Complexity in Managing Refurbishment Design Process: Malaysian Experience

Centre for Construction, Building and Urban Studies, Faculty of Built Environment, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Abstract

In Malaysia, building refurbishment is expected to become more important in the next five years. This is due to largest government allocations for refurbishment works in ninth and tenth Malaysian Plan and high demand for refurbishment works. The investigation also introduced the functions of integrative mechanisms, which consist of coordination devices and the degree of involvement of key participants in decision-making, as a means to integrate management into the design process. This is paramount in order to increase information-processing capacity during the design process. Seven (7) dominant factors were identified concerning with the design process of refurbishment projects. The variables are: availability of design information, statutory requirements, clients’ attributes, clients’ needs, design fees, material availability and ease of access. The greater part of design process suffers from uncertainty nature of the projects. Almost half of refurbishment projects prepare design with less than 70 percent information available. The design performance recorded more than three-quarters of refurbishment projects exceed the targeted design time and cost. It was also found that integrative mechanisms contribute toward the improvement of the design performance. In addition, a high degree of involvement during the construction stage could improve refurbishment design performance. From the findings, it could be concluded that the major part of the design process of refurbishment projects suffered from the uncertain nature of the projects. The implementation of integrative mechanisms indicated the possibility of improving some of the design performance.