The current construction market is segregated, under-performs and becomes more complex. Often leaving the client helpless when projects go wrong. Consortia arise to handle the complexity and segregation, while improved collaboration between contractors can raise performance, but do consortia solve these problems? This research examines whether consortia affect the collaboration between contractors and if the client can influence this collaboration. Therefore, research objective is: ”Improving collaboration in construction consortia in the Netherlands by gaining insight in (different client and contractor related) factors, which influence unanticipated key moments”. The research question that is answered to reach the research objective is ”How does the client’s influence, on decision-making by contractors in key moments, differ when working with a consortium instead of a main contractor with subcontractor?” The research considered three factors and five hypotheses that have been derived from literature. The factors are expected to be influential for collaboration, be- ing: management style, relational capability and contractual context. All include more specific, measurable sub-factors. The hypotheses are expected consequences of working with a consortium and relate to collaboration between contractors and to the involvement of the client. The influence of the client on the factors has been assessed, as has the factors’ influence on collaboration. This is done in four Dutch construction projects, using a combination of semi-structured interviews and sur- veys. Two of the projects are consortia and two are executed main contractor – sub-contractors (MC-SCs). Collaboration is examined using an ’unanticipated key moment’-approach, where two unexpected decision (during execution) were analysed. The decision-making process is traced to find which factors were of influence in which project and whether the client had an influence on them. The influences have been gathered and combined per case to conclude which factors influence decision-making and whether the client has an influence on this. The findings were then compared cross-case to draw better founded conclusions and to find what is affected by working in a consortium. This includes confirming or rejecting the hypotheses. As a last step, the results are validated using an expert panel of tender and contract managers from the client’s side. The research found that, though all factors influenced decision-making, the client’s influence was limited. Relational capability has the highest influence on decision- making and the client has the most influence through the contractual context (i.e. incentives and contract type), the broadening of solution space and improving the contractor’s higher management commitment. Though, the differences between MC-SCs and consortia were small for the factors, the hypotheses gave more insight in the differences. Working with a consortium does not improve the relation between contractors, neither does it improve goal alignment or reduces negative impact of conflicts. Working with a consortium does reduce the influence of the client on decision-making. Knowing that working with a consortium reduces the client’s influence and knowing that the contractual context, broadening of solution space and improving higher management commitment are possibilities for the client to influence decision-making, it is recommend to the client to use a combination of these if a larger influence is wanted. Above all, even though consortia are sometimes seen as a remedy against segregation, they are definitely not a guarantee for good collaboration and integration.

The objective of this research is to explore the possibilities in the use of digital twins towards the maintenance and operation of tunnels. This is explored by looking at the end users of the technology, to profile their needs and requirements and consider a digital twin design that focuses on this. This research is the start of a human centred design for a digital twin and provides the opportunity for further investigation of applications and discussion of their usefulness. To map out the functional needs of facility managers within the Dutch tunnel sector, ten interviews were compiled. These interviews are based on digital twin literature in other sectors. The discovered needs within the interviews are analysed for patterns and compared to the characteristics of digital twins. This comparison is validated through a focus group with two digital twin experts and is done to consider if digital twins may offer opportunities for the needs mentioned. It is found that for a large majority of the identified functional needs of facility managers requires the mirror like characteristic of a digital twin, when focusing on the needs related to tunnel behaviour. A digital twin that is designed for the identified needs, should focus primarily on decision supporting services for these facility managers, in other words, providing them with relevant data about the tunnel, at the right time and in a comprehensive manner. An indication is given towards seven digital twin implementations that could benefit a tunnel facility manager. The first two are the monitoring of energy use, and monitoring the health of the tunnel system. It is concluded that energy use should be accounted for in a digital twin, and that the monitoring of system health is required for the quick understanding of problems in the tunnel and stakeholder management. The next three are predictive applications: predicting dependent relations between technical tunnel systems, maintenance scheduling, and operational simulations. These applications help anticipate risks during tunnel processes and provide opportunities for reaching better informed decisions regarding maintenance tasks, problem management and configuration management practices. One application, namely energy optimisation, can be considered fully autonomous, as such is not for decision support, but rather for tunnel optimisation, towards the control of energy use of tunnel technical installations.

Due to the dynamic and complex nature of the construction industry, it is evident that the integration of processes and groups is more challenging to attain in comparison to other industries (Demirkesen & Ozorhon,2017). Therefore, there is a call for better integration of project participants and processes in construction projects (Franz et al., 2017). Consequently, organisational collaboration and integration are often considered inefficient and dependent on individuals. This inefficiency can be caused by individuals not making the right connections to gain access or obtain relevant data for the decision making process. This can be explained by the fact that the industry is renowned for its fragmentation and temporary project teams Whitley, 2006). Due to this fragmentation, it is not uncommon for parties to have their own internal silos. These internal silos contain different sorts of data and have limited connections within their own or with other project teams, resulting in bad data sharing and communication. The presence of data silos and limited data sharing affects risk awareness as this can cause unavailability of data or subjective biases in the decision-making process. As a result, the employees that make the decisions are not (completely) aware of the involved risks, which can give the impression of soundly under-supported choices (van der Meer, 2021). By utilising data sharing and ensuring the proper coordination and communication, one could take on the silo’s created by this fragmentation between and in project teams, and by doing so, one could expect to reduce the detrimental effects on risk awareness. Especially when firms are active in a multinational environment, research has shown that connections between people that cross physical boundaries can enhance opportunities to improve performance and improve entry to information (DeSanctis & Monge, 1999). That is why, one could argue that data sharing could contribute significantly to risk awareness among team members. To investigate this, the following research question has been formulated: How does data sharing in intra-organisational project networks contribute to risk awareness in the tender phase?

