Building Construction Activities Research Articles

Assessing The Impact of Rising Cost of Materials On Construction Activities in Enugu, Enugu State, Nigeria

This study focused on assessing the impact of rising cost of building materials on construction activities in Enugu, Enugu state, Nigeria. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of rising cost of materials on construction activities in Enugu, Nigeria in order to proffer a solution to the rise in the cost of these materials used in everyday construction in Enugu state. With the following objectives; to identify the factors that lead to increasing cost of material in Enugu State, Nigeria; to assess the impact of rising cost of materials on construction activities in Enugu; to proffer solutions to the rise in the cost of building materials. The research design employed was primary and secondary which encompasses descriptions and quantitative analysis on a randomly selected sample of receipt of building materials from the suppliers over the years. The population of the study is 223 professionals in the field and sample size of 143 which was gotten using Taro Yamane formula. The findings of the study reveals that the factors that lead to increasing cost on the building construction activities in Enugu State are; fluctuations in material costs, design changes and scope creep, regulatory compliance and permitting, project delays, weather and environmental factors, technology and innovation costs, interest rates and financing costs, and others. Finally, the study recommends that there will be need for relevant authorities in the building industry to re-examine and educate the people on its existence and equally generate the possible ways of reducing the increasing cost of building materials so as to enhance the building construction industry in Nigeria.

Exploring Urban Heat Distribution and Thermal Comfort Exposure Using Spatiotemporal Weighted Regression (STWR)

With rapid urbanization, many cities have experienced significant changes in land use and land cover (LULC), triggered urban heat islands (UHI), and increased the health risks of citizens’ exposure to UHI. Some studies have recognized residents’ inequitable exposure to UHI intensity. However, few have discussed the spatiotemporal heterogeneity in environmental justice and countermeasures for mitigating the inequalities. This study proposed a novel framework that integrates the population-weighted exposure model for assessing adjusted thermal comfort exposure (TCEa) and the spatiotemporal weighted regression (STWR) model for analyzing countermeasures. This framework can facilitate capturing the spatiotemporal heterogeneities in the response of TCEa to three specified land-surface and built-environment parameters (i.e., enhanced vegetation index (EVI), normalized difference built-up index (NDBI), and modified normalized difference water index (MNDWI)). Using this framework, we conducted an empirical study in the urban area of Fuzhou, China. Results showed that high TCEa was mainly concentrated in locations with dense populations and industrial regions. Although the TCEa’s responses to various land-surface and built-environment parameters differed at locations over time, the TCEa illustrated overall negative correlations with EVI and MNDWI while positive correlations with NDBI. Many exciting spatial details can be detected from the generated coefficient surfaces: (1) The influences of NDBI on TCEa may be magnified, especially in rapidly urbanizing areas. Still, they diminish to some extent, which may be related to the reduction in building construction activities caused by the COVID-19 epidemic and the gradual improvement of urbanization. (2) The influences of EVI on TCEa decline, which may be correlated with the population increase. (3) Compared with NDBI, the MNDWI had more continuous and stable significant cooling effects on TCEa. Several mitigation strategies based on the spatiotemporal heterogeneous relationships also emanated. The effectiveness of the presented framework was verified. It can help analysts effectively evaluate local thermal comfort exposure inequality and prompt timely mitigation efforts.

Pelatihan Pembuatan Digital Brosur Promosi UMKM di Kabupaten Banyumas

AbstractThe community service is aimed to provide knowledge about brochure visualization. The method used to achieve these objectives involves activities such as presentations, training, and mentoring, which include knowledge building, modeling, joint construction, and independent construction activities. To measure the success of the activity, there are three types of evaluation: (1) the initial stage through a Pre-test. Questions are posed through a Google form to assess the participants' initial knowledge, (2) the implementation stage/process of the activity through observation, discussion, practice, and assessment of the final products, and (3) the final stage through a post-test, where answers are assessed to determine the knowledge improvement after participating in this PkM. With these evaluation stages, the knowledge and skills of the participants are assessed to understand their improved understanding of brochure visualization knowledge and skills. As a result, there is an increase in knowledge about brochure visualization. Through this activity, issues related to optimizing knowledge and skills in brochure visualization can be addressed.

