Building Survey Research Articles

VRArcheducation: Redesigning Building Survey Process in Architectural Education Using Collaborative Virtual Reality

VRArcheducation: Redesigning Building Survey Process in Architectural Education Using Collaborative Virtual Reality

A Survey of Historic Buildings in Sivrihisar Using Advanced Technologies

The built heritage is one of the most valuable reminiscences of the human past. It is constantly in danger of being lost or irreversibly altered in the current time due to various impacts of our daily activities. Therefore, there is a continuing need to document still standing historic fabrics and associated structures Afterward, sound decisions are possible to be undertaken and mistakes avoided. Advantage of our time is availability of new technologies which enable precise and fast record generation. This paper aims to give an overview and discuss the application of new technologies in historic buildings survey, in particularly 3d laser scanning, drone recording and 3D modeling using digital photos, which are applied in conservation master studio at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakif University in Istanbul, and its benefits and significance for the advancement of education in the future.

FIRST INVESTIGATIONS OF DAMAGE TO BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES AS A CONSEQUENCE OF COMBAT ACTIONS

On February 24, 2022, a large-scale invasion of the troops of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine took place. In particular, active hostilities took place on the territory of Kyiv region within the boundaries of the settlements and surrounding them Borodyanka, Makariv, Gostomel, Irpin, Bucha, Vorzel, etc.
 The result was the destruction and damage of a large number of buildings and structures, which suffered shock-explosive and fire damage, not typical for operation in peacetime conditions. It is also necessary to distinguish between direct damage to structures from the impact of ammunition (missiles, shells, mortar mines, large-caliber bullets, etc.) and secondary damage from the action of an explosive air wave. Destruction in places has a large-scale and systemic nature, when, for example, as a result of fire and temperature deformations during heating, cracks develop on the walls in other areas.
 There are also hidden defects, when, for example, internal delamination of brickwork occurs due to impacts. Since state institutions and units of the State Emergency Service did not work in populated areas that were under occupation, the fires did not go out and this led to the deepening of their consequences. For the first time after the de-occupation of the northern regions of Ukraine, the problem of restoring buildings and structures of both critical infrastructure and housing arose, and this problem is relevant during the subsequent liberation of other regions of Ukraine from occupation.
 From April until now, works on conducting surveys of buildings and structures in accordance with the accepted methods and regulations of the Ministry of Regional Building of Ukraine have been ongoing. Although in fact each case is unique, certain regularities can be found in determining the nature of damage and their classification for the purpose of choosing methods of strengthening and repairing structures.
 In many ways, the quality of the assessment depends on the experience of the expert and the design engineer performing the survey. Thus, in the first months, when surveys were conducted by leading organizations, including state research institutes, conclusions were given about the partial dismantling of buildings and structures, which, when alternative surveys were conducted, turned out to be hasty and erroneous.

Mismatch in Supply and Demand of Building Surveying Graduates’ Skills: A Triangulation Perspective

Themismatch in the supply and demand of graduates is fast becoming a central issue for employee performance nowadays. A primary concern of this issue is a result of a higher competence demanded by employers, the change in the industry, competition among graduates, and new global economic practices. Enabling industries to lead curriculum development is one of the initiatives in enhancing the quality of the programme to improve graduate employability and producing quality technical and vocational education and training (TVET) graduates. Despite the various models that have been employed towards individual career development, there are problems of job skills mismatch and the lack of qualified graduates with technical and non-technical skills. Thus, this study attempts to clarify a mismatch in the supply and demand of building surveying graduates' skills from the perspectives of employers, lecturers, and the students. This study investigates building surveying academicians and the industry’s perspective regarding building surveying graduates’ performance, as well as to identify students’ awareness towardsthe current industry demand. Data for this study was collected using a qualitative method approach that involved a semi-structured interview with 10 building surveying students, 5 lecturers, and 5 building surveyor practitioners; the non-probability sampling design that was used in this study was based on the snowball sampling technique, and acontent analysis approach had been employed in the analysis of the data using NVivo 11 software. The findings indicate that there is a mismatch in the supply and demand of building surveying graduates’ skills. This study offers an important insight into the building surveying programme towards the improvement of the programme’s syllabus and its learning outcomes. The study suggests that building surveying graduates should acquire and demonstrate both technical and non-technical skills that are demanded by the industry. Further research is suggested to identify the competency level among entry-level building surveyor graduates in real working practices.

