Abstract
Public infrastructure projects have gradually attracted substantial attention due to the role they play in enriching sustainable community development. Time, quality, and cost have been identified as the principal determinants of the successful delivery of an infrastructure project. Based on the challenges that have been identified in the design process, it is imperative to study these challenges to allow for design efficiency. It is important to study these challenges to find insight for policy-making within the public sector.
This research adopted the grey-DEMATEL method to identify the design factors' inter-dependencies that affect project delay. Six design factors were looked at mainly; team dynamics, procurement issues, stakeholder engagements, administrative time delays, lack of communication and poor prior planning. The approach taken in the research was based on a global literature review, in obtaining the critical factors that affect public sector design. A questionnaire was utilized to collect data from experts within design in the public sector.
Team dynamics was identified as the most prominent factor and influences all the other factors. It is recommended that emphasis is placed on team dynamics to ensure that the design process is carried out efficiently to avoid any project delay. The significance of this study was to provide insight for decision-makers within the public sector for decision-making purposes to ensure that the design process is carried out decisively to reduce any challenges associated with project design delays. For future studies, more design factors should be looked at to enable a more holistic approach to identifying the delay factors in design within the public sector.