Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The United States Federal Highway Administration has been committed to value
management since 1995 and has made it compulsory for all projects exceeding
$25 million. As a consequence, its website lists some pretty impressive achievements.
To take just 2010 as an example, the Federal Highway Administration's annual
report refers to 402 value management studies that were carried out during the
year. (In some instances these studies were undertaken at several stages of the same
project, at various points from design through to completion.
Figure 6.2
shows some
of the key stages of a project.) These studies made a total of 3049 recommendations
of which 1315 were taken on board. This generated a saving of around $2 billion
on a spend of $34.5 billion. In some instances, the value management exercise
also included an assessment of non-monetary benefits, such as travelling time and
reducing the impact on nesting eagles, alongside the assessment of conventional
monetary benefits such as construction and maintenance costs. At the current time
there is clearly a far bigger commitment to the value management process in the
United States than anywhere else in the world. But given the frequent recognition
that 'value' is created on drawing boards not on building sites, and that designers
and architects have found that conversations about how things are constructed can
throw up many possibilities, value engineering could easily become commonplace on
public sector projects in other countries during the next decade.
Finally, in the context of this chapter, it should not be forgotten that value
management equally provides an excellent opportunity to build a competent team
and achieve effective collaboration between clients and contractors.
Key Points 6.3
❍
Compared to other industries, the processes associated with the traditional
construction industry appear old fashioned, inefficient and unsustainable.
❍
The Egan Report (1998) and the subsequent review by Wolstenholme
(2009) emphasised that the industry needs to modernise by adopting
efficient, integrated, innovative and sustainable construction practices.
❍
Value management has the potential to address the relationships between
cost, function and value. It is already used effectively in the United States to
assess value for money on large-scale infrastructure projects.
❍
The recognition that the value of a project commences at the design stage
throws up many new possibilities over the next decade.
