Proven Practices in Design-Build and Fast-Track

Design-build and fast-track construction, once considered alternatives to mainstream practice, have now taken center stage in the Architecture/Engineering/Construction/Ownership (AECO) industry. Design-build project delivery, in which the architect and contractor form a single contractual entity, now accounts for over one-third of all non-residential projects in the US. Fast-track production, in which construction begins before design is complete, is now so common that major firms employ it in over 95% of their projects. But while practice moves increasingly toward design-build and fast-track, many current practices are carried over from the "over-the-wall" paradigm in which designers and builders worked separately to complete a building. The result is a mismatch between the methods in use today, which are based on organizational and sequential separation, and the reality of the current AECO project environment, characterized by collaboration, concurrency, uncertainty and change.