Search results for: major construction

Authors: Mokhtar Nikgoo

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Road definition and road construction: in engineering literature, a road is defined as a means of communication between two different places by air, land, and sea. In this way, all sea, land, and air routes are considered as roads. Road construction is an operation to create a road on the ground between 2 points with a specified width, which includes works such as subgrade, paving, placing tables, and traffic signs on the road. In this article, the stages of road construction are explained from the beginning to the end. Road construction is generally done in the construction of rural, urban, and inter-city roads, and according to the special conditions of this area, the precision of engineers in its design and calculations is very important. For example, if the design of a road does not pay enough attention to the way the road curves, there will undoubtedly be countless accidents. Also, adjusting the road surface and its durability and uniformity are among the things that engineers solve according to the upcoming obstacles.

Keywords: road construction, surveying, freeway, pavement, excavator

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Authors: Robin Becker, Nane Roetmann, Manfred Helmus

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Construction companies lack junior staff for construction management. According to a nationwide survey of students, however, the profession lacks attractiveness. The conflict between the traditional job profile and the current desires of junior staff for contemporary and flexible working models must be resolved. Increasing flexibility is essential for the future viability of small and medium-sized enterprises. The implementation of modern work modules can help here. The following report will present the validation results of the developed work modules in construction practice.

Keywords: modern construction management, construction industry, work modules, shortage of junior staff, sustainable personnel management, making construction management more attractive, working time model

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Authors: Jolanta Tamošaitienė

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The article focuses on a developed comprehensive model to be used in an agile environment for the risk assessment and selection based on multi-attribute methods. The model is based on a multi-attribute evaluation of risk in construction, and the determination of their optimality criterion values are calculated using complex Multiple Criteria Decision-Making methods. The model may be further applied to risk assessment in an agile construction environment. The attributes of risk in a construction project are selected by applying the risk assessment condition to the construction sector, and the construction process efficiency in the construction industry accounts for the agile environment. The paper presents the comprehensive risk assessment model in an agile construction environment. It provides a background and a description of the proposed model and the developed analysis of the comprehensive risk assessment model in an agile construction environment with the criteria.

Keywords: assessment, environment, agile, model, risk

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Authors: Thandokazi Nyangiwe, Christopher Amoah, Charles P. Mukumba

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The South African construction sector is threatened by emerging black business forums called construction mafias. The emergence of the construction mafia has culminated in the disruptions and abandonment of construction sites resulting in the loss of jobs for construction workers. The paper examines the origin of construction mafias and their impact on the construction sector, including the potential ways to cope with their operations. A qualitative research approach was adopted for this study using open-ended interview questions to gather information from 30 key construction industry stakeholders, including contractors, subcontractors, consultants, and the construction project communities. Content and thematic analysis were used to analyse the data collected. The findings suggest that most participants do not fully understand the existence and operations of construction mafias in the construction industry. Construction mafias claim to be part of the local business forums. They disrupt construction projects and demand a certain amount, usually 30% of the construction value. Construction mafias frequently resort to intimidation and violence if their demands are unmet. Their operations have resulted in delayed completion of construction projects, abandonment of projects, and loss of income for the contractor and jobs for the construction workers. The interviews were limited to construction stakeholders. Because of the nature of the mafias’ operations, they could not be accessed for interviews for fear of being identified because of the connotation attached to their role as construction mafias. Construction project owners face disruptions of projects resulting in loss of equipment, materials, and income. Therefore, there is a need to sensitise the construction stakeholders in the construction industry regarding the existence and operations of the construction mafia and the implications on construction project performance and delivery. The findings will give insight into the operations of the construction mafias in the South African construction industry, which has caused disruptions in construction project sites. Stakeholders must find solutions to address the construction mafias’ disruptive actions on construction projects. The study presents an initial inquiry that will come up with how to manage and cope with the growing operations of construction mafias in the South African construction industry.

