TR187: An Integrated, Virtual Design and Construction and Lean (IVL) Method for Coordination of MEP

The objective of this paper is to describe the contribution to knowledge and practice in terms of an Integrated, Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) and Lean (hereafter referred to as IVL) method for the coordination of Mechanical, Plumbing and Electrical (MEP) Systems in the Architecture/Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. MEP Systems on many of the complex construction projects account for 40‐60% of the project value. But the method to coordinate MEP systems is still very ad hoc and organizing project teams to coordinate MEP systems remains one of the most challenging, time consuming and poorly understood aspects of many building projects today. The lack of a consistent, well-grounded and repeatable method for MEP coordination results in wasted effort of project team members, lack of metrics to track progress of coordination, suboptimal results due to conflicts in the field and inconsistent performance from one project to another. The IVL method for MEP coordination addresses these challenges and provides a repeatable method that project teams can adopt to produce consistent results for MEP coordination. The method describes:

1. How to create the goals and objectives for the coordination of MEP systems.
2. How to organize the team to coordinate MEP systems.
3. What metrics to use to track progress during the coordination of MEP systems.
4. What technical logistics need to be setup to manage MEP Coordination.
5. How to create a schedule for the coordination of MEP systems.
6. How to operate, manage against the objectives and doing managerial interventions to track against metrics.
The IVL method for MEP coordination is based on case study research of four distinct cases where the author observed MEP coordination. The practical significance of this research is that project teams in AEC industry can organize MEP coordination in a much more consistent manner than before and this research also highlights the aspects of coordination processes in general that are important in AEC industry.