The building industry has long suffered from a lack of integration among industry sectors. Business-as-usual leads different firms and individuals to enter into a project in phases and take responsibility for only what falls in their area of expertise or responsibility: architects and engineers are responsible for planning and design, contractors are responsible for constructing the building or structure, and building owners are left to deal with the outcome. This assemblyline approach very rarely works to create a building that is optimized as a system. Rather, the final product often underperforms and may not even meet the needs of the owner.

Over the years, different approaches have been developed to help building professionals execute a construction project more collaboratively. These include: Partnering, Integrated Design Process, Lean Design and Construction, Integrative Process, or Integrated Project Delivery. Each approach has helped project teams achieve higher levels of success by encouraging some level of integration among the responsibilities of the various team members. This guide distills the key tenets of these various approaches, under the blanket term “integrated design and delivery,” to help project teams achieve the kind of integration that will have transformative and tangible effects.

To get there, this guide outlines five main steps, which are supported by several case studies, expert comments, reference documents, and specific guidelines for each expert group.