The 45th Australasian Universities Building Education Association Conference: Global Challenges in a Disrupted World: Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Approaches in the Built Environment, Book of Abstracts, 23 - 25 November 2022

This is the book of abstract of the 45th Australasian Universities Building Education Association (AUBEA) conference, which will be hosted by Western Sydney University in November 2022. The conference is organised by the School of Engineering, Design, and Built Environment in collaboration with the Centre for Smart Modern Construction, Western Sydney University. This year’s conference theme is “Global Challenges in a Disrupted World: Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Approaches in the Built Environment”, and expects to publish over a hundred double-blind peer review papers under the proceedings

The 45th Australasian Universities Building Education Association Conference: Global Challenges in a Disrupted World: Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Approaches in the Built Environment, Conference Proceedings, 23 - 25 November 2022, Western Sydney University, Kingswood Campus, Sydney, Australia

This is the proceedings of the 45th Australasian Universities Building Education Association (AUBEA) conference which will be hosted by Western Sydney University in November 2022. The conference is organised by the School of Engineering, Design, and Built Environment in collaboration with the Centre for Smart Modern Construction, Western Sydney University. This year’s conference theme is “Global Challenges in a Disrupted World: Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Approaches in the Built Environment”, and expects to publish over a hundred double-blind peer review papers under the proceedings

Measuring knowledge sharing processes through social network analysis within construction organisations

The construction industry is a knowledge intensive and information dependent industry. Organisations risk losing valuable knowledge, when the employees leave them. Therefore, construction organisations need to nurture opportunities to disseminate knowledge through strengthening knowledge-sharing networks. This study aimed at evaluating the formal and informal knowledge sharing methods in social networks within Australian construction organisations and identifying how knowledge sharing could be improved. Data were collected from two estimating teams in two case studies. The collected data through semi-structured interviews were analysed using UCINET, a Social Network Analysis (SNA) tool, and SNA measures. The findings revealed that one case study consisted of influencers, while the other demonstrated an optimal knowledge sharing structure in both formal and informal knowledge sharing methods. Social networks could vary based on the organisation as well as the individuals’ behaviour. Identifying networks with specific issues and taking steps to strengthen networks will enable to achieve optimum knowledge sharing processes. This research offers knowledge sharing good practices for construction organisations to optimise their knowledge sharing processes

Environmental benchmarking of building typologies through BIM-based combinatorial case studies

Integrated life-cycle assessment (LCA) tools have emerged as decision-making support for BIM practitioners during the design stage of sustainable projects. However, differences between methodologies applied for determining the environmental impact of buildings produce significant variations in the results obtained, making them difficult to be compared. In this study, a methodology is defined for generating environmental benchmarks for building typologies through a combination of BIM-based LCA tools and machine learning techniques. When applied to an 11-story residential building typology with 92 dwellings by varying the constructive solutions of façades, partitions, roof and thermal insulation materials, results fall within a range from 360 to 430 kgCO2eq/m2. The Random Forest (RF) algorithm is successfully applied for identifying the most decisive variables in the analysis (partitions and façades), and shows signs of being useful for predicting the environmental impact of future constructions and to be applied to the analysis of greater scale urban zones

The investigation of energy efficiency measures in traditional buildings in the Oporto World Heritage Site

Background The improvement of energy efficiency in buildings is widely promoted as a measure to mitigate climate change through the reduction of CO2 emissions. Thermal regulations worldwide promote it, for both new and existing buildings. Among the existing stock, traditional and historic buildings pose the additional challenge of heritage conservation. Their energy efficiency upgrade raises the risk of provoking negative impacts on their significance. Aims and Methodology This research used an approach based on impact assessment methodologies, defining an inital baseline scenario for both heritage and energy, from which the appropriate improvement solutions were identified and assessed. The measures were dynamically simulated and the results for energy, CO2, cost and comfort compared with the initial scenario, and then being further assessed for their heritage impact to eventually determine the most feasible solutions. To test this method, ten case studies, representative of the identified typological variants, were selected among Oporto’s traditional buildings located in the World Heritage Site. Findings and Conclusions The fieldwork data revealed that the energy consumption of these dwellings was below the European average. Additionally, the households expressed that their home comfort sensation was overall positive. The simulations showed that the introduction of insulation and solar thermal panels were ineffective on these cases in terms of energy, cost and comfort. At the same time, these measures pose a great risk to the buildings’ heritage value. The most efficient solutions were obtained from behavioural changes and DHW retrofit. The study reinforced the idea that traditional buildings performed better than expected and can be retrofitted and updated at a low-cost and with passive solutions. The use of insulation and solar panels should be disregarded

Construction management abstracts : cumulative abstracts and indexes of journals in construction management, 1983-2000

The purpose of this document is to provide a single source of reference for every paper published in the journals directly related to research in Construction Management. It is indexed by author and keyword and contains the titles, authors, abstracts and keywords of every article from the following journals: • Building Research and Information (BRI) • Construction Management and Economics (CME) • Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management (ECAM) • Journal of Construction Procurement (JCP) • Journal of Construction Research (JCR) • Journal of Financial Management in Property and Construction (JFM) • RICS Research Papers (RICS) The index entries give short forms of the bibliographical citations, rather than page numbers, to enable annual updates to the abstracts. Each annual update will carry cumulative indexes, so that only one index needs to be consulted

Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Both New and Rehabilitated

Buildings are one of the main causes of the emission of greenhouse gases in the world. Europe alone is responsible for more than 30% of emissions, or about 900 million tons of CO2 per year. Heating and air conditioning are the main cause of greenhouse gas emissions in buildings. Most buildings currently in use were built with poor energy efficiency criteria or, depending on the country and the date of construction, none at all. Therefore, regardless of whether construction regulations are becoming stricter, the real challenge nowadays is the energy rehabilitation of existing buildings. It is currently a priority to reduce (or, ideally, eliminate) the waste of energy in buildings and, at the same time, supply the necessary energy through renewable sources. The first can be achieved by improving the architectural design, construction methods, and materials used, as well as the efficiency of the facilities and systems; the second can be achieved through the integration of renewable energy (wind, solar, geothermal, etc.) in buildings. In any case, regardless of whether the energy used is renewable or not, the efficiency must always be taken into account. The most profitable and clean energy is that which is not consumed

Multiple Criteria Analysis of the Life Cycle of the Built Environment

To design and achieve effective the life cycle of the built environment a complex analysis of its stages as well as stakeholders, their aims and potentialities is needed. The effect of micro, meso and macro environmental factors should also be taken into account. A thorough built environment’s life cycle (brief; design; raw material extraction, transport and processing; construction materials production and distribution; construction; use, repair and maintenance; demolition; disposal, reuse, or recycling) analysis is quite difficult to undertake, because a buildings and its environment are a complex system (technical, technological, economical, social, cultural, ecological, etc.), where all sub-systems influence the total efficiency performance and where the interdependence between sub-systems play a significant role. Various stakeholders (clients, users, architects, designers, utilities engineers, economists, contractors, maintenance engineers, built environment material manufacturers, suppliers, contractors, finansing institutions, local government, state and state institutions) are involved in the life cycle of the built environment, trying to satisfy their needs and affecting its efficiency. The level of the efficiency of the life cycle of the built environment depends on a number of variables, at three levels: micro, meso and macro level. The problem is how to define an efficient built environment life cycle when a lot of various parties are involved, the alternative project versions come to hundreds thousand and the efficiency changes with the alterations in the environment conditions and the constituent parts of the process in question. Moreover, the realization of some objectives seems more rational from the economic perspective thought from the other perspectives they have various significance. Therefore, it is considered that the efficiency of a built environment life cycle depends on the rationality of its stages as well as on the ability to satisfy the needs of the stakeholders and the rational character of environment conditions. Formalized presentation of the research shows how changes in the environment and the extent to which the goals pursued by various stakeholders are satisfied cause corresponding changes in the value and utility degree of a built environment life cycle. With this in mind, it is possible to solve the problem of optimization concerning satisfaction of the needs at reasonable expenditures. This requires the analysis of the built environment life cycle versions allowing to find an optimal combination of goals pursued and finances available. References to the most modern world scientific literature sources are presented in the monograph. The monograph is prepared for the researchers, MSc and PhD students of civil engineering, construction management and real estate development. The book may be useful for other researchers, MSc and PhD students of economics, management and other specialities. The edition was recommended by the Committe of Studies of VGTU Faculty of Civil Engineering. The publication of monograph was funded by European Social Fund according to project No. VP1-2.2-ŠMM-07-K-02-060 Development and Implementation of Joint Master’s Study Programme “Sustainable Development of the Built Environment”.The edition was recommended by the Committe of Studies of VGTU Faculty of Civil Engineering. The publication of monograph was funded by European Social Fund according to project No. VP1-2.2-ŠMM-07-K-02-060 Development and Implementation of Joint Master’s Study Programme “Sustainable Development of the Built Environment”