Saudi Arabian Construction Industry Research Articles

A Theoretical Framework to Promote LCA in the Construction Industry of Saudi Arabia

The building and construction sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), experiencing rapid growth, is in the early stages of embracing sustainability measures. In the years ahead, the booming building sector in business-as-usual scenarios may pose serious energy and environmental challenges for the Kingdom. This situation will require the Saudi building sector to adopt robust sustainability measures. Embedding life cycle assessment (LCA) as a standard practice can be a useful strategy for improving the energy and environmental footprint of buildings. This paper proposes a theoretical framework within which to promote LCA in the Saudi Arabian construction industry. This framework comprises three pillars: policy, social, and technical. The framework covers the role of the Saudi building sector’s stakeholders such as policy makers, building industry professionals, representatives of relevant governmental bodies, and academics. Adaptation of this LCA framework can help substantially improve the energy and environmental performance of buildings. The proposed LCA framework is aligned with the international as well as the Saudi government’s drive for sustainability in the building sector.

An Evaluation Study of the Impact of Occupational Health and Safety on Productivity in Saudi Arabia Construction Industry

An Evaluation Study of the Impact of Occupational Health and Safety on Productivity in Saudi Arabia Construction Industry

Value Engineering Adoption’s Barriers and Solutions: The Case of Saudi Arabia’s Construction Industry

Several developing countries around the globe have launched their future visions, which include concrete strategic plans that involve many kinds of mega-construction projects. One common goal across these visions is to increase the efficiency of construction projects’ huge expenditures using recent sustainable, practical engineering tools, such as the value engineering (VE) approach. Although the VE approach has been around for a few years now, some barriers prevent the popularity of its application in different construction projects. This research investigates the barriers to adopting VE through a systematic literature review. This study has categorized the application barriers using thematic analysis under three main categories: barriers related to practitioners’ knowledge and background, barriers associated with the behavior of practitioners towards VE, and barriers related to the implementation of VE. Moreover, this research has investigated solutions to overcome these barriers and improve the application of VE in construction projects. Saudi Arabia’s construction industry is used as a case study. A survey was distributed to Saudi construction industry practitioners using the snowballing technique to evaluate the criticality of the found barriers to adopting VE and the best strategic solutions to overcome these barriers using the importance–performance analysis (IPA) approach. Based on the results of this study we have specifically recommended including a VE course in college engineering programs and an incentive clause in construction contracts to encourage VE application on construction projects at the top of the list of proposed solutions. Finally, defining the criticality of barriers and the effectiveness of solutions will help enhance the application of VE and sustainability practices in the Saudi Arabian construction industry and around the globe.

Modified Mamdani-fuzzy inference system for predicting the cost overrun of construction projects

Cost overruns are a common worldwide problem in the construction industry; improved proactive risk management and cost control are much needed. Several models have been proposed, but all have weaknesses, particularly in data demands and the severity of critical risks or uncertainties associated with expert judgment. In response, this study develops a new 3-part model based on the Mamdani-type fuzzy inference system (FIS) to predict the cost overrun of construction projects. The first part assesses the weight of each expert, evaluating the severity of cost overrun factors. The second part contains a list of 40 in-built cost overrun factors and their degree of severity, while the third part establishes the relationships of every factor’s occurrence probability and severity to predict the cost overrun of a specific project. The severity of each factor is assessed based on a survey of 31 randomly selected experts in the Saudi Arabian construction industry. The model is demonstrated on two completed projects in Saudi Arabia. For each project, this involves a group of project-based experts rating the probability of occurrence of each factor on that project and applying this to the factor severity list to obtain a predicted cost overrun (PCO) for the whole project. The model is validated for robustness by sensitivity analysis comparing the predicted and actual whole project cost overrun and shown to be of practical value in assessing critical risks and predicting the likely amount of cost overrun. The model is equally applicable in the early project stages.

