Potential of Using BIM for Improving Hong Kong's Construction Industry

Given sizable capital projects in Hong Kong are using BIM from January 2018 on and site safety continues to be a concern for the local construction stakeholders. It is timely to investigate the potential of using BIM for construction safety. This research reveals the potential of using BIM for site safety is strong (85% supported), indicating Hong Kong should engage specific projects to test effectiveness of using BIM for safety, including implementation of safety management system and/ or process of risk assessment

Briefing: The role of human values in behavioural safety

Whilst behavioural based safety (BBS) is not new and is even becoming increasingly common, especially among large construction organisations; research on BBS and hence its implementation has paid limited attention to the role of innate drivers of behaviour, particularly human values (e.g. individual worker values). It is argued in this article that there is a need for empirical studies in this area towards the generation of fresh insight that could be valuable for designing more robust interventions for strengthening BBS programmes

Sustainability concepts in global high-rise residential buildings: a scientometric and systematic review

PurposeSustainability has been the subject of several scientific investigations. Many researchers in the construction industry have also examined a range of sustainability-related studies. However, few studies have thoroughly reviewed implementing sustainability concepts in high-rise residential buildings (HRRBs).Design/methodology/approachBy adopting scientometrics and systematic review (SR), this study seeks to map out recent sustainability trends and concepts in the design, development and operation of HRRBs worldwide and in Hong Kong. With a focus on bibliographic records from the Web of Science (WoS) database, 1,395 journal articles from 2013 to 2022 were analysed. Furthermore, thirteen studies were systematically reviewed.FindingsThe SR indicated that sustainable practices in developing Hong Kong's HRRBs emphasised zero-carbon buildings, reduced energy usage and energy-efficient retrofitting. Likewise, terms such as BIM, urban density, life cycle assessment and system dynamics are strongly connected with clusters that include “residential buildings”, “high-rise buildings” and “high-rise residential buildings”. The study identified significant themes in establishing HRRBs by combining sustainable practices, emphasising urban governance and policy management, building performance and thermal comfort, energy and design optimisation, occupant behaviour and sensitivity analysis. Core sustainability ideas have improved resource management, air quality management and knowledge of user behaviour in HRRBs.Originality/valueThe study allows researchers and practitioners to explore future research directions in the built environment per the application of sustainable concepts in the development of HRRBs from design, construction and post-construction phases

Science mapping approach to assisting the review of construction and demolition waste management research published between 2009 and 2018

Sustainable treatments of construction and demolition (C&D) wastes have become an increasingly urgent social, environmental, and economic issue worldwide. Based on a filter of 370 articles related to C&D waste management, this review-based study adopted a science mapping approach to evaluating the recent decade’s C&D waste management research. Through a three-step workflow consisting of bibliometric literature search, scientometric analysis, and qualitative discussion, this study identified the most influential journals, scholars, articles, and countries that have been active and influential in the C&D waste management research since 2009. Keyword analysis revealed the emerging research topics, such as BIM, prefabricated construction, Big Data, and Circular Economy. The follow-up discussion summarized the mainstream research areas (e.g., qualification of waste generation), discussed research gaps (e.g., integration of BIM and Big Data into C&D waste management), and proposed the framework for near-future research, such as a comprehensive evaluation of the performance of C&D waste diversion, human factors, and design and planning for waste diversion. By providing the big picture of the latest research in C&D waste management since 2009, the paper serves as a multi-disciplinary guide for practitioners and researchers to link current research areas into future trends

Key factors affecting the adaptation of prefabricated prefinished volumetric construction (PPVC) in Malaysia industry

Prefabricated Pre-finished Volumetric Construction (PPVC) is the advanced modular construction technology introduced by Singapore Building and Construction Authority (BCA) to promote a modern practices in construction sector which rectifying the fragmentation of construction industries towards higher productivity and more efficiency in project delivery. PPVC is an innovative approach to replace the traditional on-site construction method which construct a building using modular units away from the physical site but into a controlled factory environment. The adoption of PPVC has a significant solution to tackle the current level of quality, workmanship, productivity, non-environment construction, unaffordable housing, lacking on-site safety awareness, construction wastage and excessive reliance on unskilled foreign labors associated with conventional construction methods. In Malaysian, PPVC still lagging far behind in the development of Malaysian construction industry. The effectiveness of using PPVC can reduce the number of on-site contractors, increase the efficiencies in the use of resource and minimize the construction waste as well as reduce the overall of construction cost and durations. As a result, the aims of this study are to investigate the key factors affecting the adaptation of PPVC in Malaysia Construction Industry and thus recommend a criteria of feasible mitigation strategies in order to increase the possibility of using PPVC in the future development of Malaysian industry. To achieve these goals, questionnaire was administered by goggle survey form and distributed to industry experts who had working experience in the building industry. A total of 63 responses was received in this survey. Lastly, the results showed that highest number of respondents agreed that the effectiveness of using PPVC were “reduce the overall construction time”, “reduce on-site manpower and equipment requirement”, “better quality of workmanship, efficiency and productivity”. Results also implied that the top three important factors were “lacking experiences of current contractors, subcontractor on PPVC method”, “lacking PPVC of design experience, technical & installation” and “require high operation for capacities of heavy lift crane”. It also revealed the three effective mitigation strategies were “the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) to tackle the building modular construction and coordination”, “intense coordination to ensure work sequence with minimal delays” and “early involvement of contractors and suppliers / manufacturers during the design phase of the project”. Moreover, there are significant risk on using PPVC as the reliability is much harder to guarantee than conventional construction method. PPVC can be very beneficial to a project, but only if everyone involved has the proper experience and ability to perform such activities. This study contributes to industry practitioners to enhance their understanding of PPVC in order to increase the affordability and sustainability of houses in the future development of Malaysian industry

Developing project evaluation models for smart sustainable practices implementation in construction projects: a comparative study between Nigeria and Hong Kong

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the key facilitating factors for smart sustainable practices (SSP) and develop a project evaluation model (PEM) for SSP implementation in Nigeria and Hong Kong. SSP is coined from the integration of digital technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) to facilitate sustainability practices.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a quantitative research design approach using empirical questionnaire surveys to solicit the opinions of 69 and 97 construction practitioners in Nigeria and Hong Kong. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to identify the potential survey respondents. The fuzzy synthetic evaluation technique was used to develop the PEMs.FindingsThe findings revealed that adequate technical expertise of the SSP processes is critical in enhancing its implementation in Hong Kong and Nigeria; as well as the provision of training programs for specialists in smart and sustainable initiatives. Meanwhile, the study's findings advocated that for an SSP-enabled construction project, its project performance is mainly influenced by the client's satisfaction level and the early involvement of the project teams.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's results are limited to the Nigeria and Hong Kong construction industries.Practical implicationsConstruction stakeholders such as the clients, developers, contractors can utilize the PEMs to determine and track SSP initiatives implementation in building projects in a reliable and practical way.Originality/valueNo tool has been developed for evaluating SSP initiatives at the project level in the construction industry. Using case studies of Hong Kong and Nigeria, PEM indices were developed to measure and track SSP implementation in construction projects