Keywords: black business forums, construction mafia, emergence, implication

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Authors: H. Hakim, C. Kibert, C. Fabre, S. Monadizadeh

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Construction industry is an industry saddled with chronic problems of high waste generation. Waste management that is to ensure materials are utilized in an efficient manner would make a major contribution to mitigating the negative environmental impacts of construction waste including finite resources depletion and growing occupied landfill areas to name a few. Furthermore, ‘material resource efficiency’ has been found an economically smart approach specially when considered during the design phase. One effective strategy is to utilizing off-site construction process which includes a series of prefabricated systems such as mobile, modular, and HUD construction (Department of Housing and Urban Development manufactured buildings). These types of buildings are by nature material and resource-efficient. Despite conventional construction that is exposed to adverse weather conditions, manufactured construction production line is capable of creating repetitive units in a factory controlled environment. A factory can have several parallel projects underway with a high speed and in a timely manner which simplifies the storage of excess materials and re-allocating to the next projects. The literature reports that prefabricated construction significantly helps reduce errors, site theft, rework, and delayed problems and can ultimately lead to a considerable waste reduction. However, there is not sufficient data to quantify this reduction when it comes to a regular modular house in the U.S. Therefore, this manuscript aims to provide an analysis of waste originated from a manufactured factory trend. The analysis was made possible with several visits and data collection of Homes of Merits, a Florida Manufactured and Modular Homebuilder. The results quantify and verify a noticeable construction waste reduction.

Keywords: construction waste, modular construction, prefabricated buildings, waste management

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Authors: Mamita Panda

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Popular shows are considered to be powerful medium for bringing social change and development. It has the responsibility for not only entertaining, but spreading awareness among common mass which it results social intervention in the major social institutions. Gender construction in one of these social institutions where one can build their capacity to construct a better human society. Mass media in general, TV in particular has an important intervening factor in responding to these processes. The obligatory role of media not only through news but popular shows (serials) becomes compulsion for social formation including construction through gender. This paper attempts to map and examine the gendered contents from serials including viewer’s response to understand the level of influence. The regression analysis shows that socio-economic factors have wider influence on understanding of gender equality including TV popular contents. The social construction of gender through serials remains a serious debatable issue and concern thereafter.

Keywords: construction, empowerment, gender, media and women

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Authors: Muhammad Ejaz1

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Rework has been defined as: "The unnecessary effort of re-doing a process or activity that was incorrectly implemented the first time." A great threat to the construction industry is rework. By and large due attention has not been given to avoid the causes of reworks, resulting time and cost over runs, in civil engineering projects. Besides these direct consequences, there might also be indirect consequences, such as stress, de-motivation or loss of future clients. When delivered products do not meet the requirements or expectations, work often has to be redone. Rework occurs in various phases of the construction process or in various divisions of a company. Rework can occur on the construction site or in a management department due to for example bad materials management. Rework can also have internal or external origins. Changes in clients’ expectations are an example of an external factor that might lead to rework. Rework can cause many costs to be higher than calculated at the start of the project. Rework events can have many different origins and for this research they have been categorized into four categories; changes, errors, omissions, and damages. The research showed that the major source of reworks were non professional attitude from technical hands and ignorance of total quality management principals by stakeholders. It also revealed that sources of reworks have not major differences among project categories. The causes were further analyzed by interviewing employees. Based on existing literature an extensive list of rework causes was made and during the interviews the interviewees were asked to confirm or deny statements regarding rework causes. The causes that were most frequently confirmed can be grouped into the understanding categories. 56% (max) of the causes are change-related, 30% (max) is error-related and 18% (max) falls into another category. Therefore, by recognizing above mentioned factors, reworks can be reduced to a great extent.

Keywords: total quality management, construction industry, cost overruns, rework, material management, client’s expectations

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Authors: Khorief Ouissem, Sassi Boudmagh Souad, Mahimoud Aissa

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The health and safety problem in the construction companies has been a major subject of research in Algeria for many years. The latest statistics of the Algerian National Social Security Fund (CNAS) shows that a third of accidents recorded at the national level are originated from construction activities. It is becoming increasingly essential and urgent to investigate and address its causes in order to find measures to overcome the deficiencies in this area. Thus, this paper takes in investigating this problem through a study conducted in the city of Skikda, Algeria. The study was carried out through questionnaire where twenty construction companies were taking into consideration. First, the study identifies the regulations and the laws related to the health and safety in the construction sector in Algeria. Then it goes on to assess and evaluate the implementation of the identified regulations in the companies selected. The result of the assessment indicates that the majority of the construction companies considered do not meet the health and safety standards and regulations. To extract the main causes of the failure of the system to control this industry, the observations and the evaluation were analyzed using the 5M or Ichikawa diagram method. This method is based on identifying the causes of the problem in terms of purpose, the list of potential causes for families. These families often correspond to 5M (Labor, Material, Methods, Middle, and Management). Finally, having identified the primary motives, the present authors propose a list of actions to move towards a more controlled and effective health and safety system for the construction industry.