This research investigates how to break through intra-organizational data silos in multinational engineering companies by analyzing data sharing networks. Data occurs in many ways like numbers, statistics, and documents in structured and unstructured forms. Companies consider data as one of their most valuable assets for decision-making and to increase performance. Still, often they do not see the direct results of their data-driven investments back into the organization. The volume of generated data increases so rapidly that it exceeds our capabilities if not managed well, leading to organizational data silos. Engineering companies have to deal with unique and complex projects, temporary teams, fragmented departments, and lots of unstructured data. Multicultural teams that work from dispersed locations increase the probability of miscommunication and misinterpretation of project data. Data sharing between employees of three selected case projects within one multinational portfolio have been analyzed. First, the quantitative social network analysis in Python programming exposed the structures of and the node types in the data-sharing networks. Secondly, supported by the extensive literature review, qualitative in-depth interviews identified enabling and limiting factors that determine intra-organizational data sharing in the project life cycle. It was found that balanced networks contribute the most to the exploration and exploitation of intra-organizational data. Also, the multinational context is not acknowledged to limit data sharing, but weaker links do exist between geographically dispersed teams. Measures to create and maintain balanced data sharing networks are suggested on organizational, portfolio, and project level. Future research can focus on network dynamics over time, the effect of data sharing on project success criteria, and the effect of cultural dimensions on data sharing behavior.

‘Agile1’ or ‘Agility’ currently is a popular expression within project management. Agile project management is a method to meet the ever-changing needs and requirements throughout a project. An agile approach requires small multi-disciplinary development teams, working iteratively and in close collaboration with the client. This project management approach is developed in the information technology (IT) industry in the 1990’s. Since then, agile gets more and more attention from different industries; the construction industry is no exception. More and more guidelines and tools appear in literature to manage projects in an agile manner. Yet, contractual guidelines suited for an agile approach in construction industry are currently missing. Ample research has been conducted on contracts for projects that use conventional project management, like the ‘waterfall approach’. But due to a different management style, agile project management may not be compatible with these existing construction contracts. This gap in knowledge resulted in the following research question. How to effectively enable agile project management through construction contracts? The scope of this research is the front-end development phase of construction projects between client – engineer, consultant or architect (hereafter referred to as supplier). The following activities were conducted to find an answer to the research question: literature review, exploratory interviews, development of an agile contract proposal, validation and synthesis of the findings.

Project scope is the work that must be accomplished to produce a deliverable with specified features and functions. The deliverable can be a product, service or other result (Kerzner & Saladis, 2010). A project scope with clearly defined goals and objectives has been verified as a dimension for project success by some researchers. Furthermore, projects often seem to grow naturally as the project progresses from inception through design development to construction (Jennifer S. Shane, 2009). Observations from literature and practice show that poor scope management and control is the leading cause of project failure. O. Hussain, (2012) states that scope creep is one of the leading causes of project failure globally according to the 2010 Global Survey...

“Successful project teams lead to more successful projects” (B. N. Baker, Murphy, & Fisher, 2008) and better collaboration within project teams lead to more successful projects (Hoegl & Gemuenden, 2001). Hence, proper collaboration within project teams is of high importance to the successful outcome of a project. However, in a considerable number of projects in the engineering industry, collaboration is not optimal. Communication and knowledge sharing are both aspects of collaboration that often lack in teams in the engineering industry (Humpfrey, Ma, Qi, & Wang, 2008). This leads to unbalanced team dynamics and demotivated project team members. Moreover, in complicated and innovative projects, project complexity often makes it challenging to precisely determine the outcome of a project. Clients assume to know upfront what they require, however, along with growth and innovation within the design, the clients often adapt their expectations and thereby requirements with it. Adapting these requirements during later stages of traditionally managed projects often leads to budget overruns, time delays and reduced productivity of the employees (Ibbs, 2012). These problems can be partially attributed to the characteristic of traditional project management of freezing the requirements at the start of the project. This management methodology is not designed to unfreeze and adapt the requirements at later stages. Abovementioned problems of collaboration and requirements management have led to the introduction of agile project management (APM) in the software development industry (AgileAlliance, 2001). APM aims at value creation rather than freezing project design at early stages and by means of better communication, collaboration is improved as well.

