Coordination in the construction industry

Coordination (or co-ordination) refers to the process of organising people, systems, activities and so on so that they work together. Coordination is generally considered to improve efficiency and effectiveness, whilst fragmentation can cause inefficiencies and even clashes.

Coordination is a particular issue in the construction industry, where teams of people may come together to work on a complex design and construction involving many interrelated elements, and when the project is finished, they may disperse and might not work together again. Ensuring that this team works effectively together requires careful coordination, integration and collaboration – not something that the industry is always successful at achieving.

For more information see: Fragmentation

In the construction industry, co-ordination often refers to design coordination, that is, the integration of designs prepared by different members of the project team to create a single, unified set of information that can be constructed without clashes between components. Effective design coordination can help to reduce costs, delays and disruption that can be caused by problems on site and the need for remedial or abortive works and redesign.

For more information see: Design coordination.

Coordination in the construction industry may also refer to:

• BIM model coordination.
• Spatial coordination.
• Supply chain coordination.
• Coordination of documentation or policies.
• Coordination of construction activities.
• Coordination between bodies, such as government departments.
• Collaborative practices between project team members.
• Integration of systems, such as transport systems.

NB Roles in construction projects: analysis and terminology, by Hughes, W. and Murdoch, J. R, published in 2001 by the University of Reading, defines co-ordinate as: ‘Ensuring that information flows successfully between organizational links and assembling diverse outputs.’

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings

• BIM co-ordinator.
• Building information modelling.
• CDM coordinator.
• Clash avoidance.
• Collaborative practices.
• Design.
• Design coordination.
• Design coordinator.
• Design management.
• Fragmentation.
• Information manager.
• Integrated design.
• Lead designer.
• Modular co-ordination.
• Retrofit coordinator.
• Tolerances.