Supply chain integration through innovative procurement

Recent innovative procurement initiatives by the public sector construction clients within the UK are challenging the traditional ways of procuring construction projects. The new concepts and practices are intended to empower clients to exercise more control over the supply chain and generate more co-operation among project participants. The initiatives aim to: bring project members closer together; integrate the supply chain; create greater trust; develop relationships on a long term basis; introduce a pain and gain culture; and reuse the knowledge on succeeding projects. This paper, with examples from the UK construction industry, presents the procurement initiatives of public sector clients to integrate the downstream supply chain members through innovative procurement strategies. This paper particularly highlights the benefits of, and the motivation towards innovative procurement resulting into integrat1on of supply chain members through four case studies conducted as part of a supply chain integration project at the SCRI research centre. The paper defines the construction procurement and recent initiatives through policy documents within the UK. Then the methodology and case studies are presented followed by the findings. The paper concludes that, through clients' innovative initiatives, there is a great potential to integrate supply chain participants. at the outset of a project, in order to achieve effective planning and delivery of the whole project, as well as greater collaboration among supply chain members working on the project. The findings also reveal that there is need for more efforts especially from the contracting organisations to integrate their key suppliers and manufacturers which are still operating through the traditional procurement process

Thermal comfort analysis for the first Passivhaus in Qatar

The Passivhaus standard is a well-established energy efficient standard, initially developed for central European countries, where heating is the dominant building requirement. The success of the Passivhaus standard has attracted the attention of architects and engineers around the world, including Qatar. Qatar has recently announced the first Passivhaus project in the MENA region. The project is experimental in nature - two villas have been constructed side-by-side, one according to the Passivhaus standard and the other according to conventional construction practices in the country. The objective of the study is to test the environmental performance of the Passivhaus standard in a hot and arid climate. The performance of the two villas has been analysed using the IES-VE building performance simulation tool, with the focus on the thermal comfort of the indoor environment. The indoor temperature and relative humidity were the main indicators of occupant comfort levels. Annual hourly data were analysed and, in addition, a detailed analysis of the occupied spaces in both villas on the typically hottest and coldest days of the year was undertaken. The findings indicated a consistent and more uniform level of comfort in the Passivhaus model compared to the standard base model; additionally, the cooling energy requirements to achieve comfort in the Passivhaus villa could frequently be met by the villa’s own on-site renewable energy system. Initial findings suggest that the Passivhaus standard is potentially viable in a hot and arid climate

Managing knowledge in the context of sustainable construction

The 21st century has been a growing awareness of the importance of the sustainability agenda. Moreover for construction, it has become increasingly important as clients are pushing for a more sustainable product to complement their organisations’ own strategic plans. Sustainable development can be defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Sustainable construction is therefore seen as the application of sustainable practices to the activities of the construction sector. One of the key factors in making construction projects more sustainable is overcoming the obstacles of capturing and managing the knowledge required by project teams to effect such change. Managing this knowledge is key to the construction industry because of the unique characteristics of its projects, i.e. multi-disciplinary teams, dynamic participation of team members, heavy reliance on previous experiences/heuristics, the one-off nature of the projects, tight schedules, limited budget, etc. Initiatives within the industry and academic research are developing mechanisms and tools for managing knowledge in construction firms and projects. Such work has so far addressed the issues of capturing, storing, and transferring knowledge

Green construction in India: gaining a deeper understanding

A workshop on green construction was organized in New Delhi in July 2008 by Jamia Millia University, India and University of Salford, U.K., aiming to increase 'green' practices that are environmentally friendly and energy efficient. The workshop included participants from regulatory bodies, public and private construction companies and researchers. The object of the workshop was to provide an opportunity to capture issues, challenges and research issues in green practices throughout the supply chain in the construction sector in India. The methodology constituted a survey that was provided to all participants, where eight questions were composed by the facilitators. The participants were asked about their views on voluntary and compulsory ways of assessment and audit of green implementation in India. The findings of the workshop featured major challenges, drivers, initiatives, and the ways of effective implementation as well as enforcement on the discussed topic