Keywords: health and safety, construction industry, performance measurement, Algeria

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Authors: Imtiaz Ali, Imam Mansoor

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Investigations as a part of the academic study were undertaken to identify and evaluate the significant risks associated with the construction of K-span buildings in the region of UAE. Primary field data was collected through questionnaires obtaining specific open and close-ended questions from carefully selected construction firms, civil engineers and, construction manager regarding risks associated to K-span building construction. Historical data available for other regions of the same construction technique was available which was compared for identifying various non-critical and critical risk parameters by comparative evaluation techniques to come up with important risks and potential sources for their control and minimization in K-Span buildings that is increasing in the region. The associated risks have been determined with their Relative Importance Index (RII) values of which Risk involved in Change of Design required by Owners carries the highest value (RII=0.79) whereas, Delayed Payment by Owner to Contractor is one of the least (RII=0.42) value. The overall findings suggest that most relative risks as quantified originate or associated with the contractors. It may be concluded that project proponents undertaking K-span projects in planning and budgeting the cost and delays should take into account of risks on high account if changes in design are also required any delays in the material by the supplier would then be a major risk in K-span project delay. Since projects are, less costly, so owners have limited budgets, then they hire small contractors, which are not highly competent contractors. So study suggests that owner should be aware of these types of risks associated with the construction of K-span buildings in order to make it cost effective.

Keywords: k-span buildings, k-span construction, risk management, relative improvement index (RII)

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Authors: Picha Sriprachan

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The increase in electricity prices affects the cost of high-rise building construction. The objectives of this research are to study the electrical cost, trend of electrical cost and to forecast electrical cost of high-rise building construction. The methods of this research are: 1) to study electrical payment formats, cost data collection methods, and the factors affecting electrical cost of high-rise building construction, 2) to study the quantity and trend of cumulative percentage of the electrical cost, and 3) to forecast the electrical cost for different types of high-rise buildings. The results of this research show that the average proportion between electrical cost and the value of the construction project is 0.87 percent. The proportion of electrical cost for residential, office and commercial, and hotel buildings are closely proportional. If construction project value increases, the proportion of electrical cost and the value of the construction project will decrease. However, there is a relationship between the amount of electrical cost and the value of the construction project. During the structural construction phase, the amount of electrical cost will increase and during structural and architectural construction phase, electrical cost will be maximum. The cumulative percentage of the electrical cost is related to the cumulative percentage of the high-rise building construction cost in the same direction. The amount of service space of the building, number of floors and the duration of the construction affect the electrical cost of construction. The electrical cost of construction forecasted by using linear regression equation is close to the electrical cost forecasted by using the proportion of electrical cost and value of the project.

Keywords: high-rise building construction, electrical cost, construction phase, architectural phase

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Authors: Musoke Ivan, Birungi Racheal

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The construction trend is characterized by increased use of modern methods yet traditional methods are cheaper in terms of costs, in addition to the benefits it offers to the construction sector, like providing more jobs that could have been worked with the intensive machines. The purpose of this research was to assess the influence of using Traditional methods of construction (TMC) on the costs and quality of building structures and determine the different ways. Traditional methods of construction (TMC) can be applicable and integrated into the construction trend, and propose ways how this can be a success. The study adopted a quantitative method approach targeting various construction professionals like Architects, Quantity surveyors, Engineers, and Construction Managers. Questionnaires and analyses of literature were used to obtain research data and findings. Simple random sampling was used to select 40 construction professionals to which questionnaires were administered. The data was then analyzed using Microsoft Excel. The findings of the research indicate that Traditional methods of construction (TMCs) in Uganda are cheaper in terms of costs, but the quality is still low. This is attributed to a lack of skilled labour and efficient supervision while undertaking tasks leading to low quality. The study identifies strategies that would improve Traditional methods of construction (TMC), which include the employment of skilled manpower and effective supervision. It also identifies the need by stakeholders like the government, clients, and professionals to appreciate Traditional methods of construction (TMCs) and allow for a levelled ground for Traditional Methods of Construction and Modern methods of construction (MMCs).