Identification and Assessment of Environmental Risks Factors in Building Construction

The requirement of the shelter is essential for the sustenance of the dynamism of livelihood of human being, and it lead to urbanization. The urbanization results in concentration of human population in a smaller area, densify the construction of buildings for living and other civic purposes and other constructions to fulfill the needs of the human being such as, water supply, drainage system, roads, power generation units and many more. The construction activities of all these facilities impacts negatively on the environment. The environmental risk is the probability and consequence of an undesirable impact due to the human interventions in natural processes. The overall scale of construction activities are extremely high and the same is its impact on various elements of environment. In the presented study the four elements of environment, i.e. human health, general atmosphere, ecology and society, on which the impact takes place due to building construction activities are taken into consideration. A total of nine factors and the forty sources are considered for finding out their ranking, with the help of questionnaire survey, in which 102 construction professionals participated. The five point Likert scale is used for probability and impact and analyzed by using the weighted score approach. The outcome of the analysis gives the risk factors and their sources for four elements, which have the highest probability and the impact of occurrence. The ranking of the risks perceived are obtained through analysis.

Modular construction's capacity to reduce embodied carbon emissions in California's housing sector

Demand for new housing construction must be balanced with minimizing embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from building materials, logistical operations, and construction activities. This study examines the potential embodied GHG benefits that an innovative housing production method, factory-built modular construction, might have in meeting the multifamily housing needs, with California as a case study. A model is developed to quantify the embodied GHG emissions from materials, transportation, and construction for representative modular housing projects, contrasting results to scenarios where housing is constructed with conventional methods. Results are scaled from single building prototypes to meeting housing demand for lower income residents in California, representing 1.1 million housing units in all 58 of the state's counties. Statewide, compared to all housing units being stick-built, most modular types achieve emission reductions of 2–22%, with potential benefits depending upon structural framing material and factory location. A parametric sensitivity analysis reveals additional key modeling variables: module size and capacity of the module delivery vehicle. A Monte Carlo analysis is conducted for each county, comparing a random allocation of modular types from all factory locations to conventionally constructed housing. Counties farthest away from module factories experience GHG emission gains, while all other counties experience emission benefits of 1–14% (removing one of the modular types increases benefits to 4–20% for all counties). While the results are California-specific, the modeling framework is applicable to any location and relevant for regions assessing the embodied carbon impacts of rapid housing construction methods.

Influence on compressive strength of concrete by partial replacement of river sand with fly ash geopolymer sand

The growth in the building construction activity sector is increasing leaps and bounds with boast to infrastructure. The growing requirement for River Sand (RS) is having an adverse impact on the environment, necessitating the urgent need for an alternate construction resource. Finding a different substitute or replacement for natural river sand is therefore urgently needed. When silica and alumina-rich materials react with alkaline liquid, a geopolymeric material is created. In this study, fly ash geopolymer sand (FAGS ), was manufactured using fly ash and an alkaline activator solution as an alternative to river sand, and was used in M 25 grade concrete. FAGS was prepared a combination of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate and was cured at 100 ͦ C for one hour. In comparison to RS, FAGS has a similar specific gravity (2.53), pH (11.48), water absorption (3.5%), and bulk density (1.762 kg/m3). By substituting FAGS for RS in concrete, compressive strength for 7 days, 14 days and 28 days was evaluated for varying percentages of FAGS . The replacement was done at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of natural sand with FAGS . The compressive strength at 7 days and 14 days with 25% and 50% replacement was 16.6 MPa and 22.6 MPa for both replacements respectively, and the 28-day strength with both these partial replacements was found to be 28.7 MPa. When a higher percentage of replacement was done beyond 50%, there was a huge reduction in compressive strength. It was found that the replacement with 75% and 100% use of FAGS, compressive strength was 7.3 MPa and 6.4 MPa at 7 days, 13.5 MPa and 12.8 MPa at 14 days and 14. MPa at 28 days respectively. The mechanical strength of the FAGS was found to be virtually identical to that of the concrete made with the river sand, indicating that FAGS might be utilized as a partial alternative material in place of river sand in concrete. In order to take the role of RS as a permanent material in building technology, more research work has to be carried out on the durability features of the concrete containing FAGS.

