As such, the approximation and (or) assumptions made at this design period (see Fig. 1). This slippage in bid dates disturbed
early stage in deriving the hypothetical model would have a the original sequence of contract awards and significantly
direct impact on the reliability of the end results drawn from the affected the construction schedule.
comparisons. This method, although theoretically appealing, Trying to meet the intended date of commercial production,
could result in misleading analysis due to the inherent limitation the engineering consultant and the owner did not hesitate to
of the method described above. Furthermore, the method reschedule activities, overlap work, and revise activity dura-
completely disregards the increased complexity in coordination tions through compression or acceleration. At that time,
and scheduling encountered on fast-track jobs. In view of the planning and coordination of the work were severely affected by
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by Depository Services Program on 06/07/13

pitfalls associated with the first method, the second approach the fast-tracking approach adopted for the project. Five main
has been considered herein. packages have been examined for a schedule~comparisonof
In general, more insight information can be gained in tendering period as illustrated in Fig. 2.
comparing the as-planned and as-built schedules for a particular Even during tender periods a large number of drawings were
project than in comparing the same project to a hypothetically revised, added, and deleted in several contract packages. In
derived case. The advantage of the selected method of analysis some cases up to 7 addenda were issued. This resulted, for
is the fact that it avoids the assumptions required to generate the example, in a slippage of up to 6.5 months in the award of the
hypothetical case and as such enables a comparison based on structural steel package. The bid closing date of this package
actual project records. It is also practical and utilizes a simple was delayed three times, 190 drawings were added and 109
and easy-to-follow procedure. drawings were revised. This represented, respectively, 50 and
Established facts, extracted from expert reports, on a project 28% of the number of drawings in the bid package. These
that has experienced difficulties, illustrated by several claims, last-minute revisions affected the accuracy of the bids and
have been considered to depict problem areas associated with contributed to low-productivity levels in the initial stage. The
fast-tracking. The tight schedule of fast-tracking combined with incomplete design resulted in a large number of drawing
the size of the project were considered helpful in identifying the revisions required after contract awards (see Fig. 2).
coordination and scheduling problems. The civil design man-hour histogram and design packages bar
For personal use only.

chart presented in Fig. 3 clearly show the considerable amount

Case study of engineering design required after tender call and award of the
The case study presented here illustrates the critical impor- contract packages. Typically, two to three more months after
tance in timing design activities and its inevitable impact on award (21% of the planned design duration) were needed to
overall planning and scheduling of construction work. Design substantially complete the design.
difficulties in putting work packages together and associated For the civil work (Fig. 3) over 30% of the design man-hours
construction delays were examined and assessed to reveal were spent after award of their last contract package. Similar
coordination problems when activities are overlapped. In the percentages were established for electrical and mechanical
fast-track project considered in the present study, a distinction is works, not shown here. Awarding civil, electrical, and mechan-
made between the contractor's delays, excusable but non- ical work packages with incomplete contract drawings and
compensable delays, and fast-track delays originated by the specifications has caused an important increase in total man-
owner. The project has been considered to indentify typical hours spent by the engineering firm to finalize the project
risks and problem areas generally encountered on fast-track design.
projects.
The selected project is a typical fast-track construction of a Construction and completion
large industrial plant in the United States with an estimated According to the original schedule, the project completion
value of $100 million. The estimate includes all the procure- date was April 2 1, 1980, including a construction duration of 2 1
ment contracts, major construction packages, and the design months (see Fig. 1). The initial delay in design activities
engineering services. The project was originally planned to span resulted in a late start of 5 months in construction. Through
27 months, with a design period of 14 months overlapping the further fast-tracking compression, the owner and construction
construction phase of 21 months (see Fig. 1). Actually the manager were able to reduce this delay to 1 month only.
construction period started 5 months behind schedule and However, during the construction period, the project suffered
spanned 26.5 months. The plant finally went into operation after an additional 9.75 months delay. This slippage occurred despite
a construction delay of 10.75 months, extending the planned an acceleration in the work of both mechanical and electrical
project durtation by 40%. contractors through formal orders by the owner.
A detailed schedule analysis has been camed out on the
Design and procurement critical activities of the whole project to identify the causes of
An engineering firm took over the design development of the delay. In determining the critical path, several schedule updates
plant after significant preliminary work by the owner. Construc- have been examined, each having somewhat different critical
tion work was separated into several self-contained packages paths. It is through this "snapshot" progression of the work that
each awarded individually to a different prime contractor. In the cause and effect relationship of the delays has been
this study, critical work packages were examined in detail with identified. Individual delays have been examined and classified
emphasis on the design phase. according to their origin.
Because of the initial difficulties in obtaining the required Parallel critical paths were present throughout the construc-
 CAN. J . C1V. ENG. VOL. 15, 1988

