To cope with the current problems in the construction industry, project managers and scholars seek new methods to turn the tide. Many scholars blame traditional management approaches for cost overruns and delays occurring in current projects. To find solutions, project managers introduce tools from various sectors that have coped with similar problems before, such as the IT and manufacturing sectors. Scheduling has been found to be a main reason for delays and cost overruns. Traditionally, scheduling is done before projects start. Predictions are made for durations, costs and required resources. Project managers impose schedules on subcontractors and apply pressure to prevent delays or cost overruns. This method is characterized by a reactive approach to problems. Short-cyclic scheduling is more appropriate for complex projects than traditional scheduling. Short-cyclic scheduling tools allow operational personnel to schedule their own tasks. This gives them the flexibility to detect problems quickly and act proactively. Besides, recent knowledge from the work floor is applied directly to the schedule. Furthermore, A benefit of short-cyclic scheduling is the possibility to proactively cope with changing top-down requirements and circumstances. Most short-cyclic scheduling tools originate from the IT and manufacturing sectors. However, construction projects during the realization phase differ from IT and manufacturing projects. Which raises the question if construction projects during the realization phase are appropriate for short-cyclic scheduling. Scholars have investigated implementations of such tools but have not clearly formulated criteria for short-cyclic scheduling in ongoing projects. To find these criteria the following research question is formulated: What determines the appropriateness for short-cyclic scheduling of construction projects in the realization phase? The determination of a project’s appropriateness started with a literature study on short-cyclic implementation in construction projects. The literature study resulted in theoretical conditions for appropriate short-cyclic implementation. The theoretical conditions were used as a framework to observe scheduling sessions and to interview project members in two construction projects. The theoretical conditions were a means to structurally investigate problems and success factors in the two projects. The case studies resulted in a list of critical project factors for appropriateness, depicted in Figure 1. These critical factors can be considered the tipping point for a project’s appropriateness. If a project does not possess these factors it is unrealistic to expect a successful short-cyclic implementation.

Over the last decades of development of knowledge management and organizational learning, there has been an increase in learning research within and across projects. Learning from past lessons in projects and preparing for the next project management practices is very important in large infrastructure projects. The autonomy of projects brings opportunities for generating new knowledge to solve problems but makes diffusing the knowledge between projects and even within stages of the project difficult. This poses a significant gap that may be negatively affecting practices. A clear and in-depth understanding of project-based learning is needed. The research aims to stimulate discussions and further debate about learning at the project level to identify and implement capabilities and structures that enable more efficient learning within and between projects in terms of value creation...@en

Construction projects are argued to be the most complex of all production undertakings (Baccarini, 1996). Williams (2002, 2005) states that the complexity of these projects is a contributing factor to project failures, such as cost overrun, which are commonly seen in infrastructure project (Cantarelli, Molin, Van Wee, & Flyvbjerg, 2012). As one of the first Morris & Hough (1988) describe that cost overruns are common and that many projects appear as failures, while Flyvbjerg et al. (2003) agrees with Morris & Hough, by stating that this is a long-lasting problem since cost estimates have not improved and cost escalations have not decreased in the past 70 years. However, between the 1990s and 2000s, western governments were reassessed and more tasks were privatized (England & Ward, 2007; Pollit & van Thiel, 2007). Governments expected that private contractors would be able to innovate more, deliver quicker, reduce costs, and operate more efficient (Savas, 2000) resulting in integrated contract types. This research aims to provide insight into the relationship between the contract type and the management of cost groups, in Dutch national infrastructure projects in order to improve cost management. To provide an answer to the main research question, a literature study has been performed followed by a statistical analysis of 68 infrastructure projects with contract types including, RAW (n=24), E&C (n=22), and D&B(M) (n=22). Combined with the expectations of the expert panel this study concludes that there is no relation between the contract types RAW, E&C, and D&B(M) and the cost management of Dutch national infrastructure projects. However, it has been observed that project members of a contractor overestimate the relationship that D&B(M) projects should have higher cost overruns. This study concludes that the cost performance, of cost groups other than engineering, differ insignificantly and marginally small between contract types with varying design responsibilities. Moreover, the expert panel assumes that more information leads to less uncertainty and risks resulting in less cost overruns. Which is a common reasoning as stated in the GWW market analysis performed by McKinsey. However, this study concludes that the unavailability of information depending on the moment of contracting does not have an influence on the uncertainty of the cost performance nor the cost performance itself. Therefore, this study does not believe that the “two-phase-process” as proposed by McKinsey will contribute to less uncertainty about the cost performance. Instead, this study illustrates that Dura Vermeer confidently applies percentages to estimate relatively small, often process-related indirect cost groups which on average incur a cost overrun. Therefore, both the client and contractor should improve the process of constructing large complex infrastructure projects in order to improve the cost performance.

