A Framework to enhance value management application in hotel refurbishment projects in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Refurbishment offers profound avenues for mitigating contemporary issues attributed to buildings improve facilities and prolong building life span. Nevertheless, refurbishment projects are characterised with uncertainty and complexity that result in the subvert of value for money. In this context, value management (VM) is endorsed as an approach to optimise value for money of construction projects. Enhancing VM application in refurbishment projects seems less, even though employing VM application in new building projects continues. This research therefore, sets out to develop a framework to enhance VM application in hotel refurbishment projects in Sri Lanka, since refurbishment projects that have employed VM are comparatively high in hotel sector. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 18 participants, documents review and observations. The manual and code based content analysis was used for data analysing. The study revealed that VM is employed in an ad-hoc manner, primarily as a cost reduction exercise. The VM workshops adopted for the case studies were derivatives of the standard SAVE 40-hour job plan and contractors’ change proposal. However, this study proved that the ad-hoc application of VM could reduce the project cost on average by 6.81%. Nevertheless, the ad-hoc VM studies contributed to time overruns of 1 to 3 months. Although certain solutions were practiced to overcome these challenges, the full benefits of VM can be realised by enhancing VM application. Hence, the current study introduced a framework for enhancing VM application in hotel refurbishment projects in Sri Lanka by incorporating strategies on raising awareness, training and development on VM, choosing the appropriate timeframe to apply VM, choosing the appropriate composition for the VM team, choosing the appropriate VM job plan and enabling legal provisions and assistance from regulatory bodies. Further, the benefits that can be obtained from successful VM application were also presented.