Organ-Building in Georgian and Victorian England: The Work of Gray & Davison, 1772–1890 by Nicholas Thistlethwaite

Reviewed by: Organ-Building in Georgian and Victorian England: The Work of Gray & Davison, 1772–1890 by Nicholas Thistlethwaite Karrin Ford Organ-Building in Georgian and Victorian England: The Work of Gray & Davison, 1772–1890. By Nicholas Thistlethwaite. (Music in Britain, 1600–2000.) Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell, 2020. [xxii, 552 p. ISBN 9781783274673 (hardcover), $99; ISBN 9781787446670 (e-book), price varies.] Illustrations, maps, tables, work lists, bibliography, index. Recent decades have seen a proliferation of research in organ history and organology, befitting a tradition whose history extends back well over a thousand years. To this corpus, Nicholas Thistlethwaite’s Organ-Building in Georgian and Victorian England: The Work of Gray & Davison, 1772–1890 represents a thoughtful and well-nuanced addition, focusing on an era of British organ building marked by radical and pervasive transformation of the instrument’s design and structure. Thistlethwaite’s earlier authorit ative account of the Victorian organ, The Making of the Victorian Organ (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), provides a comprehensive survey of organ building in Britain from 1820 to 1870. His present tome expands on that work by examining the venerable and innovative firm of Gray and Davison, large-scale manufacturer of church and concert instruments active for the better part of two centuries. Founded by Robert Gray in 1772 and soon augmented by the addition of his brother William in 1787, the firm was responsible for some of the most significant installations in and around London in the early years of the nineteenth century, including instruments at St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, and St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Following the ascension of William’s son John to leadership of the firm in 1837, the company [End Page 247] continued to enjoy solid success, producing a plethora of instruments for churches in the London area and exporting instruments to Boston and Charleston. After the marriage of John Gray’s daughter to Frederick Davison and the subsequent death of Gray in 1849, the firm became known as Gray and Davison, with the latter serving as sole proprietor and manager. One of the most prominent organ building firms in early nineteenth-century Britain, Gray and Davison were responsible for an astonishing number of technical and musical innovations, which Thistlethwaite details with admirable perspective. Evolutionary and reformist in approach, the firm’s tonal schemes were typically characterized by delicate voicing and powerful reeds while retaining the presence of a strong and carefully graduated grand choeur. The contributions of Gray (1790–1849), who sought to create designs responsive to the changing vicissitudes of musical tastes and increased technical demands of the instrument in worship and concert, proved synergistically balanced by those of Davison (ca. 1815–1889), whose efforts were marked by steadfast prescience and pragmatism. British instruments of the age were hardly reflective of synchronous instruments on the Continent—indeed, most organs built in Britain before 1830 lagged far behind their European counterparts in size and scope—but the firm’s perspicacity and commitment to quality, coupled with a strong sense of business acumen, decisively altered the course of domestic building and installations, gradually bringing the British organ into greater alignment with contemporary European models. Nowhere was the firm’s nascent progressivism more apparent than in its bold commitment to standardization and independence of pedal compass and design. Thistlethwaite refers the reader to The Making of the Victorian Organ for a synopsis of pedal layout in earlier instruments, although the prevailing attitude toward an independent pedal could best be described as ambivalent. Fueled by allegiance to Samuel Wesley, the greatest English organist of the age and iconic disciple of Johann Sebastian Bach, Davison sought to design organs with pedalboards capable of performing the full spectrum of German baroque music, featuring an autonomous pedal division, expanded compass, and equal temperament tuning. Further aided by performances of Felix Mendelssohn- Bartholdy, whose historic recitals in London in the late 1830s showcased the organ music of Bach (and that of Mendelssohn himself), the firm soon rebuilt earlier instruments to conform to the new standard C-compass, adding pedal divisions congruous with European models. Gray and Davison’s larger installations were heavily influenced by contemporary French models, reflecting the cultural shift to a more symphonic...