Because in the past, assignments of infrastructure projects became less specific and increasingly complex over time, construction companies had to start joining forces and working together to be able to deliver these projects. This asked for a change in behaviour of the employees on these projects. According to literature, in other industries, simulation games proofed to be helpful to induce such a behavioural change. However, a knowledge gap exists about the effectivity of applying a simulation game to induce a behavioural change in the construction sector. Certain characteristics of the construction industry make it difficult for employees in this sector to change their behaviour, which makes it seem too blunt to assume that simulation gaming would have the same positive effects on behavioural change in this industry, as it has in other industries. Therefore, the goal of this research is to fill the knowledge gap surrounding the application of a simulation game to a construction company by conducting an empirical research into the effectiveness of the application of a simulation game to a behavioural change process in a construction company. It was established that a simulation game can be considered effective when it induces a behavioural change or a change in attitude of participants. With help of interviews, questionnaires and observation it was investigated if such a development in attitude or behaviour arose in the company under investigation. Within the timespan of this research no behavioural change was measured and also a change in attitude was only measured amongst a part of the participants. It can be concluded that the investigated simulation game was not effective to induce a behavioural change in the construction company. However, as a simulation game has the characteristic that every game-run is different, this game could yield a completely different result when applied to another company. Therefore it cannot be assumed that the results from this research are representative for the entire construction sector. It is recommended to conduct further research into the application of other simulation games to other construction companies. By comparing the results of the different cases a better idea about the real effects that a simulation game could have on a behavioural change in a construction company can be formed. Next to this, recommendations were stated to the company under investigation to improve their simulation game.

Structured interviews and 5 case studies on the misalignment of client and consultant's expectations of CM in Industrial EPCM projects, and limitations in practice. Thesis is concluded with recommendations in order to bridge the misalignment.

This thesis researched the possible use of agile project management for infrastructure project through the use of a serious research game. The thesis showed that there are different serious games and created a serious research game. By playing the serious research game with agile and traditional project management experts a hypothesis was created to use agile project management in the realisation of infrastructure projects. It showed that by using agile thinking at the start of project conception stakeholders are more seen as design experts. By using a minimal viable design and frequent collaboration and communication with the stakeholders a design is made through iterations. This design is than build.

Opportunity Management is a well-defined concept in the field of project management. However, at the same time, opportunity management is not practised very well. Under risk management, threats and opportunities are identified and managed. In practise, opportunities are overlooked while threats receive more attention. Numerous barriers to the practical use of opportunity management have been identified by researchers. Eight of the twelve barriers were found to be connected to organisational procedures and competencies. This study looked at competencies and took advice from entrepreneurs in an effort to overcome such barriers. This study aims to shed light on project managers' and entrepreneurs' perspectives on the competencies that could facilitate practising opportunity management and identify solutions to enhance opportunity management. Project managers' and entrepreneurs' perspectives were compared using the Q-methodology. Q-analysis resulted in low cumulative explained variance (42%). The similarities and differences between the perspectives of project managers and entrepreneurs were examined in light of the Q-analysis findings. Entrepreneurial or shared competencies, such opportunity (s10), creativity (s4), and leadership (s8), received the highest overall ratings. The lowest rated competencies, in comparison, are self-management (s26), governance, structure, and processes (s7), and compliance, standards, and regulations (s2). Business developers entering a project in the conceptualisation phase found resourcefulness (s22), vision (s34) and personal communication (s12) more important. Whereas project managers are involved in the execution phase of a project, they found negotiation (s9), time (s33) and procurement (s16) more critical for opportunity management. Project managers' and business developers' differing perspectives are the result of (1) their involvement in different stages of the project and (2) their different project roles. The difference in opinion can be overcome by increasing coherence between project managers and business developers. Project managers need to move their focal point to business oriented by fostering opportunities in alignment with the project portfolio, and opportunities in the direction of the project portfolio will help deliver portfolio benefits. According to this research, it is advised to involve the project manager in the project's conceptualization stage, and the business developer must continue to be involved during the project's initial execution stage. It will give both parties the chance to look at one another's work, gather ideas from one another, and develop a market opportunity that is viable enough to take advantage of. To identify opportunities, project managers must consider organisational strategy and portfolio benefits. Project managers should foster an environment where team members who are working in isolation can communicate and exchange ideas with people from different disciplines. Project managers need to educate their team members more about opportunity management, organisational strategy, and portfolio benefits.

