Realization Of Construction Projects Research Articles

Investment and construction project management system with the use of building information modeling

One of the key principles of the construction industry development until 2030 is the transition to building information modeling at all stages of the life cycle of the capital construction object. The process of digital transformation not only affects and changes the final product, but also requires a full-fledged re-engineering of the company's internal processes.Purpose: The aim of this paper is to conduct the systems analysis of construction stage management within the framework of investment and construction project realization in the conditions of digital transformation.Research findings: The model of the life cycle management system of the capital construction object is developed using basis the information model.Value: Two main problems are outlined, that must be solved to implement the developed management system into practice.

Establishing the Economic Sustainability Criteria for Assessing Tenders in the Procurement of Building Works

As the global construction industry expands, it is imperative to prioritize economic sustainability due to the consequential effect on procurement practices. The procurement of building works, a pivotal phase in the realization of construction projects, requires a comprehensive framework to assess tenders that emphasise economic viability and align with sustainability principles. While traditional procurement processes primarily focus on cost considerations, the contemporary construction landscape necessitates a paradigm shift towards sustainable practices encompassing the economic dimension. Several studies have been conducted on public procurement and sustainability. Nevertheless, most of these studies focused on the environmental side of sustainability, leaving the social and economic dimensions unexplored. Hence, this study explores the sustainable economic criteria for assessing tenders in procuring building works. The study adopted the mixed research method; therefore, qualitative and quantitative data were employed in collecting the data for the study. The analysis deduced that the criteria for assessing the economic sustainability of tenders were categorized into management-related, technical, and commercial-related criteria, with the most significant variables being competitiveness, resource management skills, resource requirement assessment and profitability. The study’s findings can potentially influence the assessment tenders of construction firms for building works. Thus, it suggested that the management practices of the bidders must be thoroughly evaluated as it is a crucial factor in ensuring economic sustainability from the onset of the project processes. This study presents a novel to ascertain the criteria for assessing the sustainable economy of tenders in procuring building works in the Ghanaian Construction Industry. The results of this study can be a source of data to guide the evaluation of tenders in the construction industry in Ghana and other developing countries within the Sub-Saharan Region.

Development of proposals for improving the pricing of construction products

The purpose of the article is to explore the current situation in the pricing reform as of the 2nd quarter of 2023 using the example of costing for operating machines and mechanisms in calculating the estimated cost on the basis of the resource-and-index method. The methodological basis of the study is represented by economic and statistical analysis, systemic approach, systematisation of theoretical and practical material. The analysis of estimated prices for operation of machines and mechanisms is made on the basis of the ones posted in the Federal State Information System of Construction Pricing as of the 2nd quarter of 2023 and calculated in current prices with the use of estimated cost change indices relative to a group of homogeneous resources. Most of the reviewed examples for basic machinery and mechanisms used in construction show a negative deviation when calculated using the estimated cost change index. The use of prices for the operation of machinery and mechanisms, obtained using the estimated cost change index, can lead to underestimation of costs required for construction and, as a consequence, emergence of obstacles to successful realisation of a construction project. Based on the results of the analysis, proposals have been made to improve the construction products pricing on the basis of due costing for operation of machinery and mechanisms. It is necessary to envisage a number of measures aimed at successful realisation of investment and construction projects and due development of the construction sector as a whole.

Main principles of the formation of organizational and technological platform for scientific and technical support of unique objects

Introduction. Scientific and technical support (STS) is a modern tool for quality and safety control when realizing unique objects of capital construction. As an independent activity, STS has a large number of directions, interactions and processes carried out in its implementation. However, along with the significant contribution of STS in the realization of unique buildings and structures, it has a number of imperfections and open issues. It is proposed to solve them by using new terminology and the method of STS organization in a single structure — the organizational and technological platform for scientific and technical support of unique objects (OTP STS).
 
