Throughout the 38 chapters, this must-have volume outlines essential information about the implementation of emerging technologies, from building information modeling and 3D printing, to life cycle assessment and information technology in construction and engineering projects.
It covers practical case studies to demonstrate the implementation of emerging technologies in a compact style, ensuring that practitioners can adopt these methods to realize immediate benefits in productivity, safety and performance improvement.
Sample Chapter(s)
Chapter 1: Implication of a Construction Labour Tracking System for Measuring Labour Productivity
Contents:
Readership: Professionals working in civil engineering or undergraduate engineering students.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_fmatter
The following sections are included:
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0001
Tracking systems are known as valuable approaches for monitoring vehicles and heavy equipment in infrastructure construction and mining sites. Tracking job-site equipment and monitoring the workforce during construction are critical for improving productivity. The current locating practices are based on real-time positioning sensors by alerting staff when entering specific areas within construction sites. However, this approach has not been fully used for measuring labour productivity, and there is much room for improvement. In addition, not much attention has been given to individuals’ two-way communication (e.g. among workers, site engineers and supervisors) in conjunction with tracking them in an interactive Geographic Information System (GIS) environment for productivity purposes and the daily performance evaluation. The aim of this chapter is to implement an online tracking system for indoor positioning using radio communication systems, called the Construction Labour Tracking System (CLTS), and integrate it with GIS. The CLTS is used for monitoring labour in the working area and processing the data for identifying heat maps of the crowded areas of a construction site at various time intervals. The CLTS process includes determination of the functionalities of the system components and the interrelationships between them and GIS. A series of field experimentations were carried out at a selected building. The results of this ongoing study show that CLTS has the capability to monitor the approximate position of workers in detail. The developed CLTS tool is highly valuable to construction project managers because it increases the quality of the collected data and enables them to measure labour productivity on construction sites.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0002
Higher education institutions (HEIs) produce critical human resources and innovations needed to facilitate economic development. In today’s knowledge-driven economy, constructed spaces at HEIs are critical components, which support learning activities. However, performance of learning environment tends to decline due to design, age, use and maintenance. Several investigations have used post-occupancy evaluation (POE) to examine performance of learning spaces using diverse criteria. But, there is a deficit of research in higher education (HE) facilities assessment and building information modelling (BIM) and facility management (FM) integration. To address this gap, this study aims to develop a conceptual framework for the advancement of a holistic socioBIM-based POE criteria model to assess HE facilities performance. An exploratory research approach was adopted. The study reviews previous studies on BIM–POE integration, POE frameworks and HE facilities evaluations to facilitate criteria extraction, with the input of an expert panel. This enables the formation of an integrated framework with spectrum across diverse facility performance attributes. This integrated framework can scaffold the development of a holistic socioBIM-based POE assessment model for buildings in HE considering its peculiar purpose and for future POE studies.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0003
The Chinese government has recently promoted the use of building information modelling (BIM) in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry to improve construction innovation, working efficiency and project performance. The objective of this chapter is to identify the critical barriers to BIM adoption. A questionnaire survey was performed with 95 professionals. A total of 14 barriers were recognized as critical barriers to BIM adoption and are worth more attention from the government and industry practitioners. The top barriers included “lack of BIM implementation data in construction phase”, “reluctance to openly share information”, “lack of industry standards”, “lack of tangible benefits”, “lack of demand for BIM use” and “poor interoperability among BIM software”. In addition, the influence of barriers was not correlated with the years of BIM experience. Some barriers would persist after several years of BIM adoption. This chapter allows industry practitioners to take measures to overcome the potential barriers and enhance the implementation level of BIM and finally assure the far-reaching benefits of BIM.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0004
At construction sites, many pictures are taken for inspection and management of construction. Objects such as construction machinery, signages, signboard, construction workers, etc., are captured, but their existence and locations must be manually detected by humans. Thus, it is desirable to automate the object detection process in order to improve the efficiency. For detection of objects from digital images, machine learning with feature values of images has generally been employed. However, this method requires determination of features and contents, which is learned by humans, taking much labour and making it difficult to achieve satisfactory accuracy. On the other hand, deep learning can automatically determine these features and contents of various objects from digital images so that it can reduce labour and can increase accuracy compared to the conventional machine learning. Therefore, this research aims to automatically detect positions and shapes of objects from digital images by using deep learning. First, a dataset is created and Single Shot Multibox Detector (SSD) is employed for an object detection algorithm to detect positions. Next, re-detection of positions is performed by fine-tuning the weights of SSD. In addition, using detected object information can improve the efficiency of filing images. The shape of an object can be assumed using fully convolutional network (FCN). In this research, construction machinery, workers and signages were detected from digital images taken at construction sites by the proposed method. The proposed method has shown better performance compared to the conventional machine learning method. Finally, object position detection and shape detection are overlapped and the result shows the visually detailed object detection.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0005
