https://doi.org/10.24928/2022/0134

Strategic Partnering Between Contractors and Designers

Sigurd B. Paulsen¹, Atle Engebø² & Ola Lædre³

¹MSc Student, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)/Project Engineer, Multiconsult AS, +47 954 88 252, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-5566-9049
²Researcher, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway, +47 905 71 902, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-5293-0176
³Professor, dr. ing., Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0003-4604-8299

Abstract

In recent years, the concept of strategic partnering has gained attention in the Norwegian construction industry. As a project delivery method, strategic partnering shares similarities with the Lean project delivery perspective as they both seek to achieve more collaborative projects. The paper has structured strategic partnering into three essential Lean Construction (LC) elements: contract, organization, and collaboration. Consequently, this paper contributes to knowledge about strategic partnering between contractors and designers by answering the two research questions: 1) How is the current practice associated with strategic partnering, and 2) What are the experiences with strategic partnering between contractors and designers. An exploratory case study was conducted to examine how strategic partnering can be improved in future projects. A combination of literature review and semi-structured interviews were used for data collection. The findings reveal an improvement potential when implementing strategic partnering in the construction industry. The paper concludes that more attention should be paid to contract elements and the project organization at the company levels to improve strategic partnering. However, at the individual level, good effects have been identified. Findings also showed that external factors like political decisions can lead to postponements and thus changes in personnel in the organization.

Keywords

Strategic partnering, collaboration, Lean Construction, relational, case study.

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Reference

Paulsen, S. B. , Engebø, A. & Lædre, O. 2022. Strategic Partnering Between Contractors and Designers, Proc. 30th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) , 330-341. doi.org/10.24928/2022/0134

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