 Materials and methods. In order to form an organizational and technological platform, the STS is considered from the standpoint of systems engineering and the application of a systematic approach. The platform representation of STS activities makes it possible to structure the existing directions and interactions of STS into a single platform space. To formalize the interaction between the elements of the OTP STS, it is proposed to use the goal tree method with the decomposition of the platform objectives into levels.
 
 Results. Identification of the main subsystems of the OTP STS: Participants, Processes, Database of works, allowed to formulate the concept of the OTP STS. In order to obtain the necessary result from the activities of the OTP STS, all its elements need to work together. The use of the goal tree method made it possible to perform a level-by-level decomposition of goals, where at the top level — the general goal of the platform, then — problems (tasks) that are the goals of the platform subsystems, at the bottom level — directions of decisions (a set of measures aimed at achieving the goals of a higher level).
 
 Conclusions. Organizational and technological platform of scientific and technological support is a set of basic elements of STS, based on the interaction of the processes implemented by the participants of a unique construction project that occur during scientific and technical support, and the use of a database of work in order to achieve the result of STS. Achievement of objectives of platform subsystems will allow to eliminate existing shortcomings of STS activity that will positively influence not only on result of STS performance, but also on terms of organization of this process and, hence, on terms of construction project realization.

Justification of the strategic priorities of raising investment attractiveness of housing construction (on the example of Moscow city case study)

Successful justification of strategic priorities in housing construction is vital for the comprehension of development of territorial zoning and urban infrastructure. Also, it satisfies a number of people’s needs which can be observed in renovation of the housing stock and creation of investment infrastructure for attracting external and internal capital. At the same time it is essential to understand that in the context of state and municipal administration the strategic priority for state and business interaction is meeting the needs of both parties. That is the reason why the strategy of development and improvement of the city is of vital importance from the viewpoint of the comfort of life and improvement of the quality of urban infrastructure. And in order to attract investors to the realization of construction projects in which the authorities are primarily interested it is necessary to create additional preferences. Due to the fact that profitability of mass housing construction projects is rather low but it forms the main demand among the population, taking into account the factors of comfort and integration into the urban environment, the authors decided to study and justify the existing trends in the development of large megacities with the consideration of the regional factors and justify strategic priorities for raising investment attractiveness of construction objects for investors.

Optimization of the characteristics of organizational and technological solutions aimed at reducing the impact of project risks

Introduction. The research relevance is determined by the need of modern design and construction organizations to objectively estimate the impact of various categories of risks on the results of the construction projects’ implementation, as well as the limitations of existing tools used to justify the parameters for the implementation of construction projects, taking into account the risks of the internal and external environment. The mentioned above features determined the feasibility of conducting the research, which purpose is to develop the tools for determination of the characteristics for organizational and technological solutions aimed at reducing the impact of risks on the results of construction projects’ implementation.
 
 Materials and methods. The methodology of the substantiation of the characteristics of organizational and technological solutions aimed at reducing the impact of risks on the results of construction projects has been developed. The methodology assumes forming the analytical model of dependence of risk indicator value from parameters of the construction project to be realized (risk parameters) with further building and realization of an optimization model to substantiate changes of the ma-naged risk parameters on the basis of criteria of total expenses for realization of the indicated changes and actual values of indicators of negative influence of risk on the results of realization of construction project.
 
 Results. The developed method has been realized by the practical example, as a result of the corresponding calculation procedures the values of the parameters’ changes of the operating process of the investment and building organization of the oil and gas sector to provide the required values of the actual average (by objects) term of delay in putting into operation and the share of the objects put into operation on time have been obtained.
 
 Conclusions. Based on the results of the implementation of the proposed methodology on a practical example, the conclusion of a high practical significance of the developed tool has been made. The features of the developed method that reduce the area of its effective application have been identified, in particular, dependence of the adequacy of the results of the method realization on the adequacy of the analytical model of dependence of the risk indicator value on the para-meters of the ongoing construction project. For elimination of the revealed disadvantages, the updating of the methodology on the further stages of research is planned.

