Leveraging Integrated Engineering Design Software in Mitigating Cost Overruns of High-Rise Building Construction Projects in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The rise in urban population in the context of declining land is a perpetual call for innovations toward sustainable urban settlements, with focus on vertical development. The complexity of high-rise buildings often translates into dynamic cost estimates that impact the contractor-client relationship negatively. This paper addresses this dimension with emphasis on how to minimise cost overruns. A web-based questionnaire survey was used to collect data from 150 consulting civil engineers drawn from the Engineers Board of Kenya. Standard procedures were used in statistical data analysis. Findings showed that the greatest influence design software has on cost certainty of building projects is the level of completeness and integration of details and drawings they help produce which subsequently enhances the accuracy of the pre-tender cost estimates. Despite the superiority of integrated design software in this regard, only 9.4% of engineers used it because of the high purchase and licencing costs involved. By sticking on stand-alone software, inaccuracies in pre-tender documents are perpetuated through limitations in modelling complex buildings and inflexibility in effecting design changes, thus increasing the risks of cost overruns. Therefore incentives for increased use of integrated design software are necessary for enhanced efficiency and overall quality of complex building projects. Further, since construction fees is increasingly being dictated by free market economics rather than the ad-valorem approach and or guidelines set by relevant agencies, development of a transparent and accountable framework to regulate the process would protect the industry and its professional integrity. To leverage on the superiority of integrated engineering design software also calls for deliberate efforts to insulate the construction industry from all forms of corruption at all stages of project life cycle.

Keywords: Mega-Tall Buildings, Cost Certainty, Engineering Design Software, Survey