Building information modelling (BIM) tool provides a distinctive way of observing and estimating energy consumption and daylight analysis in buildings. Integrating this tool with life-cycle assessment (LCA) empowers the decision-making process and sustainable building design in the construction sector. This chapter presents the interests of BIM–LCA integration in examining different design alternatives and orientations in order to increase daylight efficiency and energy performance in buildings at an early designing phase. This work encourages the improvement of construction options by showing the methodology and tools capable of facilitating decision-making in the designing phase of sustainable projects. It evaluates the LCA methodology of residential buildings based on ISO 14040 guidelines within the available database. The methodology of this chapter aims to conduct a conceptual energy consumption analysis using Autodesk Green Building Studio, a plug-in that allows designers to perform building performance simulations in a cloud-based service to optimize energy efficiency, testing different possibilities for the construction. Besides, this work uses the advantages of Autodesk Revit software to assess the impact of natural daylight analysis using LEED daylight plug-in. The results show that BIM–LCA integration is considered as an optimistic course in terms of sustainable development and decision-making process in the construction sector. Furthermore, it encourages reviewing some critical factors, such as building orientation, HVAC systems and the construction of external walls and roofs in the construction projects at an early stage of design in order to increase energy efficiency and capture natural daylight in buildings.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0006
Public–private partnership (PPP) model of procurement has been employed extensively and promoted internationally. However, their performance and their real capacity to achieve public welfare have been questioned. To address this criticism, there is no specific method to assess the impact of PPP projects after its operation phase; an ex post impact evaluation tool needs to be designed. The aim of the research is to develop an ex post evaluation procedure that can address the complexities of PPPs, namely (1) large size and technically complex projects, (2) multiple perceptions of the impacts, (3) vague and uncertain understanding of “public interest”, (4) long time horizon for the evaluation, which in some cases is more than 20 years, and (5) political and ideological drivers that are relevant and difficult to address. A Design Science approach is adopted with four stages. Currently, the research is in its first stage, in which a conceptual framework called Project Success Evaluation Pyramid Model (PSEPM) has been designed and presented to experts. This chapter describes this model and the theory that supports it. The research contributes to the project management and public policy body of knowledge and, consequently, to practice by (1) improving future PPP developments and (2) providing a basis for discussion about the use of PPPs.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0007
A major contributing factor to the inefficiency in the construction industry is the adversarial relationships that exist within the industry. The strategic importance of relationship style contracting is hence getting recognized. Both public and private sector clients are stipulating more integrated and collaborative forms of procurement. The avoidance of traditional business-as-usual thinking and effective participation in relationship development have the potential to significantly enhance project outcomes. This chapter is limited to non-contractual agreement and behaviours, which are not defined in the contractual documents. Because contracting parties can practice to a different extent according to their will, non-contractual agreements and behaviours can better demonstrate the shared perceptions regarding practices that affect relationships in construction projects. This chapter adopts the concept of psychological contract (PC), which is defined as “individual beliefs in reciprocal obligations between employees and employers” and, refers to unwritten agreements and behaviours between a construction firm and its upstream or downstream procurement partners. This paper aims to investigate the impacts of contracting parties’ relationships arising from PC in two distinct procurement systems, including the upgrading project of Beijing Subway Lines 1 and 2 and the improvement project of Fuk Man Road Nullah in Sai Kung, Hong Kong. The Beijing project was procured traditionally while the Hong Kong project adopted the Engineering and Construction Contract (ECC) Option C of New Engineering Contract (i.e. a collaborative contracting approach). Regardless of the procurement methods, findings suggest PCs are present in construction delivery teams.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0008
One of the several reasons that lead to global warming appears to be the large contributions of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. International researchers are trying to simulate life-cycle GHG emissions and cost by using a variety of building optimization models. A simple automated model which can be run in a friendly and popular software such as Microsoft Excel is needed in the industry.