Modeling the Hindrances to Building Information Modeling Adoption on Construction Projects in Nigeria

This study was motivated by the need to deploy building information modeling (BIM) and its technologies to improve the realization of construction projects. Prior to the introduction of BIM, the construction industry was confronted with obstacles and was sluggish in adopting change. Until recently, existing BIM research has mostly focused on large enterprises, and there has been an apparent pattern of underrepresentation of medium-sized firms in BIM-related studies. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the major hindrances to BIM’s adoption in construction projects as well as the dynamics of these hindrances in a developing country like Nigeria, using the total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) approach. The TISM displayed an eleven-level hierarchy of hindrances made up of independent, dependent, and linkage categories. Based on the MICMAC analysis, "lack of skilled BIM personnel" had the highest driving and the lowest dependence (independent) power, thus indicating its importance in the adoption of BIM. The findings further showed that "lack of awareness of BIM" and "resistance to change" are critical for the adoption of BIM in construction projects. The drivers (dependents) for the ease of adoption of BIM by policymakers and practitioners within the built industry are thus defined in this study. This study contributes to the early studies of BIM adoption from a developing country’s perspective.

Procjena troškova za integralne mostove primjenom umjetne inteligencije

Estimation of costs is important in every phase of realisation of construction projects. However, the influence of cost estimation is the highest in early phases as it is then that the decision about accepting the job or withdrawing from the project is made. The quantity of data available in initial phases of the project is smaller compared to subsequent phases, which affects accuracy of cost estimation in such early phases. A research making use of artificial intelligence to estimate construction costs of integral road bridges is presented in the paper. The estimation model is prepared by means of neural networks. The best neural network model has proven to be highly accurate in the estimation of costs based on the mean absolute error, which amounts to 13.40 %.

The Contribution of Workers’ Attributes on Sustainability of Construction Project Realization Goals—Survey on the Impact on Productivity in Croatia

The work of workers is still dominant in the realization of most construction projects and therefore has a great impact on the productivity of contractors and, thereby, on the sustainability of realization of the goals of contractors and clients. This article provides an overview of the results of more than 100 studies from the previous decade on the impacts of factors related to the personal attributes of workers on the productivity and performance of construction projects. Based on the reviewed literature and semi-structured interviews with experienced professionals in the construction industry, the relation between worker characteristics and other influences on labor productivity is defined and a list of worker characteristics suitable for research in Croatia is compiled. A survey of 262 workers, engineers, and managers from construction industries of Croatia’s eastern region, Slavonia and Baranja, showed that the worker characteristics that most influence labor productivity are experience and dexterity. It was also noticed, with a high correlation between the different groups of respondents, that physical strength and morale and morality of the workers were rated as highly influential, while education level was rated as the least influential. The research results are useful because they indicate the possibility of significantly improving the productivity of construction contractors by selecting workers with appropriate physical abilities and cognitive and non-cognitive skills, as well as developing a suitable system for training and motivation of employees.

Predicting buildings construction cost overruns on the basis of cost overruns structure

In construction practice, contractually agreed costs are often exceeded, which interferes with the sustainable realization of construction projects. The research described in this paper covers 24 new construction, renovation and reconstruction projects in the Republic of Croatia realized in the years 2006 to 2017, in order to analyse the occurrence of cost overruns more precisely with regard to the source of the overruns. It was found that additional work is the main source of cost overruns: firstly, additional work as a result of the client’s change orders and then unforeseen construction work as a result of unforeseen circumstances. As for the additional works, they are carried out at the client’s request and are not necessary for the safety and stability of the building. Using linear regression and “soft computing” methods, the possibility of modelling the relationship between contractually agreed and realized construction costs with satisfactory accuracy was tested. The model with the values of the natural logarithms of the variables, modelled according to the time–cost model of Bromilow, proved to be of the highest accuracy.

The process and project approach as the basis for harmonization of development management system of a construction company

The article is devoted to development of theoretical positions as well as methodical and practical base for increasing the efficiency of cost management of construction project realization. The modernized organization and economic mechanism of formation and cost management of the construction project realization is proposed. This mechanism is determined as integrated system of planning and control for the cost of construction project realization. The main directions of harmonization of components of company’s development due management system due to the process and project approach that combines advantages of value-oriented management and methodology of project management are indicated.