Mobile mapping for buildings, assets and estates : Benefits, new workflows and new deliverables

This paper looks at the opportunities presented by mobile mapping technology used for measured building survey, comparing data capture techniques and selecting the right match for the client’s end use. Secondly, it discusses how to balance ‘black box’ automated processing with tried-and-tested quality workflows. Lastly, it investigates how hosting survey data on web-based platforms enables the creation of new deliverables and adds value through embedding data and enabling access to a wider audience of potential stakeholders.

The Building Stock in the City of Dubai: A Survey Methodology

In 2003, new building regulations were introduced in the city of Dubai. In 2012, the municipality requested a survey of every building that existed prior to that year. This paper documents the method used for this significant undertaking, not performed by any other large city. The survey was conducted using a combination of Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled photography and field visits. Multiple images were taken of every street, resembling progressive film imagery, with every building recorded multiple times in the image sequence. The location-tagged images were superimposed on a city map and compared to historical satellite maps of the city from Google Earth history timelines. Whenever the photographic data was not enough to adequately classify a building, field visits were conducted. That was necessary for around 10% of the city structures. The fieldwork was conducted by two teams, each comprising two engineers, and took four weeks to complete. The results showed that, in 2003, there were around 37,000 buildings in the city. Of those, almost 89%, were low-rise (1–2 floors) and largely single-unit residential houses. Nearly all buildings were found to be built after the mid-1980s, and in very good structural condition. The system described in this paper may be applied to any other large-scale city building survey.

Bauforschung: Woher – Wohin

Abstract The increasing international acceptance of the term ›building research‹ dates back to 1924. The basic approach of understanding historical buildings through building surveys and precise observations is older. To this day, the core of the method has remained working directly on the object in question: the building itself is the main source, regardless of the period and epoch. The graphic representation of the inventory and the scientific results on building history, building techniques and reconstruction play a key role. This small subject has proven itself in many fields, from university research to the preservation of historical monuments, but is currently facing great challenges. The rapid development of new technologies and innovative partner subjects demands a review of methods, including questions of future publication types and languages. New fields of activity are opening up: architecture after 1945 and the increasing destruction caused by war. The educational situation at the universities is becoming more and more uncertain.

Making ‘the National Image’ of Korea: From the Shrine of the Joseon Dynasty to the National Memorial of the Republic of Korea

Korea tried to reconstruct its tradition as a modern nation and promote nationalism only in the 1960s, a relatively late period compared to the West. So-called “tradition-making” began by promoting the full-fledged national shrine project to commemorate historical figures in a short period. These national shrines were built in a traditional style and embodied a national image representing Korea. This study analyzed which elements of traditional Korean architecture were selectively adopted for the main hall of Hyeonchungsa, the first national shrine, and discussed how these choices were intertwined with the discourses on Korean architecture at the time by tracing their historical, cultural, and political context. Although the ‘newly invented’ national shrine functionally resembled a Confucian shrine, it favored splendid and magnificent elements on its exterior, a tendency that is well-demonstrated in the shape of its roof, the decoration of the eaves, and the elevation. This style reflects the modern perspective that regarded the roof curve as an essential feature to define the identity of Korean architecture. Additionally, it can be seen as an effort to reevaluate the architectural style of the Joseon Dynasty, which was belittled during the Japanese colonial period. In addition, these national shrines showed an attempt to reproduce the architectural form of the past with modern material–concrete–by actively referring to the drawing data derived from the actual measurement surveys of historical buildings that were carried out vigorously in the early 1960s. Although these buildings have not been valued in academia amid criticism of the political use of traditions, they played a critical role in spreading the “image of Korean tradition”.

