TRAINING AGILE TEAMS ON AGILE METHODS FOR ADDRESSING CHALLENGES AND PROBLEM-SOLVING IN LARGE-SCALE REINFORCED CONCRETE MEGA-PROJECTS INCORPORATING ESG 'ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND GOVERNANCE' STANDARDS

Abstract In recent years, the importance of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) has been acknowledged by national governments and major global corporations. It is currently of great concern regarding the construction industry, as all of its construction activities affect environmental sustainability and local communities. Many ESG-rating companies either have a dedicated architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector rating or are expected to enter this segment in the near future. Consequently, there is a pressing need for a strategic adaptation of ESG standards aware of varying construction mega-project (CMP) contexts. Construction mega-projects (CMP) are time- and resource-constrained, with on-budget and on-time delivery of enormous significance. Due to the different nature of construction, social and governance (CG) systems are to be added to the original ESG standards (Dingsøyr et al., 2018). The need to address ESG and the challenges faced by ESG rating companies in the AEC sector are first described, followed by a discussion of ways to enable ESG compliance design, engineering, and construction processes on both the labour and technology sides. To facilitate ESG rating companies in their strategic adaptation of ratings to AEC, the variations in CMP processes are examined. Four broad categories of factors influencing variations in project contexts; market, physical, workplace and stakeholder, are defined. Aspects behind each factor category relevant for ESG compliance are discussed, ending with a summary of the four proposed project context categories. ESG compliance procedures aware of the different project context influences are proposed on the work design and execution sides of both labour and technology. The work design methods Elaboration due to Time Pressure (EDTP) and scheduling due to Time Pressure (SDTP) are presented to provide a functioning guidance for the design of CSR-aware work execution processes. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in work execution to ensure ESG compliance is also discussed in the context of an ongoing Industry for technology development. Through the different project contexts, labour and technology sides, a comprehensive understanding of the complex process enabling ESG compliance in AEC should be formed in the ESG-rating companies' employee education. Such knowledge has the potential to build a competitive advantage for the AEC companies by meeting the anticipated surge in ESG reporting (S Moriel, 2017).