Analysis of the compressive strength of concrete from brick wall waste as a concrete mixture

<p>Every building renovation or building reconstruction often occurs demolition of the wall. The demolition of this wall becomes construction waste therefore it is necessary to experiment with using wall waste to become a productive material. This research is an experiment in making concrete using wall waste. The wall waste used is in the form of rubble from the ruins of a red brick wall. The compression test method refers to the 1974:2011 SNI regulations on concrete. In this test, the focus is on the maximum compressive strength of concrete that can be produced in the sample. Each sample of the test object is divided into three groups, each group has three test objects. The first group is a sample of pure concrete, fine aggregate 100% concrete sand. The second group is a fine aggregate experimental concrete sample containing 25% wall waste, and the third group contains 50% wall waste. The test object is in the form of a concrete cylinder with a diameter of 150 mm and a height of 300 mm. Concrete testing is carried out at the age of 7 days, 14 days, and 28 days. The results of this study provide information that red brick wall waste can be recycled into concrete material so that it does not become construction waste. It is known that the compressive strength of concrete using additional wall waste as fine aggregate meets the requirements of structural concrete quality and can improve the quality of concrete. Furthermore, it is hoped that the wall waste can be reused as an added material to the concrete mixture in building construction activities or other construction using concrete.</p>

Innen vor Außen? Eine Schätzung der Innenentwicklung in nordrhein-westfälischen Gemeinden, 1979 bis 2011

Strengthening inner urban development is a guiding principle of Germany’s sustainability policy and the key to achieving the 30-hectare target. To date, however, it is hardly possible to determine retrospectively the share of building construction activity realized as inner and outer urban development. On the one hand, there is the genuine fuzziness of the inner urban area (Innenbereich) as a spatial construct, and on the other hand, there is the lack of available small-scale data on building construction activity. Against this background, this paper presents for the first time a methodological approach to determine and evaluate the relevance of inner urban development for large areas and over longer periods of time for Germany. The method is applied for the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the housing construction activity from 1979 to 2011. The result shows a positive trend, indicating that cities and municipalities have succeeded in realizing more housing as inner urban development over time. At the same time, significant differences between urban and rural areas are apparent. A central conclusion is therefore to support smaller municipalities in their efforts for more inner urban development.

Safety risk assessment of building construction work items in Abuja

Work-related injuries pose major public health and development challenges, with serious health, social, and economic consequences for workers and their employers. The study's aim is to assess the level of safety risk associated with building construction work items in Abuja. Purposive sampling technique was adopted for data collection. The mean score method was used to analyse the most hazardous work items in building construction projects, result revealed that lift installation, electrical work, roof work, and steel structure, with mean scores of 4.03, 4.00, 3.40, and 3.80, respectively were the riskiest work items. The risk prioritization number were used to analyse safety risk assessment, result revealed that the highest medium risk level was installation of electrical work, roof work, and installation of lift, with average risk scores of 11.48, 11.01, and 10.74, respectively. It was concluded that most building construction activities in Abuja are deemed to be of medium risk; nonetheless, employees are still at risk of injury and accidents on sites that are tolerable. It is recommended that all construction safety plans include an acceptable risk assessment technique, with proper risk identification and prioritization being a requirement for effective risk management and control. It is expected that stakeholder understanding of the construction sector will extend in terms of identifying work items with high or low severity or frequency of risk, hence improving construction safety.

Identification and Control of an Ornithonyssus Bacoti Infestation in a Rodent Vivarium by Using Molecular Diagnostic Techniques.