The impacts of demographic transition on embodied energy consumption and typology of residential buildings: the case study of Tehran’s Region 5

Changes in the structural characteristics of the population, such as age structure, household size, and number of households indicate shifts in the population age structure, moving from the younger towards the older populations and result in the reduction of household size. Former extended families have turned into a nuclear and even one-person household. Shifts in household status, both household composition, and household size lead to the formation of a new housing typology. It can affect the type, number, and floor area of ​​residential units as well as the amount of embodied energy used in the wet zones (kitchen, bathroom, and toilet), which are fixed, inflexible and costly areas of a residential unit. This study attempts to investigate the effect of demographic transition on the housing typology and embodied energy consumption of wet zones. The research is based on a case study: first, the changes in the population characteristics were examined by referring to the data published by the statistics Center of Iran. Then a field survey of residential buildings was started, to identify the number of floors, and the number of residential units. Then interviews with 15 developers have be conducted to investigate the significant changes in the housing typology and the common plan of the area. The common plan of residential units was then examined to assess the floor areas of wet zones and to compare their ratios to dry zones. In the next step, the amount of materials and embodied energy in each wet zone were calculated. The analysis of the reports by the statistics Center of Iran on the case study showed an age transition from the younger to the older, a decrease in the household size, and a change in the housing typology in the case study. The interview with developers and field survey on 831 land plots indicated three periods of changes in the housing typology in the case study between 1987 and 2018. During each period, in each plot of land, more residential units with fewer floor areas were built and the amount of embodied energy used by the wet zones increased.

Experimental Investigation of Exterior Reinforced Concrete Beam-Column Connections Subjected to Reversal Loading

Eight full-scale reinforced concrete beam-column subassemblages, 4 for each non-ductile and ductile detail, were tested under quasi-static cyclic loading. All test specimens were mainly designed for gravity service loads. Four specimens named as non-ductile connections were constructed with typical reinforcement details using in Thailand. The others were assembled with details described by the seismic design building code of Thailand, known as the 1301/1302-61 code. Their performance was examined in terms of lateral load resistance, ductility index, stiffness, energy dissipation, failure modes, including joint shear strength. The test results indicated that the specimens with ductile details achieved better seismic performance in every aspect, particularly specimens with adequate joint shear strength designed according to the SST method. The ductile details have no effect to retard the stiffness degradation in the elastic range, but helped to slow the rates of stiffness degradation after the specimens reached their peak loads. The transverse reinforcement in the joints was more efficient to enhance the ductility of joints with lower joint shear strengths (J1 and J2) than the sufficient joints (J3 and J4). Based on the SST method, the connections with low shear strength capacity, J1, J1D, J2, J2D, J3, and J4 suffered with severe joint shear failure (JS), although their beam sections reached the flexural moments. On the other hand, specimens with high joint shear strengths, J3D and J4D, experienced the beam failure (BF) with mild joint shear failure (JS). Test data also demonstrated that a specimen with lesser amount of joint reinforcement exhibited satisfactory seismic behavior, as long as the joint was provided with the adequate shear strength designed by the SST method. Finally, the ACI 318 Building Code overestimated the shear strength of exterior beam-column joints. Moreover, the simplified SST model much better predicted the demand joint shear strength than the ACI 318 Code.
 HIGHLIGHTS
 
 Numerous surveys of RC buildings after earthquakes also confirmed the inadequate detailing of beam-column joints such as presence of splices, lack of hoops, deficiency of beam bar anchorage, and no steel joint stirrups in the joint
 The ductile details have no effect to retard the stiffness degradation in the elastic range, but helped to slow the rates of stiffness degradation after the specimens reached their peak loads. The transverse reinforcement in the joints was more efficient to enhance the ductility of joints with lower joint shear strengths (J1 and J2) than the sufficient joints (J3 and J4)
 The ACI 318 Building Code overestimated the shear strength of exterior beam-column joints. Moreover, the simplified SST model much better predicted the demand joint shear strength than the ACI 318 Code
 Based on the SST method, the beam-column connections with low shear strength capacity, J1, J1D, J2, J2D, J3 and J4 suffered with severe joint shear failure (JS), although their beam sections reached the flexural moments. On the other hand, specimens with high joint shear strengths, J3D and J4D, experienced the beam failure (BF) with mild joint shear failure (JS)
 The deterioration of beam-column joints under seismic could be effectively restrained by the ductile details according to 1301/1302-61 code with adequate shear strength capacity determined by using the equation of SST model
 
 GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Analysis of Regulatory Documents for Determining Loads for Buildings and Structures

The calculation of building structures begins with the determination of loads and effects. The correctness of determining the values of loads and impacts, and in particular their calculated values, largely determines the reliability of structural forms, their durability and economic efficiency. The paper considers the regulatory documents for determining snow, wind and crane loads, as well as loads due to their own weight of load-bearing and enclosing structures. In most cases, changing the values of snow loads in the direction of their increase is labor- and material-intensive, since after this, it is required to examine all the supporting structures that perceive snow loads, recalculation them, and quite often, strengthen them. It is proposed to review snow loads no more than once every 20–25 years. Wind speed increases with height increases. This is confirmed by statistical data obtained at many weather stations located in the Republic of Belarus and foreign countries. Failure to take into account the change in wind pressure along the height leads to significant increase in the efforts from the wind load by 2-3 times. The increase in the efforts from the wind load, as well as from the snow load, entails the need for a mass survey of buildings and structures and, as a rule, expensive work to strengthen the supporting structures. Determination of loads from overhead cranes in the current regulatory documents is completely focused on the characteristics of European hoisting mechanisms, which largely does not correspond to the characteristics of cranes used in the Republic of Belarus. It is proposed to determine crane loads according to SP [Sanitary Regulations] CYbG20.133330.2011 “Loads and impacts” (updated edition of SNiP [Construction Standards and Regulations] 2.01.07–85*). When determining the design loads from the own mass of structural forms, the reliability factor for loads is used. The values of these coefficients in the current regulatory documents are unreasonably high, especially for metal structures.

Comparative Analysis of Satisfaction with Course of Study among Students of Environmental Faculty/School in Nigerian Universities

This study assessed the variation in the level of course of study satisfaction among the undergraduate students of the Environmental Faculty/School in some selected Nigerian tertiary institutions. The study sourced and utilised data from online survey among the participating students from the various departments under the Faculty of Environmental Technology. Survey questionnaire was designed using the Survey Menu in DATAtab statistical software and shared to students in 25 Federal, State and Private institutions across Nigeria. Responses from 1471 respondents were analysed using frequency and crosstabulations accompanied with Chi-square tests. In performing the Chi-square tests, the contributions of each Department's response were obtained to know which Department contributed most to total Chi-Square value, hence identifying the largest contributor(s) to the differences in the data. More than 80% of the students in Architecture, Building, Estate Management and Quantity Surveying were satisfied with their course, compared to around 70% of students in Urban and Regional Planning as well as Surveying and Geoinformatics. A Chi2 test carried out showed a statistically significant difference in study satisfaction among the students in the six departments (χ² (10) = 47.54, p = 0.000). URP students were the most dissatisfied. Out of the 293 dissatisfied students, 41.3% felt that their course would not provide them with good employment opportunities, while about 29% rated their course inferior to other built environment courses. It is recommended that courses in Environmental Faculty/School should be made more multi-disciplinary and injected with many cross-cutting subjects. Students should be regularly updated about the latest technology in their courses and educated about other consultancy services they can render as graduates of Built Environment.