Identifying the significant causes of waste of housing infrastructure projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Construction waste issues have worsened globally due to the fast development of construction activities. The environment, expenditures, duration, productivity, and social dimension of the country are all negatively impacted by construction waste. The construction sector needs an in-depth knowledge of the development and construction management waste to minimize its detrimental effects. The infrastructure works of housing projects play a substantial role in many economies, including Saudi Arabia. Lean is presented as an improvement management approach for construction projects through lean techniques (less waste, time, and cost). Thus, optimizing project profitability is considered. This paper introduces the adoption of Lean in the construction of Housing infrastructure works in Saudi Arabia, in which waste can be eliminated or reduced when the causes are identified, thereby improving the reliability, stability, and optimizing profitability of construction operations. This article aims to establish the main sources of waste in Saudi Arabia's housing infrastructure projects. A questionnaire survey was conducted among owners, consultants, and contractors in Saudi Arabia. The Partial Least Square Structure Equation Model (PLS-SEM) and Relative Importance Index (RII) methods were used to analyze the collected data. The main finding revealed that the ten most important causes of waste are distributed among owners, consultants, and contractors by 20%, 10%, and 50% using the PLS-SEM method. At the same time, those percentages differ in the case of using the RII method as follows: 20%, 80%, and 0%. The consultant's causes have a mutual influence on the owner's causes and the consultant's causes. The research is considered one of the first such studies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and may enhance stakeholders' understanding of performance improvement from a lean system viewpoint in the Saudi Arabian construction industry.

Critical Success Factors (CFSs) ImplementationCost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) Into Building Information Modelling (BIM) Application Through Malaysian Government Healthcare Projects

The healthcare industry in Malaysia is proving to be one of the most competitive industries today. The sector is expected to grow to 127 billion ringgit (US$30 billion) by 2027, fuelled by increasing demand for healthcare services from an aging population, rising affluence, and increasing life expectancy. An advanced support system is required to ensure the deliverable and have a significant impact on national growth. One commonly used framework to support such crucial decisions in public projects and policies is Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA). Integration of more support systems such as CBA and Building Information Modelling (BIM) will further enhance government construction project delivery. The objective of this research was to analyse critical success factors toward the integration of CBA and BIM implementation in Malaysian government healthcare facility projects. The outlined research objective aimed to enhance the integration of CBA within BIM implementation. A mixed-methods approach had been selected to collect the data and obtain the desired information. Via this mixed method, a questionnaire survey was conducted first, followed by the interview session. 90 numbers of respondents (populations) registered via the MYBIM Resources Network List (MyBIM CIDB), 74 numbers of respondents were set as a sampling set, and five (5) random respondents who participated in the early questionnaire survey were then selected to be further interviewed. The most CSFs quoted by the respondents are “peoples” via the interview and training and development via a questionnaire survey. This finding, comparatively, looks almost similar to what was found by previous research done in Hong Kong and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's construction industry. Since CBA and BIM are the most important tools in construction and its deliverables, it is expected that the government, via their technical agencies, will properly and strictly enforce their current policies, which will be followed by all the players in the construction industry. In addition, more training should be provided to equip our construction industry professionals with the latest technology regarding CBA and BIM.

Contract Administration and its Future in Saudi Arabia

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has experienced rapid economic growth and infrastructure development, leading to an increased demand for efficient and effective contract administration. This paper investigates the current state of contract administration in Saudi Arabia and explores its future prospects in light of emerging technologies, legal frameworks, and industry best practices. Through a comprehensive review of relevant literature, interviews with industry professionals, and analysis of case studies, we identify key challenges and opportunities in the realm of contract administration, such as the need for standardized processes, improved dispute resolution mechanisms, and enhanced collaboration among stakeholders. The paper also highlights the potential benefits of adopting digital technologies, such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI), to streamline contract administration processes, reduce human errors, and increase overall efficiency. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for stakeholders involved in the Saudi Arabian construction industry and provide recommendations for future research and policy development in the field of contract administration.

