Finland’s economic woes: Competitiveness through unemployment

Finland is slowly but steadily sinking into increased economic hardship. The lack of growth combined with increased unemployment is fought off by increased public spending and debt, with the implicit assumption that growth is just around the corner. It is hard to avoid the mental picture, where we stand on the deck of Titanic listening to a string quartet – instead of looking for a life boat

Principles for classification of properties of construction objects

This report presents a proposal for a classification of generic properties of systems and an application to construction objects. The background is a documented need for classification expressed in international construction co-operation within ISO, IFC and other standardisation efforts, to be used in different applications like classification systems and product libraries. The general property classification presented in this paper has been developed on the basis of general property theory and systems theory. It is related to a selection of earlier work in property systematic in the construction sector. The report concludes that property classification is important, but that continued work on standards for presentation of properties for construction objects must be done

Problems and problem attention in the construction sector – understanding the influence of human factors

Problems concerning quality and productivity in the construction sector have been a recurrent issue for many years and seem to remain in spite of various initiatives for resolving them. This situation is a result of human action. From social sciences we know that psychological factors crucially influence action design. Knowledge of this influence seems however to be underestimated in the construction sector, and could represent a missing link between strategies, plans and instructions, and the actions carried out.In order to prospect for new problem solving approaches we undertook a questionnaire-based survey to investigate how individuals in the sector perceive the importance and occurrence of, and attention directed to, different proposed causes of inadequate performance. The design of the questionnaire enabled comparisons of different answers to look beyond the respondents’ overt answers.      The result suggests that (1) the whole problem solving situation, including individual, relational and contextual problem components should be addressed as ‘the problem’; (2) the workforce has the ambition and courage to do what is expected but does not always have adequate information and the ability or resources to do it; (3) mental information distortion might be responsible for affecting the way the world is understood

A Pilot Study: Towards BIM Integration - An Analysis of Design Information Exchange & Coordination

Construction projects are costing too much and taking too long as a consequence of unnecessary omissions and errors in project documentation and sub-optimal coordination of design information between consultant disciplines. The theory behind BIM provides an exciting integrated solution for project information management, however in this new process further effort is required to define the content of information deliveries and a number of basic who?- what?- when?- how?- questions relating to object and property definitions need to be resolved. This study investigates and attempts to define the functional requirements for integrated information management through the design stages of a construction project focusing on architectural practice requirements within the residential sector in Sweden. In a pilot study concerning a residential construction project in Sweden the buildingSMART Alliance's new Building Information Modelling Execution Planning Guide was applied. The principle BIM planning procedures are applied to the case, tuning requirements to the specific project and localised to support Swedish classification standards. Through the enquiries required to develop and define these processes, a new information exchange protocol emerges, tuned to the Swedish residential sector

Design Configuration with Architectural Objects

The paper presents the intermediate results of an ongoing research project with the aim to develop concepts and tools for architectural design in industrialized house-building. Architectural design aims to enable different “situations” in the built environment involving people, behaviour, experience and environment, with desired technical, functional and aesthetic properties. "Situations” may be represented by configurable modular “architectural objects” that also reflect the variability of an industrialized building system. In three case studies the relevance of the concept of architectural object is investigated; in architectural design, and through modularization, development and organization of technical platforms. The results however also show a need for further research concerning the implementation in a BIM environment

