Keywords: process reengineering, integrated design, process modelling, product modelling, virtual prototyping.

The design and construction process in a building project is collaborative effort involving several specialist actors. It is a team effort, which involves several, inter- organisational activities and dialogues. Problems in construction industry such as fragmented organisational structure, traditional and local practices, poorly developed supply networks and missing competitive mechanisms are quite well known to researchers and practitioners. These problems have also been documented in recent government reports [1]. It is also a well-researched fact [3] that design decisions taken at the early design stages have far reaching implications on downstream activities of fabrication and erection. Research by Laitinen [2] shows that, the traditionally almost "water-tight" separation of design and fabrication causes problems in the form of duplication of work and inconsistent documentation. This has a negative impact on the project schedule and cost. Similar problems regarding re-keying of data also occur in the design process at inter-disciplinary phases. Overall it can be concluded that the information management methods used in the current construction design processes are inadequate. Improved data exchange and the overall better management of design information within the design process remains a key solution to improvement in current design practice. What has long been identified, however not yet achieved is that the design process and in a wider context the whole construction process should be carried out in an integrated environment. Improving the efficiency of the building design process will involve the facilitation of interactions and communications between inter-disciplinary parties. With the developments in information technology (IT) designers have the ability to use better tools in facilitating and improving the current design process for steel framed structures. However what is important to acknowledge is that advanced IT tools alone will not resolve the problem. Any solution that needs to be implemented needs to be process driven and not IT driven.

This paper demonstrates, that to overcome some of the shortcomings in the current design process, designers require working with all building data concurrently. The research work presented in this paper builds on the research paradigm that there are potential benefits to be gained by conducting the process of building design in an integrated environment. The first step to develop this integrated design environment is a business process model that captures the role and information needs of the design and engineering participants in the process. Such a business process makes possible the concurrent consideration of all major design stages including architectural, structural and constructional. The paper discusses the strategy behind the development of an integrated design process that covers the stages spanning from architecture to fabrication. An underlying shared product model is a prerequisite for smooth data integration from the different project participants. It explores the feasibility of developing an integrated design process that uses the approach of incremental virtual prototyping of the building product model also called the "Virtual Building" [4]. The aim of this innovative and new design process is to improve the quality of the design at the conceptual design stage through better-informed design decisions that are based on the consideration of a wider range of issues than is possible using traditional design methods. This includes the incorporation secondary building elements e.g.: building services, flooring systems that have an influence on the overall building design.

Given the evolutionary and iterative nature of the design process the available design information changes from idealised early phase schematic to very detailed and precise process. A case study provides detailed assessment of any idealised design process for a multi storey steel framed structures. Changes in the building design requires the mapping of available design information to and from the different participants for various times and scenarios within the design process. The case study tries to provide evidence for the theory that design engineering interoperability and better design practice requires expert examination of the entire building model that can be called upon at any time in the design process. Managing the product data exchange thus requires task coordination based on a representation of all design and engineering tasks along with verification of their relation and impact on expected downstream activities such as the effects of the structural layout on the building services. Such information can only be expressed unambiguously in process models as is described within this paper. In conclusion the paper presents a reengineered design process model that uses a product model as its information repository for design process improvement. The current design process can be improved by reengineering the current process with the use of an integrated product and process model of the building that closely resembles the as-built structure. This can also lead to cost benefits in the overall building project as duplication of work and also help in overcoming the current fragmented nature of the building industry.

1

Egan, J, (1998). Rethinking Construction, Report of the Construction Task Force on the Scope for Improving the Quality and Efficiency of the UK Construction Industry, Dept. of Environment, Transport & the Regions (DETR), London, UK.

2

Laitinen, J. (1998) Model based construction process management Department of Real Estate and Construction Management, KTH Stockholm.

3

Tizani, W (1998), "Analysis and Design of the as-built model", in Artificial Intelligence in Structural Engineering, Ian Smith (Ed.). Springer., pp. 484-489.

4

Tizani, W (2003), Overview of an IT Vision for Engineering Design, nD Modelling Workshop, University of Salford, January 2003

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