One of the fundamental goals for the success of a construction project is found to be completion within the budget. To reach this goal, cost estimation is a key process which can be divided into the estimation of direct and indirect costs. Unlike direct costs, indirect costs are not directly connected with the performance of any particular element of a project which makes proper allocation of these costs a challenging issue. Although the classification in the ABK model (2018) provides clarity regarding the content of the indirect cost items, estimation of these costs (ABK) and especially the tasks for quantity take-off (QTO) were identified as time-consuming and lacking standardised guidelines and procedures. At the same time, Building Information Models (BIM), which are increasingly used, offer an effective platform for linking data regarding construction costs. The fifth dimension of BIM in particular adds cost information to the 3D construction model. Full interoperability between the various information models is still a goal that has not been reached yet within the construction sector. Recent studies have examined inefficiencies caused by inadequate interoperability, like manual re-entry of data and duplication of tasks. This research aims to positively contribute to the efficiency of the indirect cost estimation process by developing a 5D computer-based tool. The development of the tool was based on literature review and interviews with practitioners. Features of BIM applications were used and linked to the outcome of the indirect cost estimate. The tool was able to reduce manual interventions and reduce task durations, which resulted in a positive contribution to the efficiency of the indirect cost estimation process. Main benefits of the tool were hereby the structured guidelines for quantity take-offs, a reduction in manual intervention and time for QTO tasks and implementation of project changes within the outcome of the ABK estimate.

Currently, the inland shipping industry is not sufficiently incentivised to invest in sustainable technologies in order to reduce their emissions. The industry itself wants to be more sustainable, but there is insufficient financial room to invest in alternative technologies. Besides, public authorities try to achieve a reduction using command-and-control policy instruments. Therefore, this study aims to gain insights into the relationship between policy instruments and incentivising technical alternatives. In this study, emission-reducing strategies have been identified using a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model based on the fleet owned by the Port of Rotterdam. As a result, this study has identified two effective strategies – environmentally differentiated port dues and environmental fees. The effectiveness of the environmentally differentiated port dues can be allocated to the degree of pollution control. The implication of an environmental fee on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, has led to a reduction in either greenhouse gas and pollutant emission.