Lessons learnt from the use of relationship-based procurement methods in Australia: clients' perspectives

This paper aims to review the use of various construction procurement systems and present the development of Relationship-Based Procurement (RBP) Methods currently in use within the Australian construction industry. Therefore, this paper provides the historical development of procurement briefly and then focuses on the adoption of Relationship-Based Procurement (RBP) approaches in the Australian construction industry to investigate the future direction of the collaborative project procurement arrangements. Semi-structured interviews with high-level managers in the Australian state government organizations have been conducted to answer the research question. A discussion has been presented about the potential future tendency of the industry in adopting a RBP. The findings suggest that even though relationship based procurement systems offer significant benefits; they are not popular among the public sector decision makers because of inability to demonstrate Value for Money (VfM) propositions for public projects. Other reasons which may cause a move away from using RBPs in the future include the need for managers to fully engage throughout the project, and the lack of collaborative environment within the construction industry in general

Editorial

The Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industries have long sought techniques to decrease project cost, increase productivity and quality, enhance safety, and reduce project delivery time. Building Information Modeling (BIM) offers the potential to achieve these goals. BIM simulates the construction project in a virtual environment. With BIM technology, an accurate virtual model of a facility is digitally constructed. When completed, the computer-generated model contains precise geometry and relevant data needed to support the programming, fabrication, procurement, construction, and post-construction activities. It can be used by project stakeholders for planning and decision making throughout the project life cycle. BIM represents a new paradigm within AEC, one that encourages integration of the roles of all stakeholders on a project. It has the potential to promote greater efficiency and harmony among players who, in the past, saw themselves as adversaries

Lessons learnt from the use of relationship-based procurement methods in Australia: clients’ perspectives

This paper aims to review the use of various construction procurement systems and present the development of Relationship-Based Procurement (RBP) Methods currently in use within the Australian construction industry. Therefore, this paper provides the historical development of procurement briefly and then focuses on the adoption of Relationship-Based Procurement (RBP) approaches in the Australian construction industry to investigate the future direction of the collaborative project procurement arrangements. Semi-structured interviews with high-level managers in the Australian state government organizations have been conducted to answer the research question. A discussion has been presented about the potential future tendency of the industry in adopting a RBP. The findings suggest that even though relationship based procurement systems offer significant benefits; they are not popular among the public sector decision makers because of inability to demonstrate Value for Money (VfM) propositions for public projects. Other reasons which may cause a move away from using RBPs in the future include the need for managers to fully engage throughout the project, and the lack of collaborative environment within the construction industry in general.

Metrics, indicators and analytics to support government excellence programme::the case of Dubai Government Website Excellence Model (WEM)

This research is focused on the construction of composite indicators: a complex process involving various steps that have significant impact on the results. One of the main problems in constructing composite indicators is its reliance on multiple subjective judgments (Cherchye et al., 2008). This was clearly demonstrated in the case of Website Excellence Model (WEM) scores, whose main purpose is to assess and compare the performance of Dubai Government departments’ website. Many subjective judgments were being made by different parties in each of the three main stages of the WEM process: pre-assessment, assessment and post-assessment stage. This level of subjectivity led to a problem where many departments end up being unsatisfied with the overall scores and the general process of deriving the results.This research indicates that at each stage of the WEM process, the reliability, validity and fairness of the results were affected. To construct a more accurate, flexible, equitable and transparent WEM scoring methodology, we proposed the use of geometric data envelopment analysis model (G-DEA) along with some general guidelines to be followed during different stages of the process. G-DEA methodology combines positive characteristics of geometric aggregation, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and DEA. Geometric aggregation makes improvements on two different levels. First, it is better suited for constructing WEM scores than the “standard” additive aggregation, for much the same reasons as for why the switch from additive to geometric aggregation took place for Human Development Index back in 2010. Second, it allows for DEA-like models to be easily extended and applied to a composite indicator irrespective of how complex its hierarchy structure may be. The elements of AHP and DEA contribute through their own well-known properties, such as the reduction of decision bias (AHP and DEA) and an equitable evaluation of departments relative to the observed best practices (DEA).In short, this thesis proposes the use of G-DEA model and discusses the most relevant theoretical and practical aspects and features of that method when applying it to WEM scores. G-DEA methodology is well suited for the WEM scoring framework but there are certainly many other applications, relating to the construction of composite indicators that could benefit from the same methodology. Overall, this study aims to provide both practitioners and academics in the field of composite indicators with a clear application focus on using G-DEA to assess website performance, penetrating the area which so far has never been used in the context of composite indictors. In addition, this study clearly illustrates how G-DEA can combine many good qualities of different well-known techniques for constructing composite indicators