1978 1979 I 1980 1981

J I F ( M I A I M I J IJ I A I S I O I N I D I J I F I M J A I M I JI J I A I S I O I N I D I J I F I M J A I M I JI J I A I S I O I N I D I J ~ F ~ M

LEGEND
-YYi \.a DESIGN
2 w 13 months 1 month
uZ g0 : M~sc Design
U W
CONSTRUCTION
Ex
OZ:
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by Depository Services Program on 06/07/13

aAs-Planned Dural~on- 27 Monlhs

mq:::::::::::::::::j
5 months

?w
v)=
" Z:
4 Aclual Dural~on- 37 314 Monlhs

-
For personal use only.

FIG. 1. Summary schedule comparison.

Struclural Sleel & Misc.

Number ol Drawings

Concrete S l r ~ c l ~ l e s Percent I of Drawings

Eleclrical lnslallalion

FIG. 2. Schedule comparison o f tendering period.

 FAZlO ET AL. 497
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by Depository Services Program on 06/07/13

a3
2 0
L?$
U)
U)
w

W Y
n cc
0
3
1-
Major Foundalions

I;
Sliplorm Struclures
i

i -LEGEND

0Planned

70 %
Aclual
Tender
period

Percent complete
For personal use only.

in spent man-hours
( Tolal civil work)
Concrete Struclures

FIG. 3. Civil design man-hours and contract packages

TABLE1. Direct fast-tracking delays TABLE2. Indirect fast-tracking delays

Nature of delay Duration (day) Nature of delay Duration (day)

1. Award of main electrical package 1. Late start of platform

2. Additional steel 2 . Loss of productivity
3. Elevator shaft interference 3. Fabrication errors and rework
4. Additional steel Total delay
5. Design error-Interference
6. Electrical design changes
7. Revised burner system poor coordination between work packages, and design changes
Total delay attributed to the accelerated approach. Individual delays direct-
ly related to the fast-track concept have been identified and
allocated as shown in Table 1.
tion period. In determining delays, several factors have been Delays indirectly caused by fast-tracking include trade
accounted for in order to ensure that those delays were in fact on interferences, work disruptions, and productivity losses. Loss
the critical path and did actually delay the project. Concurrent of labour productivity usually reflects the contractor's difficulty
delays were taken into account and overlaps eliminated. to plan adequately because of the numerous revisions of
Subcritical delays have also been considered, in acknowledg- drawings and required extra work. From the schedule analysis,
ment of the relatively short float (i.e., few days) existing on individual delays resulting in productivity losses and disrup-
some of the construction network paths. tions have been summarized in Table 2.
For simplicity, fast-track delays have been grouped into two Insurnrnary, on the project's critical path a total of 213.5 days
basic categories: (1) delays directly caused by fast-tracking and out of the 324 days delay period can be attributed directly and
(2) delays indirectly related to fast-tracking. indirectly to the fast-tracking approach, representing 66%of the
Delays directly related to the fast-track approach include the total project delay. Two and three-fourths months (85 days)
slippage of work packages on the critical path affecting were identified as excusable delays (rain, strikes, etc.), owner-
construction start, design errors and omissions resulting from caused delays, and labour shortage. The total delay of 10.75
 498 CAN. 1. CIV. ENG. VOL. 15, 1988