Keywords: traditional methods of construction, integration, cost, quality

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Authors: Tadewos Awugchew Wudineh

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Health and safety issues have always been a major problem and concern in the building construction industry. The health and safety regulations are stated to eliminate the potential hazards and to reduce the consequential risks. However, the importance of the regulations seems to be overlooked in building construction sites of Hawassa City. Accordingly, many companies don’t follow the regulations as construction workers are more likely to be injured and killed by construction accident than any other type of employment. This paper aimed to identify factors that affect the implementation of construction health and safety regulations, their effects and mitigation measures in building construction project sites of Hawassa City. To reach this objective, a review of literature as well as the Ethiopian construction health and safety regulations have been undertaken. Mainly a five-point Likert scale questionnaire was distributed, and statistical analysis was used to summarize, interpret the data, and to find the significances of the responses. In addition, interviews were carried out. Accordingly, the findings indicate that the top factors which affect the implementation of CHS regulations are, availability and development of a clear health and safety policy, health and safety inspections by top management, conducting health and safety training and orientation, provision of healthy and safe working environment and employment of trained safety officers. The study revealed that implementation or non-implementation of CHS regulations have effects on the worker’s productivity, job satisfaction, rate of accidents, and cost greatly. Thus, the suggestion to minimize the impact on worker’s job performance are, developing of a clear health and safety policy, management commitment towards implementation of health and safety regulations, health and safety education and training and conducting regular health and safety inspections. It was concluded from the study that good implementation of health and safety regulations are the results from administrative and management commitment which calls for more attention to be paid to improve the implementation of CHS regulations in building construction sites of Hawassa City.

Keywords: construction health and safety regulations, effects, factors, mitigation

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Authors: Jumin Zhao, Na Li, Dengao Li, Yujuan Yan

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As the rapid rise of the networking industry, the shortage of Internet of Things (IoT) talented people greatly stimulates the majority of colleges to speed up the pace of professional networking reform. Caused by the construction of the original specialty, many problems appear such as the vague specialty, the mixed theoretical, the poor practical ability and the different goal. To solve the issues above, we build a ‘theory-practice-theory-improvement’ four-step model of school-enterprise integration of personnel training. Besides, we integrate the advanced teaching philosophy: flip class and Mu class, making IoT teaching more professional and the ability of students more comprehensive.

Keywords: IoT, theory-practice-theory-promotion, major construction, school-enterprise cooperation

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Authors: Sangdeok Lee, Sangwon Han, Changtaek Hyun

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Construction defects are major components that result in negative impacts on project performance including schedule delays and cost overruns. Since construction defects generally occur when a few associated causes combine, a thorough understanding of defect causality is required in order to more systematically prevent construction defects. To address this issue, this paper uses association rule mining (ARM) to quantify the causality between defect causes, and social network analysis (SNA) to find indirect causality among them. The suggested approach is validated with 350 defect instances from concrete works in 32 projects in Korea. The results show that the interrelationships revealed by the approach reflect the characteristics of the concrete task and the important causes that should be prevented.

Keywords: causality, defect causes, social network analysis, association rule mining

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Authors: Mitansha, Suzanne Wilkinson, Regan Potangaroa

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The built environment is designed, maintained, operated, and decommissioned by construction organisations, which play a significant role in providing physical resources and rebuilding infrastructures during major crises and disasters. It is evident that enhancing the resilience of construction organisations allows better responding ability and speedy recovery from disasters and acts as a boon for the nation in the face of significant disruptions. As individuals are the integral component of any organisation, hence, individual resilience is considered a critical aspect, which may boost organisational resilience of construction sector. It has been observed that individual resilience is indirectly supported by organisation’s citizenship behaviour, job performance, and career success. Not only this, it also tends to hold a directly proportional relation with job satisfaction, physical and emotional well-being affected by organisation’s work culture, whereas the resilience of organisation increases as a result of positive adaption, growth and collective learning of the employees as an entity. Moreover, indicators like Situation awareness in staff and crisis related issues, effective vulnerability management, organisational leadership and culture ensured by approachable, encouraging and people-oriented leaders, are prominent for achieving organisational resilience. It, thus, becomes perceptible that both, organisational and individual resiliencies have the potential to influence each other. Consequently, it arises a major question that how these characteristics are associated and tend to behave with respect to each other The study, thus, aims to explore the overlapping dimensions of organisational and individual resilience to determine the impact boundaries. The research methodology of the paper would be based on systematic literature review specifically focused on the resilience of construction industry. This would provide a direct comparison of characteristics influencing individual and organisational resilience and will present the most significant indicators of individual resilience, that can eventually help to enhance the resilience of construction organisations amidst any disaster or crisis.