This chapter presents a comprehensive energy consumption-optimization model, analyzing different types of buildings, which comply with the energy-efficiency requirements of the National Construction Building Code of Australia. This model has been developed in Microsoft Excel and Visual Basic in order to determine GHG emissions associated with energy usage in building operations for 50 years of building life as well as energy costs. In conjunction with this, one of the five points in the GHG emission reduction Credit 15A of Green Star Design & As Built rating system assesses project sustainability at all life-cycle stages by selecting 13 roof types, 16 wall types and 3 floor types according to Australia and New Zealand’s Insulation Handbook, Part I: Thermal Performance. By considering eight climate zones in Australia, developers and designers may use this model to choose the optimum building types with the highest total R-value including roof, wall and floor for their design.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0009
The aim of this chapter is to assess the feasibility of acquiring the Brazilian sustainability guide tool named “Selo Casa Azul Environmental Certification — CEF (Brazilian Federal Bank)” by the condominium Neo (Rio de Janeiro, Niterói). It is important to consider the impact of human activities in the environment on the construction industry. The Casa Azul Seal is the first classification system of sustainability of projects developed based on the characteristics of the Brazilian constructions. The sustainability guide proposes solutions appropriate to the local reality, so as to improve the use of natural resources and social benefits. The main mission of the seal is to recognize projects that adopt efficient solutions in the construction, use, occupation and maintenance of the buildings. There are 53 evaluation criteria, which are divided into six categories: urban quality, design and comfort, energy efficiency, material resource conservation, water management and social practices. The construction industry and even the built environment generally have a dominant impact on the economic, social and environmental aspects. Concerns regarding environmental issues are increasing worldwide and it is necessary to investigate new environment-friendly alternatives for the construction industry. The methodology used for the development of this chapter consists of a literature review and case study to validate the theoretical data available in the current technical literature. The literature review was through scientific articles and national and international publications, and the case study was conducted in a multi-dwelling building condominium in the city of Niterói (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). It was verified that the building would be eligible for a possible acquisition of the Casa Azul in the silver-level grading if it met the mandatory criteria 5.1 (individualized water measurement), 6.1 (education for construction and demolition waste (CDW) management) and 6.2 (environmental education of employees). However, this condominium did not meet these mandatory requirements. The mandatory criteria are indispensable to promote water savings, reuse and final disposal of CDW. Additionally, these motivate construction professionals to embrace environmental management and education causes.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0010
The construction industry is one of the main contributors towards climate change. Therefore, green buildings have become a requirement and are no longer a luxury. With the development of green buildings, there are many assessment tools and rating tools developed for evaluating the performance of different criteria of green buildings. Certain tools evaluate one criterion such as water efficiency or energy efficiency of green buildings. Similarly, other tools evaluate some criteria, finally providing a star rating for the overall performance. There are also tools used to evaluate different options used for green buildings as well. In Australia, many green building rating tools evaluate the performance of green buildings falling into these categories. Therefore, this chapter aims to review the various green rating tools and incentives in Australia. There are different uses of various green building rating tools, and the state governments in Australia support certain tools such as building sustainability index (BASIX) and nationwide house energy rating scheme (NatHERS). However, these green building rating tools focus on different criteria. Apart from that, there are various green incentive schemes as well. After a thorough review of the current status of the green building rating tools in Australia, this chapter recommends developing government policies and regulations for promoting green buildings, government mandates on green building implementation, incentives to green building development, green building rating tools considering all criteria and including cost considerations for green building development in Australia.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0011
Since the beginning of the 20th century, modernism introduced to the world an architectural composite that consists of concrete, steel and glass. Heading into the 21st century, the use of these three materials has only expanded as they continue to be the most economically efficient means of construction. While digital technology in design and construction continues to evolve, the materials with which we construct architecture has remained the same. Given the rapid growth of the human population, new and more sustainable approaches to construction methodologies and materials need to be explored and utilized.
This chapter will demonstrate the potential of freeform 3D printing or additive manufacturing (AM) as a sustainable and efficient alternative building method. It outlines contemporary digital design techniques including computation and simulation tools as a means to define and test this proposed building method including structural optimization tools to create the most structurally efficient form of AM. The computational methods described are then applied to a manufacturing process that includes a 6-axis robotic arm. The final result is a building methodology that supports a computational workflow from design conception to manufacture.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0012
Today’s designers are inundated with a plethora of CAD/CAM software capable of meeting a variety of needs within the design process. In academia, it is commonplace for students to learn as many as 10 different software applications in order to develop their designs from conceptualization to digital model and, ultimately, to the production of a material output. With each shift from one application to another, the risk exists for valuable information to be lost in order to suit the limitations of the chosen software.
Emergent innovations in digital design tools are compressing the design workflow and allowing for greater flexibility and variability. Within the scope of these software options, parametric design tools have garnished increased validity and applicability across various disciplines of design: they afford the benefit of adaptability within the design process as well as highly customizable outcomes. Despite their recognized value, these tools remain secondary to their established counterparts. Designers are required to side-step through an inefficient series of procedures as they translate data between programs. In order to generate design outputs in a truly efficient manner, design practice (and, subsequently, design education) must capitalize on the potential of parametric software that supports a streamlined flow from design conception to production.