Adopting BIM to Enhance Sustainability. The Saudi Arabia Construction Projects case study

Building information modelling (BIM) has become an efficient tool to contribute more effectively to achieving sustainability development goals. BIM utilities have progressively revealed efficient environments to share data amongst stakeholders. The present paper aims to evaluate levels of awareness around BIM capabilities amongst engineers and project managers, focusing on the Saudi Arabia construction industry. The study targeted individuals registered with the Saudi Council of Engineers until the year 2020, who were invited to engage with a questionnaire survey. The study targeted individuals registered with the Saudi Council of Engineers, who were invited to engage with a questionnaire survey. A sample of 940 participants was taken by the survey out of a total population of the study of 55776 engineers whose responses materialised in a robust statistical analysis. According to the survey, 61% (circa 572) have developed awareness of BIM, whereas 39% (368) confirmed that they had never heard of it. A descriptive Statistics framework with the aid of SPSS has been developed to complete the statistical study. Analyses of data indicated that the benefit of using BIM is significant in the broad sustainability realm, Life Cycle Cost (LCC), operations and maintenance, efficient use of energy, daylight analysis, thermal design, and transparency in cost.

A Review on Significant Factors Causing Delays in Saudi Arabia Construction Projects

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is suffering major delays in construction projects. Because the construction business in Saudi Arabia has changed dramatically over the last three decades, it is crucial to conduct a thorough study into the reasons for delays and to get industry experts on the same page. In this paper, an overview of the construction sector generally and the Saudi Arabian construction industry has been presented. Based on the literature review the major causes, as well as effects of the delays caused in the construction industry, have been identified. Some of the common causes identified are incorrect planning, administration problems, difficulties in financing, lack of experienced staff, and poor communication. It is advised that the major actors in the construction sector employ the proper tactics to implement preventative measures to lessen the consequences when carrying out construction projects.

Factors Affecting Construction Productivity for Steel Rebar Work in Hot Climate Country

Introduction: Construction industry is increasingly emphasizing productivity due to its effect on key performance indicators such as schedule, budget, and quality of work. This study aims to identify and rank the factors affecting the productivity of steel rebar work in construction projects in a hot climate. Among the activities involved in structural reinforced concrete work, fabricating and placing reinforced steel on a construction site is considered the most labor-intensive, outdoor, and time-consuming. Methods: In this paper, an intensive qualitative literature review is conducted to identify the factors affecting the productivity of steel rebar work in concrete construction. Initially, forty factors were identified from the literature affecting the productivity of steel rebar work in Saudi Arabia. Final list of thirty-seven factors was used in the questionnaire survey. The identical nature and core content of these factors are clustered and grouped into five categories: technical, labor, management, external, and financial. As part of this study, fifty contractors working in the Saudi Arabian construction industry are recruited to participate and complete a structured pilot study questionnaire. Results: The results of the questionnaire are weighted using the pairwise comparison method and then ranked based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process technique. The analysis of the thirty-seven factors results in a top ten list of the leading factors that directly impact the productivity of steel rebar work in concrete construction projects in Saudi Arabia. These factors are (1) humidity, (2) delay of salary, (3) sandstorms, (4) payment delay by client, (5) labor's low wage, (6) lack of financial incentives, (7) labor work experience and skills, (8) completeness of drawings, (9) poor labor relations, and (10) labor absenteeism. The general trend in these studies is that the factors tend to vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, from one construction project to another, and are directly related to the zone or country of construction. Conclusion: These findings benefit stakeholders working in the concrete construction industry in Saudi Arabia, particularly project managers, project planners, cost estimators, and civil design and site engineers working on construction projects.