“Who of us would not be happy to lift the veil behind which the future is hidden and to focus our thoughts on the unknown future” (Shepherd & Williams, 2015). What if we already know our unknowns, would it not be a piece of cake to deliver construction projects of high quality within time and budget? In order to predict the unknown future, Fluor introduced Construction-Driven Execution philosophy. In a construction-driven project, construction managers are involved early in the process during front-end engineering and design (FEED) to provide input to office departments in order to prevent mistakes from happening in later stages of the project. By this it is aimed to ‘lift the veil’ and focus on the unknown knowns (i.e. complex issues) in an integrated effort. Construction managers typically focus on operational decisions during construction on-site and focus on tactical and strategical decision-making during FEED. This transition has a major impact on the way construction managers should approach issues in their daily functioning: they shift from a firefighting to a fire preventing approach. In this perspective, the role of construction managers in FEED is compared to that of project managers, in which the construction manager is responsible for the management of the execution portion of the project. The Project Design School assumes that some kind of design thinking is involved by project managers, in which they use a certain frame and go through certain steps when approaching complex issues. To apply this frame for educational purposes, the Project Design School has created the Project Design Cycle. This cycle consists of four elements: Awareness, Design, Performance and Reflection. The Project Design School aims to fill a literature gap in project management research, which concerns the approach project managers use when choosing and adapting project management tools and systems to be applied in specific situations. These two problem fields of Construction-Driven Execution and the Project Design School are combined into the following research objective: 1. Gather and provide empirical data to firmly establish the ubiquity of the Project Design Cycle elements, their cyclic relationship, and the degree to which managers use these elements as an explicit method, 2. Provide Fluor with advice on how to apply design thinking principles (as incorporated in the Project Design Cycle) within the construction management department in order to enhance the Construction-Driven Execution philosophy. In order to achieve this objective, the following research question is answered in this report: -> How can the Project Design Cycle enable construction managers to identify and approach complex situations in a construction-driven FEED phase? A theoretical framework and empirical research are conducted to answer this question. First, a theoretical framework is determined, which includes the influence of Construction-Driven Execution on construction management practices in FEED and the incorporation of design thinking principles in the Project Design Cycle. Subsequently, the current application of the Project Design Cycle by construction managers is researched in a qualitative case-study analysis. In total five construction managers (respondents) are selected of three oil & gas projects (case-studies). Each respondent is interviewed twice by use of semi-structured interviews. The main goal of the first interview is to get background information of the respondent and to identify complex issues they were confronted with in their current project. The complex issues are discussed in-depth in the second interview, in order to analyze the Project Design Cycle elements in the applied approach of the respondents in their daily practice. The main findings obtained in the cross-case analysis are: - The respondents often did not recognize or perceive the complexity of the issues. It is observed that the recognition of the complexity has a large influence on the way the respondents approach issues. Issue-categories that were perceived as complex concern: modularization, pre-assembly, sequencing of work and revising the plot plan. Alignment of disciplines is not recognized as complex by the respondents. From the twenty issues identified in the first interview, ten were defined as complex in the cross-case analysis. - When an issue is recognized as complex, nearly all Project Design Cycle elements were applied most of the times by the respondent. However, the sequence of the elements was often not correct. The design element was conducted separately (generate and test) sometimes. - When an issue is not recognized as complex, it is observed that practically always one or two Project Design Cycle elements were not applied by the respondents. It is found that the design element is recognized the least, followed by performance. Moreover, it is observed that the sequence is most likely not to be performed in the correct order. It can be concluded that construction managers do apply the elements of the Project Design Cycle in their daily function in FEED. However, only when the issue is recognized as complex. Thus, the approach of the construction manager strongly depends on their ability to identify and recognize complexity elements within issues. Furthermore, it is found that the design element is most likely not to be applied when the issue is not recognized as complex. This indicates that the searching and experimenting nature of design thinking is often not applied by the respondents in this situation. It is observed that the construction managers fall back in their on-site problem-solving mode when they do not recognize the complexity of the issue. In this simplified problem-solving approach, the respondents go straight from awareness of the problem to the performance of a solution. The design and reflection elements are often skipped in such approaches. It is determined that the Project Design Cycle provides a suitable framework to educate and support construction managers in approaching complex issues in FEED. However, the Project Design Cycle needs to be adjusted in order to create acceptance and support within the construction management community. Based on the empirical research, the Project Design Cycle has been transformed to the ADAPT – decision-making cycle (figure 1: ADAPT). ADAPT is an abbreviation of the elements Awareness, Development, Assessment, Performance, and Throw-back. In this research context, the essence of ADAPT is precisely that: construction managers have to adapt in order to change something (their approach) to suit different conditions (construction-driven FEED). By doing so, they “have to become familiar with a new situation”, which represents the new role and responsibilities they have to fulfill in order to solve complex issues in the early stages of the project. ADAPT incorporates the identification of complexities, development and assessment of alternatives, creation of a solution with the highest value, and a reflection upon the outcome. This framework can be used to educate and support construction managers by improving their capabilities and skills that are required to approach complex issues during FEED. ADAPT serves a double purpose in construction management practices and could be applied in the form of a cognitive processing model and in the form of a decision support system: - Cognitive processing model: remind and support construction managers not to make decision merely based on old experiences, but to take their time to properly reflect on situations and share their knowledge in order to identify, recognize and acknowledge complex situations. - Decision support system: structure constructability meetings to approach complex issues in a multi-disciplinary way and to provide construction managers the ability to get an understanding of the problem situation, in order to determine an effective course of action by drawing upon the entire repository of construction management research, knowledge and tools. It is recommended to implement ADAPT both top-down and bottom-up. Top-down support is required to estimate enough man-hours for construction managers in FEED and by selecting the right people that are able to approach complex issues. Additionally, ADAPT should be implemented bottom-up as an integrated approach in which the construction manager is pro-active and takes it upon themselves to drive, adopt, and move it forward. This can be done by making individual construction managers aware of the cycle and its added value. Moreover, the constructability program serves as a perfect platform to implement and test the application of ADAPT. In constructability, multiple disciplines work together to create integrated solutions in order to prevent ‘fires’ from happening on-site. ADAPT can be used as a structure to identify complex situations in the constructability program. These identified complex issues can then be discussed in so called ‘constructability focus’ sessions. In these sessions the focus is put on a specific component or sub-area of the design that contains high complexity, by a multidisciplinary team. As construction management lead these sessions, it is a perfect opportunity to implement the ADAPT decision-making cycle and use its elements to shape and formalize these sessions in a structured way. Additionally, by being aware of the elements, and in special ‘throw-back’, construction managers learn to share their knowledge with other colleagues, disciplines, and projects. In this way, awareness is created for future situations and enables others to identify and solve complex situations in an early stage. Further research should be performed to investigate the underlying reasons of why and when construction managers perceive issues as complex (or not), how construction managers could identify complex situations in the FEED phase, and which qualifications are required of construction managers to properly function in a construction-driven FEED phase. Also, the relation between the recognition of complexity and the occurrence of the design element need to be further examined. Finally, further research should be conducted to determine the effectiveness of the application of the Project Design Cycle (in the form of ADAPT) in construction management.