Keywords: construction industry, individual resilience, organizational resilience, overlapping dimension

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Authors: Zarabizan Zakaria, Syuhaida Ismail, Aminah Md. Yusof

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Project management process starts from the planning stage up to the stage of completion (handover of buildings, preparation of the final accounts and the closing balance). This process is not easy to implement efficiently and effectively. The issue of delays in construction is a major problem for construction projects. These delays have been blamed mainly on inefficient traditional construction practices that continue to dominate the current industry. This is due to several factors, such as environments of construction technology, sophisticated design and customer demands that are constantly changing and influencing, either directly or indirectly, the practice of management. Among the identified influences are physical environment, social environment, information environment, political and moral atmosphere. Therefore, this paper is emerged to determine the problem and issues in the final account closing in construction projects, and it establishes the need to embrace Supply Chain Management (SCM) and then elucidates the need and strategies for the development of a delay reduction framework. At the same time, this paper provides effective measures to avoid or at least reduce the delay to the optimum level. Allowing problems in the closure declaration to occur without proper monitoring and control can leave negative impact on the cost and time of delivery to the end user. Besides, it can also affect the reputation or image of the agency/department that manages the implementation of a contract and consequently may reduce customer's trust towards the agencies/departments. It is anticipated that the findings reported in this paper could address root delay contributors and apply SCM tools for their mitigation for the better development of construction project.

Keywords: final account closing, construction project, construction delay, supply chain management

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Authors: Omar M. Aldenali

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Planning is one of the most important phases of the management science and network planning, which represents the project activities relationship. Critical path is one of the project management techniques used to plan and control the execution of a project activities. The objective of this paper is to implement a fuzzy logic approach to arrange network planning on construction projects. This method is used to finding out critical path in the fuzzy construction project network. The trapezoidal fuzzy numbers are used to represent the activity construction project times. A numerical example that represents a house construction project is introduced. The critical path method is implemented on the fuzzy construction network activities, and the results showed that this method significantly affects the completion time of the construction projects.

Keywords: construction project, critical path, fuzzy network project, planning

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Authors: Namhun Lee, Seong Jin Kim

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The construction industry represents one of the largest industries in the United States, yet it continues to face several occupational health and safety challenges. Many workers on construction sites are suffering from extended exposure to stressful situations such as poor and hazardous work environments and task complexity. Stress can be commonly defined as a feeling of emotional or physical tension, which can easily impact construction safety and result in a higher rate of job-related injuries in the construction industry. Physiological signals transmitted from wearable biosensors can be used to detect excessive stress. Therefore, workers’ stress should be detected and mitigated to prevent any type of serious incident or accident proactively. By doing this, construction productivity, as well as job satisfaction, would also be improved in the construction industry. To establish a foundation in this field of research, a conceptual framework for using wearable technology for construction safety has been developed for continuous and automatic monitoring of worker’s stress. The conceptual framework will serve as a foothold in future studies on the application of wearable technology for construction safety.

Keywords: construction safety, occupational stress, stress monitoring, wearable biosensors

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Authors: Ali Alotaibi, Francis Edum-Fotwe, Andrew Price /

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Mega construction projects create buildings and major infrastructure to respond to work and life requirements while playing a vital role in promoting any nation’s economy. However, the industry is often criticised for not balancing economic, environmental and social dimensions of their projects, with emphasis typically on one aspect to the detriment of the others. This has resulted in many negative impacts including environmental pollution, waste throughout the project lifecycle, low productivity, and avoidable accidents. The identification of comprehensive Social Responsibility (SR) indicators, which combine social, environmental and economic aspects, is urgently needed. This is particularly the case in the context of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), which often has mega public construction projects. The aim of this paper is to develop a set of wide-ranging SR indicators which encompass social, economic and environmental aspects unique to the KSA. A qualitative approach was applied to explore relevant indicators through a review of the existing literature, international standards and reports. A list of appropriate indicators was developed, and its comprehensiveness was corroborated by interviews with experts on mega construction projects working with SR concepts in the KSA. The findings present 39 indicators and their metrics, covering 10 economic, 12 environmental and 17 social aspects of SR mapped against their references. These indicators are a valuable reference for decision-makers and academics in the KSA to understand factors related to SR in mega construction projects. The indicators are related to mega construction projects within the KSA and require validation in a real case scenario or within a different industry to demonstrate their generalisability.