An Effective Approach to Input Variable Selection for Preliminary Cost Estimation of Construction Projects

Accurate cost estimates are vital to the effective realisation of construction projects. Extended knowledge, wide-ranging information, substantial expertise, and continuous improvement are required to attain accurate cost estimation. Cost estimation at the preliminary phase of the project is always a challenge as only limited information is available. Hence, rational selection of input variables for preliminary cost estimation could be imperative. A systematic input variable selection approach for preliminary estimating using an integrated methodology of factor analysis and fuzzy AHP is presented in this paper. First, the factor analysis is used to classify and reduce the input variables and their variable coefficients are determined. Second, fuzzy AHP based on the geometric mean method is employed to determine the weights of input variables in a fuzzy environment where the subjectivity and vagueness are handled with natural language expressions parameterized by triangular fuzzy numbers. Then, the input variables are suggested to be selected starting with those having high coefficient and high importance weight. A set of three variables, one from each group, can be added to the estimating model at a time so that the problem of collinearity can vanish and good accuracy of the estimate can be ensured. The proposed approach enables cost estimators to better understand the complete input variable selection process at the early stage of project development and provide a more accurate, rational, and systematic decision support tool.

Quality of Project Documentation

The article deals with the issue of the checking of project documentation and the quality of project documentation. The analyzes of expert reports, which are created in expert institutions in Czech Republic, point to the fact, that a large proportion of defects in construction projects often have roots in the defects of the project documentation. The cause of the defect is often already in the design concept itself. The analyzes of expert reports show the need to pay attention to the checking of project documentation of construction projects before the actual realization. The proposal for a method of the checking of project documentation is based on the principle of continuous improvement of quality. The principle of continuous improvement of quality is often described in the PDCA diagram. In this article I deal with the checking of project documentation in connection with the analysis of the claimed defects. The data obtained by monitoring the claimed defects form good basis for the creation of the documents for the following checking of project documentation. In order to make effective use of information come from the claimed defects, we have to set properly the criteria, which we will evaluate in the context of the monitoring of claimed defects. When selecting a suitable method for analyzing data obtained by monitoring claimed defects, the choice of the Failure Mode and Effect Analysis method (FMEA) was made. In the beginning, it is necessary to choose appropriate expert ratings for the monitoring of claimed defects from the point of view of the cause of the defect, the financial difficulty to eliminate the defect and others. FMEA method is a multi-criteria analysis, so it is up to the author how many expert ratings he chooses to obtain the necessary input data. Expert analysis of input data will provide risk areas and technologies, that need to be dealt with in more detail and which should be followed in the checking of project documentation. My goal is to create a system, that will prevent the recurrent occurrence of identical claimed defects. By eliminating of claimed defects it is possible to achieve considerable financial savings within building companies. Based on the obtained data, tools for the effective checking of project documentation are created. During the initial checking of project documentation before the actual realization of construction project, it is possible to successfully prevent future defects and eliminate the ever-increasing costs of defects removal.

Implementation of Process-Based and Data-Driven Models for Early Prediction of Construction Time

The need of respecting the construction time as one of the construction contract elements points out that early prediction of construction time is of crucial importance for the construction project participants’ business. Thus, having a model for early prediction of construction time is useful not only for the participants involved in the construction contracting process, but also for other participants in the construction project realization. Regarding that, this paper aims to present a hybrid method for predicting construction time in the early project phase, which is a combination of process-based and data-driven models. Five hybrid models have been developed, and the most accurate one was the BTC-GRNN model, which uses Bromilow’s time-cost (BTC) model as a process-based model and the general regression neural network (GRNN) as a data-driven model. For evaluating the quality of the models, the 10-fold cross-validation method has been used. The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of the BTC-GRNN is 3.34% and the coefficient of determination R2, which reflects the global fit of the model, is 93.17%. These results show a drastic improvement of the accuracy in comparison to the model when only data-driven model (GRNN) has been used, where MAPE was 31.8% and R2 was 75.64%. This model can be useful to the investors, the contractors, the project managers, and other project participants for construction time prediction in the early project phases, especially in the phases of bidding and contracting, when many factors, that can determine the construction project realization, are unknown.

