BUS604: Innovation and Sustainability

Luiten et al stated that open tendering is aimed at obtaining the lowest price and not at achieving the best performance. In a highly competitive market and the delivery of a large number of relatively low-value services, chances for price-fixing agreements are high. They advised maximizing returns for contractors combined with lowering the risk for clients. In various states in the US, this is a proven system for 300 contractors. In this way there is more cooperation and it contributes to taking each other's interests into account. 

The economic decline in the building sector and/or the decline in revenues started after the financial crisis. Compared to 2006, architects received 75 percent fewer orders for new homes and utility buildings between 2007 and 2012 .

Historically, the building sector is a traditional sector even though innovations have been made during the last couple of years. An overview of innovations and experiments in the building sector can be found on the website de bouwvernieuwer.nl. But Rotmans points out that the innovation process is a fragile one (only 10 percent of the sector is involved in innovation processes). 

Where cooperation is concerned, several issues stand out. Innovations have not yet been incorporated into the construction regime; not many parties are involved in innovation experiments; and there is too little competition to facilitate the application of innovative knowledge. In the construction world, there is a complex and fragmented field of influence with a lot of conflicting interests.

According to Rotmans, several elements of the building sector need to change:

• The building sector as supplier of services. The sector needs to develop from a supplier of building works to a supplier of services. It needs to switch to using concepts whereby it must see customers' needs in a holistic way. This is consistent with the development from product to service innovation mentioned earlier;
• The building sector delivers social added value. Social issues con-cerning living, working, mobility and recreation are also issues for the building sector to consider. This is consistent with the development from product to value innovation;
• The building sector as an innovative sector. The building sector should deliver more innovative and sustainable concepts. The traditional tendering system will accordingly change to delivering functional specifications
• Outside focus. The building sector develops into a cooperative partner which works on a holistic basis with other parties.

The building sector must increasingly seek to cooperate with other parties in the network. That is one of the conclusions derived from this report. The Building Information Model is the basis for further growth in the sector. In this model, data of the building to be built and the relationship between data is recorded and managed. For a start, more attention should be paid to data which shows information about the sustainability of the building and a sustainable way to handle 'worn-out parts' in a sustainable way. Furthermore the model should be developed into a cooperation model for building, which could be based on the exchange of information.