Keywords: social responsibility, construction projects, economic, social, environmental, indicators

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Authors: Feiruz Ab'lah, Zarini Ismail, Mohamad Zaki Hassan, Siti Nadia Mohd Bakhori, Mohamad Azlan Suhot, Mohd Yusof Md. Daud, Shamsul Sarip

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The construction industry is one of the major sectors in Malaysia. Apart from providing facilities, services, and goods it also offers employment opportunities to local and foreign workers. In fact, the construction workers are exposed to a hazardous level of noises that generated from various sources including excavators, bulldozers, concrete mixer, and piling machines. Previous studies indicated that the piling and concrete work was recorded as the main source that contributed to the highest level of noise among the others. Therefore, the aim of this study is to obtain the noise exposure during piling process and to determine the awareness of workers against noise pollution at the construction site. Initially, the reading of noise was obtained at construction site by using a digital sound level meter (SLM), and noise exposure to the workers was mapped. Readings were taken from four different distances; 5, 10, 15 and 20 meters from the piling machine. Furthermore, a set of questionnaire was also distributed to assess the knowledge regarding noise pollution at the construction site. The result showed that the mean noise level at 5m distance was more than 90 dB which exceeded the recommended level. Although the level of awareness regarding the effect of noise pollution is satisfactory, majority of workers (90%) still did not wear ear protecting device during work period. Therefore, the safety module guidelines related to noise pollution controls should be implemented to provide a safe working environment and prevent initial occupational hearing loss.

Keywords: construction, noise awareness, noise pollution, piling machine

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Authors: Muhammad Lawal A., Abdullateef Abdulkarim Jimoh

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This study is to appraise the labour-saving construction methods achievable using a buildability framework through an improved design system. Adoption of labour-efficient technology and construction techniques will be necessary to supplement good buildable designs. Increased usage of prefabricated, modular, and standardized construction components, simplicity in the design, and the number of integrated elements all work to advance buildable design. The objectives of the study include `determining a more efficient buildability framework for designers to achieve labour-saving construction’. 20 completed building projects in Birnin Kebbi, Nigeria, is used as a case study to buttress the proposition that `a more buildable design using buildability frame result in labour-saving in construction adopting a Singapore study approach.

Keywords: buildability framework, buildable designs, construction, labour-saving construction

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Authors: Maiss Razem

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The construction sector is considered a major consumer of materials that undergoes processes of extraction, processing, transportation, and maintaining when used in buildings. Several metrics have been devised to capture the environmental impact of the materials consumed during construction using lifecycle thinking. Rarely has the materiality of this sector been explored qualitatively and systemically. This paper aims to explore socio-cultural forces that drive the use of certain materials in the Jordanian construction industry, using practice theory as a heuristic method of analysis, more specifically Shove et al. three-element model. By conducting semi-structured interviews with architects, the results unravel contextually embedded routines when determining qualities of three materialities highlighted herein; stone, glass and spatial openness. The study highlights the inadequacy of only using efficiency as a quantitative metric of sustainable materials and argues for the need to link material consumption with socio-economic, cultural, and aesthetic driving forces. The operationalization of practice theory by tracing materials’ lifetimes as they integrate with competencies and meanings captures dynamic engagements through the analyzed routines of actors in the construction practice. This study can offer policymakers better-nuanced representation to green this sector beyond efficiency rhetoric and quantitative metrics.