Nowadays, construction projects face cost overruns and delays on a regular basis, not being able to achieve the success standards expected. This is widely attributed to the fast changing and dynamic environment of construction projects. It is argued that the project management mostly used has a traditional and conservative approach which is incapable of dealing with contemporary projects and its constant changes, creating a growing need amidst practitioners to employ a flexible approach. Within the changes arising in projects the type being accredited as the one with most significant impact is design change. Thus, the purpose of this project will be to provide an insight on how the implementation of flexibility in project planning helps manage design change causes. Firstly, a qualitative research will be carried out to create a theoretical framework and answer the first three research sub-questions. Firstly, an extensive literature review is conducted to gather information on flexibility in project management and planning, and changes in construction projects. Following, exploratory interviews with DPR’s practitioners is performed to complement the findings in the available literature. As a result of this first step the causes of design changes in projects will be established, as well as the different flexibility recourses to be used in the planning of projects. These two will act as the input for the next step. Secondly, a quantitative research will be conducted to analyze the relationship between the causes of design change and the flexibility recourses already established. These two will act as two sets of variables and a correlation analysis will be performed. For this to be possible, the causes of design change and flexibility recourses are translated into statements and assessed by the use of a survey. In total 115 responses were used for the correlation analysis. Furthermore, from this correlation analysis 10 significant correlations were found which were comprised by 3 flexibility recourses. As well, some open questions in the survey introduced the mindset of respondents about flexibility and its practices. From all this, two main conclusions were established. The first one is that the use of the flexibility recourse “cross functional and multi-disciplinary teams” helps to reduce the appearance of design change causes in projects. It is recommended to explore the different ways in which this recourse can be used and improve. In the Implementation Roadmap are some suggestions that can be implemented in a practical way. This flexibility recourse used in the planning helps managing design changes in construction projects by reducing their appearance. The second one is that the use of the flexibility recourse “incremental planning” and “continuous locking” does not help reduce the appearance of design change causes in projects but evokes them. However, the possibility of using these recourses to manage the design changes once they arise in projects is still viable. This flexibility recourse used in planning helps in managing design changes as a reactive measure.

A construction project is inherently complex, involving numerous stakeholders, lengthy timelines, and intricate relationships, leading to significant risk potential. The increased complexity of construction projects and the fact that a large percentage of projects are still delivered with significant delays and cost overruns has led to the necessity of applying different methods by the project managers and the teams. Agile project management is an example of that as its implementation in construction projects can help increase flexibility, achieve continuous improvement, help the project stay on track without schedule overruns and achieve an overall improved quality through effective collaboration and constant feedback. Despite agile project management's flexibility and continuous improvement benefits, its integration with risk management remains underexplored in the construction industry. The objective of this study is to propose a framework that could help improve the risk management project by offering a more proactive approach and at the same time enhance people’s engagement with risks. The goal of this thesis project is to support construction companies in approaching risk management in a way that incorporates agile methods. Implemented in a project and evaluated through questionnaires and a focus group, the framework showed promise in elevating risk awareness and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. However, incomplete implementation of some elements limited definitive effectiveness assessments. Subsequent expert judgment sessions confirmed the framework's potential in proactive risk identification and management, alongside the initial findings of heightened awareness and collaboration. Recommendations for improvement include clearer risk impact depiction and explicit framework objectives communication. Essential for success are targeted risk training, clear vision articulation, and structured step-by-step implementation supported by project managers and risk coordinators. In summary, the proposed framework merges agile principles with risk management, aiming to cultivate a proactive risk culture, enhance team communication, and mitigate increase engagement with risks. While showing significant benefits, it also highlights the need for adjustments to fully realize its effectiveness in the construction industry's risk management practices. This study underscores the importance of agile methodologies in enhancing traditional risk management approaches, offering insights for future application and refinement.

The construction industry is shifting towards a more collaborative environment through relational contracts following the early contractor involvement approach. In the Netherlands, one of them is the bouwteam process. The peak of collaboration in bouwteam projects and the construction industry is during the pre-construction phases since there is a higher complexity due to the uncertainty and interdependence of elements. On the other hand, technology innovations opened the way to work across boundaries in a remote way, which is known as virtual teams. Taking both aspects into account, the importance of collaboration through relational contracts and the technological innovations, this research seeks to seize the opportunity to expand the traditional working scope into a virtual or hybrid one in a way that doesn’t jeopardize the performance of projects but rather improves it. Based on the problem definition and objective of the present research, a main research question is defined: How focusing on collaboration improves virtual teams in the bouwteam phase?

Effective planning and control are crucial for the successful delivery of engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) projects, which are characterized by complex organizational structures, interdependent activities, overlapping phases, and a large number of disciplines and participants. However, project uncertainty, including the lack of complete information and frequent changes, can lead to delays and cost overruns if not effectively managed. In this research, an integrated planning and control approach for EPC projects that addresses these challenges by combining the Last Planner System of Lean Construction and the Scrum framework of Agile Management is developed. Through a literature review and a case study of an EPC industrial construction project, six requirements for effective planning and control and mechanisms for their implementation are identified. The approach is evaluated through interviews with industry experts. The results highlight the importance of both structured planning and control for identifiable and predictable uncertainties, and flexibility and agility for unforeseen uncertainties, in managing project uncertainty in EPC projects.