Ornithonyssus bacoti, commonly known as the tropical rat mite, is a zoonotic ectoparasite that occasionally infests research rodent colonies. Most infestations have been attributed to wild rodents that harbor the mite and spread it to research animals, often during building construction or other activity that disrupts wild rodent populations. Although infestation may be clinically silent, severe outbreaks have been reported to cause pruritis, dermatitis, decreased reproductive performance, and anemia in rodents. In mid-2020, our institution experienced increased activity of wild mice, which were found to be infested with O. bacoti, diagnosed by microscopic exam and confirmed by fur swab PCR analysis. We elected to add O. bacoti to our quarterly health monitoring exhaust air dust (EAD) testing PCR panel, increase wild mouse control measures, and treat the environment with a sustained-release synthetic pyrethroid spray in an attempt to prevent colony animal infestation. Initial quarterly EAD health monitoring results in September of 2020 were negative for O. bacoti. However, in early 2021, multiple IVC racks tested positive for O. bacoti at quarterly testing. Treatment consisted of providing permethrin-soaked nesting material and surface spray treatment of the room and hallway with a sustained-release synthetic pyrethroid. Historically in the literature, O. bacoti outbreaks of research mice were not identified until mite burden was high enough to cause dermatitis on animal care workers. Due to modern molecular diagnostics and proactive PCR-based health monitoring surveillance, we were able to identify the outbreak earlier than would have otherwise been possible. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to successfully identify O. bacoti using environmental health monitoring PCR techniques. This outbreak demonstrates the importance of screening for O. bacoti in facilities with the potential for wild rodent infestation and highlights unique considerations when managing O. bacoti infestations. In addition, a novel permethrin-soaked enrichment item was developed for cage-level treatment.

An Economic Study on Income and Expenditure Activities on Nochikuppam Slum Areas, Chennai City

The dimension of the slums is presumed as something that is deteriorating urban areas that is densely populated and contains dilapidated housing, often in multiple occupations, poverty, social disadvantage and other forms of physical and social deprivation. Urbanization is a global phenomenon experienced by economically advanced as well as developing countries. Rapid urbanization due to “pull factor” or the employment opportunity created in the city and “push factor” due to the lack of the same in rural areas and including environmental degradation, has attracted immigrants not only from the rural Tamil Nadu but also from other parts of the country. Growth of industrialization around the Chennai city, famine situation in the rural area, inadequate rain in the rural area, castism, rapidly and vast building construction activity in and around the city and information technology parks, has given surety for skilled, unskilled, semi-skilled jobs which are available to the deserving people. Most of the immigrated families who could not afford formal housing satisfy their need for housing by occupying available vacant land illegally and solving their housing problem and contribute to the creation of slums. In this study mainly aims to the income and expenditure activities of the Nochikuppam slum areas in Chennai city.

Correlation of Material Waste Types With Life Cycle Stages in Building Projects Across The States in Southwest Nigeria

This study correlates the different opinions held by Nigerian construction industry stakeholders who participated in the survey on the types of material wastes that are generated from the activities of procuring building projects across the states in southwest region of Nigeria. This was achieved through the random distribution of 261 questionnaires to build environment professionals recruited in the study. The results from 261 respondents was analysed using SPSS 26.0 and presented using tables, figure, ranking and percentile. The study found that the wastes from building construction activities are primarily physical in nature and perceived to be prominent at the post-construction and construction phases of a building project, however, it is seen to occur across the life cycle stages of a building project in varying proportions that adds up to become significant and critical. Additionally, the study found that paper was the most (31.7% and 39.5%) common form of wastes generated at the pre-design and design stages of a building project., while at the pre-construction stage, cardboard and other package materials (35.1%) were the most common form of waste generated, Also, the study revealed that at the construction stage, wood (80.5%), aluminium (88.55), sandcrete (85.0%), and ceramic (85.5) were mostly the form of waste generated, while at the post-construction stage, wire and cables (19.3%) were the mostly form of waste generated. However, the findings from this study provide a valuable reference for practitioners to develop and adopt strategic guides for managing material wastes on building construction projects across building construction stages that imbibes principle of sustainable construction.

Review on building life cycle assessment from the perspective of structural design

ABSTRACT The resource-related, environmental and ecological problems raised by building construction activities have drawn a wide range of concerns among researches, especially in China. Those problems have become prominent. In last decade, the building life cycle emissions and energy efficiency have been researched widely. Most of the studies focus on the assessment models and emission analysis based on the available project data and statistical data. Very few of them study the emissions from the view of structure design, which can reduce the building emission at source. This review summarizes and examines different models proposed for the building life cycle assessment, focusing on the model scopes, assumptions, and their applications from the view of structure design. A great attention is given to the data used in the current studies. Finally, a variety of future research directions of building life cycle assessment are discussed.

