Construction is more than just erection of buildings  

The key drawback of our system is the division of construction industry management between two ministries: capital investments are supervised by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine while the exploitation and capital construction are covered by the Ministry for Regional Development, Building and Housing of Ukraine. By using this split approach state authorities treat the single process of investment, construction, and exploitation as separate, non-related stages. Due to the aforementioned, these stages are regulated by different rules which complicate the construction process and increase corruption risks.

 

During last 20-30 years, developed countries use an opposite approach – they manage construction industry not from the perspective of the construction process but focusing on the life cycle of the constructed object. This approach is applied as the expenditures for the exploitation of the building during its life cycle may be several times higher than the price of construction itself. It means that construction is considered as a single investment cycle, where the construction company finds itself between the project originator and final consumer. That’s how it should work. Though, currently, state authorities are concerned mostly about construction companies and the construction process towards which the majority of regulations are directed. That’s why it’s wrong to regulate only the construction sphere without managing the design, investment and exploitation processes.  

Access to information is the basis of changes

Our system lacks transparency. For example, the problem of pricing originates from the fact that customers can’t receive verified information about future exploitation expenditures. Partially it’s because Ministries don’t have catalogs of market prices. Instead of these reference materials, they apply outdated rates of resources usage. Such approach allows to indicate any prices in the cost estimate and leaves a lot of space for corruption. Furthermore, some actors propose to indicate the price of design as a certain percentage of the construction cost. Though, it is defined by the project itself. As a result, it increases the construction cost of the building instead of prioritizing its effectiveness.   

 

The next issue is the lack of information – the inability to obtain the comprehensive package of information from the construction company about the quality of materials, reliability, and durability of the construction, future timeframes and cost of repairs, etc. Such non-transparency makes it impossible for investors to realistically assess the investment attractiveness of the constructed object.

The best practices in the construction industry are implemented in the building information modeling sphere

 

Developed countries assess the effectiveness not only on the basis of cost but the quality of an object, volume of energy resources consumption, and environmental impact as well. That’s why EU countries want to decrease the energy consumption in the construction industry by 30% and the amount of polluting emissions by 80% by 2050.

 

In order to implement the aforementioned plans, a system of building information modeling (BIM) for the evaluation of the life cycle was developed. It foresees accumulation of all the data about future constructions and provision of access to this information to all specialists who will work on it. This model allows to adopt all decisions from the perspective of the construction effectiveness for the future owner.  

 

Regulation of construction industry under such system will allow to decrease the expenses for the construction and exploitation of buildings. Though, the most important is that the construction company will understand how and from what the object was constructed and thus would be able to maintain it properly. It will decrease the cost of exploitation and increase its duration.

 

Since 2016, in Great Britain, Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, and Norway the building information modeling is applied in all projects where the government has its share. Currently, the European Parliament is lobbying the introduction of these rules in some other EU countries. The volume of BIM application is also increasing in Northern America, Northeast Asia, and China. Even in Belarus during 2012-2015 the sectoral program of development and application of information technologies in comprehensive automatization of design and support of the lifecycle of buildings was conducted.  

 

Thus, the state authorities managing and regulating the construction industry should undergo more than just simple requalification. They should be reformed in accordance with new standards regulating the construction process at all stages from investment to exploitation which should be aimed at optimization of the effectiveness of particular objects as well as of capital investments in general.

 

Such approach requires changes in the procedure of the project’s plan development. It should concentrate more on the modeling of the whole life cycle of the constructed object as well as on its evaluation.

 

The European Union is primarily based on principles of transparency, equality, and competitiveness which are laid down in its legislative acts. Accession to EU means absorption of these ideas implemented through law. Thus, Ukraine should put away Soviet standards which encourage corruption and hinder the effectiveness of construction and adopt the system implemented in developed countries.