Design Practitioner’s Insights Regarding the Use of Co-Location in Design-Build

Co-location is a process that involves bringing the constituents of a project together in a shared space with the intent of enhancing team effectiveness. When used with the design-build delivery method, formal communication barriers are circumvented. However, do all the project constituents perceive the same value from co-location? This research examines the benefits of co-location when used for a design-build project and includes the perceptions of 101 Design Build Institute of America (DBIA) design practitioners. Within the responses, communication, collaboration, and team chemistry were the most highly ranked benefits with this group. However, the open-ended feedback indicated that project size and complexity, disruptions to intra-organizational collaboration, organizational structure incompatibility for co-location, the absence of the owner and the use of technology were found to be barriers against the use of co-location. Analyzing these perceptions and the barriers shed awareness into a process that may be perceived differently among its constituents – allowing for focus on ways in which to improve co-location.