13 research outputs found
Daylight simulation in architectural practice: shading design for hospitals in London
To achieve precision and satisfy the standards in daylight design, incorporation of computer based simulation tools during design development and decision making process could be useful. In addition to environmental factors several issues, such as construction and aesthetic, need to be considered concurrently during building projects which sometimes difficult to judge by simulation program in early stage of architectural design. To optimise time and achieve sensible design solutions this paper presents a case of therapeutic daylight shading design for an imaginary hospital in-patient room window configurations, located at London, where simulation guided results and other practical factors such as solar control criteria, line of vision, aesthetics and intuitive judgements of the authors were considered to meet the design goals. Though the simulation study is based on London climate, the principle of developing shading devices presented in this paper is also applicable for other types of building windows
Architect and contractor attitudes to waste minimisation
Around 420 million t of materials are used each year in the
construction industry in the UK; however, only 360 million t
are incorporated into products. Additionally, construction
and demolition activities in the UK generated more than
150 million t of waste in 1998 comprising 40% from the
manufacture of products and 60% from site-based
activities, including an estimated 13 million t of unused
materials. Research has been undertaken to assess UK
architects’ and contractors’ attitudes towards waste
minimisation, by investigating the integration of waste
minimisation strategies into current design processes,
examining contractors’ existing waste management
practices and establishing responsibilities for, and barriers
to, managing waste minimisation. A questionnaire survey
based on specific and interrelated organisational waste
minimisation issues was conducted with architects and
contractors and revealed that very few attempts are
made to reduce waste during the design process. On the
other hand, the results show that contractors are pursuing
a more proactive approach to manage on-site waste
production through the development of environmental
and waste management policies. The results reveal that
poorly defined responsibilities are leading to confusion
regarding who should control and monitor waste
management. Both architects and contractors are
constrained by internal and external factors, such as
‘waste accepted as inevitable’ and lack of interest from
clients
Conceptualizing stakeholder engagement in the context of sustainability and its assessment
Stakeholder engagement in construction projects can be conceptualized in different ways. It can be seen from a strategic management perspective aimed at capturing knowledge, increasing ownership of the project by users, reducing conflict, encouraging innovation and facilitating spin-off partnerships. From an ethical perspective, meaningful stakeholder engagement can be seen to enhance inclusive decision making, promote equity, enhance local decision making and build social capital. The benefits from both of these perspectives are vital for sustainability; however, stakeholder engagement can also be seen from the perspective of an opportunity for social learning—a social process where diverse stakeholders share a common forum, learn about each other's values, reflect upon their own values and create a shared vision and shared objectives. Dialogue is also useful in increasing awareness, changing attitudes and affecting behaviours. Existing practices view stakeholder engagement: mostly from a management perspective; sometimes from an ethical perspective; less often as a combination of the two; and rarely have any element of the social learning perspective. There is a need for an approach that combines all the three perspectives if sustainability is to be pursued. A dialogue-oriented approach to integrated sustainability assessment could provide an ideal means to do so
Natural personalised ventilation for hospital wards: experimental validation
Personalised ventilation (PV) systems are useful in protecting vulnerable hospitalised patients from airborne infection due to localised delivery of clean air. A natural personalised ventilation (NPV) system has previously been shown to be a feasible, natural and low-energy alternative to mechanised PV systems. The original NPV system was investigated using three conceptual designs which used dynamic thermal modelling and steady-state computational fluid dynamics to simulate a single-bed hospital ward. Findings from these designs led to optimisation of the NPV system components (stack and ducts) which also serve as the basis for this experimental validation. The objective of this research is to validate the flow characteristics of the optimised NPV system using scaled model experiments in addition to computational fluid dynamics (CFD) studies. Water-bath modelling (WBM) was carried out in a large Perspex tank and a scaled version of the single-bed ward was also constructed in Perspex. Results improve our understanding of the proposed NPV strategy, in particular showing that different locations of heat sources within the model leads to considerably different internal temperatures at steady state. Close similarities between CFD and WBM simulations were also observed
Engendering trust in the construction supply chain
Project success is dependent upon the effective management of people and at the heart of this process is trust. It is often claimed that the construction industry has low levels of trust and numerous reports globally have challenged the industry to address its poor performance on people management and cultural issues. The industry has a long-standing reputation for being adversarial, demonstrated by poor relationships between the client, main contractor and subcontractors, which in turn leads to numerous problems including poor project performance, cost control and poor long-term relationships between the parties involved. These problems are attributed primarily to a lack of harmonisation between contracting parties. This paper investigates the perceptions of trust within the supply chains of partnering projects. It explores the contextual issues surrounding the projects, focusing on the relationship between the partnering method of procurement and the levels of trust that exist within supply chains. This qualitative case study based research provides insights into the multifaceted nature of trust, the difficulty of defining the concept and its evolution through the duration of the project. The paper concludes that trust is an essential element for effective supply chain relationships and can be engendered through teamwork, leadership and the ultimate empowerment of the supply chain. It would appear on the basis of this research that trust can be realised within construction supply chains where partnering principles are a priority
