Value engineering in the assessment of exterior building wall systems

During the last two decades, various exterior wall systems have been applied to buildings in Saudi Arabia. The evaluation and selection of most of the exterior wall systems were based on the designer's experience, with no systematic approach used for the evaluation and selection. This paper presents an evaluation and selection technique based on value engineering principles for exterior wall systems. The study includes 14 exterior wall systems. The weighted evaluation techniques were used to evaluate the wall systems. The most important criteria used in this evaluation were obtained from a survey of 25 professional designers and consultants. These criteria include structural stability, strength, durability, fire safety, initial cost, maintainability, availability, aesthetics, and maintenance cost. The evaluation technique has helped in the selection and prioritization of a few wall systems among the various systems. This technique is recommended for the evaluation and selection of similar construction systems.