Industrial capital projects are risky business ventures with increasing size, uncertainty, and complexity that frequently experience growth in cost and time to deliver, and oftentimes do not achieve their desired performance results. From Merrow (2011), “65% of all industrial projects fail to meet business objectives.” The misuse of capital project funds and resources does not provide a stable foundation for sustainable business development in the industrial sector to stay competitive in the global market. The adversarial environment created from the risk shedding structure of current project delivery methods not only impedes the performance of industrial projects but can also stifle innovation and create inefficiencies in the industrial project development sector. Industrial capital project delivery has suffered from stunted growth in productivity and broad industry innovation while seeing an increase in claims and disputes for a number of years dating back to the 20th century. Integrated project delivery (IPD) in the healthcare industry in the United States and alliance contracting on public infrastructure projects in Australia and New Zealand have proven to effectively use enhanced collaboration and integration strategies and methods to bring value for money to the overall project. Using the principles of IPD and alliancing can be a way to deliver industrial projects with more active collaboration of participants and with higher levels of integration of project stakeholders to reduce the probability of failed projects and to create a better environment of innovation and efficiency leading to a more efficient use of the industry’s available resources.

The dissertation aims to contribute to the body of knowledge by evaluating the use of increased integration and collaboration by applying the principles of IPD and alliancing in the industrial capital projects sector. The results of an industry-wide survey indicate industrial projects can benefit from implementing IPD and alliancing strategies with nearly all (98%) survey participants responding that more collaboration and integration increases overall project value for money on industrial projects. Thus, the research seeks to test the hypothesis;

Increased integration and collaboration by implementing IPD and alliancing principles can lead to better project performance and increase the probability of successfully achieving its business case objectives on an industrial project.

The research findings provide evidence to suggest industrial project performance is improved by increased collaboration and integration, demonstrating that industrial projects are good candidates for an IPD delivery. The findings also provide guidance to effectively structure project delivery with the right balance of IPD and alliancing collaboration and integration principles to enhance industrial project performance and achieve important business objectives. Finally, the research will propose an IPD framework for industrial projects, defining the principles and methods, as well as their expected impact and it will also report on barriers to implementation of this delivery method on an industrial project.