Bridging the Great Divide: Towards collaboration between design and operation

Bridging the great divide between construction management and facilities management is a major challenge towards achieving a sustainable built environment in the long term. The Danish non-profit housing sector stands out as a leading example of collaborative measures between design and operation of built facilities by way of lifecycle costing (LCC). This study applies activity theory to understand and improve the interaction and collaboration between design/construction and operation of built facilities. This chapter identifies two activity systems guiding the interactions of design/construction and operation of built facilities. Three key actions promote collaboration, cooperation and coordination through increased data utilisation and exchange on lifecycle costs, namely: (1) introducing a novel model maintenance plan during tendering, (2) calculating lifecycle costs during design, and (3) providing a long-term operation and maintenance guide and budget upon project handover. Increased collaboration, cooperation and coordination is however challenged by misalignments between elements of the two activity systems. To foster better collaboration and long-term consideration throughout the lifecycle of built facilities, development of shared objectives and stronger alignment between the two activity systems is needed.