Standardising the route to project handover to improve delivery of major building projects

Project handover is an integral phase in the delivery of major projects and should ideally be considered as a process that kicks off at initiation. Studies have shown that when handover is considered as a date where the keys are handed over to the client or end-user in a rushed and unplanned manner, there is a high probability of heightened stakeholder dissatisfaction and the creation of a performance gap. This reflective study examined three case studies to better understand the challenges experienced during the handover of major projects. The data from the case studies were collected through semi-structured interviews and complemented with project reports, documents and industry reports. The findings highlighted a lack of effective handover procedures that facilitate the collaboration between the delivery and end-users/ facility management teams. Therefore, a project handover framework that leverages best practices to provide a consistent and replicable approach for handing over construction projects is proposed. This research is limited to major building projects. Future research could thus explore the applicability of the proposed framework to other infrastructure projects.