Using Contracting to Improve Building Project Delivery and Achieve Sustainability Goals

This report by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) examines how traditional building project delivery methods hinder sustainability and proposes that specific contracting stipulations, particularly through Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), can overcome these barriers to improve energy efficiency and project outcomes.

• Traditional building project delivery is characterized by several systemic failures: a focus on liability and risk that inhibits innovation, the common practice of oversizing equipment to avoid lawsuits, the use of construction shortcuts to maintain schedules, and a linear design sequence that prevents the integration of interrelated building systems.
• The lack of a whole-systems design view in traditional projects prevents the identification of synergies between building components. For example, integrating ductwork and structural systems to reduce plenum height can increase ceiling height, allowing more daylight into a space, which reduces lighting energy needs and subsequently lowers the peak cooling load and required ductwork size.
• The inefficiencies of the construction industry are evidenced by a 20 percent decrease in the productivity index over the last 40 years, while other economic sectors have doubled in productivity. Additionally, 30 percent of projects fail to meet budget or schedule, 37 percent of materials become waste, 60 percent of fan systems are oversized by an average of 60 percent, and 48 percent of U.S. energy is consumed by building operation and construction.
• Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) can address these failures through specific contract stipulations: early involvement of stakeholders to break linear design sequences, shared risk and financial rewards to align interests, multi-party contracts, collaborative decision-making, and liability waivers.
• The Autodesk AEC Solutions Division Headquarters project serves as a case study for the success of IPD, achieving LEED Platinum certification, keeping design and construction costs below target, and exceeding profit targets for the designer and contractor.

APA

RMI (n.d.). Using Contracting to Improve Building Project Delivery and Achieve Sustainability Goals. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2013-15_IMFContractingRpt.pdf

Chicago

RMI. Using Contracting to Improve Building Project Delivery and Achieve Sustainability Goals. n.d. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2013-15_IMFContractingRpt.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Using Contracting to Improve Building Project Delivery and Achieve Sustainability Goals |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2013-15_IMFContractingRpt.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmindusing, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Using Contracting to Improve Building Project Delivery and Achieve Sustainability Goals}}, institution = {RMI}, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_2013-15_IMFContractingRpt.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }