Construction Industry Participants Research Articles

Unveiling the digital horizon: Bridging the realms of digital twinning and construction project management performance

The digitalization of the construction industry is deemed a crucial element in Construction 4.0’s vision, attainable through the implementation of digital twinning. It is perceived as a virtual strategy to surmount the constraints linked with traditional construction projects, thereby augmenting their productivity and effectiveness. However, the neglect to investigate the causal relationship between implementation and construction project management performance has resulted from a lack of understanding and awareness regarding the consequences of digital twinning implementation, combined with a shortage of expertise among construction professionals. Consequently, this paper extensively explores the relationship between digital twinning implementation and construction project management performance. The Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT) is employed to investigate this relationship, utilizing a quantitative research approach through document analysis and questionnaire surveys. Additionally, partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS software is employed to deduce the relationship. The results underscore that digital twinning implementation significantly improves construction project management performance. Despite recognizing various challenges in digital twinning implementation, when regarded as moderating factors, these challenges do not significantly impact the established causal relationship. Therefore, this investigation aligns with the national push toward the digitalization of the construction sector, highlighting the positive impacts of digital twinning implementation on construction project management performance. Moreover, this study details the impacts of implementing digital twinning from the construction industry’s perspective, including positive and negative impacts. Afterwards, this paper addresses the existing research gap, providing a more precise understanding and awareness among construction industry participants, particularly in developing nations.

Can They Fix It? YES, They Can: Rebalancing the Scale of Financial Security on Construction Projects

The construction industry is one of the most dominant industries worldwide. The United States is no stranger to development and growth, and as so, it possesses one of the largest construction industries in the world. Given the magnitude of the industry, it is no secret that every party involved in a construction project feels the loom of financial risks and that such risks continue to plague the industry. The government, particularly the legislature, has a special influence in that the laws it passes can either encourage continued development and make the industry flourish or bring it to a complete stop, bringing detrimental loss to all involved. Texas is evidence of this when it deemed construction workers “essential” during the COVID-19 pandemic. While many businesses struggled to stay afloat, the development of projects across the state continued. This Comment explores what it is like to be exposed financially as a lower-tier party on a construction project and the protections that exist in law for them. Specifically, this Comment will dive deep into the remedies of Texas law, analyzing the realities of their use coupled with their complexities. Additionally, it will examine the laws of other states to illustrate the unique complexities that exist in Texas law. Finally, this Comment will conclude with proposed changes that seek to streamline the financial lifeline of many construction industry participants.

End-of-life waste management practices: A brief review

Effective management of construction and demolition waste is one of the key aspects of sustainable construction. As such, many studies have been conducted on waste management in construction in general, however, only a very few focusing on demolition or the end-of-life (EOL) phase of buildings. Understanding and managing EOL waste is important, e.g., to avoid illegal landfills, but critical to implement Circular Economy (CE) in construction. CE aims to create a regenerative built environment to make buildings more adaptable for the future and allows reclaiming of useable materials and components from old buildings to further use elsewhere, especially with the help of Building Information Modeling (BIM). Therefore, this study was designed to assess the construction industry awareness of EOL waste management, identify relevant issues/barriers, and a set of strategies to overcome those barriers and implement CE in construction. This paper specifically focused on the outcomes of a systematic literature review extracting relevant issues/barriers and strategies. A total of twenty-three barriers/issues in six groups and twenty-one strategies in four groups have been extracted. The six groups of issues/barriers are policy, sociological, expenses, technology, research and development, and time-related barriers. Among these, sociological barriers, particularly the lack of awareness, education, and publicity are perceived to be the major issues. Among the four groups of strategies, i.e. policy, organisational, technological, research, and development; Formulation of policies and setting goals specifically in achieving sustainable EOL waste management are mostly suggested/cited by previous authors than others. While a summarised discussion on these groups and individual factors will be presented in the paper, the next stage of the study is to refine the various factors and conduct a structured questionnaire survey of the construction industry participants, to tap experiential knowledge and suggestions.

Strategies Used by the Sri Lankan Construction Industry to Overcome the Challenges Posed by the Covid-19

The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the world's political, social, economic, religious, and financial structures into disarray. COVID-19 has a broad range of effects on numerous industries, including construction. Sri Lanka as a developing country is also affected by the pandemic and many sectors of the Sri Lankan economy such as construction, education, tourism, imports and exports, agriculture, and health etc are experiencing negative consequences of the pandemic, Construction industry as one of the key sectors of the economy was also severely affected by the COVID-19 global pandemic in various ways. Construction companies and government institutes are taking action to face these challenges. This study describes how COVID-19 impacts the local construction industry throughout the construction process. Furthermore, the impact was evaluated with regard to several aspects namely, financial, human resources, supply chain and logistics, legal, and completion and handover of the project. The strategies which are used by the construction industry participants to face the challenges of the pandemic are also discussed. A mixed research approach was used in the study and questionnaires which comprised of both qualitative and quantitative questions were used as a data collection tool. This research revealed new knowledge about the construction industry in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study's most important finding was that the spread of the virus influenced the entire construction process. The pandemic had a major impact on the construction stage as well as the human resources aspect of the industry. KEYWORDS: COVID-19, Construction Industry, Sri Lanka, Strategies

Economic Crisis Adaptation in Sri Lankan Construction Industry: Pathway to Prosperity

Abstract The construction industry is a critical sector in the nation’s economic growth, accounting for a sizable share of GDP growth. However, it is the most vulnerable industry to a financial depression, whether local or worldwide. The present economic crisis has had an impact on the Sri Lankan construction industry, with more than half a million employees lost their jobs in the previous year. Many major construction firms have either paused or abandoned their projects and shifted to overseas construction. Therefore, understanding the consequences of financial crises regarding construction initiatives in Sri Lanka, as well as anticipated post-crisis growth paths in this sector, necessitates a thorough examination. The goal of this study is to extensively examine the consequences of the 2022 economic crisis on Sri Lankan construction projects and investigate remedies that might start a post-crisis rebound. The study utilized a mixed-method approach, combining quantitative and qualitative research methods. Purposive sampling was used to choose construction industry participants from various backgrounds in order to get a varied range of perspectives. The findings of this study not only emphasize the negative consequences of the crisis but also reveal prospects for development within the industry. The article offers construction professionals and other industry stakeholders useful insights about the foreseeable future of the country’s construction sector. The research looks at prospective growth areas such as the development of infrastructure, sustainable construction strategies, and the usage of emerging technology. The findings of the research can help to ensure that the sector has a robust and productive future.

A dialectical system framework for adopting modular integrated construction

Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) has emerged as an innovative technological approach in the high-rise, high-density city of Hong Kong to address the shortages of housing, skilled labour and to boost productivity and quality in the built environment. The current context of MiC in Hong Kong is mainly driven by the significant government instigation accompanied by policies, regulations, financial incentives, and government-initiated MiC projects. Despite such governmental support and its known benefits, the adoption of MiC is still at an ‘infancy’ stage of development in terms of industry-wide uptake, due to its complex nature. Therefore, it is vital to boost the collaboration of construction industry participants to accelerate MiC adoption in Hong Kong at the industry level. This requires a joint focus on a consolidated new direction of MiC uptake and adoption. To underpin and justify this new direction, a dialectical system framework is developed in this paper to review and synthesize the apposite systematic literature, to conceptualize the industry uptake of MiC in Hong Kong. Thereby, the focus was widened towards the technical, social, and co-evolved economic and political aspects and geographical boundaries. Subsequently, the system framework was developed to indicate significant components of policy and regulations (regulatory context), technology uptake, stakeholder collaboration and economic and financial inducement, research and development and their inter-relations.

Determining The Effects Of Awarding Lowest Bid Price System On The Construction Projects Of Ethiopian Southern Nation

Identifying the effects of low bid award system in construction projects can be used as benchmark to find alternative method to low bid award system in the future of construction industry. The results of questioner survey conducted to determine the effects of awarding lowest bid award system in construction projects of Ethiopian southern nation are presented in this study. Personnel from consultants, owners and contractors are among the survey`s respondent. The result of the study outlines promote transparency, avoid fraud and corruption, promoting competition amongst contractors, excessive time overrun, compromise quality and hindering profitability of contractors as the top ranked effects of low bid award system. Construction industry participants have started recognizing that accepting the least price bid does not guarantee maximum value. Achieving a value-based procurement approach is a challenge, particularly for the Pakistani public sector clients, who are limited in their ability to evaluate the competitive bids based solely on the lowest-bid award system. Persisting problems of inferior quality of constructed facilities, high incidence of claims and litigation, and frequent cost and schedule overruns have become the main features of public construction works contracts. This research was undertaken to assess the performance of public owned construction projects awarded on a lowest bidder bid awarding system.

Critical success factors in implementing flexible IT infrastructure in the Malaysian construction industry

Improved IT products and services are continually being introduced around the world. However, although an increasingly common approach in many industries, little is known of the characteristics of flexible IT infrastructure associated with its successful construction industry implementation. To rectify this situation, this study aimed to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) involved in the delivery of Information Technology Infrastructure Flexibility (ITIF) to the construction industry. An initial list of 38 potential factors divided into technical, people, and management dimensions and associated elements were identified by literature review and preliminary interviews with seven Malaysian companies representing a variety of construction industry participants and IT experts. This was followed by a main study comprising a questionnaire survey of 211 construction industry practitioners in Malaysia. Eighteen critical factors contributing to successful ITIF delivery are identified. Of these, two CSFs of hybrid skill and willingness to change appear to be unique to the Malaysian construction industry. Further research is recommended to assess the opinions of a wider variety of experienced practitioners to validate the findings and its applicability in the Malaysian context and beyond.

Innovations as a Factor for the Sustainable Functioning of a Construction Company

Competitive threats from international and domestic construction companies compel construction industry participants to intensify innovative processes with a view to improving the profitability of construction operations, expanding their offerings and upgrading the quality of their products.The introduction of assorted innovations is thus a way of enhancing the efficiency of construction operations.In terms of development levels, innovations may be classified into global, national, regional and industrywide.A construction company can introduce innovations by:- Consuming or using materials, machinery or equipment;- Making construction products in the form of units, buildings or structures;- Applying products to control corporate organizational structures and construction operations. Focused on technological innovations, this paper identifies those in the heaviest demand, used most frequently in construction operations, exploring the impacts of construction operation innovations on the sustainable functioning of a construction company. The authors propose a research and engineering hypothesis to the effect that the expert assessment method is instrumental in identifying innovations with positive impacts on construction operations, while ensuring the sustainable functioning of a construction company, subject to the correct selection of experts and assessment criteria.

Managing construction risk with weather derivatives

Among construction industry participants, weather has been perceived to be one of the most critical factors impacting project cash-flows. The overall impact of weather on the contractor’s project objectives is non-trivial due to construction industry incentive structures and contract specifics. This paper presents a framework that leverages stylized facts from the construction industry to motivate the use of weather derivatives in managing the non-trivial weather impacts. The proposed framework is demonstrated using data provided by a large construction contractor. We show that weather derivative portfolios used for hedging purposes by the contractor can address the contractor’s aversion for losses as well as the complicated relationship between weather and construction. Furthermore, weather derivative hedging reduces the contractor’s incentive to partake in risk chasing behavior in the face of weather delays and reduces the likelihood of the contractor exploiting other claims channels within the project contract.

Construction quality management

Improving the quality of construction products is a natural process that reflects the objective trend in the development of social production. It is due to the essence of market relations, considering quality as the main measure in the general perception of supply. A significant impetus to this process is given by quality management, which directs participants in the construction industry to create products that meet all the requirements.The right choice of management methods and tools enables successful implementation of projects, which in turn directly affects their competitiveness. The quality of construction products, as well as the quality of building (finishing) materials, as well as construction technologies, including design and other engineering solutions, should be much higher than the average formed. The most important function of quality management of construction products is to encourage construction industry participants to improve the quality characteristics of the products created. The managerial influence not only promotes high quality construction, but also adequately responds to all developments in the investment and construction sphere: organizational, structural, financial, technical and other changes.The article considers such a parameter of the project as quality, compares the experience of implementing the quality management system in domestic construction organizations and construction organizations of some foreign countries. The focus is on the most common methods and programs aimed at improving product quality.A study of domestic and foreign quality management and control systems has shown that the quality management and control system in foreign countries is organized more clearly and effectively than in our country, and certainly positive experience should be taken into service by our construction (and not only) companies, which is only to increase their competitiveness. As a result, the winners will be all participants of the construction project: the consumer of the end result, the customer-developer, investor, insurance companies, authorities and others.

Research on Information Integration of Construction Project Management Based on BIM

The application of BIM play a crucial role to improve the current situation, and it has attracted increasingly attention from ACE (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) industry participants, which improves the quality of project management and the ability of processing, integration and sharing information. The paper puts forward the framework of information integrated management mode based on BIM technology generally and based on the conceptual model of integrated information management system.The work still needed to complete is to develop BIM platform of integrated information management system based on Cloud technology and Internet of things at the later stage.

Life cycle energy of high-rise office buildings in Hong Kong

Buildings are responsible for about 92% of the total energy end-use in Hong Kong, of which above 70% is from the commercial sector. Most of the buildings in Hong Kong are high-rise, and approximately 15% of the total building stock is commercial buildings. Despite the considerable improvement in the understanding of the life cycle energy use of office buildings, there is still a lack of research into the life cycle energy demand of high-rise office buildings. Such knowledge is however essential for facilitating building energy conservation in the high-rise urban environment. The aim of this paper is to investigate the life cycle energy use of high-rise office buildings. The research was carried out through a critical literature review and case studies of ten real-life high-rise office buildings in Hong Kong. Results show that the life cycle energy consumption is 51.78–73.64 GJ/m2 over the 50-year study period. Building operation consumes 78–89% and the rest (i.e. 11–22%) is taken by the embodied energy. Despite the distinction in terms of the amount of embodied energy between high-rise buildings and low-rise counterparts, no clear correlation is found between building height and embodied energy intensity. Moreover, energy use for material manufacturing and transport should be prioritised in reducing the embodied energy, of which the transport energy needs to be taken into extra consideration for the case of Hong Kong. The findings should inform construction industry participants of the significant potential in reducing the embodied energy of high-rise office buildings. The paper profiles the life cycle energy use of high-rise office buildings and should be important for the policy formulation towards the holistic energy conservation in high-rise buildings over their lifespans.

Assessing Contractual Relationship Quality: Study of Judgment Trends among Construction Industry Participants

AbstractBecause of the need for collaboration and risk sharing, the construction industry is increasingly striving towards relational methods in procurement and contracting. Therefore, it is vital to understand how contracting parties evaluate their relationships with other parties. The concept of relationship quality has been applied as a measure for relational approaches. It utilizes attributes such as trust, performance satisfaction, commitment, and teamwork to demonstrate the appropriateness of a relationship for a particular purpose. Accordingly, configuring how relationship quality with the other contracting party is perceived can help educate the industry in steering towards better long-term relationships to fit strategic requirements. The current study focuses on identifying and classifying different judgment models towards relationship quality. A questionnaire survey has been used to explore how various industry groups evaluate their relationship quality with other contracting parties. Conjoint a...

Research on the phenomenon of asymmetric information in construction projects — The case of China

From the perspective of information economics, asymmetric information leads to opportunistic behavior, which is the primary cause of loss and risk in the construction market. This research studies on the probability and impacts of asymmetric information phenomena systematically and focuses on information asymmetry among owners, contractors and supervisors. This is conducted by inviting construction industry participants in China to evaluate asymmetric information phenomena in project management by questionnaires. The evaluation includes two stages, i.e. bidding stage and performance stage. Risk significant index is used to identify the key asymmetric information phenomena. “Owner's financial condition” and “Owner's ability to pay progress payments” gains the highest score in these two stages respectively. The research helps to distinguish the primary and secondary order of asymmetric information phenomena and improves the efficiency of project management. Principal participants may use it as a reference to prevent and reduce the uncertainty and risk in project management.

