An investigation on benefits and future expectation of Industrialised Building System (IBS) implementation in construction practices

Industrialised Building System (IBS) is well known in many developing countries due to the benefits that can be derived from its applications in construction projects. However, the low percentage of IBS usage may be due to lack of awareness and knowledge about IBS among many professionals. There may be factors that contribute to a lack of interest from the client towards IBS. The aim of this study is to improve the application of IBS particularly in private construction projects in Malaysia by determining the benefits and expectation on application of IBS in private construction projects. This study adopts a quantitative method using questionnaires that were sent to 35 construction firms as a sampling frame. Finally, the finding of this study hopefully could assist professional parties in construction industry in providing a better ground knowledge for improving decisions making to achieve the success of IBS construction projects implementation and also this study will achieved the project objectives in terms of predetermined objectives that are mostly within the time, specified budget and standard qualit

Mitigation measures for significant factors instigating cost overrun in highway projects

Construction industry has created numerous employment opportunities and playing a role model in economic growth of Pakistan. This industry is facing serious and critical problem of cost overrun especially in highway sector in country Pakistan particularly in Sindh Province. The purpose of this study is to identify mitigation measures for significant factors of cost overrun in highway projects of Sindh Province. In this study, mixed-mode research approach has been used. Quantitatively, a structured questionnaire based on 64 common factors of cost overrun from in-depth literature review was developed and distributed to30 selected respondents among the client, contractor and consultant having more than 15 years of experience in handling highway projects in Sindh Province. The collected data was statistically analyzed using SPSS where 8 most significant factors of cost overrun were identified. Qualitatively, the identified eight most significant factors were then incorporated in open ended questionnaire and distributed to 30 selected experts for them to write possible mitigation measures for each of the significant factors. The data was then analyzed through content analysis technique to rank the mitigation measures according to their substantiality. The results of this study would be helpful for construction practitioners to be used as reference in taking up appropriate measures in controlling cost overrun in highways projects in Pakista

Resource allocation in coordinated multipoint long term evolution-advanced networks

Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP) in Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE- Advanced) improves the cell-edge data rates and the network spectral efficiency through base station coordination. In order to achieve high quality of service (QoS) in CoMP network, resource allocation approach is one of the main challenges. The resource allocation strategies of cells in CoMP network affect each other’s performance. Thus, the resource allocation approach should consider various diversities offered in multiuser wireless networks, particularly in frequency, spatial and time dimensions. The primary objective of this research is to develop resource allocation strategy for CoMP network that can provide high QoS. The resource allocation algorithm is developed through three phases, namely Low-Complexity Resource Allocation (LRA), Optimized Resource Allocation (ORA) and Cross-Layer Design of ORA (CLD-ORA). The LRA algorithm is a three-step resource allocation scheme that consists of user selection module, subcarrier allocation module and power allocation module which are performed sequentially in a multi-antenna CoMP network. The proposed ORA algorithm enhances throughput in LRA while ensuring fairness. ORA is formulated based on Lagrangian method and optimized using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The design of CLD-ORA algorithm is an enhancement of the ORA algorithm with resource block (RB) scheduling scheme at medium access control (MAC) layer. Simulation study shows that the ORA algorithm improves the network sum-rate and fairness index up to 70% and 25%, respectively and reduces the average transmit power by 41% in relative to LRA algorithm. The CLD-ORA algorithm has further enhanced the LRA and ORA algorithms with network sum-rate improvement of 77% and 33%, respectively. The proposed resource allocation algorithm has been proven to provide a significant improved performance for CoMP LTE-Advanced network and can be extended to future 5G network

Identification of Delay Factors from Mecca's Construction Experts Perspective

Delay in construction project is a common phenomenon in construction industry project where there are numerous studies on this issue that identified the factors causing the delay. This paper presents a study on identifying significant delay factors encountered by construction practitioners in Mecca city. A total of 81 delay factors were identified from seven research articles on construction delay study conducted in several parts of Saudi Arabia. These factors were included in the questionnaire form where this questionnaire was distributed amongst the construction experts who involved in the current construction projects in Mecca. The survey was carried out by interviewing 28 selected experts, who are from consultant, contractors and project management’s parties.  The collected data were analyzed by using Average Index method for each factor and these factors were ranked based on the index to determine its significance to the delay. The result found that the most six significant factors are Changes in design documents, Low productivity level of labour, Shortage of manpower, Difficulties in financing project by contractor, Poor contract management, and Unqualified workforce. The results of this research are helpful to the construction community in avoiding any potential delay for their future construction projects in order to achieve successful construction projects