Keywords: architects' practices, construction materials, Jordan, practice theory

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Authors: Babatunde Dosumu, Obuks Ejohwomu, Akilu Yunusa-Kaltungo

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Cost estimation in construction is often difficult, particularly when dealing with risks and uncertainties, which are inevitable and peculiar to developing countries like Nigeria. Direct consequences of these are major deviations in cost, duration, and quality. The fundamental aim of this study is to develop a framework for assessing the impacts of risk on cost estimation, which in turn causes variabilities between contract sum and final account. This is very important, as initial estimates given to clients should reflect the certain magnitude of consistency and accuracy, which the client builds other planning-related activities upon, and also enhance the capabilities of construction industry professionals by enabling better prediction of the final account from the contract sum. In achieving this, a systematic literature review was conducted with cost variability and construction projects as search string within three databases: Scopus, Web of science, and Ebsco (Business source premium), which are further analyzed and gap(s) in knowledge or research discovered. From the extensive review, it was found that factors causing deviation between final accounts and contract sum ranged between 1 and 45. Besides, it was discovered that a cost estimation framework similar to Building Cost Information Services (BCIS) is unavailable in Nigeria, which is a major reason why initial estimates are very often inconsistent, leading to project delay, abandonment, or determination at the expense of the huge sum of money invested. It was concluded that the development of a cost estimation framework that is adjudged an important tool in risk shedding rather than risk-sharing in project risk management would be a panacea to cost estimation problems, leading to cost variability in the Nigerian construction industry by the time this ongoing Ph.D. research is completed. It was recommended that practitioners in the construction industry should always take into account risk in order to facilitate the rapid development of the construction industry in Nigeria, which should give stakeholders a more in-depth understanding of the estimation effectiveness and efficiency to be adopted by stakeholders in both the private and public sectors.

Keywords: cost variability, construction projects, future studies, Nigeria

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Authors: Tharaki S. Hettiarachchi

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Sustainable construction has gained massive attention in the present world as the construction industry is highly responsible for carbon emissions and other types of unsustainable practices. Yet, the construction industry has not been able to completely attain sustainable goals. Therefore, the present study aims to identify the extent to which sustainability has been considered within the scope of construction project management and to analyze the challenges, gaps, and constraints associated. Accordingly, this study develops a sustainable framework to integrate in construction project management. In accomplishing the research aim, this research integrates a qualitative approach while relying on secondary data sources. The data shall be then analyzed with the use of a systematic literature review (SLR) method while following the PRISMA (2020) guideline and represented in a statistical form. The outcomes of this study may become highly significant in identifying the nature of the existing sustainable frameworks associated with construction project management scopes and to develop a new framework to integrate in order to enhance the effectiveness of sustainable applications in construction management. The outcomes of this research may benefit present and future construction professionals and academicians to organize sustainable construction-related knowledge in a useful way to apply in practical implementation for effective project management. Overall, this study directs present and future construction professionals toward an advanced construction project management mechanism.

Keywords: construction, framework development, project management, sustainability

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Authors: Muhammad Abu Bakar Tariq

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Construction industry plays a crucial role in the progress of societies and economies. Furthermore, construction projects have social as well as economic implications, thus, their success/failure have wider impacts. However, the industry is lagging behind in terms of efficiency and productivity. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is recognized as a revolutionary development in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. There are numerous interest groups around the world providing definitions of BIM, proponents describing its advantages and opponents identifying challenges/barriers regarding adoption of BIM. This research is aimed at to determine what actually BIM is, along with its potential role in delivering successful construction projects. The methodology is critical analysis of secondary data sources i.e. information present in public domain, which include peer reviewed journal articles, industry and government reports, conference papers, books, case studies etc. It is discovered that clash detection and visualization are two major advantages of BIM. Clash detection option identifies clashes among structural, architectural and MEP designs before construction actually commences, which subsequently saves time as well as cost and ensures quality during execution phase of a project. Visualization is a powerful tool that facilitates in rapid decision-making in addition to communication and coordination among stakeholders throughout project’s life cycle. By eliminating inconsistencies that consume time besides cost during actual construction, improving collaboration among stakeholders throughout project’s life cycle, BIM can play a positive role to achieve efficiency and productivity that consequently deliver successful construction projects.

Keywords: building information modeling, clash detection, construction project success, visualization

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Authors: Ibraheem A. K. Mahameed

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The aim of this study is to identify the risks affecting time performance of building construction projects in the West Bank in Palestine from contractors’ viewpoint. 38 risks that might affect time performance of building construction projects were defined through a detailed literature review. These risks have been classified into 6 groups: project, managerial, consultant, financial, external, and construction items. A questionnaire survey was performed to rank the considered risks in terms of severity and frequency. The analysis of the survey indicated that the top five risks affecting time performance of building construction projects in Palestine are: award project to the lowest price, political situation, poor communication and coordination between construction parties, change orders, and financial status of contractor.