EIA: Art of construction management for different materials

Abstract “Excellent EIA leaders are the superior communicators”. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) at its heart is a practical tool for evaluating the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human-health impacts, both beneficial and adverse. The main objective of this EIA report is to indicate the positive & negative impacts of the civil engineering project during its construction and to identify whether the projects are developing under the normal path as per the work schedule or not and also to suggest the mitigate measures to overcome any of the adverse impacts to the environment. The likely impacts of any proposed / on-going construction projects can be examined by compiling and assessing the multi-disciplinary information under EIA. In the current EIA study, an on– going building construction activity is undertaken to assess all the necessary information for the insight judgment and prediction on how effectively the project is proceeding, and to highlight all the major positive and negative impacts upon the on-going project; and finally to conclude the mitigative measures to overcome the negative impacts, in general. Keeping this as a keen view in mind, the study was conducted at On-going project in Ambo University Referral Hospital site, Ambo, Ethiopia. The data were collected through the structured questionnaire and all the major factors were analyzed, compiled and screened out.

PEMETAAN TINGKAT BAHAYA BENCANA LONGSOR DAN SISTIM PERENCANAAN TATA LETAK BANGUNAN DALAM TATA RUANG WILAYAH KOTA BAUBAU

Penelitian menganalisa tingkat rawan longsor dan distribusinya serta merumuskan arahan sistim informasi tata letak bangunan untuk menghindari bahaya longsor. Penelitian menggunakan desain deskriptif kuantitatif dan desain survei. Objek analisis adalah kemiringan lereng, penggunaan lahan, jenis tanah, curah hujan, geologi, infrastruktur, keberadaan sesar atau patahan patahan, dan gawir serta kepadatan pemukiman. Data dianalisis secara deksriptif kualitaif dan analisis spasial (ArcView 3.2). Kerawanan longsor di Kota Baubau pada kategori “aman” seluas 17.515,47 ha, “rawan rendah” seluas 11.185,43 ha dan kerawana “sedang” seluas 60,94 ha. Arahan penataan ruang tata bangunan di Kota Baubau untuk wilayah “aman” diperbolehkan dilakukan pembangunan bangunan gedung. Wilayah potensi “rendah” diperbolehkan aktifitas pembangunan bangunan gedung dengan tetap mempertahankan kawasa lindung atau ruang terbuka 30 %, sedangkan wilayah potensi “sedang” diperbolehkan aktifitas pembangunan bangunan gedung dengan tetap mempertahankan kawasan lindung atau ruang terbuka 30 % dan memperketat ijin penyelenggaran bangunan gedung.

Research on the Collaborative Running Mechanism Oriented to Reverse Designing Services of Engineering Projects Based on Revit

With the application and promotion of BIM technology in the field of building construction, the role and position of construction companies in adopting BIM technology to serve building construction activities is becoming increasingly important. Due to the unidirectional nature of the current BIM technology resource’s dominant behavior, the 3D modeling design, involved in the visual display of BIM technology, is mainly undertaken by construction companies, and it brings the asymmetry of building information’s management and interaction. Taking the application of Revit designing software as an example, in order to communicate with project designers and construction contractors on the interactive questions of reverse designing, and achieve the application effects of BIM technology resources, this paper designs the collaborative running model of engineering project’s BIM technology services from the perspective of building service collectivization, and expounds the collaborative running mechanism oriented to reverse designing services, so as to effectively serve the engineering project’s construction activities including bidding quotation, commencement preparation, construction process and completion and delivery.

Building Construction, Road Works and Waste Management: Impact of Anthropogenic Actions on Flooding in Yenagoa, Nigeria

