Comparative Study of the Variables in Construction Project Briefing/Architectural Programming

Briefing is the process by which client requirements are identified, clarified, and articulated in the early design stage of construction projects. It is crucial to the successful delivery of construction projects. Considerable research has been conducted in briefing during the past two decades. However, researchers consider many current briefing practices to be inadequate, and little research has been done in sufficient depth to explore briefing variables in the construction industry. This paper introduces a comprehensive framework of the variables that have an impact on construction project briefing. A questionnaire survey was conducted to validate these variables among project managers and architects in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The results indicate that although no significant differences existed between the samples in the United Kingdom and the United States on the variables for construction project briefing, the views of the samples in Hong Kong deviated from the two Western countries. The Western professionals have more positive answers to most statements in the questionnaire. The findings have significant implications for industry practitioners in producing their guidelines for the briefing process and for writers in drafting how-to briefing guide for construction projects.

[1]  William R. King,et al.  Project Management Handbook , 1983 .

[2]  Peter E.D. Love,et al.  Industry-centric benchmarking of information technology benefits, costs and risks for small-to-medium sized enterprises in construction , 2004 .

[3]  Jacky K.H. Chung,et al.  A framework for identification and representation of client requirements in the briefing process , 2004 .

[4]  Tit-wan Ann Yu,et al.  A value management framework for systematic identification and precise representation of client requirements in the briefing process , 2007 .

[5]  O. Shenkar,et al.  Clustering Countries on Attitudinal Dimensions: A Review and Synthesis , 1985 .

[6]  Ann Buchholtz,et al.  Business and Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management , 2005 .

[7]  Chimay J. Anumba,et al.  A critical appraisal of the briefing process in construction , 2001 .

[8]  William Peña,et al.  Problem Seeking: An Architectural Programming Primer , 1977 .

[9]  L. E. G. p.s.c..  Value for Money , 1945 .

[10]  Ping Chen,et al.  An interpretive comparison of Chinese and Western conceptions of relationships in construction project management work , 2004 .

[11]  Silke Bender,et al.  The transfer of knowledge and the retention of expertise: the continuing need for global assignments , 2000, J. Knowl. Manag..

[12]  Jim Smith,et al.  Evaluating the client briefing problem: an exploratory study , 1998 .

[13]  John Kelly,et al.  Value Management of Construction Projects: Kelly/Value , 2008 .

[14]  Christine Pasquire,et al.  Analysis of factors that drive brief development in construction , 2005 .

[15]  Alastair Blyth,et al.  Managing the Brief for Better Design , 2001 .

[16]  Christine Pasquire,et al.  Drivers for dynamic brief development in construction , 2004 .

[17]  John Kelly,et al.  Application of value management in project briefing , 2005 .

[18]  Wolfgang F. E. Preiser,et al.  Post‐occupancy evaluation: how to make buildings work better , 1995 .

[19]  P. Thompson,et al.  Engineering Construction Risks - A Guide to Project Risk Analysis and Risk Management , 1994 .

[20]  Robert G. Hershberger,et al.  Architectural Programming and Predesign Manager , 1999 .

[21]  Joseph A. Demkin.  The architect's handbook of professional practice , 2002 .

[22]  Qiping Shen,et al.  An empirical study of the variables affecting construction project briefing/architectural programming , 2007 .

[23]  Michael F. Dallas,et al.  Value and Risk Management: A Guide to Best Practice , 2008 .

[24]  P. Dorfman,et al.  Cultural clusters: methodology and findings , 2002 .

[25]  David Boddy.  Managing Projects: Building and Leading the Team , 2001 .

[26]  David Dugdale,et al.  Evaluating Investments in Advanced Manufacturing Technology: A Fuzzy Set Theory Approach , 2001 .

[27]  Atefeh Sadri McCampbell,et al.  Knowledge management: the new challenge for the 21st century , 1999, J. Knowl. Manag..

[28]  John M. Kamara,et al.  Capturing client requirements in construction projects , 2002 .