Benefits Realization and Application Challenges of Green Concrete Towards Sustainability in Saudi Arabian Construction

In recent years, Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emission has been increased by 22% in Saudi Arabia, and the building construction sector is one of the major contributors to increased CO2. This necessitates Saudi Arabia's introduction of energy efficiency and sustainability in the construction sector. Green Concrete (GC) has recently gained popularity in the Kingdom as it is environmentally friendly and produced from waste and residual materials. However, every new technology faces application challenges that can stymie its adoption in the industry. As a result, this study aims to determine the potential benefits and application challenges of using GC technology in Saudi Arabian's construction industry. This study conducted a comprehensive literature review of the subject followed by a questionnaire survey to field practitioners and interviews with professional experts to determine the potential benefits and application challenges of GC technology. In addition, an analysis of GC trail test documents implemented in a local project and a meeting with the project team were also conducted to determine the trial test's advantages and implementation challenges. The major benefits identified in this study are reduced energy use, waste material reuse, CO2 reduction, natural resource conservation, and reduced landfill numbers, while the major implementation challenges identified in this study are discouraging building codes and a lack of information and understanding of GC benefits. Subsequently, recommendations for government agencies, private sector businesses, and concrete suppliers are provided to improve the benefits of GC, resolve application challenges, and promote and accelerate its adoption in Saudi Arabia.

Stakeholders’ Insight on the Delay of Constructions Projects in the Makkah Region- KSA

Aims: This study aims to identify the major causes of delays in construction projects in the Makkah region of Saudi Arabia. It investigates the opinions of different stakeholders separately to ensure partiality and objectivity. Background: Saudi Arabia's construction industry is experiencing rapid expansion, with no shortage of contracts in any sector, either from housing or utilities to transport infrastructure. Public spending is driving the contracting industry forward [Oxford]. The construction industry contributed between 30% to 40% of the non-oil productive sectors at the end of each National Development Plan from 1980 to 2000. Makkah receives around two million pilgrims during the annual Hajj and more than 20 million visitors for performing Umrah (Al-Emad). Substantial public funds have been spent on construction projects to develop Makkah during recent years. Real estate, infrastructure, hospitals, and retail sectors are among those most likely to benefit. Most of these projects suffered delays and their consequences. The Saudi Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MOMRA) and the Ministry of Transportation acknowledged public construction project delays. They reported that approximately 75% of them exceeded their scheduled time. This is one of the main reasons to conduct this study. Methods: In this study, a comprehensive questionnaire has been developed, consisting of seventy-three causes of delay. The questionnaire was organized in the form of an importance scale. Respondents were asked to indicate their responses by ticking a column of the impact and frequency of each of the causes and construction delay in terms of 5 = very important, 4 = important, 3 = somewhat important, 2 = less important, and 1 = not important. A hundred fifty questionnaires were distributed by hand to the contractor, the consultant, and the owner in the Makkah region of Saudi Arabia. Ninety-seven forms were filled, received, and processed. The survey data were grouped into eight significant categories: owner, consultant designer, supervisor, contractor, material, labor, site, and external factors. A ninth group is left for the participants to add whatever they think of furtherer causes of delay. Results: The evaluation of the three separate surveys conducted on the responses of the owner, the contractors, and the consultant supervisor, show that the contractor is mainly responsible for the delay. Around 47% of the top ten delay factors fall in the contractor delay factors followed by laborers and owners. Three categories have not been mentioned in the top ten as delay category, including supervisors, materials, and external factors. Only one delay factor was found to be shared among the three-survey group, which is related to the labor category, that is, low productivity of labor. Conclusion: Three separate surveys have been conducted to investigate the delay in the construction industry in the Makkah region of Saudi Arabia. The surveys contain a questionnaire of seventy-three possible delay factors investigating the opinions of the three main stakeholders in the construction industry: the owners, the contractors, and the consultants. The evaluation of the survey impacts shows that the contractor is mainly responsible for the delay, followed by laborers and then the owners. One common delay factor was found among the three surveyed groups related to the labor category; that is, low productivity of labor. In frequency, the contractor category also occupied the highest percentage of the total delay contributors. Another common delay factor was found among the three surveyed groups, also related to the contractor category, that being the lack of risk evaluation by the contractor.