Through a case study, this chapter will explore how such a system was applied from design conceptualization to fabrication of a bespoke furniture object — the Earthquake Bench. The Earthquake Bench project utilizes a “simplified” digital workflow in which the entire process, from design to fabrication, was parametrically programmed and remained intact until the file was sent to the manufacturer, thus ensuring that all changes were consistently updated throughout the process. The case study identifies the shortcomings and benefits achieved from this process, as well as how this proposed system may begin to reshape design practice and education.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0013
It remains a global challenge to complete construction projects predictably within the constraints of time, cost and quality. The Building Information Modelling (BIM) revolution has brought with it many interesting aspects in terms of changes in business processes and project practices in the construction sector. Construction firms play a crucial role in the delivery of projects; however, research shows that BIM adoption by construction organizations is still in its early stages in South Africa. Literature has shown that the South African Built Environment has not taken advantage of the BIM movement. This chapter examines the drivers and barriers to the adoption of BIM by construction companies and whether BIM capability is a key driver of BIM adoption. The study adopts a comprehensive literature review approach in achieving the study objectives. The study found through literature that the key drivers and barriers to BIM adoption include organizational readiness and client request. The study aims to develop an assessment tool for BIM capabilities within construction organizations. Further empirical studies will be required to confirm this finding that the higher the grade of a construction company on the CIDB register of companies, the higher the level of its organizational readiness to implement and adopt BIM.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0014
South Africa is a vast country, and there are significant variations in building material prices across the country. This chapter will use Geographic Information System (GIS) technology in explaining the role of distance in the differentiation in building material prices in South Africa. The research employs a quantitative research approach based on a cross-sectional survey research design and GIS technology in analyzing the data collected from each location. It emerged from the study that when distributed by provinces, the relationship between price and distance varies between inverse and direct. For example, while the price of clay bricks increases with distance in the Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces of South Africa, it decreases in the distance from the manufacturers in Western Cape province. The same ambivalent relationships are observed between timber, steel, bitumen, cement prices and distance. Based on these findings, the study concludes that the distance of a building material manufacturer from the retailer is not a predictor of price in the Western Cape province of South Africa, while the most uniform relationship is found in KwaZulu-Natal province. Further studies are therefore required to explain the other extraneous factors responsible for the irreconcilable retail prices of building materials in the Western Cape province when compared to other locations in South Africa.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0015
Non-digital information handover for facilities management (FM) could be quite a challenge when evaluating the quality of information in terms of its usefulness and relevance for building operations. Manually searching for errors in large datasets is inefficient, which leads to difficulties in the course of maintenance and operation tasks. Traditional FM systems, computer-aided FM (CAFM), and computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) are all capable of digitizing information. However, the handover remains in paper format, which requires the mundane and inefficient practice of re-creating information for use in FM systems. Using the emerging open building information modelling (BIM) standards during the operational stage to resolve this problem is currently being considered, and in this context, the extent of how open BIM standards can support facility management systems is being studied. As part of an ongoing effort, a desk-based research is used as the main method of investigation to achieve the aim of this study. Findings suggest that open BIM standards, such as COBie and IFC, should be utilized to streamline information and be integrated with FM systems.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0016
The current methods of sourcing materials deplete environmental natural resources, causes climate change, carbon emission and poses health risks to human. The objective of this chapter is to investigate the benefits and challenges of alternative building materials (ABM) in the construction industry. The survey research design was adopted for the study which is quantitative in nature. The study was conducted in Gauteng province of South Africa due to its peculiarity among other provinces. Fifty (50) questionnaires were retrieved out the 98 that were distributed through the convenience sampling technique. The findings of the study revealed that professionals are neutral about the benefits of ABM to the construction industry. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) confirmed that there is no significant difference in the responses of professionals on the benefits of ABM to the construction industry. Moreover, the study indicates that all the challenges investigated in the study were barriers to the adoption of ABM except low profit margin and poor environmental friendliness. The result of ANOVA indicates that there is no significant difference in the responses of professionals on the challenges hindering the adoption of ABM. The chapter concludes that stakeholders are not convinced of the benefits of adopting ABM and this may contribute to its reluctant adoption for construction projects. The chapter also concludes that there are many challenges posing threat to the adoption of ABM in the South African construction industry. The chapter recommends that adequate awareness should be done by professional organizations on the benefits of adopting ABM. Government should also enact strict policies towards adopting ABM for construction purposes. Furthermore, government and professional organizations need to devise ways of overcoming the challenges of ABM identified in this study so that housing backlogs can be substantially improved and the living standards of citizens can be raised.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0017