Community Knowledge, Perceptions, and Practices Associated with Urogenital Schistosomiasis among School-Aged Children in Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania

Background: On the Zanzibar islands, United Republic of Tanzania, elimination of urogenital schistosomiasis is strived for in the coming years. This qualitative study aimed to better understand community knowledge, perceptions, and practices associated with schistosomiasis among school-aged children on Unguja and Pemba islands, in order to inform the development of behavior change interventions contributing to eliminate urogenital schistosomiasis. Methodology: In 2011, we conducted 35 children’s discussion groups, 41 in-depth interviews with parents and teachers, and 5 focus group discussions with community members in Zanzibar. Using a modified-grounded theory approach, we transcribed and coded the narrative data followed by thematic analysis of the emergent themes. Principal Findings: Urogenital schistosomiasis is a common experience among children in Zanzibar and typically considered a boys’ disease. Children engage in multiple high-risk behaviors for acquiring schistosomiasis because of poor knowledge on disease transmission, lack of understanding on severity of disease-associated consequences, and lack of alternative options for water related activities of daily living and recreational play. Local primary school teachers had little to no training about the disease and no teaching tools or materials for students. Conclusions/Significance: Conducting activities in open natural freshwater contaminated by S. haematobium larvae compromises the health of school-aged children in Zanzibar. The perception of urogenital schistosomiasis as a minor illness rather than a serious threat to a child’s well-being contributes to the spread of disease. Understanding community perceptions of disease along with the barriers and facilitators to risk reduction behaviors among children can inform health promotion activities, campaigns, and programs for the prevention, control, and elimination of urogenital schistosomiasis in Zanzibar

Analysis of tailpipe emissions, thermal efficiency and fuel consumption for urban real world driving using a SI passenger car as a probe vehicle

Air quality issues in urban areas are always a big concern. Air pollution especially NO2 and PM exceedances in cities are common. This is particularly true with congested traffic and the monitoring station is at the roadside. It is well known that road transport in the urban area is a major source of air pollution. Though all the vehicles have to comply the EU emission standards, the emissions were tested using the legislated standard driving cycles, which could not represent real world driving emissions. This is because compared to the legislated driving cycle, the real world driving uses different powers, different average speeds, different traffic congestion, different road gradients, different maximum acceleration rates, different cold start conditions, different numbers of stop/start events and occurs at different ambient temperatures and pressures and will inevitably have different emissions. In recognition of importance of real driving emissions, the EU plans to introduce RDE (Real driving emission) test procedure in 2017. This work investigated real world emissions on a congested road by a roadside air quality monitoring station that exceeds European air quality standards for NOx and PM using a portable emissions measurement system (PEMS) and a Euro 4 SI passenger car. The PEMS used was the Temet FTIR with Horiba OBS pitot tube exhaust mass flow sensor and gas sampler. Twenty nine hot start repeat journeys were conducted at different times of the day (morning and evening rush hours, lunch time, night) so that a range of traffic conditions were included and eight cold start tests for the same journeys were conducted and compared with the hot start results and shown to give significantly higher emissions. The vehicle was equipped with thermocouple, lambda sensor and GPS for travel parameter analysis. The GHG including CO2, CH4 and N2O, nitrogen species in the exhaust gases including NO, NO2, N2O, NH3 and HCN and other emissions were analysed. The results were compared to the NEDC and WLTC. One of the suggestions from this work is that the proposal for the EU RDE test procedure do not include congested traffic driving and cold start which will compromise its expected purpose and effect