Impact on Total Costs and Construction Period of Residential Buildings in Prague

Optimization is a common and very often necessary process performed for economic reasons during the realization of construction projects. This report presents the optimization of a residential project at the beginning of the construction process. It describes detailed modifications made to concrete reinforcement construction that have brought cost savings, while at the same time taking into consideration the risks and costs that result from project modification.

Analiza troškova kvalitete odabranih građevinskih radova

Rad se bavi problematikom troškova kvalitete građevinskih radova. Ovaj se problem, osobito kod nas, do sada nije istraživao u značajnijoj mjeri. U današnje vrijeme, kvaliteta zauzima značajno mjesto u svim djelatnostima pa tako i građevinskoj. Poznato je da zadovoljenje tražene kvalitete predstavlja i jedno od bitnih mjerila uspješnosti realizacije građevinskih projekata. Naravno da postizanje kvalitete iziskuje i trošenje financijskih sredstava. Međutim, uobičajeno je da su ti troškovi sadržani u ukupnim troškovima te se njihovoj kvantifikaciji ne posvećuje posebna pažnja. Za očekivati je da će daljnjim porastom složenosti građevinskih projekata i povećanjem zahtjeva kvalitete problem kvantifikacije ovih troškova dobivati na važnosti. Kao doprinos rješavanju ovog problema provedeno je istraživanje prikupljanjem i analizom podataka o troškovima kvalitete putem anketnog upitnika među zaposlenicima građevinskih tvrtki. Istraživanjem se pokušalo utvrditi uvjetuju li trajanje i troškovi rada i materijala građevinske radne operacije iznos troškova kvalitete. Kriteriji za odabir građevinskih radova bili su učestalost pojavljivanja u projektima visokogradnje te broj radnih operacija od kojih se sastoje. Odabrano je pet radova (izrada oplate temelja, armiranje šipkastom armaturom, ugrađivanje betona C16/20, zidanje zidova opekom, žbukanje zidova), svaki sastavljen od najmanje tri radne operacije. Odabranim radovima određeni su postotni udjeli troškova kvalitete po radnim operacijama, koji su zatim uspoređeni s udjelima vremena i troškova rada i materijala. Vremenski i troškovni udjeli izračunati su pomoću normativa građevinskih radova, dok su udjeli troškova kvalitete procijenjeni na temelju podataka dobivenih anketiranjem. Rezultati su pokazali da iznos troškova kvalitete radnih operacija ispitivanih radova nije nužno proporcionalan trajanju i troškovima rada i materijala. Drugim riječima, mjerilo postignute kvalitete nije samo vrijeme rada uloženo u njeno dostizanje, kao ni kvaliteta ugrađenih materijala, već i kvaliteta samog rada izvršitelja. Pored toga, kad se radnoj operaciji pristupa s potrebnom pozornošću, smanjuje se i mogućnost pogreške, potreban dodatni rad, a time i dodatni troškovi za kvalitetu.

APPLICATION OF FUZZY AHP FOR RANKING AND SELECTION OF ALTERNATIVES IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGEMENT

The construction project management (CPM) is very important and large segment of entire project manage­ment (PM). Realisation of construction projects is usually long term process which requests significant financial, mate­rial, human and other resources to fulfil contracted obligations and achieve a good quality of works. Therefore, making good decisions with the satisfaction of various criteria is one of the main conditions to achieve planed business objec­tives and finish the project in contracted time with good quality. This paper proposes a new procedure for determination of the weights of criteria and alternatives in the Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) with trapezoidal fuzzy number using a new method for finding eigenvelues and eigenvectors of the criteria and alternatives, which is based on expected values of the fuzzy numbers and their products. Local and global fuzzy weights of the alternatives are determined using linear programming. In the paper a formula for ranking fuzzy numbers by reduced generalized fuzzy mean is also pro­posed, since ranking by the coefficient of variation is not always reliable. In the presented case study, applying proposed method, from imprecise input data are obtained enough accurate and useful results for rational ranking of alternatives related to the project realization.