TABLE3. Delay summary on the critical path Without the revisions and extra work and subsequent accelera-
tion, the productivity loss could have been significantly reduc-
Duration ed, since the contractors would have had the information
Nature of delay (day) (month) necessary for proper performance. Trade interferences would
have also been reduced to a level where it would not impact the
Initial delay 26 1 program.
Direct fast-track delay
(design related problems) 101.5 3 Observations and recommendations
Indirect fast-track delay
(productivity loss and interferences) 112 4 In light of the above study and other studies conducted on
Others (including manpower shortage fast-track constructionjobs that experienced difficulties, trouble
and excusable delays) 84.5 2.75 areas have been identified. Fast-tracking a project often results
Total project delay 324 10.75
in unexpected extra costs and, as observed in this project, does
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by Depository Services Program on 06/07/13

not necessarily lead to a shorter project duration. For the

approach to be profitable, particular attention must be paid to the
months (324 days) represents 40% of the planned project following factors.
duration of 27 months, while the delay caused by fast-tracking 1 . Design errors and omissions
amounts to 26%. Fast-tracking construction necessarily means a rearrange-
ment in the design procedures and sequences. With this
Summary approach, design work often ends up being done on a rushed
The case study presented herein illustrates the type of basis. In this form, drawings and specifications are often
planning and coordination problems one can, and usually prepared hurriedly, leaving room for a greater margin of errors
would, encounter on a fast-track project. and omissions.
In light of the design difficulties and the data presented in 2. Design changes
Figs. 1-3, the impact stemming from drawing revisions can be With considerable overlapping of work packages and with
grouped into (1) delaying call for tenders, (2) extending the construction following close behind the completion of each
tender periods, (3) affecting the contractor's ability to plan and phase of the design, there is less opportunity for design
execute his work efficiently, and (4) additional work through professionals to consider the design as a whole and make design
change orders. changes, at that stage, without causing delay and increased cost
For personal use only.

The above grouping illustrates the possible impact of com- in the field. The increased intolerance of design changes
pressing and overlapping design activities. As a result, the imposes a stringent demand on the performance of design
design effort for major contract packages in this plant spanned professionals.
over a period of 15.5 months instead of the 13 months specified 3. Coordination between design and construction
in the contractual arrangement (see Fig. 1). With construction activities starting before the completion of
The construction start was delayed because of tardy input all design phases, the process of coordinating basic design work
from vendors, lengthy review and revision periods, and design for all disciplines before awarding any contracts is no longer
coordination difficulties resulting in a slippage in award of applicable. Consequently, the options of resolving conflicts
critical contract packages. between the various designs are limited.
The management decision to recuperate the initial 5 months 4. Coordination between work packages
of vendor delays by accelerating both design and construction Besides the fact that contractors are often faced with
activities, awarding work packages on incomplete design, and construction starting on partially completed drawings and
demanding extensive trade overlaps gave rise to a totally specifications, in a fast-track environment a more pronounced
opposing result; i.e., the project was further delayed. The extra overlapping of construction activities would inevitably increase
rescheduling efforts required by project personnel to limit the the problem of coordinating work between the various contrac-
consequences of this fast-track approach were ovemdden by the tors in the field.
severity of the problems. Additional work and some rework are The above observations reinforce the statement that manag-
common in most construction projects, but in this case the ing the interface between design and construction proves to be
fast-track approach seriously amplified the impact of those crucial to the project performance. The inherent risks of
disruptions as evidenced by their frequency and severity (see fast-tracking projects include (1) the loss of financial benefits
Fig. 2). The schedule compression and trade overlaps inflicted a due to the cost of changes and claims, (2) the loss of planned
burden on the contractors in terms of available space and time savings due to schedule delays, and (3) the reduction of
restricted time periods to do the work. This in turn gave rise to control over project costs due to the early elimination of design
significant losses in productivity and poor morale among options normally encountered, incomplete tender specifica-
workers. tions, and overlapping of the construction work. In an effort to
Accelerating a project through fast-tracking is a major reduce these risks, the following recommendations are made.
decision, and construction professionals inexperienced in phase 1. Spend more effort during the design phase
or fast-track construction often do not realize what they are The far-reaching effect of mistakes during the early design/
getting into. In this particular project, 66% of the total dalays engineering phase in a fast-track program is usually underesti-
were attributed directly and indirectly to fast-tracking. Spend- mated. More time and effort, in terms of coordination and
ing only two more months (21% of planned design period) on planning, should be spent on the design preparation with special
the detailing of design packages before awarding the contract attention to trade and (or) work packages interface areas. Early
(refer to Fig. 3), would eliminated a major portion of the in the design phase, decisions that will limit future flexibility in
fast-track-related delays (a maximum of 7 months in this case). the design should be highlighted and their impact evaluated.
Ideally, there would be fewer design errors and omissions. This effort will result in a better and tighter coordination
 FAZIO ET AL. 499