Construction projects have become more complex over time, and cost overruns and time delays have become a global phenomenon. Signs that can indicate future project failure, such as cost overruns and time delays, in early project phases are Early Warning (EW) signs. EW signs are defined as indicators for potential future problems. This research investigates mechanisms that influence the response to EW signs in construction projects. Directions for solutions to mitigate the obstructions for responding to EW signs found in this research are also provided. This research provides a new perspective compared to current literature, by conducting research from the perspective of a contractor, including the interaction with subcontractors. Previous studies focused on the client’s perspective instead. This qualitative research uses a combination of research methods including an in-depth case study on the EW response of three constructions projects, expert interviews and an expert meeting. Data analysis in this research uses grounded theory methodology, and combines organisational behaviour theory with the topic of EW signs. Two main mechanisms influencing the EW response were found: (1) the lack of information flow in projects seems to prevent EW signs from being identified, and (2) group culture and team interaction were found to hinder the response to EW signs in projects. A third mechanism was found as a recurring theme impacting three out of four analysed EW responses: interpretations of agreements and contracts, and trust in the work carried out by other parties seem to reduce the activity of identifying and responding to EW signs. To mitigate the obstructions for identifying and responding to EW signs found in this research, the following directions for solutions are concluded to show potential: attention for individual characteristics in team composition, equipping the information system in projects with accessible options to store, and keep track of potential EW signs during projects, increasing the attention to EW signs during the tender phase, and creating awareness of the importance of responding to EW signs in project teams.

The aim of this research was to investigate if and how the project performance of integrated construction projects can be improved by focussing on empathy during the preconstruction phase. Big infrastructural construction projects often face a poor project performance which causes the sector is aimed at searching for strategies to deal with this. Looking at what drives project success it is said the people involved and their competences are main factors of influence. These people need to integrate working processes and collaborate with each other to successfully deliver the project. Experiences from practice and a literature review resulted in a strong expectation that especially the competence empathy is important to this in construction projects. This would be important during the preconstruction phase in specific to support the alignment and integration between project team members. The research focusses hereby on the preconstruction phase of integrated construction projects and follows the Integral Project Management (IPM) structure to describe the structure of construction project teams. Empathy is defined as ‘the ability to understand and share the feelings of another’. The research adopts a difference in internal empathy ( = empathy between people within the project organization) and external empathy (= empathy with the client and/or stakeholders). The research first investigated in interviews with experts from the industry if and where during the preconstruction phase it would be important for the involved people to be empathic. Second the empathic ability of a construction project organization has been measured to indicate how empathy is distributed across project participants. The results showed that the construction professionals on average score low on empathic competence and that in certain situations it would be important for project participants to be empathic for a good project outcome. This results in a gap in the construction sector between required empathy and actual empathic competence which demonstrates there’s room for improvement in this area. Based on the results of the research it seems that the project performance of integrated construction projects can be improved by focussing on stimulating more empathy between client and contractor and towards stakeholders during the preconstruction phase (= external empathy). Especially in the relationship between client and contractor there’s room for improvement as there’s a gap in required empathy of the contractor. The reason that the performance of construction projects can be improved via external empathy is that when looking at what mostly causes projects to perform badly, it is said this is often related to a bad collaboration between client and contractor and/or insufficient involvement of stakeholders. The research results also showed that project performance can be improved by focussing on stimulating more empathy internally in the project organization within teams and between people from different disciplines. However, this has a lower effect on improving the performance of the project compared to stimulating external empathy. The research finally presents The Empathy Framework as a recommendation for the construction sector to be used as a strategy to improve project performance via empathy.