Coordination of Project and Current Activities on the Basis of the Strategy Alignment Metamodel in the Oil and Gas Company

Purpose: the purpose of this article is to describe the Strategy Alignment Metamodel of the project and current activities, which allows us to connect the Goals and Strategies for Phases of the project with the Goals and Strategies of the company at all levels of the organization through targeted measurement and application of Interpretive Models. Building Networks of Goals and Strategies, and adopting organizational solutions, you coordinate the interaction of the Project office and departments of the company. This methodology is based on a Logical Rationale of the Contexts and Assumptions for establishing Goals and Strategies both for the project and for the company, and on preparation of Contexts and Assumptions, Goals and Strategies Alignment Matrices, which provides a flexible adaptation to the internal and external environment in the process of selecting the most successful Strategies to achieve the Goals. Methods: this article is based on the concept of Goals-Questions-Metrics+ Strategies, which is adapted as another concept of strategic monitoring and control system of projects: Goals-Phases-Metrics+Strategies. These concepts have formed the basis of the Strategy Alignment Metamodel, where a technology of Phases Earned Value Management is used as a measurement system for the project activity, and Balanced scorecard is applied for current operations. Results: strategy Alignment Metamodel of the project and current activities of the company is proposed hereby. It uses modern strategic monitoring and control systems for projects: Goals-Phases-Metrics+Strategies, and for the company: Goals-Questions-Metrics+ Strategies. The interaction between these systems is based on Contexts and Assumptions, Goals and Strategies Alignment Matrices. The existence of such matrices greatly simplifies management decisions and prevents the risk of delays in the execution of project Phases based on rational participation and coordination of the company’s departments. This model and the Networks of Goals and Strategies of the project and current activities, which are produced on its basis, have found practical application in the realization of construction project of production line of the LNG plant (Liquefied Natural Gas) and have led to effective communication between the Project office, departments and external stakeholders. Conclusions and Relevance: these studies show that the Strategy Alignment Metamodel is effective in the coordination of the project and current activities; as a result it is possible to agree the Contexts and Assumptions as well as Goals and Strategies. Forming Networks of Goals and Strategies, it is easier to monitor the activities of the departments of the company in case of their participation in the execution of the project phases and divide responsibilities between them. Application of Strategy Alignment Metamodel leads to better identification and management of risks that arise due to poor communication of the Project office with the departments of the company in delegation of works on the project Phases execution. Single database for Networks of Goals and Stretegies, Contexts and Assumptions, Goals and Strategies Alignment Matrices can serve as templates for future projects and training of the company’s project managers.

Participation of the Society for the Support of the Construction of State Schools in the Realisation of Construction Projects in the North-eastern Borderlands of the Second Republic of Poland

In the Second Republic of Poland the actions undertaken in state schooling called for intensive efforts in the realisation of the school duty and the organisation of new schools. The difficulties related with the setting up of the network of schools which would allow children to fulfil their school duty would arise in, among others, the north-eastern borderlands of the reborn Republic. The aforementioned tasks required major financial contributions connected with the construction of schools. These needs were too high for the State Treasury. Likewise, the local government, especially in villages, did not have sufficient funds. In 1933 the Society for the Support of the Construction of State Schools was founded. It was a charity organisation that would undertake a number of different actions to use even small funds to provide significant financial support in construction of schools.

Evaluating Contractors and Offered Structural Solution

The paper presents the methodology of intersecting evaluation and selection of structures and contractors. The structure evaluation matches the phase of the construction project realization (technological aspect), while the investor defines criteria and limitations in selecting a contractor. The problem is solved applying the multicriteria optimization method.