In the midst of rising concerns regarding climate change and global warming, the current construction management practices are not sufficiently considering the on-site greenhouse-gases (GHGs) including carbon emissions produced during the construction phase, and are limited in utilizing the building information modelling (BIM) techniques and keeping up with the latter’s fast growing implementation in the construction industry. This chapter proposes a BIM-based framework capable of developing and exploiting a 6D BIM Model for pre-construction management, planning and control of the construction phase on-site carbon emissions to support decision makers identify the construction phase’s necessary corrective actions and best practices before the phase commences. A case study is conducted for a hypothetical BIM-based construction project to validate the proposed framework. The results demonstrated that BIM can be utilized as a powerful means to assist in early holistic planning and strategic decision-making involving the construction phase key dimensions including time, cost and on-site carbon emissions. The core contribution made by this research is the facilitation for sustainability champions and others concerned with the environmental impacts of the project’s construction phase to be involved within the project’s BIM environment and processes, while on the other hand, enable as well those already involved with BIM to include the environmental targets and benchmarks within the project’s BIM processes and collaborative common data environment, while keeping an eye and maintaining a holistic view over the other major two dimensions of the project: time and cost.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0018
One of the main aspects that has to be carefully accounted and controlled in sustainable buildings is energy use, which is directly related to greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. During a building life cycle, the operation is the most energy intensive stage due to the presence of technical systems, equipment, occupants, etc. In green buildings (GB), design teams predict the expected energy performance of a building at the design stage, by means of a building energy simulation model, and study the most sustainable solutions in order to minimize the use of energy before the construction process occurs, so as to reduce the impacts that the operation stage will have in the environment. Meanwhile, researchers by comparing real energy performance results with the predicted ones have identified significant differences between them. These differences can be related to low maintenance, inefficiencies and occupants. Nevertheless, the way occupants behave in terms of energy use is the most impacting factor to the performance of a building (Norford et al., 1994). Therefore, this chapter presents the influence occupants have in the energy use of a building using a simulation model that analyzes occupant interaction with different building systems, having as baseline the Australian National Construction Building Code (ABCB, 2016) requirements for office buildings. The model has been developed using the simulation tools DesignBuilder and EnergyPlus in order to determine the annual energy performance of a typical Australian office building in Sydney and consequent GHG emissions. By varying certain parameters it is possible to estimate the impact occupants will have in the energy use of a building as a whole and which system will be most affected by their action.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0019
The integration of building information modelling (BIM) and geographic information system (GIS) has been studied for a long period of time by researchers from both domains. The foundation of the integration is the interoperability of the data, which means the BIM data has to have a right reference system, allowing it to be read correctly by GIS software applications. 3D models from the BIM world may not be correctly georeferenced, which impairs the data interoperability. Instead of rebuilding models from scratch, which is time- and labour-consuming, this paper proposes a more efficient, economical, two-step alternative mainly based on Affine transformation. In the first step, the modification is made against the x- and y-coordinates. A number of control points would be selected to form displacement links. Based on these, the transformation parameters would be calculated, and the 2D footprint of the model would be rectified by Affine transformation. Then, the z-value (height information) of each vertex in the model would be adjusted using the scaling factor f. This method could obtain a 3D model without a geographical coordinate system correctly geo-referenced, and thus, it could be further read by GIS applications, consuming the vast spatial analysis tools supported by the GIS world, achieving more than just visualization. The key to the success of this study is creating an accurate right footprint of the model and selecting appropriate control points to guarantee the accuracy of transformation. By far, this approach has only been tested with a bridge model, its performance on other building models needs to be further studied.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0020
Attaining the goal of sustainability in the construction industry is a demanding task due to the complexities and challenges that come with it. A concise and environmental-friendly approach is imperative to mitigate these challenges. Consulting and learning from the forms, processes and strategies of life’s genius (nature) offer a rich source of inspirational learning strategies that lead to sustainable outcomes. The purpose of the study was to explore biomimetic approaches to solving Innovative Production and Construction sustainability issues in the construction industry. The study is conducted with reference to the existing literature, published and unpublished research studies. An extant review of the literature on biomimicry and its strategies for innovative sustainable solutions were adopted. The findings from the survey revealed problem-based and solution-based biomimicry approach for proffering sustainable solutions to human challenges. This calls for a holistic adoption and multi-disciplinary collaboration in maximizing the sustainable solutions and innovative ideas offered by the adoption and application of biomimicry.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0021
Building information modelling (BIM) is radically changing the face of construction project management. BIM adoption is significant in alleviating the attendant problems of poor detailing, communication and coordination because of its inherent integrative technology. Several BIM training initiatives have occurred within the construction industry in New Zealand, but the knowledge base on the success of these training initiatives is at its infancy. Furthermore, there is a dearth of research on how acquired knowledge and skills in BIM implementation have been transferred to other end users post training. This chapter seeks to understand BIM knowledge transfer mechanisms among AEC members. The chapter proposes a model of the enablers of BIM knowledge transfer and effective utilization of skills and knowledge in a BIM environment, and presents the psychometric analysis of the research instrument in this exploratory phase of the study.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0022
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained increasing attention among academics and practitioners in the construction industry. To evaluate CSR practices in the Australian context, 20 CSR reports provided by leading construction companies on their public websites are selected for content analysis. The findings reveal that CSR reporting is normally incorporated in published documents such as annual reports, sustainability reports and corporate responsibility and sustainability (CR&S) reports, with annual reports being the most frequently used ones. The analysis shows that CSR practices of these leading construction companies cover the themes of corporate governance, environment management and healthy working environment (HWE). A total of 28 CSR practices relating to each category were identified, among which the ethics and moral values within company structure, community development and employment opportunities and OHS training and engagement are the most frequently adopted by the sample companies. The findings of content analysis provide insight as to how Australian top construction companies conducted CSR reporting and provide recommendations for the improvement.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0023