In general most megaprojects are finished over the budget and later than initially expected. Despite all industries seem to struggle with achieving the desired performance, the lowest performance is found in projects executed in the oil and gas sector. Furthermore the productivity rates in construction industry are the lowest among other industries and have remained in-line with the 1990s figures. Therefore the main goal is to investigate possible ways of improving the construction productivity in the process industry. This is done by identifying critical factors that are affecting the construction productivity on site. Determining how the construction productivity is tackled during large engineering projects and examining main factors that have influenced the productivity on-site, will help in evaluating the productivity issue as a complex phenomenon. Main findings lead to construction productivity being a sum of decisions made at different points in time. Furthermore effectiveness factor was found to be crucial in facilitating high efficiency on site. Overall, proper understanding and combination of both measurements; effectiveness and efficiency in productivity, is expected to facilitate the desired productivity on site. Context of the projects have been found to play a crucial role in the factors’ evaluation.

Public construction projects have an image of poor performance, both in the Netherlands and other countries. Too many public projects go over budget and over time. A possible improvement to this poor performance could be Early Contractor Involvement (ECI). ECI literally translates to involving a contractor “early”, which in current practice implies that the contractor is involved before the design phase. As a more unambiguous definition was missing for this principle in the Netherlands, this research identified two varieties of ECI; a consulting form (like a market consultation) or a contracting form, where the contractor is contracted during the final stages of the initiation phase. ECI is suggested in literature to be a promising option to improve public construction projects in the Netherlands, but literature is split on what ECI is and what the benefits are. This thesis study aims to identify the effects, implications and implementation of ECI in the Netherlands. From this study, eight potential benefits of ECI have been identified by means of a Delphi study. Some examples of these benefits are improved risk assessment, risk distribution, higher project quality and higher certainties in both costs and planning. However, reaping these benefits requires preparation and experiments with projects using ECI. There currently seems to be no initiatives with ECI on the agenda, except the refurbishment project of the Hoevelaken intersection. To implement ECI in the Dutch public construction industry, this research found several conditions to implement and use ECI. Firstly, the role division of the client, design firm and contractor should be done differently. Secondly, the distribution of the risks must change. And thirdly, procurement may have to be specifically designed for ECI. In addition to these conditions, there are three barriers to overcome. These barriers are primarily concerned with the client side of the market. The client fears the early commitment to just one contractor and finds it hard to secure the competition in the market properly when ECI is used. Following these two barriers is a third; there is a lack of determination to experiment and implement ECI. To help overcome these barriers, four incentives are identified to be applied simultaneously: • An investment from the public sector to experiment with ECI, • Design of a proper exit-clause to terminate the contract, • The use of Past-Performance criteria for procuring projects with ECI, • The application of incentives on contractor behavior. When ECI is implemented in public construction in the Netherlands, ECI will have implications on both public construction projects and the construction industry. In procurement the criteria other than price are likely to become more important, as price is unrealistic to test on so early in a project. Contractors will have to develop their advising role and expand their designing/engineering capacity. As their expertise and capabilities develop, design and engineering work is likely to flow from the design firms to the contractors. The engineering expertise of the client must expand as well, to be able to communicate on the same level as the contractors to prevent communication errors and opportunistic behavior. This research suggests that ECI can indeed improve public projects on several aspects, but if there are too few experiments to develop and improve the concept it is unlikely to see implementation soon. As communication, perseverance and determination are key in experimenting with something new, this thesis advocates investing in ECI experiments with people who are capable and willing to try to make ECI work. Proper preparation and learning from the experiments will create forward momentum. When forward momentum is gained, ECI could be disproved to work or be proved a working innovation in the construction market, marking the next market improvement on the road to collaboration in the construction industry.

Infrastructure asset managers have the increasing challenge not only to maintain efficiently the functionalities and quality of their infrastructures, but also to upgrade them for the increasing demands and to achieve added value to their assets (Hertogh, Bakker, van der Vlist, & Barneveld, 2018). Moreover, infrastructure projects in densely populated areas, such as The Netherlands, suffer from increased complexity due to interdependencies of infrastructures which impact performance of projects (NGinfra, 2017, pp.1-3; Hertogh et al., 2018). Infrastructure operators are limited to handle such complex dependencies individually, as they need to collaborate closely with other asset owners in the entire life cycle of projects, especially in the design phase, to execute the projects successfully and add value to their infrastructures.In this light, inter-organizational collaboration (IOC) and multi-actor perspectives are driving growing attention among management scholars and practitioners to understand the complex nature of collaborative networks (Keast & Hampton, 2007; Keung & Shen, 2013; Dietrich et al, 2010; Storm, 2018). Currently, literature on IOC has many different approaches; however, its dominant focus has been within a framework of ‘problem owner’ – ‘problem solver’ relationship or an ‘owner-to-contractor’ perspective. This research project is conducted from an ‘owner-to-owner’ perspective or a horizontal collaboration perspective. The objective of this research is to investigate the required criteria to assess levels of horizontal collaboration between infrastructure owners in the design phase of projects by identifying appropriate frameworks in literature that focuses on social relationships and interdependencies, such as collaborative network and resource dependency theories. The expected result of this research study is to deliver an Inter-organizational Collaboration Assessment Tool (ICAT) to assess their levels of horizontal collaboration. The research is guided by the following research question: How can integrated collaboration between infrastructure owners be assessed on infrastructure projects? The research project will be examined through the lens of exploratory case study. The results reveal that asset managers need the knowledge of new soft mechanisms of social and cultural collaboration to deal with the increased complexity and dependencies of their infrastructure projects. Clients need to pay attention to their collaborative capacity at three different levels: individual, relational and organizational capacity to improve project performance.

