Journal of Construction Engineering, Management & Innovation

Peter Uchenna Okoye Obinna George Ogbuagu Christian Ifeanyi Ohaedeghasi Chukwuemeka Ngwu

The prevalence of modern residential buildings without adequate consideration of changes in user’s needs and preferences in urban centres of South-eastern Nigeria is becoming more worrisome. This study therefore, evaluated the level of knowledge and implementation of bioclimatic principles/practices in modern residential buildings by building design and construction professionals. It assessed the adequacy of bioclimatic elements and occupant level of satisfaction based on selected environmental performance criteria. It employed survey approach and analysed the survey data using mean score index, correlation coefficient and t-test statistics. The result showed a low level of implementation of bioclimatic principles/practices in spite of high level of knowledge about bioclimatic principles/practices by the building professionals. It also found that bioclimatic elements/features in modern residential buildings were inadequate and thus, high level of occupants’ dissatisfaction with environmental performance of the buildings. The study further found that adequacy of bioclimatic elements was significantly and positively correlated with the level of implementation of bioclimatic principles/practices and occupants’ level of satisfaction. However, a moderate and insignificant positive relationship was found between the level of knowledge and implementation of bioclimatic principles/practices. This therefore, suggested a need for building professionals to transform their knowledge of bioclimatic principles into practice for an improved performance. This would create a balance between traditional values and modernisation and a more comfortable home for living. The study then advocated for a revisit to existing building design and construction laws, policies and codes, and/or institutionalising new regulations that would accommodate bioclimatic peculiarities of the South Eastern Nigeria.

https://doi.org/10.31462/jcemi.2020.03158178

KORAY ATES GUZIDE ATASOY HANDE ISIK OZTURK

Over the last decades, many countries have been in the search of new contracting types for the road maintenance sector to increase the efficiency and to reduce the cost. Lately, Performance based Contracting (PBC) became a popular approach for road maintenance (RM). Although there are many studies and cases that present the affirmative results of PBC, changing the RM system from the traditional contracting methods to PBC, is very compelling. Turkey has made huge investments in road construction sector and maintenance activities in recent years. These investments will lead to excessive road maintenance costs in the near future. Moreover, sustaining the quality of road networks can be a challenge. PBC is known to be very promising to maintain the road network on a permanently good level of service. However, based on the existing conditions and expectations of each country, a custom PBC system needs to be established. Hence, the objective of this study is to acquire the perspectives of road users and experts on the quality of the existing RM services and their expectations. Moreover, it was aimed to examine the perspective of experts to the current contracting method and PBC. For this purpose, three interviews were performed with senior road experts, and two sets of surveys were designed. The first survey targeted road users and the second survey targeted road experts from different stakeholders (e.g., designers, consultants, road agency). Consequently, the majority of participants stated that the current RM services require improvement and PBC has the potential to address this need.

https://doi.org/10.31462/jcemi.2020.03179192

Moazzam Azeem Fahim Ullah Muhammad Jamaluddin Thaheem Siddra Qayyum

Competitiveness is a complex domain with multiple perspectives and a vast range of definitions, meanings, and measures. Therefore, it is challenging to create an appropriate framework to evaluate the competitiveness of an ever-changing and evolving construction industry. This study captures the contractor’s perspectives about the competitiveness of the Pakistani construction industry, underlines the key factors affecting its performance, and proposes a framework for enhancing competitiveness. The proposed framework identifies the areas for improvement and contributes to the development of strategies for adoption. To achieve this, a qualitative approach is adopted which captures the opinion of contractors about the competitiveness and its perception and analyzes it through the fuzzy approach. The results based on 25 expert interviews highlight that the recruitment of well-trained human resource and cutting-edge technologies, the collaboration between academia and industry, investment in R&D projects, and a stable business environment contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of the construction industry and should be adopted to enhance the current state of practice. The study has perks for both academia and industry and requires active participation from both counterparts as well as supply chain actors and regulatory bodies to achieve the holistic goals.

https://doi.org/10.31462/jcemi.2020.03193219

Salman Shooshtarian Tayyab Maqsood Peter SP Wong Rebecca J Yang Malik Khalfan

In Australia, construction and demolition activities have substantially grown over the recent decades leading to the generation of a large amount of waste. Among available options, the development of end-markets for construction and demolition (C&D) waste materials is regarded as a sustainable option to tackle issues around their management. Despite the promotion of circular economy and existence of some trading platforms set to facilitate C&D waste exchange in Australia, no research has been conducted to understand how various key stakeholders perceive their role in the C&D waste management system. Hence, this paper aimed to identify the perceptions of Australian key C&D waste stakeholders on the market development for recyclable materials. The study conducted a questionnaire survey in 2019, aiming to capture the main C&D waste stakeholders on market development. In total, 132 responses were collected, and analytical results showed that participants significantly support implementing more market incentives to reduce waste disposal. They also indicated that investment in technology and infrastructure, sustainable procurement and landfill levy are three major influential factors that have a significant impact on market development. The research findings can inform decisions and policies developed in Australia to establish end markets for C&D waste management effectively.

https://doi.org/10.31462/jcemi.2020.03220231

Gökçe Nihan Taşkın Onur Behzat Tokdemir

The learning environment has several significant influences on the education process. It affects students' motivation, attention and active participation, student-teacher interaction, and lesson plan. In that sense, classroom design is a critical concern to improve the quality of education. Classroom design has many parameters that should be taken into consideration simultaneously. A holistic perspective on all parameters and a systematic process is required to increase the quality of the design. This study aims to guide designers, eliminate mistakes, and improve the quality of classroom design by scrutinizing the required data and suggesting a methodology for the design process. The study focuses on the design of K12 classrooms in Turkey. Design inputs, requirements, and restrictions of K12 classroom design are investigated by using both universal and local resources. Collected data is categorized into four main groups which are, ergonomic needs of the students, organization of the classroom, optimum indoor quality requirements for the learning environment, and regulations of the Ministry of National Education of Turkey. A design methodology that covers the collected data in a holistic and systematic way is defined by applying lean thinking methods. It is an inductive methodology that starts from the smallest unit of the classroom, which is a desk and finalizes with the form and openings of the classroom. Also, an inquiry is suggested to evaluate design correctness. The study is concluded with exemplary drawings that depict the output of the data and the suggested methodology.

https://doi.org/10.31462/jcemi.2020.03232248