Keywords: delay, time performance, construction, building

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Authors: Muhamad Azani Yahya, Vikneswaran Munikanan, Mohammed Alias Yusof

Abstract:

There is the need to take the holistic approach in achieving sustainable construction for a contemporary practice. Sustainable construction is the practice that involved method of human preservation of the environment, whether economically or socially through responsibility, management of resources and maintenance utilizing support. This paper shows the correlation of achieving rapid construction with sustainable concepts using lean principles. Lean principles being used widely in the manufacturing industry, but this research will demonstrate the principles into building construction. Lean principle offers the benefits of stabilizing work flow and elimination of unnecessary work. Therefore, this principle contributes to time and waste reduction. The correlation shows that pulling factor provides the improvement of progress curve and stabilizing the time-quality relation. The finding shows the lean principles offer the elements of rapid construction synchronized with the elements of sustainability.

Keywords: sustainable construction, rapid construction, time reduction, lean construction

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Authors: Putul Haldar, Yogendra Singh, D. K. Paul

Abstract:

Un-Reinforced Masonry (URM) infilled RC framed buildings are the most common construction practice for modern multi-storey buildings in India like many other parts of the world. Although the behavior and failure pattern of the global structure changes significantly due to infill-frame interaction, the general design practice is to treat them as non-structural elements and their stiffness, strength and interaction with frame is often ignored, as it is difficult to simulate. Indian Standard, like many other major national codes, does not provide any explicit guideline for modeling of infills. This paper takes a stock of controlling design provisions in some of the major national seismic design codes (BIS 2002; CEN 2004; NZS-4230 2004; ASCE-41 2007) to ensure the desired seismic performance of infilled frame. Most of the national codes on seismic design of buildings still lack in adequate guidelines on modeling and design of URM infilled frames results in variable assumption in analysis and design. This paper, using nonlinear pushover analysis, also presents the effect of one of such assumptions of conventional ‘simultaneous’ analysis procedure of infilled frame on the seismic performance of URM infilled RC frame buildings.

Keywords: URM infills, RC frame, seismic design codes, construction sequence of infilled frame

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Authors: Muhammad Bello Ibrahim, M. Auwal Zakari, Aliyu Usman

Abstract:

Hybrid concrete construction (HCC) combines all the benefits of pre-casting with the advantages of cast in-situ construction. Merging the two, as a hybrid structure, results in even greater construction speed, value, and the overall economy. Its variety of uses has gained popularity in the United States and in Europe due to its distinctive benefits. However, the increase of its application in some countries (including Nigeria) has been relatively slow. Several researches have shown that hybrid construction offers an ultra-high performance concrete that offers superior strength, durability and aesthetics with design flexibility and within sustainability credentials, based on the available and economically visible technologies. This paper examines and documents the criterion that will help inform the process of deciding whether or not to adopt hybrid concrete construction (HCC) technology rather than more traditional alternatives. It also the present situation of design, construction and research on hybrid structures.

Keywords: hybrid concrete construction, Nigeria, sustainable infrastructure development, design flexibility

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Authors: Osama Abaza, Tanay Datta Chowdhury

Abstract:

As a driver's speed increases, so do the probability of an incident and likelihood of injury. The presence of equipment, personnel, and a changing landscape in construction zones create greater potential for incident. This is especially concerning in Alaska, where summer construction activity, coinciding with the peak annual traffic volumes, cannot be avoided. In order to reduce vehicular speeding in work zones, and therefore the probability of crash and incident occurrence, variable speed limit (VSL) systems can be implemented in the form of radar speed display trailers since the radar speed display trailers were shown to be effective at reducing vehicular speed in construction zones. Allocation of VSL not only help reduce the 85th percentile speed but also it will predominantly reduce mean speed as well. Total of 2147 incidents along with 385 crashes occurred only in one month around the construction zone in the Alaska which seriously requires proper attention. This research provided a thorough crash analysis to better understand the cause and provide proper countermeasures. Crashes were predominantly recoded as vehicle- object collision and sideswipe type and thus significant amount of crashes fall in the group of no injury to minor injury type in the severity class. But still, 35 major crashes with 7 fatal ones in a one month period require immediate action like the implementation of the VSL system as it proved to be a speed reducer in the construction zone on Alaskan roadways.

Keywords: speed, construction zone, crash, severity

Procedia PDF Downloads 216