Synthesising emerging issues within key futures study reports in construction
Most futures studies aim to help people to better prepare for their future by identifying
and examining emerging future issues relevant to them. In the last decade, there have
been a range of futures studies published by individuals and organisations within the
construction sector and wider afield. Despite this, little has been done on synthesising
and classifying the emerging issues and analysing the substantive content of these
studies. A thorough search of futures study reports in construction has been conducted
from which key reports were selected to be examined in detail. Content analysis was
employed to identify emerging future issues which were then used to populate a matrix
showing the relationship between the reports and the issues identified. This yielded 337
emerging issues, both internal and external to the construction industry which were
classified under six major themes, namely ‘technological’, ‘environmental’, ‘social’,
‘economic’, ‘governance’ and ‘construction industry’. Each is then discussed. The key
characteristics of these issues, including the possible inter-connectivities among them
are subsequently explained. The paper is concluded with a brief discourse on our future
research work in this area and the possible associated methodologies to be employed
Control procedures for falsework construction
Tbe majority of concrete flyover constructions involve falsework. In 1976 the Braggs Committee in England after intensive investigation of falsework failures, had concluded that technical reasons and procedural inadequacies were the two principal causes for the failures. The Committee also recommended the appointment of a Temporary Works Coordinator who is given responsibility for all aspects of a particular falsework from inception to removal. The British standard on falsework (BS5975:1982) renamed the personnel in charge as Falsework Coordinator and
listed his principal activities. In Hong Kong an Independent Checking Engineer has been required in recent years responsible for the checking of temporary works designed by the Contractor. This paper reviews the control procedures of falsework design and construction and their relation with real cases of falsework failure in the region
Design of health and social care environments for people living with dementia
This research paper targets one of the most prominent design challenges in our society today: how the built environment can respond to the increasing numbers of people living with dementia, which is a progressive condition for which there is currently no cure. People live with dementia in their own home, care homes and other residential settings; they also frequently need access to community settings and services including health care infrastructures, day centres and local communities, many of which are not dementia-friendly. However, available evidence and appropriate stakeholder consultation can improve understanding of the needs of people living with dementia and how to better design the built environment to make them more dementia-friendly
Identification of social responsibility factors within mega construction projects
Mega construction projects create buildings and major
infrastructure to respond to work and life requirements while playing
a vital role in promoting any nation’s economy. However, the
industry is often criticised for not balancing economic, environmental
and social dimensions of their projects, with emphasis typically on
one aspect to the detriment of the others. This has resulted in many
negative impacts including environmental pollution, waste
throughout the project lifecycle, low productivity, and avoidable
accidents. The identification of comprehensive Social Responsibility
(SR) indicators, which combine social, environmental and economic
aspects, is urgently needed. This is particularly the case in the context
of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), which often has mega public
construction projects. The aim of this paper is to develop a set of
wide-ranging SR indicators which encompass social, economic and
environmental aspects unique to the KSA. A qualitative approach
was applied to explore relevant indicators through a review of the
existing literature, international standards and reports. A list of
appropriate indicators was developed, and its comprehensiveness was
corroborated by interviews with experts on mega construction
projects working with SR concepts in the KSA. The findings present
39 indicators and their metrics, covering 10 economic, 12
environmental and 17 social aspects of SR mapped against their
references. These indicators are a valuable reference for decisionmakers and academics in the KSA to understand factors related to SR
in mega construction projects. The indicators are related to mega
construction projects within the KSA and require validation in a real
case scenario or within a different industry to demonstrate their
generalisability
Single-sided natural ventilation strategies for healthcare buildings
Control of airborne pathogens, while achieving comfort and energy efficiency, places strains on typical mechanical air-conditioning systems of hospitals. These buildings expend over 40% of their energy for heating of air and spaces (DoH, 2006) while still being challenged by the problem of airborne infection. Natural ventilation remains a largely unexplored alternative which could alleviate this problem; however, achieving acceptable indoor air quality (IAQ), thermal comfort and energy efficiency from this technique is challenging and requires careful design and modelling. Many hospitals appear to use same openings (windows) as both inlets and outlets, making the air exchange process inefficient. The aim of this study is therefore, to demonstrate the feasibility of using dual opening single-sided, buoyancy-driven natural ventilation for achieving low-energy comfort and reduction of airborne pathogens in 1-bed and 4-bed hospital wards that are designed or refurbished according to the Department of Health’s Activity Database (ADB). Conceptual design conditions were based on provisions of HTM-03 guidelines and openings were sized through empirical methods. The design conditions are tested using dynamic thermal simulation (DTS) to demonstrate the long-term airflow and comfort implications. Computational fluid dynamics simulations (CFD) are then used to provide an indepth steady-state prediction of the distribution and quality of air as well as pathogen dispersal, with respect to airflow patterns/directions for the selected strategies. These research findings provide insights into the airflow, and comfort performances of 1-bed and 4-bed wards for both existing and proposed healthcare buildings whose design or retrofit calls for single-sided natural ventilation