From Norm to Swarm: development of a balanced scorecard for evaluating automation in construction

Industry 4.0 technologies in construction (e.g. Building Information Modelling (BIM), robotics or 3D printing) offer radically different ways of planning and constructing the built environment. As a result, construction organisations expect an increase of productivity, efficiency, quality and safety, as well as a reduction of costs, emissions and waste. Yet a lack of management tools and standards to evaluate automation and set business strategic improvement drivers is hindering wider adoption in the construction industry. The aim of the project is to deliver a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) to support the adoption of automation in in the UK building industry by delivering a framework to evaluate automated construction processes from a holistic perspective (i.e. financial, social, and environmental). The BSC is co-created with industry and focuses on assessing performance indicators such as productivity, resource consumption, and GHG emissions, helping construction organisations to set improvement targets to achieve their long-term strategy. The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) included in the BSC are tested using data from a case study of 3D printing with aerial robotics. Access to the EPSRC-funded project Aerial Additive Building Manufacturing will provide the principal dataset, supplemented by data provided by industry partners during two workshops

Conceptualizing the relationship between personal values and sustainability—a TMO case study

Sustainability is associated with many contemporary challenges facing society, prompting sustainability initiatives and research in this field. An emerging strand of research has sought to investigate sustainability as a function of values. Given that values determine and predict perceptions, attitudes and behaviors, understanding employees’ underlying values would provide important insights on how values relate to sustainability-related actions. However, there is a gap in knowledge around individual actors’ roles as influencers or change agents for sustainability, particularly in a construction project context. Drawing on values theory, this exploratory research addresses this gap by conceptualizing the relationship between personal values and sustainability performance. A Temporary Multiple Organization (TMO) (a major infrastructure project in the UK) was used as the case study. An adapted version of Schwartz Value Survey (SVS) was used to measure and analyze the personal values of employees with professional and managerial roles. Statistical and multidimensional scaling analysis were deployed to analyze the responses. Given the lack of theory and research in a construction management context, the potential significance and implications of the findings were explored and analyzed by drawing on existing empirical studies around values. This enabled the development of six theoretical concepts (‘Feeling of Oneness’, ‘Moral Obligation’, ‘Creativity’, ‘Challenge’, ‘Change’ and ‘Compliance’) latterly expressed as propositions. This novel conceptualization has the potential to explain and articulate the relationship between personal values and sustainability performance. This research has both practical and theoretical implications, as it is the first to explain the role of personal values in enabling projects to deliver sustainability in a TMO context

Molecular immunophenotyping of lungs and spleens in naive and vaccinated chickens early after pulmonary avian influenza A (H9N2) virus infection

In a respiratory-infection-model with the avian influenza A H9N2 virus we studied lung and splenic immune reactions in chickens using a recently developed 5K chicken immuno-microarray. Groups of chickens were either mock-immunized (referred to as non-immune), vaccinated with inactivated viral antigen only (immune) or with viral antigen in a water-in-oil (W/O) immunopotentiator (immune potentiated). Three weeks after vaccination all animals were given a respiratory infection. Immune potentiated birds developed inhibitory antiviral antibodies, showed minimal lung histopathology and no detectable viral sequences, while non-immune animals showed microscopic immunopathology and detectable virus. Immune birds, receiving antigen in saline only, showed minimal microscopic histopathology, and intermediate levels of virus detection. These classical features in the different groups were mirrored by overlapping or specific mRNA gene expression profiles in lungs and spleen using microarray analysis. To our knowledge this is the first study demonstrating pneumonia-associated lung pathology of the low pathogenic avian influenza H9N2 virus. Our data provide insights into the molecular interaction of this virus with its natural host when naive or primed by vaccination

A Systematic Review of Responsible Sourcing in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Sectors of the UK

In recent years, responsible sourcing and procurement (including green supply chain management) across the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) sectors have become notable contributors to sustainable construction strategies. This study aims to provide a systematic review of responsible sourcing literature across the AEC sectors of the UK to identify a suite of opportunities and obstacles to adopting ethical and environmentally supportive practices and to highlight avenues for further investigation. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) review process was adopted to identify, screen, and select (n = 80) articles (from 2000–2020) for review. Analysis of these articles identified the most frequently reported opportunities: (i) stakeholder value (40%); (ii) improved supply chain performance (39%); and (iii) competitive advantage (30%). The most frequently reported obstacles relating to the uptake of responsible sourcing are the following: (i) cost (44%); (ii) industry constraints (28%); and (iii) lack of frameworks/information and lack of awareness (25%). Given the industry importance of these themes, it is proposed that there is a necessity to explore and unravel the perceptions of industry experts about these issues so as to clarify the progress and possibilities for more widely adopting responsible sourcing across the AEC sector and, moreover, for clarifying their contribution towards achieving national and international sustainability targets (e.g., UN Sustainable Development Goals)

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

The modelling gap : quantifying the discrepancy in the representation of thermal mass in building simulation

Enhanced fabric performance is fundamental to reduce the energy consumption in buildings. Research has shown that the thermal mass of the fabric can be used as a passive design strategy to reduce energy use for space conditioning. Concrete is a high density material, therefore said to have high thermal mass. Insulating concrete formwork (ICF) consists of cast in-situ concrete poured between two layers of insulation. ICF is generally perceived as a thermally lightweight construction, although previous field studies indicated that ICF shows evidence of heat storage effects. There is a need for accurate performance prediction when designing new buildings. This is challenging in particular when using advanced or new methods (such as ICF), that are not yet well researched. Building Performance Simulation (BPS) is often used to predict the thermal performance of buildings. Large discrepancies can occur in the simulation predictions provided by different BPS tools. In many cases assumptions embedded within the tools are outside of the modeller's control. At other times, users are required to make decisions on whether to rely on the default settings or to specify the input values and algorithms to be used in the simulation. This paper investigates the “modelling gap”, the impact of default settings and the implications of the various calculation algorithms on the results divergence in thermal mass simulation using different tools. ICF is compared with low and high thermal mass constructions. The results indicated that the modelling uncertainties accounted for up to 26% of the variation in the simulation predictions

Stakeholder views of materials selection for road pavements

The growing prominence of Carbon calculators in the road construction sector has lead to a greater general awareness of the sustainability issues associated with road pavement materials and their selection. This paper presents results from a series of semi-structured interviews conducted with key stakeholders from the highways industry, which were used to gain an understanding of industry perceptions on the use of sustainability assessment in the selection of highway materials for road construction. The stakeholders consulted ranged from government bodies and trade associations to contractors and academics. Analysis of the interviews has shown that there is a clear focus on Carbon/Climate change. The frequency with which various topics were mentioned has been used in the analysis to produce a basic hierarchy of sustainability drivers for the highways industry. A comparison is also made against the existing civil engineering environmental quality assessment and award scheme (Ceequal) categories to identify gaps and areas of consensus to further enhance Ceequal. The paper concludes that several factors should be taken forward within any on-going development of LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) frameworks or Carbon assessment methodologies for road construction projects including, Carbon (footprinting)/Climate change, Maintenance phase considerations and broader Environmental Issues

Critical factors influencing the choice of frame type at early design

Abstract : The design process, as defined by Pahl and Beitz (1988), is the intellectual attempt to meet certain demands in the best possible way. Early design phase is a critical part of a building project and decisions made through this phase lay the foundations for the construction phase. These involve the evaluation of alternative frame types fulfilling key constraints in order to come up with the optimum structural solution. Although the choice of frame is heavily influenced by the factors specific to that project, there are a number of issues that are commonly considered by project participants. These issues were addressed by means of literature review, semi-structured interviews and a workshop, to identify the most important factors in influencing structural frame selection. This paper reports on research which analysed postal questionnaires sent to cost consultants, project managers, and clients and established a ranking of ten issues for each stage of early design. The data collected were tested, using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) through frequency and Spearman’s rho (ρ) analyses. Ten issues proved to be significant to the structural frame selection process; the statistical tests have established the agreement between cost consultants, clients and project managers in the rankings of these issues. Therefore, the paper concludes that these issues could be adopted as fundamental criteria for assessing and selecting the structural frame type for a building project during the early design phase

Lifting wing in constructing tall buildings: aerodynamic testing

This paper builds on previous research by the authors which determined the global state-of-the-art of constructing tall buildings by surveying the most active specialist tall building professionals around the globe. That research identified the effect of wind on tower cranes as a highly ranked, common critical issue in tall building construction. The research reported here presents a design for a “Lifting Wing,” a uniquely designed shroud which potentially allows the lifting of building materials by a tower crane in higher and more unstable wind conditions, thereby reducing delay on the programmed critical path of a tall building. Wind tunnel tests were undertaken to compare the aerodynamic performance of a scale model of a typical “brick-shaped” construction load (replicating a load profile most commonly lifted via a tower crane) against the aerodynamic performance of the scale model of the Lifting Wing in a range of wind conditions. The data indicate that the Lifting Wing improves the aerodynamic performance by a factor of up to 50%