A Definition of Model Information Content for Strategic BIM Implementation

In response to the increased early workflow implied by BIM processes it is important for design consultants to focus on creating and communicating information that is critical for its purpose (Jernigan 2008) - be it model content for 3d Design Coordination at scheme design stage, or Cost Estimation at Design Development stage, or generation of a suitable Record Model for Facilities Management. Today, with many of the technological matters of integrated information management dealt with (perhaps excluding the matter of interoperability), defining the content and status of BIM information deliveries remains both a practical and theoretical problem. A development of a participant-friendly method of articulating BIM content is required to clarify what information is needed when and conversely what information is indeed not needed to implement a BIM process at a particular stage in a construction project. Priority must be placed on the information that is vital for current tasks without getting distracted by desires to populate models with additional or other information or objects masking the absence of key information. Here there is a lack of existing knowledge to solve this practical problem. New BIM tools and new design processes and procedures have led to a certain confusion of what information is needed when for particular BIM uses. This report seeks to explore and enable a method of defining the content of model information deliverables through a review of 2 key primary specific BIM uses: 3d Design Coordination and Early Energy Appraisal through an analysis of practical application. The scope of this study is limited to a review of information flow within residential projects in a Swedish context and looks at two case projects with a view to identifying and establishing a common definition of the key BIM objects and properties necessary for particular tasks. The study follows a case construction project together with an experimental pilot design project with the purpose of extracting and recording what data is needed to carry out parallel and sequential BIM uses with optimised efficiency. By mapping both processes and the precise information needed to successfully carry out tasks, improved productivity can be realised and a greater quality of design output produced. The key deliverable from this study is the BIM-Info Delivery Protocol (IDP) which attempts to align consultant BIM-Info delivery expectations and represents a tangible solution to assist consultant disciplines manage BIM-Inf

From rough to final designs by incremental set-inclusion of properties

Design of buildings is a complex task in which ideas are sketched and communicated, by representations that are incrementally elaborated from the early rough sketches to the final design. We claim, that today’s model–based design tools are restricted from fully supporting this process as they are founded on the principle that objects are instances of static types. Such systems do not offer work with objects being incrementally specialised according to their properties, and neither do they offer dynamics of the underlying type system.The present paper elaborates on a property–oriented approach as a foundation for design tools facilitating incremental design based on set–inclusion of properties. We emphasize the formal foundation for incorporating such dynamics, and we specify requirements for tools facilitating incremental design and offering improved semantic support