Perceived obstacles to multi-storey timber-frame construction: an Australian study

The contemporary default materials for multi-storey buildings – namely concrete and steel – are all significant generators of carbon and the use of timber products provides a technically, economically and environmentally viable alternative. In particular, timber's sustainability can drive increased use and subsequent evolution of the Blue economy as a new economic model. National research to date, however, indicates a resistance to the uptake of timber technologies in Australia. To investigate this further, a preliminary study involving a convenience sample of 15 experts was conducted to identify the main barriers involved in the use of timber frames in multi-storey buildings. A closed-ended questionnaire survey involving 74 experienced construction industry participants was then undertaken to rate the relative importance of the barriers. The survey confirmed the most significant barriers to be a perceived increase in maintenance costs and fire risk, together with a limited awareness of the emerging timber technologies available. It is expected that the results will benefit government and the timber industry, contributing to environmental improvement by developing strategies to increase the use of timber technologies in multi-storey buildings by countering perceived barriers in the Australian context.

The effect of unlearning on organisational learning behaviour and performance in construction contracting organisations

The process of ‘unlearning’ may prove, paradoxically, to be a critical factor in enabling successful learning behaviour in organisations. For this study a conceptual model of the relationship between unlearning and organisational learning was developed and arranged in a structural equation modelling (SEM) format. A survey was conducted of 112 construction industry participants in Australia to rate the significance of the identified factors. The results indicate a strong link between unlearning and performance improvement through organisational learning in the construction industry. The findings imply that if construction organisations actively practice unlearning strategies, they could be more capable of learning to enhance performance. This study contributes to the construction project management research by providing possible reasons leading to the organisations being incapable of learning. It is believed that the findings can provide valuable insights for management wishing to devise ways of enhancing a contracting organisation’s performance.

Critical Viewpoints on the Management of Conflict in Multi-National Construction Projects

International construction markets are increasingly taking economic advantage of the global workforce. It is common on international projects to find multi-cultural project teams located in multiple countries. Conflict management is becoming ever more important due to the rapid changes that are common in the current construction business environment. Global change, cultural diversity within multi-national project teams, and complexity are a few of the reasons that managing conflict is a critical skill for project team leaders. Results of this research provide an overview and describe multi-national construction projects, in which construction industry participants play an important role regarding the organization and performance, through a review of the published literature. Critical viewpoints of the paper and literature survey outcomes point in the direction that understanding multi-national or multi-cultural performances within construction projects can be a serious tool for dispute avoidance between the parties involved. DOI 10.5592/otmcj.2014.2.6 Research paper

An Analysis of the Construction Industry Structure in India

The Indian construction industry has had poor performance delivering on time, with quality and within cost. Project cost and time deviations have been documented at 25%. The paper introduces the utilization of the Construction Industry Structure model to identify the problem, the solution, and how the paradigm of the Indian industry must be changed. Instead of using peer review to determine the validity of the explanation, the authors will use observable deductive logic to validate their proposal. The success of the explanation is not peer review, but Indian academic/research unit adopting the explanation and running research tests with the construction industry participants. The CIS proposal to the industry is to replace the management, direction and control of personnel and vendors with a transparent system of metrics and utilizing the expertise of the experts in the beginning of the project.

A material supplier selection model for property developers using Fuzzy Principal Component Analysis

Nowadays, the participants in construction industry are facing pressure to meet the higher customer expectations under a tighter budget. On the other hand, an effective and efficient material supplier selection system has a significant effect in the business success of property developers. The aim of this study is to investigate a selection model based on Fuzzy Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for solving the material supplier selection problem from the perspective of property developers. First, the Triangular Fuzzy Numbers is used to quantify the decision makers' subjective judgments. Second, PCA is employed to compress the data of the selection criteria and eliminating the multicollinearity among them. Third, the linear combined score of PCA (SCORE PCA) is used to rank the suppliers. Four material purchases are used to validate the proposed selection model. The results show that the proposed model can be adopted in construction material supplier selection by the property developers.