Due to the advantages of the centralized procurement of materials in the AEC industry, the number of emerging logistics enterprises has been on a rise in recent years in China. According to the manner of payments in construction projects, such logistics enterprises play the role of purchasing the construction materials for projects under construction by advancing funds. However, redundant processes in construction logistics enterprises result in massive funds being piled up and lower efficiency, which usually weakens the advantages of the centralized procurement. Therefore, this chapter presents a case study on the process improvement to identify the appropriate method to eliminate the valueless process in centralized procurement and improve the productivity in the construction logistics enterprise. Six Sigma is an advanced self-control process that aims to produce or deliver near-perfect products and services, which is implemented in this chapter by integrating DMAIC approach and flow chart. Taking account of the distinct properties between the AEC industry and the manufacturing industry, this chapter first constructs the configuration of construction logistics under centralized procurement, which facilitates the process differently from that existing in most previous researches. The current process in a construction logistics enterprise is represented in the flow chart format. Then according to the flow chart in practice, the process improvement is achieved by using DMAIC approach containing five basic steps. Finally, a case study is used to verify the performance of the improved process by comparing it with the existing process. The entire process time and the actual work time have been reduced by 52% and 53%, respectively, in this case.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0024
Mammoth-scale Greenfield deepwater projects with specialized and novel technologies demand cross-border subject matter experts and leaders to deliver the Triple Constraint. Cross-border project leaders must be able to explicitly accommodate the environments at different geographical locations. Factually, cultural barriers in the context of language, religion, values and so on cause cultural split and schizophrenic divide among individuals, which escalates even greater when two or more cultures have a slight acquaintance with each other and had proven to significantly expose respective organization to business and reputation risk. Cultural intelligence (CQ) at the organizational level constitutes the organization’s capacity to reconfigure its capability to function and manage effectively in culturally diverse environments and to sustain and gain its competitive advantages. So far, studies on CQ are limited to non-deepwater oil and gas megaprojects, non-Malaysians and cover studies from different clusters of personnel in organizations. Explicit study on CQ with respect to deepwater oil and gas project peformances in Malaysia is needed and will be inculcated in this chapter. This study embraces four underpinning leadership theories with aims to establish the importance of CQ as cross-border leadership enablers to enhance the performance of deepwater oil and gas megaprojects in Malaysia. This qualitative case study exploratory research will facilitate an inductive approach and may lead to a unique, contextual attestation of CQ as key enablers in cross-border project leadership to enhance the performance of future deepwater oil and gas megaprojects. Data will be thematically analyzed from interviews conducted with selected project leaders and team leaders with a minimum of five years distinct deepwater megaprojects experience. An initial conceptual framework was developed with the objective of progressive refinement along the study phases. The final framework will be useful as a strategic tool to tackle the softskills challenges that frequently appear in megaprojects and is envisaged to continuously improve the future cross-border project manning strategy in international oil and gas organization, thus potentially mitigating the prospective destruction of shareholder wealth and enterprise reputation.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0025
Facility managers usually conduct reactive maintenance or preventive maintenance plans according to the condition of building components. However, reactive maintenance cannot prevent the failure of a component while preventive maintenance cannot predict the failure in advance, which leads to inefficient maintenance. Building information modelling (BIM) and internet of things (IoT) provide new opportunities to improve the efficiency of facility maintenance management. Even though significant efforts have been made on BIM and IoT applications in the architecture, engineering and construction/facility management (AEC/FM) industry, the exploration of BIM and IoT integration for FM is still at an initial stage. This chapter develops a BIM- and IoT-based data-driven predictive maintenance framework for facility management, which consists of the following four modules: condition monitoring and fault diagnosis module, condition assessment module, condition prediction module and maintenance rescheduling module. In this process, real-time data collected from IoT sensor network and historical maintenance records from FM system are used for condition prediction. Furthermore, two machine learning methods, namely support vector machine (SVM) and artificial neural network (ANN), are applied to predict the condition of critical equipment in the illustrative example to validate the feasibility of this framework.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0026
Together with many social and economic benefits of urbanization, there are also environmental problems. Cities comprise less than 3% of Earth’s surface, but there is an extraordinary concentration of population, industry and energy use, leading to a massive local pollution and environmental degradation. Green neighbourhood has emerged to respond to these urban environmental problems. Green neighbourhood is broadly defined as being moderately dense, mixeduse, designed at a human scale, active and public transportation oriented and literally “green”. A green neighbourhood assessment system is a tool that evaluates sustainability performance of a given neighbourhood against a set of criteria. This chapter evaluates 20 major international green neighbourhood assessment systems according to their particular features. Regarding regional distribution of the systems around the world, the initiative of green neighbourhood assessment system was first started in United Kingdom and European Union in 2000 and 2004, respectively and this trend reached to United States in 2005. Meanwhile, LEED (ND) with 184 certificates/projects is the main well-known system in the world followed by Envirodevelopment in Australia and SPeAR in the United Kingdom with 100 certificates/projects each. Future research can be conducted on the implementation of several green neighbourhood assessment systems on actual projects and compare their capabilities in measuring the rate of greening.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0027
