Can knowledge sharing mitigate the effect of construction project complexity?

In recent years the pace of technological innovation in construction operations has escalated with resulting intensification of the inputs necessary for contemporary multi‐disciplinary construction projects, and thereby has exacerbated their potential complexity. In its widest form the topic of complexity in construction continues to attract considerable research and re‐evaluation; however the resulting published work remains largely unapplied by construction professionals due to either to its intricacy or difficulty of application. This study concludes that recent advances in information management can facilitate data sharing and thereby resolve many of the early life and project production complexity issues. The aim of this paper is to suggest a new direction for research studies.

This desktop study uses a key word protocol to identify the relationship between published research papers both past and present to first determine the development of complexity research and then looks forward to an interaction between research and industry.

Questions if complexity in multi‐disciplinary projects may well be diminished by information modelling, this practical solution evolved in parallel with computer based design.

This descriptive study suggests a new direction for research studies.