Everyone Reviewed the Change but Nobody Owned It
Initial State & New Revision
Initial State
The project started with a coordinated set of architectural drawings defining the corridor layout and mechanical zones. The structural, architectural, and mechanical plans shared matching reference grids and clear column boundaries. Engineers worked from these documents to establish baseline equipment locations.
New Revision
A client requested to widen the primary exit passage, which forced partition walls to be relocated. The architectural team updated the floor plans and shifted the wall lines by two feet. They published this shift as a general notification to all disciplines. The update did not assign direct coordination tasks or specific responsibilities to individual engineers.
Conflicting Requirements & Unresolved Issue
Conflicting Requirements
The relocated partition wall intersected a structural column and a large mechanical duct. The structural engineer had to maintain the column at its exact coordinates to support the roof load. The mechanical designer required space inside the partition wall for the duct. These requirements were physically impossible to satisfy simultaneously in the given space.
Unresolved Issue
Each discipline reviewed the updated drawings on their screen and signed off on the revision. Every engineer assumed another discipline would flag the spatial conflicts. The structural team trusted the architect, and the mechanical team assumed structural had approved the layout. The physical clash went undetected until the construction crews began framing the walls on site.
Decision Owner & Review Outcome
Decision Owner
No single coordinator took responsibility for checking the interfaces between disciplines. The architectural lead published the update, and the engineering disciplines viewed the file. Without a dedicated decision owner to sign off on the coordination interfaces, the conflict remained unnoticed by the team.
Review Outcome
The project suffered a construction delay and required an expensive field work order. Crews stopped framing the lobby partition, the mechanical crew rerouted the ductwork under the ceiling, and the architect revised the final layout. The team has now established a strict ownership matrix where every multi-discipline change must have a designated coordinator.
Discussion & Feedbacks
Ownership is everything in AEC publishing.
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