Most of the information technologies in different sectors including construction and property management businesses have failed. Previous studies intended to identify a variety of factors influencing the technology adoption (TA) process, while the dynamics that govern the adoption of information technologies in real-estate business over time were ignored. This chapter aims to present a system dynamic (SD) model for TA in the real-estate domain using critical factors and clusters of real-estate websites including system quality, information quality, service quality and perceived ease of use. The model comprises key groups’ perceived usefulness, user satisfaction and behavioural intention to use (BIU) a website. In addition, three quality components including system, information and service quality are included in the model. A total of 50 variables were identified and will be used for examining the model in different contexts. The model was developed based on an intensive literature review in two main domains: real-estate management and information systems or websites. The resulted model of this ongoing study will be examined in different contexts in future.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0028
As maintenance of buildings and facilities is one of the key tasks in improving the sustainability of buildings, the design for maintainability (DfM) has recently become one of the hot issues due to the complexity associated with maintaining buildings and facilities. While the body of knowledge on DfM has started increasing, there is a lack of the systematic and comprehensive review on DfM-related issues. Thus, this chapter aims to conduct a comprehensive review, from the managerial and technical perspectives, in the relevant research areas. The findings from the managerial perspective were mainly: (1) maintainability implementation status and significant barriers and (2) critical management factors affecting DfM. Furthermore, the findings from the technical perspective involved (1) identification of maintainability considerations and criteria, (2) critical building components, (3) maintainability scoring systems, and (4) innovations and technical advancement to achieve DfM. This study also analyzed the state of the art and trends in DfM research and proposed future research directions. The findings from this study offer preliminary results of the critical review and will serve as a platform for both researchers and practitioners to retrieve the latest developments and trends in DfM.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0029
As the space constraint in metropolises has continuously been an issue in many countries, a new idea of constructing underground facilities including residential buildings has recently emerged and attracted considerable attention from authorities. Under the circumstance, this study aims to investigate the possible advantages and disadvantages of underground residential buildings and to identify the critical risks in projects. To achieve the goals, a comprehensive literature review and pilot interviews were conducted, followed by an empirical questionnaire survey administered to 30 Singapore-based construction companies. The analysis results showed that “space saving” was the most significant advantage of underground residential buildings and “limited access to natural light” was the most severe disadvantage. Additionally, this study disclosed and discussed the top five critical risks of underground residential building projects, including “labour restrictions”, “cost overruns”, “local contractors’ competence in underground construction”, “material restrictions” and “economic fluctuations”. This study has contributed to the body of knowledge by examining the advantages, disadvantages and critical risks in underground residential building projects innovatively. The findings from this study can also be informative to relevant project stakeholders and policymakers by enhancing their understanding of underground space utilization, which will facilitate their decision-making procedures accordingly.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0030
Safe, efficient and user-friendly transportation of people and goods is the premier concern for highway agencies due to a growing tendency in urbanization, especially in developing countries such as Pakistan. This study presents economic-efficiency analysis of a proposed project, i.e. Rawalpindi Bypass, and an existing roadway structure in Pakistan. Considering the highway agency as well as road users, this study determines the transportation demand estimation (TDE), project cost and various savings such as travel time (TT), safety and vehicle operating cost (VOC). As the transportation decision-making (TDM) process usually involves the evaluation of an alternative decision with respect to a base-case DO-NOTHING Scenario, this study considers the existing roadway structure with no improvements as a DO-NOTHING Scenario, whereas the proposed bypass with two lanes in each direction is considered as an alternative. Economic-efficiency analysis is then carried out, for decision-making based on the monetary as well as non-monetary dimensions, using net present value (NPV) and benefit cost ratio (BCR) techniques. The study concludes that the proposed bypass is a viable alternative as compared to the existing roadway. The study’s methodology and findings are expected to help the highway agencies and concerned stakeholders to conduct efficient TDM.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0031
As the subsystem of a Smart City (SC), Smart Industrial Parks (SIP) not only improve industry-clustering ability and enhance economic strength but also facilitate social sustainable development. Although SIP construction has gained popularity globally, there are still various problems and flaws in their development and implementation. This chapter presents a case study of the Shanghai Qiantan SIP and proposes a framework and implementation plan for an operation and maintenance (O&M) management system based on building information modelling (BIM). This comprises six layers (i.e. portal layer, application layer, platform layer, data layer, model layer and facility layer) to attain SIP requirements and functions. The steps in O&M system development comprise demand research, plan implementation and BIM model building. The case study helps to develop a strategic view of SIP technology, particularly on how to expand the case database for the reference of future research.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0032
In the process of internationalization of construction enterprises, the international enterprises need to consider whether part of the contract should be subcontracted to the local enterprises to gain a competitive advantage in the international contractor market; thus, forming a decentralized project subcontracting structure. Assuming that the local subcontracting market has a monopoly characteristic, the owner has a quality perception difference for the products provided by different enterprises, and the spillover effect will occur in the cooperation of sub-contracting. The Hotelling model is used to study the impact of the sub-contracting strategy on international enterprises and the whole market. The results show that local enterprises choose to subcontract to reduce the cost, and can always improve their profit level, intensify market competition, squeeze the market share of international contractors and reduce their profits; international enterprises in the local market need to balance the cost reduction caused by the subcontracting and the negative effect of the quality level brought by the counterparty through sub-contracting, the differentiated competition equilibrium results appear in this model.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0033
