Decision support and performance approach for buildings

One of the recurring problems faced by the construction industry, whether in renovation or new-build, is the need to achieve a certain level of quality for structures when they are delivered. Yet this quality is most often seen as a subjective qualitative concept, or at best as the binary result of a compliance checklist drawn up on the basis of specifications. This leads to the following questions. Is the level of quality the same for two project players? Given that not all specifications are written in such a way as to precisely identify and value performance criteria, how can quality be assessed?

Moreover, even if this level of quality were to be objectively quantified by a methodology, the imperfection of the building production process must be taken into account: a building is always built in an open and uncertain environment. Indeed, construction projects can be seen as production processes whose aim is to provide the user with an expected level of quality, within the constraints of time and budget. This process can be disrupted by a number of hazards, which, from the point of view of building quality, result in degraded user performance compared with initial requirements. The two parameters taken into account in this article are the complexity of the work and the level of competence of those involved in the construction project.

This article is therefore an opportunity to propose a generic methodology for objectively quantifying the level of quality - in other words, the overall performance - of a construction project, right from the design stage. The prospective aspect of the methodology is important in the sense that it can serve as a decision-making tool for general contractors wishing to adopt technical choices that optimize the overall performance of their structures. It is here that the general framework for reflection can be underlined: the constructability of built structures. In fact, this proposal stems from a thesis carried out at the Institut de Recherche en Constructibilité of the École Spéciale des Travaux Publics, whose initiation was motivated by the need for methodologies and tools to make the concept of Constructibility operational.

At the end of the article, a glossary explains the main technical vocabulary used in this field.