Farm Buildings as Drivers of the Rural Environment

Farm buildings play a central role in the sustainability of the rural environment. Conceived to host biological productions, the farm building constitutes indeed an unparalleled example in the wide epistemological construction sector. Due to its peculiar interactions with the indoor and outdoor built environment, it raises architectural and technical issues different from other buildings. The role that these buildings have historically played is strictly connected with the surrounding context, due to the need of the farmer to live in close contact with agricultural land and animal husbandry. Human activities have then decisively influenced the rural environment as well as the visual perception of its landscape. The increasing sensitivity to the concept of sustainable development of the built environment is currently stimulating the valorization of farm buildings. In the present review paper, a general literature analysis of the peculiarity of farm buildings and their internal and external environmental conditions is presented. Several cases of survey, reuse and valorization of farm buildings around the world are reported as well, with special attention being paid to Southern Italy, where the results are extrapolated or generalized to other regions. Focus is also given to the wider opportunities enabled by the implementation of new technologies for the survey, analysis and planning of the interactions between farm buildings and the rural environment. The main conclusions are that farm buildings play a driving role in the rural environment, thanks to the ecological function they perform, as well as to their socio-economic and cultural heritage at the base of the rural development.

ScanR: A composite building scanning and survey method for the evaluation of materials and reuse potentials prior to demolition and deconstruction

This paper introduces ScanR (Scan for Reuse), a composite method pairing quantitative and qualitative salvage and deconstruction surveying (S&D survey) with LiDAR and photogrammetry scanning in an effort to empower local municipalities and stakeholders in cataloging building materials prior to removal from site (in the case of either demolition or deconstruction), and enabling data collection and the generation of material databases to link local supply with demand – all in support of a shift from linear to circular economic models in construction. The speed of capturing large spaces through 3D scans and the ability to export such models into CAD software allows for a rapid assessment of surface and floor areas to calculate finishing material quantities and other material content, but lacks metadata such as quality and potential hazards that are necessary for a potential deconstruction contractor. Furthermore, information on spaces inaccessible to scanning, such as wall cavities, are necessary to comprehensively assess a building’s reuse potential. In supplementing scans with S&D surveys using accessible tools and software, these factors can be noted and referenced in relation to the space and 3d model, providing critical information to inform the harvest of materials and planning of the materials’ next use cycles. In testing this method on a building slated for deconstruction, this paper demonstrates the advantages of each method of data collection and how one can be leveraged to support the other to further catalyze local efforts to divert material from waste streams.

The Study of Virtual Reality Sensing Technology in the Form Design and Perception of Public Buildings

In order to explore the commercial building design method that meets the needs of contemporary consumer behavior, the author proposes a method of applying virtual reality, behavior simulation, and other technologies to commercial building design. First, through a questionnaire survey of commercial buildings in a city, the influencing factors of consumption behavior are explained with the help of SPSS correlation analysis. Then, applying virtual reality technology on this basis, three-dimensional presentation of the commercial building design scheme, taking the design of commercial space signage system as an example, the preset low-brightness color system, and the color and shape are single, the logo set A and the logo set B using high-brightness color system and changeable form are presented, expand 3D dynamic visual and behavioral simulations. At last, relying on ResNet image recognition technology, it analyzes the user’s visual experience and usage effect. Experimental results show: There is a significant correlation between plane layout, spatial identification, familiarity of indoor space, and frequency of use, and visual perception is the main driving factor for choosing commercial buildings; using the comparative analysis of commercial logos, it is found that the average value of the confidence of set B is less than that of set A; in terms of significance, the average time of identifying all categories of logo set A is 0.68 s, and the average identification time of all categories of identification set B is 0.46 s; in terms of discrimination, it takes 0.28 s to correct the misrecognition of all categories of identification set A and 0.11 s to correct the misrecognition of all categories of identification set B, indicating that the design of the identification system uses bright colors and changeable forms, which are easier to use. The results indicate that the elevation, slope, hydrology, transportation conditions, economic indexes and cultural factors are important factors affecting the spatial distribution of traditional villages in a city. The analysis shows that the distribution of traditional villages is affected by natural conditions, social economic conditions, cultural factors and other factors, and the optimal layout of traditional villages can be strengthened from these aspects.