between work packages before they are issued for construction. avoid conflicts, and favor a better exchange of information
Although this could be viewed as contradictory to the fast- through well-defined communication channels.
tracking concept, it nevertheless has to be stressed. In conclusion, there is nothing new about the individual
2 . Develop an effective design review system e!ements of fast-track construction. What is unique is their
The rushed delivery of drawings combined with an overlap- innovative combinations. Accelerating a project through fast-
ping of work packages will contribute, to a great extent, to an tracking is a major decision, and construction professionals
increase in the number of drawings to be revised. At the outset should be aware of its implications. Analysis of fast-track
of the project, an efficient review system must be established, construction projects indicated that despite the apparent advan-
with clearly defined channels of communication to compensate tages, not all projects lend themselves to a successful applica-
for this probable increase in design changes. This precaution tion of the fast-tract approach. Adequate precautions must be
would ensure fast and effective review of drawings and would taken with respect to the previously identified trouble areas in
also provide a good interaction between design activities and order to reduce the overall project duration. The project team
Can. J. Civ. Eng. Downloaded from www.nrcresearchpress.com by Depository Services Program on 06/07/13

those performed on site. has to be flexible and expeditious in response to complications

3. Increase information input from the$eld work stemming from a combination of incomplete designs, with the
Proper timing in awarding different work packages is critical overlapping of design and construction. Then, even with the
in a fast-track construction. A package issued too late or too high construction costs frequently associated with fast-tracking,
early might delay or interfere with another work package. Once overall project profitability could be achieved.
construction has started, the award of subsequent work packag-
es must be more sensitive to the ongoing construction activities
and the availability of the site. More than just eliminating the BENNINGSON,L.A. 1972. TREND: new management information
impact of issuing work packages too early, this approach will from networks. Proceedings, Third International Congress on
Project Planning by Network Techniques, Stockholm, Sweden, pp.
help integrate the latest field conditions in the plans and
44-60.
specifications of the subsequent work packages. This can also GRAY,C., and FLANAGAN, R. 1984. U.S. productivity and fast-
considerably reduce revisions after contract award and mini- tracking starts on the drawing board. Construction management and
mize possible interferences. economics, 2(3): 133-144.
4. Increase involvement of participants in all stages of the LINTHICUM, G. R. 1982. Contracting: finding the best method.
project Mortgage Banking, 42(11): 45-50.
Fast-tracking will be given a chance to succeed only if a real RUBY,D. I. 1978. Fast-tracking plant projects. Plant Engineering, pp.
For personal use only.

team approach can be reached. The attitude of all participants 121-123.

should be influenced by defining their roles in the project to SCHICH, J. C. 1982. Trevino project: a fast-track approach for a small
increase "co-operation." Contractors should be brought in the construction project. 1982 Mining yearbook, Colorado Mining
Association, pp. 74-79.
design phase for scheduling and constructability purposes. A
SIDWELL, A. C. 1983. An evaluation of management contracting.
member of the designlengineering team should be appointed Construction management and economics, l(1): 48-55.
full time as design coordinator and work with contractors for an TROMBLEY, S. 1985. Fast-track experience. Building Design, pp.
improved response to design-originated problems. Innovative 20-23.
and imaginative contractual arrangement and organizational WHITE,A. D. 1980. Coordination problems in fast-track commercial
structures such as PCM should be utilized and enhanced to share construction. M. A. thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
responsibilities and authorities. This would eliminate the Cambridge, MA.
adversary conditions associated with conventional projects,

View publication stats