Modeling Knowledge for MEP Coordination in Building Projects in Saudi Arabia

For many years, the building industry in many countries has been plagued by issues of poor quality, cost overruns, and construction delays. This has been largely attributed to the continuous fragmentation of the industry and the consequent lack of effective coordination of various building services. Previous research efforts have sought to address the inherent lack of efficiency and productivity through various tools and techniques. This article proposes a framework that could facilitate the effective coordination of building services during the design, development, and review stages in building projects in Saudi Arabia. The framework was developed based on an investigation of the current professional practices in building services coordination. The developed framework model consists of five sequential processes: (1) develop the conceptual project design; (2) develop the preliminary design; (3) prepare the developed design of the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) services; (4) prepare the detailed design of MEP services; and (5) prepare the construction documents of MEP services. The framework was developed in the integrated definition for function modeling (IDEF₀) graphical format. Further validation of the framework was carried out through interviews with 10 architectural and engineering design professionals. The adoption of the proposed framework will facilitate the efficient coordination of building services and thus is of paramount interest to all stakeholders.