This thesis ‘Towards sustainable projects´ will focus on the integration of sustainability aspects in projects in the engineering industry. This research uses the following definition for ‘sustainability’: “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland, 1987). This means that in this research ‘sustainability’ is about aspects which ensure that a population’s present and future needs can be met. These are in essence relevant variables within the three ‘topics’ within sustainability: environmental, economic and societal aspects. The integration of sustainability within engineering projects is still limited. Regulation and tools give guidance on integrating sustainability aspects, for example BREEAM and the Sustainable Development Goals, however, these seems to be more of an exception rather than a rule. Even though projects are part of a bigger system, they can influence the part they are involved in. As Robert Swan quotes (2012): "The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” The role of project managers is to steer their projects. Project manager are the connecting link between the client and the engineers, and from this position they can influence both parties to incorporate sustainability in their projects. It is unclear what influences the incorporation of sustainability in projects, so the following main research question needs to be answered: What influences the integration of sustainability in engineering projects? In order to answer this main research question, three research steps were taken. Firstly, the most relevant sustainability aspects within projects were collected from Sustainable Impact Assessments (SIAs) from literature. Thirty aspects were selected as most important for sustainable projects as these were mentioned most in all SIAs. The thirty aspects consist of: eleven aspects about the environment, for example minimising CO2 emissions or minimise the amount of waste; eleven aspects about society, for example development of human capital or respecting human rights; and eight aspects about economy, for example procurement and business agility. Secondly, a group of 20 Dutch project managers of Royal HaskoningDHV with various types of projects within the engineering industry ranked the thirty sustainability aspects based how difficult it was to integrate the sustainability aspects in their project. It was determined that the aspects about people were most easy to integrate, meaning ‘health & safety’, ‘ethical behaviour’, ‘fair and safe labour’ and ‘human rights’. On the other hand, the most difficult aspects to integrate were the aspects about planet, meaning ‘transport’, ‘CO2 emissions, ‘harmful emissions’ and ‘material efficiency’. Thirdly, the participants were asked to give motivations for ranking the five most easy and most difficult sustainability aspects to integrate in projects, as they have during the second step. It was expected that project characteristics as the type of project, the type of client and the project size would influence the ease of integrating sustainability aspects in projects. Results show that the integration is influenced more by the personal motivation of the client, the project manager or the company strategy and vision, rather than by the project’s characteristics. This is shown in the interviews and because there is no direct link between the sustainability aspects and the project’s characteristics. In order to answer the main research question, the most influencing reasons can be divided into five groups: process, product, supplier, client and society.

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 process of execution of construction projects is subjected to multiple complexities which are highly dynamic in nature. Among several complex dynamic elements present in a project, the scope is one of the elements which is extremely important. The scope is adjusted multiple times during the definition and execution phases to add or remove a feature which is known as scope change. Whereas, there exists a situation where the scope of the project grows organically, uncontrollably and unexpectedly out of the desired scope during the conception, definition and execution phases which is known as scope creep. The scope creep activities find sources from multiple factors such as flaws in contract, poor scope management process, poor communication and so on. From the identified sources of scope creep Agile Scrum-ban and BIM 5D integrated scope management model for high budget projects and cost conscious solutions such as assigning case manager, including scope creep as risk in WBS etc. for low budget projects are proposed as a suitable recommendations to address scope creep in onshore wind farm projects and thereby improve the project delivery.

