University of Windsor`s $112 million, 300,000-square- foot, three-storey Centre

University of Windsor`s $112 million, 300,000-square- foot,
three-storey Centre for Engineering Innovation (CEI),
facility will be the largest project undertaken as part of the
UWindsor master plan. The building provides space for
students, faculty, and staff from all three programs to
socialize, study, and interact. Multipurpose classrooms,
project rooms, and laboratory facilities are designed to bring
students together through cross-disciplinary
learning opportunities. Access to the latest technologies will
enrich the teaching and learning environment within the proposed facilities.
With a demonstrated commitment to Sustainability, a key component of UWindsor ‘s expansion
plan, all new academic buildings are designed to achieve a LEED® Gold certification or
equivalent. LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building criteria
incorporate aspects of energy, water, building sites, materials, and innovative techniques to rate
buildings for efficiency and energy performance.
The project had a strict substantial completion deadline, which was end of July 2012. The
construction managers (PCR Contractors Inc.) struggled to satisfy client’s scope changes, subcontractor issues, design deficiencies, safety issues, material deliveries, installations, and so on.
To achieve the strict deadline, the construction manager wanted to improve labor and machinery
productivity. However, he did not want to compromise safety.
Assume your team was hired as consultants to the PCR Contractors Inc. to improve current
productivity and safety levels in the project.
Questions:
1. What is construction productivity? What are the current levels of labor productivity in
commercial construction in Canada? How the construction productivity changed in the last
century in North America? What are the possible future trends? (Maximum 2 page)
2. What external factors (external to the project) govern the construction productivity? What
internal factors (in the project) contribute to productivity changes? (Maximum 1 page)
3. What are your recommendations to improve labor productivity in the Engineering building?
(state all your assumptions about current facilities and standards in the project)
(Maximum 1 page)
4. What is your opinion on the relationship between achieving high productivity with suggested
recommendations and worker safety related issues in the project? How to improve current
safety levels in parallel to the productivity? (state all your assumptions about current safety
standards in the project) (Maximum 2 pages)
5. Do LEED standards have an impact on labor/machinery productivity and safety standards?
(Maximum 1 page)
All questions are to be answered in essay format.