Floods are generally seen as natural occurrences with other underlying causal factors. These factors are both natural and anthropogenic in nature and often induce or exacerbate flood episodes in the environment. As it were, while some of these factors stem from natural ecological cycles, others are engendered by accumulated anthropogenic actions or inactions. This study aims to examine three independent documents comprising of two technical reports commissioned by the Bayelsa State government in Yenagoa and contiguous neighborhoods and narratives from a PhD flood research with a view to understanding the nature and dynamics of anthropogenic actions causing flooding in Bayelsa State. The objectives include; a systematic review of the government commissioned technical reports on floods in Yenagoa and other related documents; identify and highlight both natural and anthropogenic causes of flooding in the study area; recommend an appropriate course of action. The study adopted direct personal observation, photography and secondary data analysis to obtain data. Findings from the combination of these documents highlight some of the deliberate human actions and/or inactions taken by both Government and private developers regarding incidents of flooding within the Yenagoa Metropolis. Based on the document’s review, three key anthropogenic actions were identified; building construction and other physical development activities, waste management and drainage systems and public infrastructure development. Specific recommendations such as the adoption of a holistic approach towards harmonized flood data management framework, effective implementation of such policies to tackle these identified challenges, undertake EIA, hydrologic and hydrographic studies, as well as base line studies before embarking on any developmental projects, desilting of clogged drainage culverts and proper alignment of road projects to reduce incursion and subsequent impediment of free flow of runoffs were made.

Alkali Activated Paste and Concrete Based on of Biomass Bottom Ash with Phosphogypsum

There is a growing interest in the development of new cementitious binders for building construction activities. In this study, biomass bottom ash (BBA) was used as aluminosilicate precursor and phosphogypsum (PG) was used as a calcium source. The mixtures of BBA and PG were activated with the sodium hydroxide solution or the mixture of sodium hydroxide solution and sodium silicate hydrate solution. Alkali activated binders were investigated using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) test methods. The compressive strength of hardened paste and fine-grained concrete was also evaluated. After 28 days, the highest compressive strength reached 30.0 MPa—when the BBA was substituted with 15% PG and activated with NaOH solution—which is 14 MPa more than control sample. In addition, BBA fine-grained concrete samples based on BBA with 15% PG substitute activated with NaOH/Na2SiO3 solution showed higher compressive strength compered to when NaOH activator was used −15.4 MPa and 12.9 MPa respectfully. The NaOH/Na2SiO3 activator solution resulted reduced open porosity, so potentially the fine-grained concrete resistance to freeze and thaw increased.

Assessment of the impacts of building construction activities on the environment

Activities in building construction industry contribute to air pollution. In this study, gas data from four locations at each three building construction sites in Doha, Qatar were collected and analyzed. Questionnaires were also administered to companies that are involved in building construction projects. The results showed traces of SO2, CO2, CO and NO2 but in amounts below the detrimental limit stipulated by the Ministry of Environment, Qatar. Questionnaire responses revealed that the extraction of raw materials and the energy consumed during construction occur quite often, but strongly implicated dust generated from construction sites and waste disposal, as major factors causing air pollution in the area. It is therefore, recommended that regular monitoring of air should be carried out within building construction sites to aid detection of air contamination. This will serve as a control measure to stimulate catalytic conversion of exhaust, reuse and recycling of waste materials.
 Keywords: Air pollution, Building construction activities, Dust, Emissions and Environment.

Organizational support of BIM-technologies

Introduction. Building information modeling (BIM) is a modern approach to design and construction management. It can improve the efficiency of the construction production and quality of design documentation and accelerate business process flow. The paper discusses the problems of organizational supporting information transfer from one automated workplace to another down the technological chain of design and construction.
 Materials and methods. When creating a full line of software applications by the same developer, high speed and completeness of information transfer are ensured. In contrast, a universal data presentation is developed, that allows using different software at different stages. Many software manufacturers support the IFC-format (Industry Foundation Classes).
 Results. One of the life cycle support tasks is to obtain a scope worklist. Implementation of drawings using BIM-technology requires the internal discipline of designers and the significant preparatory work of the entire design company. The paper shows that the completeness of data transfer from one software to another using a universal format is not guaranteed. The detected problems confirm the need to create a universal classifier of building elements and construction activities. The suggested universal facet-hierarchical classifier contains five levels. However, it can be supplemented with technologies and a list of applied resources.
 Conclusions. One of the main prerequisites for the introduction of the BIM-technologies is a correct organization of design and construction activities. It is necessary to develop the classifications of project elements, to prepare drawing file templates, to create instructions for employees, to conduct personnel training, and to determine the data transfer routes. The project must be provided with allocated funds for technology preparation.