Main Factors Causing Delays in Large Construction Projects: Evidence from New Zealand

Construction delays occur frequently on large projects, resulting in not only the client getting their completed project later, but it can also have a major impact on the cost, duration and quality of the project. Delays can have a debilitating effect on all parties involved, as it’s often the cause of adversarial relationships, a feeling of apprehension and distrust between parties. The purpose of this research was to establish the main factors causing delays on large construction projects in Auckland and compare results with the situation in other countries. Construction managers and site managers with a minimum of 10 years’ experience working in large construction projects were surveyed, with both questionnaires and face-to-face interviews as methods, to collect quantitative as well as qualitative data. A significant factor that occurs often was “unforeseen ground conditions”, and was due to the fact that geological tests do not always predict the condition of the whole site. The participants in general agreed that the design group contributes most to construction delays through “lack of producing design documents on time, late instructions, and unclear and inadequate details on drawings.” These findings however are not generalizable, due to the small sample size, so further empirical research is suggested, on a larger scale, and surveying not just construction managers, but also other project team members, including the client

Quantification of Critical Success Factors of Contractors in Cambodia: AHP Approach

Project success is commonly defined as a completion of a construction project within stipulated time, estimated cost and required quality. Undoubtedly, contractor’s, who is one of the influencing stakeholders for project activities, performance is critical for successful project completion. Thus, being the first work in its kind, this study evaluates the CSFs for contractors in Cambodia. The AHP approach was adopted for pairwise comparison of 22 identified critical success factors (CSFs) documented by 41 construction experts of various construction projects in Cambodia. The research findings revealed that the most critical factors for contractor’s success are: complexity of a project; social/cultural environment; ability to make timely decision; client confidence in construction team; contractor’s cash flow; client influence; project size; site management; contractor’s experience; and project planning

Contributions of safety critical success factors and safety program elements to overall project success

Implementing a safety program is an essential step toward improving safety performance. This research aims to develop an overall project success (OPS) model for building projects through investigating the direct and indirect impact of safety critical success factors (CSFs) on OPS mediated by safety program elements. First, interviews were carried out with experts in the Iraqi construction industry, and then a questionnaire survey was utilized to obtain feedback from construction professionals. The results revealed that 20 elements are needed to confirm and improve effectiveness. These elements were categorized into four constructs: management commitment and employee involvement, worksite analysis, hazard and prevention control, and health and safety training. The analysis confirms that the relationship between safety CSFs and OPS are mediated by safety program elements. These findings offer a glimmer of hope for implementing safety programs in the Iraqi construction sector, and can also be used to enhance safety performance

BIM Adoption in the Cambodian Construction Industry: Key Drivers and Barriers

Critical issues surrounding the promotion and adoption of building information modeling (BIM) for construction projects are largely country-specific due to contextual socio-cultural, economic, and regulatory environments impacting construction operations and outcomes. There is little information on BIM adoption issues specific to the Cambodian construction industry (‘the industry’). This paper aims to narrow existing knowledge by investigating key drivers for, and barriers to the adoption of BIM in the industry. Using descriptive survey method, feedback was received from contractors and architects that were registered with their respective trade and professional associations in the industry. The multi-attribute method and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)-based Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (W) test were used to analyze the empirical datasets. Results showed that out of the 13 significant drivers identified in the study, the most influential comprised the technology’s ability to remarkably enhance project visualization and schedule performance; this is followed by awareness that the technology is redefining how project information is created and shared among stakeholders and therefore the future of the industry that cannot be ignored. On the other hand, the most constraining barrier to the adoption of the technology, out of 19 significant barriers, related to strong industry resistance to change, especially reluctance to change from 2D drafting to 3D modeling; other highly rated barriers included the high initial cost of the software and the shortage of professionals with BIM skills. Implementation of the study findings could support greater uptake of the technology and the leveraging of its key benefits to improving project success and the growth of the Cambodian construction industry, as well as those of other developing economies that share similar socio-cultural, economic, and regulatory environments

Design and energy performance analysis of a hotel building in a hot and dry climate: a case study

In times of unprecedented climate change and energy scarcity, the design and delivery of energy-efficient and sustainable buildings are of utmost importance. This study aimed to design a hotel building for hot and dry climate conditions and perform its energy performance analysis using energy simulation tools. The model of the hotel building was constructed by a graphical tool OpenStudio and EnergyPlus following the ASHRAE Standard 90.1. To reduce the energy demand of the hotel, parametric analysis was conducted and building envelope parameters such as the thickness of insulation layer in the exterior wall and the roof, thermal conductivity of insulation layer, rate of infiltration, U-factor of windows, and thermal resistance of air gap in the interior walls (R-value), window-to-wall ratio, and orientation of the building were tested and the impact on the energy use of the building was analyzed. It was found that most of the design assumptions based on the ASHRAE standard were already optimal for the considered locality, however, were still optimized further to reach the highest efficiency level. Apart from this, three sustainable technologies—thermochromic windows, phase change materials, and solar panels—were incorporated into the building and their energy consumption reduction potential was estimated by energy simulations. Cumulatively, these sustainable technologies were able to reduce the total energy use from 2417 GJ to 1593 GJ (i.e., by 824 GJ or 34%). Calculation of payback period and return on investments showed that thermochromic windows and solar panels have relatively short payback periods and high return on investments, whereas PCM was found to be economically nonviable. The findings of this study are deemed to be useful for designing a sustainable and energy-efficient hotel building in a sub-tropical climate. However, the overall design and energy performance analysis algorithm could be used for various buildings with varying climate conditions