Currently, China’s traditional steel manufacturing technology and equipment cannot meet the requirements of the project quality and manufacturing progress of the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge (HZMB). Further challenges are faced by foreign steel manufacturing (i.e. high costs, long cycles and human sea tactics are not suitable for the engineering reality of the HZMB). As a result of these challenges, the steel box girder of the HZMB has achieved an optimal allocation of resources through technological innovation and management as a complete collaborative innovation system. This has improved the management ability to handle complex problems through the formation of a steel box girder, which has formed a typical case with regard to management systems. This chapter performs a complete case analysis and theoretical analysis regarding the HZMB steel box girder manufacturing technological management system from four aspects: background and countermeasures, technologically managed comprehensive system design, the strategic position and responsibilities of the owner, and the effect of the implementation of these aspects. This has provided China’s major infrastructure construction and management system with a valuable case of system management and experience, enriching innovation with regard to management ideas and theories concerning the complexity of major engineering projects based on China’s reality.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0034
As an effective modelling method for large-scale systems of high complexities, the system dynamics (SD), mainly based on feedback structures, has been increasingly used in the construction management research. However, a systematic review of this area is unavailable until date. This chapter presents a systematic analysis of 100 papers from 40 peer-reviewed journals. Useful data have been found in terms of years of publication, contribution by individuals and research institutions, citations of the selected papers and relevant research topics. These results are beneficial for future research of SD in the construction management field.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0035
Human error is the main root cause of shield tunnel construction (STC) accidents. Human error mitigation and reduction is an important aspect for STC safety management. Human error identification (HEI) is an effective technique in addressing this issue. Since the informatization and automation of construction have transformed workers’ manual-based behaviours into cognitive-based behaviours, this suggests a need for managing human error from a cognitive perspective. This chapter adopts and develops an HEI and analysis approach for safety improvements on the STC site. A cognitive-based HEI framework was developed and implemented for shield machine operation task by integrating the various data resources from the shield machine operation handbook, interviews with the subject matter experts and STC accident reports. Firstly, the shield machine operation task was decomposed into over 100 task steps through the use of hierarchical task analysis (HTA) method. Secondly, the operator activities were identified to describe the task step, and five behaviour modes that summarize the main types of the operator’s task behaviours were obtained. Finally, when combined with the information, decision and action (IDA) cognitive model and current HEI researches, each operator activity was associated with the specific cognitive phases, and the corresponding operator failure modes were proposed. In this research, 45 shield operation accident cases are reviewed under the proposed HEI framework. The major human error issues in the shield machine operation task were explored through a retrospective analysis of these accident cases. This research provides insights into effective cognitive strategies to support the mitigation and reduction of human errors. This can further provide decision support on the improvement of construction safety performance in other construction projects.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0036
The planning and decision-making in the phase of initial a mega construction project is led by government in general, which is related to the national economic development, scientific and technological development and the guarantee of people’s livelihood. With a gradual increase in the number and scale of mega construction in China, scientificity and democracy in the decision-making process are both improved remarkably. However, there exist agent crisis and dissimilation of public power, including opportunism behaviours. In this chapter, more than 30 field investigations have been conducted on the long-span bridges across seas, rivers and gorges in China in accordance with the complexity and uncertainty of mega construction decision-making. A conceptual model of hierarchical principal–agent in mega construction decision-making has been established, which mainly focuses on the two core subjects, that is, superior and subordinate governments in the model. It analyzes adverse selection and moral hazard behaviours under the principal–agent relationship of the subordinate government in order to motivate agent behaviours and avoid issues related to the traditional management.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0037
Building maintenance is considered as an invaluable process in preserving buildings’ continual use and retaining their value and quality. The fast development of building maintenance industry has resulted in the participation of governments in its practices. Learning from their practices can benefit building maintenance stakeholders significantly. However, there is still a lack of systematic review of the current building maintenance practices of governments for the purpose of organizational learning. The study aims to address this research gap by delivering a review of building maintenance practices in developed economics. The research benefits building maintenance stakeholders by delivering them knowledge regarding governments’ maintenance practices in the industry.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_0038
Engineering project consists of full life-cycle construction and business activities. Many stakeholders will collaborate together throughout the process. Information sharing and knowledge integration are the key drivers for the stakeholders to cooperate in the activities. It is worth conducting an in-depth study on how to effectively control the information and knowledge between different subjects in the project, with the aim to realize knowledge innovation and improved project performance. Therefore, the chapter aims to develop a process model of information sharing and knowledge integration between different organizations based on analyses of the theoretical environment. It would then discuss the influence path of information sharing, knowledge sharing and integration on the project performance in order to provide advice on cross-organizational knowledge integration and innovation for project managers.
https://doi.org/10.1142/9789813272491_bmatter
The following section is included: