Social media mining for BIM skills and roles for energy efficiency

Information modelling for the construction industry can address the fragmentation, multitude of professions and companies that often require collaboration and data exchange. Construction projects involve various professions, including design teams, contractors, facility managers, product manufacturers and suppliers, user associations, clients and investors, and local/regional/national/international authorities. The increasing complexity of buildings is reflected in the continuous introduction of new procurement paths and methods, construction technologies, materials and construction methods to meet various economic, environmental and societal challenges. To address this level of complexity Building Information Modelling (BIM) can create synergies and support collaboration not only between traditional disciplines and roles (architecture, structure, mechanical and electrical), but also support many new professions and skills in areas such as energy, environment, waste and connected objects / Internet of Things.In this paper, we explore the dynamic nature of BIM with associated skills and roles and demonstrate how engagement and training can be informed by social media analysis to identify roles, skills and training needs. We conduct a data mining process by analysing the Twitter data of various companies and institutions involved in the BIM construction sector to discover new skills and roles for energy efficiency

Building information modelling knowledge harvesting for energy efficiency in the Construction industry

The recent adoption of building information modelling (BIM), and the quest to decarbonise our built environment, has impacted several segments of the supply chain, including design and engineering practitioners, prompting the need to redefine the construction personnel positions along with associated skills and competencies. The research informs ways in which practitioners can fully embrace the potential of BIM for energy efficiency to promote sustainable interventions by improving existing training practices and identifying new training requirements as BIM evolves and as practitioners’ ICT (Information and Communications Technology) maturity levels improve. This is achieved by adopting a novel text-mining approach which analyses social media alongside secondary sources of evidence to establish a level of correlation between BIM roles and skills. The use of ontological dependency analysis has helped to understand the degree of correlation of skills with roles as a method to inform training and educational programmes. A key outcome from the research is a semantic webbased mining environment which determines BIM roles and skills, as well as their correlation factor, with an application for energy efficiency. The paper also evidences that (a) construction skills and roles are dynamic in nature and evolve over time, reflecting the digital transformation of the Construction industry, and (b) the importance of socio-organisational aspects in construction skills and related training provision

Critical analysis for big data studies in construction: significant gaps in knowledge

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the gaps and potential future research avenues in the big data research specifically in the construction industry. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts systematic literature review (SLR) approach to observe and understand trends and extant patterns/themes in the big data analytics (BDA) research area particularly in construction-specific literature. Findings A significant rise in construction big data research is identified with an increasing trend in number of yearly articles. The main themes discussed were big data as a concept, big data analytical methods/techniques, big data opportunities – challenges and big data application. The paper emphasises “the implication of big data in to overall sustainability” as a gap that needs to be addressed. These implications are categorised as social, economic and environmental aspects. Research limitations/implications The SLR is carried out for construction technology and management research for the time period of 2007–2017 in Scopus and emerald databases only. Practical implications The paper enables practitioners to explore the key themes discussed around big data research as well as the practical applicability of big data techniques. The advances in existing big data research inform practitioners the current social, economic and environmental implications of big data which would ultimately help them to incorporate into their strategies to pursue competitive advantage. Identification of knowledge gaps helps keep the academic research move forward for a continuously evolving body of knowledge. The suggested new research avenues will inform future researchers for potential trending and untouched areas for research. Social implications Identification of knowledge gaps helps keep the academic research move forward for continuous improvement while learning. The continuously evolving body of knowledge is an asset to the society in terms of revealing the truth about emerging technologies. Originality/value There is currently no comprehensive review that addresses social, economic and environmental implications of big data in construction literature. Through this paper, these gaps are identified and filled in an understandable way. This paper establishes these gaps as key issues to consider for the continuous future improvement of big data research in the context of the construction industry

SPARC 2019 Fake news & home truths : Salford postgraduate annual research conference book of abstracts

Welcome to the Book of Abstracts for the 2019 SPARC conference. This year we not only celebrate the work of our PGRs but also our first ever Doctoral School Best Supervisor awards, which makes this year’s conference extra special. Once again we have received a tremendous contribution from our postgraduate research community; with over 90 presenters, the conference truly showcases a vibrant, innovative and collaborative PGR community at Salford. These abstracts provide a taster of the inspiring, relevant and impactful research in progress, and provide delegates with a reference point for networking and initiating critical debate. Find an abstract that interests you, and say “Hello” to the author. Who knows what might result from your conversation? With such wide-ranging topics being showcased, we encourage you to take up this great opportunity to engage with researchers working in different subject areas from your own. To meet global challenges, high impact research needs interdisciplinary collaboration. This is recognised and rewarded by all major research funders. Engaging with the work of others and forging collaborations across subject areas is an essential skill for the next generation of researchers. Even better, our free ice cream van means that you can have those conversations while enjoying a refreshing ice lolly