Factors influencing adoption of construction technologies in Vietnam's residential construction projects

PurposeVietnam's construction technology (CT) adoption is low when compared to other countries with similar gross domestic product (GDP) per capita resulting in lesser productivity. The research objectives are: (1) To undertake an extensive literature review on CT adoption challenges; (2) To investigate CT adoption challenges unique to Vietnam's construction sector; and (3) To propose data-driven solutions for a greater rate of CT adoption.Design/methodology/approachA two-stage descriptive survey method was adopted in alignment with the research aim and objectives. Based on the literature review of 215 articles, a questionnaire was designed and administered to experienced construction managers (CM) to identify whether CT has been adopted, barriers to adoption, drivers, and the most popular CT tools. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the characteristics of interest in the empirical dataset and SPSS-based inferential statistics to estimate the means, frequency counts, variance and test hypotheses that informed the drawing of conclusions concerning the research objectives.FindingsThe popular CT tools identified were Autodesk, Microsoft Office and Primavera. The most influential CT adoption barriers: (1) Unknow`n impact on productivity, (2) Late implementation of software in construction projects, (3) Lack of understanding of importance and needs in the construction industry (4) Lack of funds during budget planning for technological advances and implementation (5) Lack of experts required for technological change, and insufficient skills in the industry.Practical implicationsIt is expected that the findings could inform data-driven regulatory and practice reforms targeted at increasing greater uptake of CT in Vietnam with potential for replication in countries facing similar adoption challenges.Originality/valueThe findings are intended to support data-driven regulatory and practice improvements aimed at improving CT adoption in Vietnam, with the possibility for replication in other countries facing comparable problems.</jats:sec

The construction client satisfaction model: a PLS-SEM approach

The satisfaction of the client is of utmost importance in procuring future projects; however, anecdotally client satisfaction (CS) is not adequately considered in many developing countries. Factors associated with the influence of service quality (SQ) on construction client satisfaction and how it affects their behavioural intentions in Cambodia are investigated. A theoretical structural model was developed to investigate the influence of five SQ factors on CS and their links to the future behavioural intentions of the client. A partial least square approach of the structural equation modelling technique (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyse data collected from a questionnaire survey of 227 participants comprising the clients of small and medium size projects. The structural model adapts 22 attributes across five SQ factors, namely: reliability; responsiveness; assurance; empathy, and tangible factors. PLS-SEM outcomes confirmed that the future behavioural intentions of the client are influenced by their satisfaction over the service excellence provided by construction companies. Moreover, treating every client individually and demonstrating an approachable attitude towards their needs will increase their satisfaction with the experience they had with a contractor. Findings and recommendations of the study may be useful to construction companies who are seeking ways to improve CS in developing countries

Construction professionals' perspectives on drivers and barriers of sustainable construction

With the associated environmental challenges and unsustainable patterns of construction, there is also notable awareness and willingness among the state bodies to adopt sustainability measures and practices in Kazakhstan. This study explores the drivers of and barriers inhibiting the adoption of sustainability paradigm in the construction context of Kazakhstan. The drivers and barriers were validated through the survey and structured workshop with the construction professionals to ensure their relevance to the local context, which were then ranked according to their levels of influence through the lens of the industry professionals in Kazakhstan. Delphi technique was the last stage before consolidating the specified lists. Stakeholder opinions were then consolidated to develop a context-oriented decision support system. The findings reveal that addressing environmental issues is vital to increase the level of sustainability leading to the more efficient use of construction materials and resources. Various social aspects are also found to be driving forces for the effective adoption of the SC concept. On the other hand, a great portion of SC barriers is related to economic aspects, which are followed by government as well as awareness and education related barriers. The findings are hoped to contribute to the body of knowledge in terms of drivers of, and barriers to SC in developing countries, particularly in Central Asian countries due to similarities in context. The findings may also be useful for the construction forefront players seeking ways to improve sustainability performance of the construction industry

Productivity as a determinant of labour wage in New Zealand’s construction sector

The empirical relationships between labour wages, unemployment rate and the labour productivity index in New Zealand’s construction sector (for the period of 1983–2017) were investigated. The Johansen cointegration test and vector error correction mechanism were used to determine the existence of long-run relationships between the variables and the adjustment process of the short-run disequilibrium into the long-run equilibrium. The results show that the labour productivity index positively affects the labour wage, while the effect of unemployment rate is negative in the long run. That is, the more productive the labour, the more the wages earned. Related statistical tests on the residuals proved that the model and its findings are reliable

Assessment of green practices in residential buildings: a survey-based empirical study of residents in Kazakhstan

In the lead-up to the Paris climate change conference, the majority of the UN Member States submitted their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions on carbon emissions reduction to be met by 2030. Kazakhstan is no exception. The government made pledges and, therefore, has to adapt its national policies and regulations to meet the set ambitious goals. In this regard, the role of residential building sector is of the utmost importance due to its significant share in the country’s energy consumption and carbon emissions profile. Thus, this study presents the types of residential buildings available and assesses how far they are from meeting the green building (GB) indicators set in various certification schemes and standards. This would help in suggesting practical steps to improve the sustainability levels of the residential building stock of Kazakhstan. This study collected a robust set of data on existing residential buildings in Astana, chosen as a case study location, classified them and, based on a developed checklist, evaluated their performance compared to GB standards. The study has found that old buildings tend to have a rather poor level of sustainability, whereas the sustainability of new buildings depends on the class of the building—steadily increasing from economy to premium class in all categories of the checklist. A detailed analysis of the results has led to the development of recommendations on how each type of building should be improved to meet the GB standards