Archaeology and earthquakes in Siena (Italy). Preliminary results from the survey of the historical buildings in the Terzo di Città

The archaeoseismological study of a number of contexts affected by historical earthquakes provides a more complete understanding of the seismic impacts had on architecture as well as restoration techniques used in the aftermath of these events. The PROTECT project is part of this line of research, funded by the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program of the European Union, and aims to apply, on an experimental basis, methods of archaeoseismological analysis to a portion of the historic center of Siena (Tuscany), in order to acquire further knowledge on the context of study from the point of view of seismic prevention. In this paper only the first steps of the project, begun in December 2021 and focused on the study of the Terzo di Città, are presented. The contribution focuses in particular on the proposal of a theoretical framework for the creation of a database designed to answer precise chrono-typological queries.

Процесс мониторинга технического состояния перекрытий и балок каркасного здания

The paper presents the results of monitoring the technical condition of floors and beams, which are elements of the building structures of a multi-storey frame building. The reasons for the need to perform a survey of a frame building, which has a long forced break in construction, are determined. It is shown that the downtime of the unfinished building and the impact of external factors had a negative impact on the technical condition of the building structures, as a result of which it became necessary to determine the suitability of the building for normal operation. For this purpose, the actual technical condition of the floors and beams of the building was determined. The methodical and instrumental equipment of work on the inspection of building structures is considered. The results of inspection of structures and reinforcement of ceilings and beams are given. The reinforcement system was checked in accordance with the current regulatory documents. The calculation of the strength of concrete floors and beams was performed. Defects and damages of ceilings and beams recorded in the list of defects and damages are investigated. The results of verification calculations of reinforced concrete floors and beams are given. The category of the technical condition of reinforced concrete floors and crossbars is considered. Recommendations for the repair of reinforced concrete floors and crossbars have been developed. The main conclusions are made based on the results of the inspection of reinforced concrete floors and beams.

Radiation survey of buildings and structures to be demolished

The article deals with the issues of normative and methodological support of radiation survey of buildings and structures to be demolished. It is noted that with the intensive growth of construction of dwellings and public buildings in large cities, former industrial territories with a significant number of facilities to be demolished are being included into the development zone. The radiation monitoring and sorting of industrial waste generated after the demolition of buildings is not feasible in practice. The expediency of radiation survey of buildings and structures to be demolished at the stage preceding their dismantling, as well as the need to develop and approve at the federal level the methodology of its implementation is substantiated. Recommendations for the assessment of radiation safety indicators of buildings and structures to be demolished are given. It is shown that if the value of ambient equivalent gamma dose rate in the buildings and structures to be demolished does not exceed 0.6 μSv/h, industrial waste generated after demolition of buildings and structures and containing only natural radionuclides are not a subject to any restrictions related to the radiation factor, since the value of effective activity concentration of natural radionuclides is guaranteed not to exceed 1500 Bq/kg and therefore the waste is classified as Category I in accordance with the Basic sanitary rules for the provision of radiation safety (OSPORB 99/2010).

Developing Indoor Temperature Profiles of Albanian Homes for Baseline Energy Models in Relation to Contextual Factors

Oversimplifying occupant behaviour using static and standard schedules has been identified as a limitation of building energy simulation tools. This paper describes the use of hierarchical cluster analysis to establish the most typical indoor temperature profiles of Albanian dwellings based on monitored indoor temperatures in winter and summer, along with building and occupant surveys undertaken in 49 randomly selected dwellings in Tirana. Three statistically different profiles were developed for each summer and winter, indicating that homes are used in different ways, as well as revealing possible comfort requirements. Furthermore, statistical analysis was undertaken to determine the strength of the association between the clusters and contextual factors related to the building, household, and occupancy. A statistically significant association was found between the presence of children and the clusters in winter, suggesting that families with dependents use more energy. Building-related factors including building type, building age, and wall insulation were found to be statistically significantly associated with clusters in summer. These profiles could provide more accurate outcomes of energy consumption of Albanian homes and energy savings from retrofits. They could also facilitate the development of low-energy strategies and policies for specific households.