One of the ways that Transmission System Operators (TSOs) can become more sustainable is by integrating sustainable goals in their projects using the associated procurement and tender processes. However, there are several limitations related to this integration. This research aims to identify these challenges by looking at the Dutch TSO, TenneT and its specific context. Furthermore, the research aims to provide a decision-support framework through which these limitations can be countered and the integration of sustainable goals in projects can be achieved. First, a literature study was conducted to define sustainability and the concepts associated with it. To properly understand the context of TenneT and identify the limitations associated with sustainability, company professionals were interviewed. This pointed to the need for prioritisation and gradual integration of sustainability measures. A desktop study was also conducted to identify the company’s sustainable goals, their associated measures, and their real-life applications. A decision-support framework for integrating sustainable goals in projects, based on Multi-Criteria Decision-Analysis (MCDA) was proposed. Using the Best-Worst Method (BWM), as the selected MCDA method, developed by Rezaei (2015), a sustainability workshop was organised where decision-makers from TenneT were asked to select relevant sustainability goals for TenneT, and the ones selected by three or more decision-makers were then used for performing the BWM. To avoid focusing on already well-performing sustainability goals, the performance of their associated measures was studied, using a Maturity Model based on the work of Silvius and Schipper (2015). Finally, an Importance-Performance Analysis (Martilla and James 1977) was performed, to assess future actions for each sustainable goal. The BWM showed that the Planet aspect was selected as the most important one for stimulating sustainability in projects. Additionally, Reducing Emissions was selected as the most important sub-aspect while in the People aspect, Health and Safety ranked first. The Maturity Model showed that the least integrated goals in projects are Human Rights, Labour Conditions and Decent Work, Energy Consumption, Materials and Natural Resources and Circularity and Waste. The BWM and Maturity Model also produced interesting results regarding the awareness of decision-makers and how they perceive sustainable goals and the performance of their associated measures in projects. Based on the Importance-Performance analysis, the research suggests integrating the sustainable goal of Circularity and Waste in the company’s following projects. This can be achieved by using existing sustainable measures, such as the Raw Material Passport (RMP), in the tender process. Using measures such as the RMP in the pre-qualification phases or selection phase, as entry requirements with specific targets to be met, or as an award criterion, aiming to create added value for the project, can stimulate the contractors and suppliers to act more sustainably. This will in turn increase TenneT’s sustainable performance and will help the company meet its own sustainable targets.

Despite the severity and high frequency of cost overruns in construction projects, it is considered a rule rather than an exception. This phenomenon occurs when the initially estimated budget does not suffice the actual costs needed to realise the project. Uncertainty and bias challenge the ability to make cost estimates. Incorrect estimates of indirect costs, including risks, reservations and project organisational costs, are acknowledged as a frequent cause for cost overruns. Regardless of the risk and cost contingency management tools in literature and their application in practice, project uncertainties are still underestimated and insufficiently managed. During the execution phase projects are monitored with performance indicators, which provide information about past events or activities. This means these indicators are lagging, hence it limits proactive project management. On the contrary, leading indicators could function as early warning signs as they present themselves before potential issues arise, or risks materialize. The objective of this research is to improve the cost contingency process by implementing early warning signs, in order to proactively manage projects and minimise cost overruns and materialized risks. In order to achieve this objective the following main research question is formulated: “How can early warning signs be used in large construction projects to improve accuracy of cost contingency estimates and management in order to minimize cost overruns?” Concluding from the empirical study, early warning signs can be implemented in the cost contingency process by shifting the focus of risk management from mitigating and managing the effects of risks towards the causes of risks. Subsequently, risk strategies and mitigation measures can be more effective when aimed at the origin of the issue, instead of the direct issue leading to the risk. It is valuable to examine the risks as a system or network, instead of single problems, because it provides a better representation of reality and the links between risks or other events reveal information about correlation or side effects. Consequently, mitigation measures can increase in efficiency, when one cause, leading to multiple risks, is targeted. Furthermore, materialization of a risk is detected as an early warning sign which contains information about causes or circumstances that trigger other risks as well. Additionally, the increase of a RISMAN score indicates a change in project circumstances and therefore can be used as an early warning for materialization of risks. The justification for an increase in RISMAN score is diverse, and should thus be analysed to reveal the specific information needed to prevent materialization of risks. A common database contributes to the early warning sign approach as well, because it overcomes the in the case study identified ‘surveillance filter’, by improving collection and transfer of information. Tracking the cost contingency increases the accuracy of this estimate in general, because it provides insight into the development during project phases and the actual spending pattern. And when this info is stored in a database it allows referencing from previous projects, hence including an ‘outside view’.