Aspekter på flyttkostnader, fastighetsbildning och fastighetstorlekar

This master thesis has three purposes. The first purpose is to give a theoretical background of how to divide up forest estates and to study how the legal system for these matters works. A literature study has been carried out to give the background and a theoretical model has been made for analysing the law cases. The first purpose also partly touched the decision process in dividing up forest estates from point of view of the law of land parcelling (FBL), point of view. The second purpose is to examine effects of a change of production requirements in 3 cap.7 § FBL as regards dividing up forest estates of private forest owners. A qualitative investigation has been carried out to identify the underlying reasons why private forest owners in Värmland and Gästrikland are performing changes in their forest estate. The third purpose is to analyse some economic aspects of the size of a forest estate. The method to analyze these aspects is to simulate a mathematical formula considering fixed costs at cut. The formula contains variables which regard costs for moving harvesters upstart, of forest work and costs for loading harvesters machines on trailers. The quantity of timber delivered from forest estates of different sizes is then taken through the sum of these costs. The economic results are in a next step related to 3 cap. 7 § FBL saying that the size of a forest estate is dependent of the production capacity of the soil. As regards the first purpose it is shown by literature and law case studies. It shows that the law process for dividing up a forest estate, from a technically point of view, follows the same procedures as most other law cases. This means that appeal against a court sentence is being done to a higher level of court. A possible difference between cases regarding forest estates and other legal processes is that the decisions are more affected by authorities in the former case. The application of the law of parcelling land, FBL and its 5 and 7 §§, is due to the purpose of the forest estate. The seventh paragraph is mainly used for forest estates without farming area. The fifth paragraph is used when there are other possibilities for incomes than from forestry. The results of the quantitative studies show that the dominating motives for dividing up a forest estate are silviculture efficiency family conflicts and economic aspects. Economic calculations show that the intensity of thinning and final cut has a great impact on the economic result as regards the dependency of the size of the forest. Forest estates which today are divided by means of 3 cap 5, 7 §§ FBL are in an economic point of view economically defendable. But if there will be a change (acceptance of lower production requirements) in this matter it would be easier to create even smaller forest estates. Then it probably would lead to a decrease of capital value in the created forest estates.Detta examensarbete har tre syften. Första syftet är att undersöka vad fastighetsbildning är och hur den rättsliga processen kring fastighetsbildningar fungerar. För att uppnå detta har en litteraturstudie genomförts och en figur som strukturerar några aktuella rättsfall konstruerats. Argument och resonemang vid fastighetsindelning grundade på 3 kap. 5 och 7 § FBL (Fastighetsbildningslagen) har också berörts. Andra syftet är att undersöka vad en eventuell ändring i produktionskravet i 3 kap. FBL 7 §, där det anges att en nybildad fastighet bör ge en avkastning motsvarande 200-250m3sk/ha, får för konsekvenser på fastighetsbildningen för privata skogsbrukare. Detta görs genom en kvalitativ motivundersökning genom intervjuer av ett antal skogsägare i Värmland och Gästrikland. Undersökningen syftar till att ta reda på motiven bakom redan gjorda indelningar av skogsfastigheter. Tredje syftet är att undersöka de ekonomiska aspekterna vid indelning av skogsbruksfastigheter. Detta görs genom att studera fasta avverkningskostnader vid avverkning. Ett bonitetsgrundat medelvirkesuttag för olika fastighetsstorlekar divideras sedan med summan av dessa kostnader. Resultatet relateras sedan till lagrummet i 3 kap. 7 § FBL. Resultatet av studier enligt det första syftet visar att den rättsliga processen i ett fastighetsbildningsärende rent tekniskt är relativt likartad många andra rättsliga ärenden. Ett exempel är att överklaganden av domstolsbeslut går vidare för prövning till högre rättslig instans. Domskälen i ett fastighetsbildningsärende varierar beroende på att varje fastighetsbildning är unik och att varje fall bedöms individuellt utifrån rådande skogspolitik. Möjliga skillnader mot andra rättsliga processer är att fastighetsbildning i högre grad påverkas av statliga myndigheter som lantmäteri, läns- och skogsstyrelse. Vid dessa instanser uttrycker staten sitt intresse att verka för en bra fastighetsbildning. Vilket av lagrummen 3 kap. 5 eller 7 § § FBL som tillämpas i ett fastighetsbildningsärende är beroende på vilken typ av fastighet det är fråga om. Vid ombildning av renodlade skogsfastigheter tillämpas nästan uteslutande 3 kap. 7 § FBL. Lagrummet 3 kap. 5 § FBL tillämpas då fastigheten ger möjlighet till sidoinkomster. Resultatet av arbetet med det andra syftet visar att en förändring genom lägre produktionskrav enligt 3 kap. 7 § FBL leder till en ökning av fastighetsbildningarna klyvning och avstyckning. Viljan att göra en förändring av fastighetsstorleken verkade också vara störst hos fastighetsägare som gör denna typ av fastighetsbildning. Några av motiven till förändring visade sig ha samband med vara ekonomisk planering och konflikter i familjen. Resultaten av studien enligt tredje syftet visar att dagens fastighetsbildningar är ekonomiskt försvarbara. En eventuell lättnad (med möjlighet av bildning till mindre skogsfastigheter) i 3 kap. 7 § FBL kommer troligtvis att sänka lönsamheten, eftersom de mindre fastigheterna enligt de ekonomiska kalkylerna blir mindre lönsamma. Resultaten visar också att avverkningsintensiteten har en avgörande roll för kostnadsnivån

Systemet Människa - Byggnadsverk. Ett ontologiskt perspektiv.

Grundläggande begrepp och allmänna teorier är nödvändiga utgångspunkter för forskning, undervisning och praktisk tillämpning inom ett kunskapsområde. Arkitekturområdet saknar sådana på vetenskaplig grund utarbetade begrepp och teorier om sitt kunskapsobjekt. Arkitekturen behandlar frågor om byggnadsverk och människans användning och upplevelse av byggnadsverk. I avhandlingen antas att vid människans användning och upplevelse av byggnadsverk bildas systemet människa-byggnadsverk. Detta system är arkitekturkunskapens objekt. Avhandlingen tar utgångspunkt i ontologiska teorier (särskilt systemteori), arkitekturteorier och empiriska iakttagelser. Den innehåller en redogörelse för ontologins och systemteorins grundbegrepp. Dessa används för att beskriva egenskaper hos människan, sociala system, artefakter, sociotekniska system och samhället. Mot denna bakgrund har sedan utarbetas grundläggande begrepp och allmänna teorier avseende byggnadsverk och systemet människa-byggnadsverk