The costs of accidents in Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia construction industry

The costs of accidents in Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia construction industry

The costs of accidents in Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia construction industry

Considering the construction projects and the current status of occupational safety in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, this article attempts to estimate the costs of accidents in construction. The parameters used in these estimates include the values of the current projects in the three main countries including Qatar, Oman, and Saudi Arabia; and the amount disbursed by the government organizations against injuries, disabilities, and deaths. The total costs of an accident in Oman are estimated at US$ 415,620 with an economic burden of US$ 205.73 Million/year. In Saudi Arabia, the costs of an accident are estimated at US$ 91,940, while the economic burden of the Saudi economy is estimated at US$ 261.11 Million/year. Similarly, the costs of an accident in the Qatari construction industry stand at US$ 205,526. The costs of an accident in these countries are quite higher than the costs in the USA, UK, AUS, and SA.

Measuring the Causes of Saudi Arabian Construction Accidents: Management and Concerns

Introduction: Research indicate that construction site accidents are a global concern, and rates are rapidly increasing. In developing countries such as Saudi Arabia, safety issues are frequently ignored, and little is known about their causes.
 Objectives: This study aimed to shed light on factors causing accidents in Saudi Arabian construction companies.
 Methods: An online detailed survey, using Google Form, of accident features was distributed randomly to potential employees in 35 construction companies in Saudi Arabia, where one of the top administrators or safety officers were required to respond to the survey. It was conducted from 1st June to 31st August, 2013. The safety practices and perceptions of accident causes were assessed.
 Results: The response rate was 63%. Over half of the surveyed organizations encountered all of the selected accident types. While 19 (86%) of the construction companies maintained the equipment regularly, 15 (68%) had regular maintenance staff and 13 (59%) inspected the equipment before use. Although 18 (82%) of the workers were supplied with personal protective equipment (PPE), only 12 (55%) emphasized its use and offered site orientation for new employees. In the last part of the survey, respondents were requested to rate 25 factors affecting safety performance at the construction sites on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most important. The three most important factors of poor safety performance were the firm's top leaders, a lack of training, and the reckless operation of equipment.
 Conclusion: Changing attitudes of surrounding safety culture have the potential to significantly improve safety outcomes in the Saudi Arabian construction industry. Two Saudi Arabian corporations, Saudi Aramco and Saudi Chevron Petrochemical provide a positive model for increasing construction safety in the country, but there is a paucity of industry-level data. Further scholarly attention is strongly indicated.

Adopting off-site construction into the Saudi Arabian construction industry

This study examined the relationship and hierarchy among the factors that enable the adoption of off-site construction into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) construction industry. This study used interviews with the industry’s key stakeholders to identify enablers for adopting off-site construction. A questionnaire survey of construction practitioners then verified the results. It was then followed by pairwise comparison questionnaires distributed to the interviewees to develop a model using the interpretive structural model (ISM). Ten enablers were identified from interviews, which were then verified by a questionnaire survey of construction practitioners. From the ten enablers, a hierarchical framework was formed for its implementation. The results culminated in developing an ISM for a strategy in off-site construction in the KSA. The model provides a practical framework for the relevant government authorities and other key stakeholders to focus on those factors that must be prioritised to adopt off-site construction successfully.

