For decades, construction projects have typically followed a familiar and straightforward path: A client appoints consultants. They develop the design. Contractors compete on price. A contractor is selected and construction begins.
Yet despite the industry's best efforts, many projects continue to face budget overruns, programme delays, design revisions, claims, and disputes. Relationships between project participants can become adversarial, with each party focused on protecting its own interests rather than achieving the best outcome for the project.
Perhaps the issue is not with the people involved, but with the process itself.
The Cost of Late Construction Input
Construction is not manufacturing. Every project is unique: different site, conditions, stakeholders, constraints, and objectives. Success depends not only on good design but also on practical construction expertise, procurement strategy, logistics planning, sequencing, risk management, and market knowledge.
Much of this expertise resides within the construction team.
Yet under traditional procurement models, construction input is often introduced only after many important decisions - with a profound impact on the cost, programme, quality, and constructability of a project - have been made. Opportunities to identify practical challenges and improve project outcomes become more limited, and changes that could have been made relatively easily during design become difficult, expensive, and disruptive once construction is underway.
Integrated Project Delivery: Collaboration in Practice
While there are various procurement approaches available to clients, the most successful projects increasingly share one common characteristic: integration.
Bringing designers, engineers, specialists, and contractors together earlier, encourages better coordination, improved decision-making, clearer accountability, and greater alignment between stakeholders.
Most importantly, a collaborative approach allows construction expertise to influence design decisions before they become difficult or expensive to change – without compromising architectural vision or design quality. On the contrary, innovative solutions can emerge that are both technically robust and commercially viable.
Several delivery models can support this integrated project delivery, including Early Contractor Involvement, Design & Build, Construction Management, and partnering arrangements.
Early Contractor Involvement
Around the world, and recently in Cyprus, leading clients are increasingly adopting Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) as a means of improving project outcomes.
Under ECI, contractors participate during the design and planning stages rather than only after the design has been completed. The objective is simple: Solve problems on paper rather than on site.
Why This Matters for Cyprus
Cyprus is witnessing the development of increasingly sophisticated projects, including high-rise towers, mixed-use developments, hotels, healthcare facilities, educational campuses, and large-scale infrastructure works.
As complexity increases, so does the importance of collaboration. Today’s industry challenges, including labour shortages, rising costs, sustainability requirements, demanding project schedules, and heightened client expectations, cannot be solved through traditional procurement approaches alone.
At AGC, we see a growing number of clients seeking contractor involvement much earlier in the project lifecycle.
It is important to note here that collaboration is not absent from traditional procurement. We regularly work closely with clients and consultants throughout the construction process to identify practical solutions and support successful project delivery. However, our experience has shown that even greater value can be created when this collaboration begins earlier. This is particularly important on complex projects and projects with demanding delivery programmes.
Early collaboration can also help address one of the industry's most pressing challenges: labour shortages. By involving construction teams earlier in the process, projects can be planned with greater efficiency in mind, reducing avoidable pressures during construction.
On several recent projects, AGC has been engaged formally during the design stage to provide advice on construction methodology, programme constraints, logistics, procurement risks, and local market conditions. This helped identify challenges that would have been significantly more difficult and costly to address once construction commenced.
To respond to this evolving market demand, AGC has expanded its pre-construction capabilities and invested in a multidisciplinary team that includes architects, pre-construction engineers, MEP specialists, and BIM professionals. This expertise allows us to engage with clients and design teams at an earlier stage, helping identify opportunities, mitigate risks, and develop solutions before construction begins.
Looking Ahead
Whether through Early Contractor Involvement, Integrated Project Delivery, partnering arrangements, or other collaborative models, the principle remains the same: the earlier project partners work together, the greater the opportunity to create value for the client.
As demands increase, contractors who can contribute expertise beyond the construction phase will become essential partners in delivering successful projects.
The construction industry has long demonstrated its ability to build remarkable projects. The next challenge is to build better ways of working together.
And that begins by moving from tendering to collaboration.
Joseph Merhi is Managing Director of AGC Contractors Ltd, one of Cyprus' leading construction companies, Vice President of the General Contractors Association of Cyprus and Director of the Cyprus Joint Construction Contracts Tribunal company. He is an advocate of collaborative project delivery, early contractor involvement, and innovation in the construction industry.
