Belsvik, M.R., Lædre, O., and Hjelseth E. (2019). “Metrics In VDC Projects.” In: Proc. 27 th Annual Conference of the International. Group for Lean Construction (IGLC), Pasquire C. and Hamzeh F.R. (ed.), Dublin, Ireland, pp. 1129-1140. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24928/2019/0167. Available at: <www.iglc.net>. 1129 METRICS IN VDC PROJECTS Matilde Reinholdt Belsvik 1 , Ola Lædre 2 , and Eilif Hjelseth 3 ABSTRACT The Norwegian construction industry is far behind other industries when it comes to productivity. To improve productivity several contractors take advantage of methodologies such as Virtual Design and Construction (VDC). VDC is about streamlining projects in a Lean context with tools like Last Planner, ICE, BIM and metrics. Although few studies have been found on metrics in VDC projects, it appears evident that metrics are important for continuous improvement. However, selecting adequate metrics is challenging, as they can require more than they give in return. The study answers three research questions; (1) “How are building design processes measured?” (2) “Which main design phase challenges can be resolved with metrics?” and (3) “Which metrics should be used in future VDC projects?” The methods used have been a qualitative case study of a Norwegian contractor’s first implementation of VDC, as well as personal interviews with experienced design managers. The implication of the study is a list with six basic metrics for the building design processes of VDC projects, based on challenges in Norwegian construction projects. Seven additional metrics for continuous project improvement are also presented. KEYWORDS VDC, Metrics, Design management, Continuous improvement, Lean construction INTRODUCTION The Norwegian construction industry has seen a decrease in productivity of 10 % since year 2000 (Thodesen 2018). In response, several methodologies have been introduced to solve this issue. VDC and metrics are two of these and many Norwegian contractors have begun implementing VDC in their projects to improve project efficiency (Fosse et al. 2017; Knotten and Svalestuen 2014). VDC is defined as “the use of integrated multi-disciplinary performance models of design-construction projects to support explicit and public business objectives” (Kunz and Fischer 2009). Metrics is also suggested as a methodology to 1 M.Sc student, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, + 47 982 07 858, matildeb@stud.ntnu.no 2 Professor, dr.ing., NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, + 47 911 89 938, ola.ladre@ntnu.no 3 Professor, PhD, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, +47 952 66 100, eilif.hjelseth@ntnu.no