Challenges and Barriers of Building Information Modeling Adoption in the Saudi Arabian Construction Industry

Background: The Building Information Modeling (BIM) revolution can provide a solution for problems in the Saudi Arabian construction industry and improve its outcomes. Though this technology is increasingly and rapidly adopted in advanced countries, developing countries such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC) are still in the early stages of BIM adoption. Objective: This study investigates the current state of BIM technology adoption by exploring and analyzing the critical challenges and barriers to BIM technology utilization in the construction sectors. Methods: The quantitative approach is adopted via a survey questionnaire distributed to participants in the field of construction projects in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. A total of 228 questionnaires are collected and analyzed using the statistical packaging for social science software. Results: Findings show that several significant barriers negatively affect the utilization of BIM. The major barriers to BIM adoption are related to the lack of demand, lack of experts, and poor awareness of BIM benefits, which have relative importance indexes of (RII = 89.910), (RII = 88.475), and (RII = 87.130), respectively. Meanwhile, unspecified data responsibilities, difficulty of learning BIM, lack of data sharing, and sufficient current technology constitute the lowest-ranking barriers with their relative importance indexes of (RII = 71.704), (RII = 70.807), (RII = 66.413), and (RII = 65.874), respectively. Conclusion: The findings of this study are highly significant and can become more helpful and interesting if further research can measure the methodologies to implement BIM technology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Development of a New Construction Research Model for Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Arabian construction industry has had poor performance for the past thirty years. There have been many publications identifying the problem and potential causes. There have been no publications identifying what the source of the problem is, how to mitigate the problem, and actual testing to validate the proposed solution. This paper discusses why this problem exists, what is a potential solution, and an action plan that mirrors the most successful (construction management, risk management, project management and procurement delivery) research and development program in the world (22 years, $16M, +1750 tests, six different countries, 31 states in the U.S. and 98% customer satisfaction). The solution proposed in this paper is unique to the strengths and weaknesses of the research and development programs at universities in the Saudi Arabian kingdom.

Factors Causing Construction Litigation in Saudi Arabia

The problem of litigation and disputes in the construction sector is a major impediment to a country’s development goals. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the problem of high legal costs and long delays that arise due to litigation involving project owners, designers, contractors and other construction parties worldwide and in Saudi Arabia, as well as give recommendation according to the outcomes of this research. The causes of litigious behavior in Saudi Arabia and around the world were identified and documented; also the differences in litigation of the Saudi Arabian construction industry as compared to other countries were identified. Preliminary investigations revealed that there is some level of similarity in the nature of the causes. Thus, these causes were grouped into three main categories, which are expectation factors, communications factors and documentation factors. Further research based on existing literature showed that the practices used to minimize litigation in the construction industry were investigated. The following delivery processes were researched: Design-Build (DB) Delivery Method, Alliance Contracting, Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR), Best Value Model (BVM), Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and the Best Value Performance Information Procurement System (BV PIPS). Many of these delivery methods were found to have issues, which means the methods by observation do not seem to be the ideal solution to minimize litigation in the construction industry. The only delivery method found to have no litigation issues was the BV PIPS approach.

BIM in the Saudi Arabian construction industry: state of the art, benefit and barriers

PurposeAlthough there is a boom in the construction industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), it is yet to fully adopt building information modeling (BIM), which has received a lot of attention in the US, UK and Australian construction industries. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to provide the current state of the art in BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia, as well as perceived benefits and barriers through a case study.Design/methodology/approachA broad overview of BIM, the construction industry in KSA and the research and implementation of BIM in KSA was presented in this study. The research further established the perceived benefits and barriers of BIM implementation through a case study of a local AEC firm. A questionnaire survey was used to obtain lessons learned from the BIM team of the pilot project and was further analyzed using the RII approach.FindingsThe study’s findings include the lack of policy initiatives in KSA to enforce BIM in the construction industry, as well as the lack of sufficient research in the domain of BIM in KSA. Furthermore, the case study also revealed that the most important benefit of BIM adoption is “detection of inter-disciplinary conflicts in the drawings to reduce error, maintain design intent, control quality and speed up communication,” whereas the most important barrier is “the need for re-engineering many construction projects for successful transition towards BIM.”Originality/valueThe study provides a background for enhanced research towards the implementation of BIM in Saudi Arabia and also demonstrates the potential benefits and barriers in BIM implementation.