Managing construction site communication using the responsibility assignment matrix (RAM) system

Abstract

The construction industry in the UK wastes £1 billion per year due to construction defects that are mainly caused by a communication failure between organisations operating on the construction site. Meanwhile, the introduction of the BIM strategy has become a mandatory requirement by the government in order to reduce costs by 33% and speed up project delivery by 50% without sacrificing quality. Since then, the industry has seen a global reaction to the BIM Level 2 programme and a significant cost-saving in the UK of £1.2 billion in 2014/15, rising from £840 million in 2013/14. However, communication remains a major issue to achieve the BIM Level 3 as it requires all organisations involved to use a single platform to facilitate communication. This paper, therefore, fits within the BIM implementation programme by addressing the communication issues and construction defects on-site toward formulating a communication framework for the construction industry in the UK. This will help optimise communication and manage construction defects efficiently. The study takes advantage of the Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), the widely known management system and uses it to assign communication tools for each organisation in relation to the construction stages throughout two phases of data collection. Phase 1 involves two qualitative data collection methods of an in-depth review of the relevant literature (document analysis) and construction site observation. To facilitate site observation and data collection, the researcher collaborated with GF Tomlinson group, a Derby-based construction company, as the case study. Phase 2 involves an online survey, targeting a total number of 328 participants, including professionals and academics. Results of phase 1 are presented as the Communication Tools Assignment 1 (CTA1) and phase 2 results inform the Communication Tools Assignment 2 (CTA2). The study contribution is to develop a framework that recommends the appropriate communication tools for organisations at different construction stages, and which shows the possible types and causes of construction defects. Moreover, the study found three types of construction defects by applying 3D laser scanning for framework mentoring.

Keywords:

• Responsibility assignment matrix
• standard work breakdown structure
• standard organisation breakdown structure
• communication tools assignment
• construction defects
• BIM

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Al-Baha University (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) for sponsoring this work which is a part of a PhD research conducted in 2019. In addition, we thank the G. F. Tomlinson Group Ltd who supported us to find eligible participants for the survey. The results obtained were crucial and relevant to the study. The time the participants took to complete the survey is appreciated.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).