Executive Summary

Over the course of the 2015/2016 academic year, the Main Street Cupertino Loft Residences was under analysis. While conducting extensive research on all four analyses, aspects were identified that they would improve the project in different aspects. Utilizing MEP prefabrication, introducing SIPs for the interior fitout, BIM Utilization, and addition of Solar Panels. In this report four analyses were performed by including details of the opportunities presented for improving the overall project in several areas. Aspects of the analysis include resource planning, while others mainly focused on the cost and schedule reduction.

Analysis I: Prefabrication of MEP

This analysis investigated the feasibility of prefabricating some of the MEP services. In this analysis, the construction challenges of implementing prefabricated MEP systems for the residential section are studied carefully. The main goal of this analysis, is the reduction of the duration of the MEP period, possibly saving, reducing the conflicts between trades, and the safety and quality of said system.

Analysis II: Short Interval Production Schedule

The second analysis was an attempt on creating a more efficient workflow for the interior fitout and finishes work on the second, third, fourth, and fifth floors. This was done by implementing ideologies of SIPs and setting up the labor matrix throughout the SIPs. The schedule was accelerated by 3 weeks but compared to the original pricing, the new budget for the interior fitout would be approximately double the original, deeming the implementation of SIPs on the project not a financially sound idea.

Analysis III: Building Information Modeling Utilization

Seeing as BIM was not used in this project throughout every phase. It had to be noted the opportunities to implement BIM would benefit the site productivity, operations, and maintenance. During the analysis a basic BIM execution plan was created based on the project. In this analysis, important steps will be analyzed on creating a project specific BIM plan and evaluating the effectiveness of said BIM uses.

Analysis IV: Use of Photovoltaic System

The owner is extremely interested in having a sustainable building. The building was designed to achieve Silver LEED Certification. With the use of solar energy, the building’s sustainability aspect will increase, as well as, reduce the power bills in the future. In this analysis we will investigate the use of BIPV systems and Photovoltaic systems. After extensive research it was found that the photovoltaic system is more sustainable for this project in specific. The total estimated cost is $300,044.00 with a payback period of 21 years, and an added construction duration to the system of 12 days without affecting the overall project duration.