Improving thermal conductivity of fired clay brick using sawdust waste

The demand for energy efficient design and construction has become progressively important with the growing energy costs and increasing awareness on the effects of global warming. Global warming causes a higher temperature of the surrounding, which will give significant effect to the energy consumption in commercial and residential building. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the possibility of incorporating sawdust as an additive material to improve thermal insulation properties of clay brick through lowering its thermal conductivity value. This study uses three types of soils with the proportion of clay soil (80%), laterite soil (10%) and grey soil (10%). The percentages of sawdust waste used as an additive are 2.5%, 5% and 7.5% by weight. The laboratory works performed involve the geotechnical gradation, physical, mechanical, chemical composition and thermal conductivity of fired clay brick. There are two types of brick that were produced in this study, which are control brick (CB) and sawdust brick (SB). The results show that the thermal conductivity of fire clay brick improves with the increasing percentage of waste material. Therefore, in this study, it appears that the brick incorporated with 5% of the sawdust waste is the optimum value that can achieve 7.5 MPa of compressive strength, 23.01.56% of water absorption and 0.384 W/m˚C of thermal conductivity. Thus, 5% of sawdust waste is chosen as the optimum percentage that yields better fired clay brick. This study reveals that the sawdust is a potential waste material that can be used to improve the thermal property and as a sustainable construction material

Structural modelling of cause and effect factors of construction waste generation in Malaysian Construction Industry

Construction industry contributes significantly in improving socio-economic development of a country. However, this industry faces serious problems of construction waste generated worldwide including Malaysia. Construction waste is results from various factors which are necessary to identify for reducing the waste generated in construction project. Hence, this study focused on developing a structural model of construction waste generation and determining the most important group that contributes to construction waste generation. The questionnaire consisted of 77 causative factors which then clustered into 7 groups and 13 effects factors of construction waste which are clustered into 3 groups. These factors and assigned groups were validated by 30 construction personnel (contractors, consultants and clients) during the pilot study. The actual survey was conducted with a total of 302 questionnaires were received by respond rate of 60%. The data analysis is carried out using SmartPLS software. A structural model of construction waste generation was developed based on 7 groups of causative factors and 3 groups of effect factors using Partial Least Squared-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. It was found that the model is fit due to the R² value of 0.451 (R2 ≥ 0.26 = substantial). The model identifies that all 10 groups are significant with t-value ≥ 2.58 from bootstrapping process of 5000 random samples. The model indicates that Handling of Materials and Equipment group has the highest impact on construction waste generation. Finally, this finding was validated by 22 construction practitioners who agreed that Handling of Material and Equipment group of factors contributes the highest amount of construction waste generation at site. This group of factors should be avoided during construction works to reduce the waste generation. The findings of this study are contributed to understand clearly the cause and effect factors of construction waste generation in Malaysia

Study of Site's Construction Waste in Batu Pahat, Johor

AbstractRapid growth in construction industry has increased the problems of construction waste around the world. In Malaysia, the construction industry plays a significant role both in the infrastructure development and economic sectors. The construction industry is been regarded as one of the major contributors of negative impact to the environment. To reduce these negative impacts, it needs a comprehensive understanding of the construction waste generation and management. Hence, the objective of this research are to identify the construction waste generation on site, to quantify the physical wastes that are generated at the construction site and to determine the construction waste management plan that have been applied in project. This research involves two ways of data collection which are by interviews and site observation. This study was conducted at three site's projects around Batu Pahat, Johor. The data collection were taken weekly in two month duration. The finding shows that, there were six types of waste produce on the three sites which are timber, metal, concrete, mortar, packaging waste and bricks. Throughout the quantifying data of the construction wastes, it shows that timber wastes were the largest contributor to the construction wastes which then followed by bricks, packaging waste and concrete. Study on construction Waste Management Plan (WMP) at sites had showed that, they were not fully applied of WMP. Hence, to minimize the waste, WMP should be fully applied on site. The finding will be an input to authorities in shaping better policy of construction waste management

Assessing Delay Factors and Mitigation Measures in Building Maintenance Works

When it comes to the operation of a construction industry, building maintenance is critical. Any structure must be well-maintained to prevent minor problems from becoming major ones. Delayed building maintenance may result in increased repair costs as well as a reduction in building lifespan. To avoid this problem, research has been conducted to identify the factors that cause building maintenance delays and mitigation measures to resolve building maintenance delays. To achieve the study's objectives, extensive literature research and a questionnaire survey were conducted. Based on previous literature research, accumulated data was used to create a questionnaire for 250 Malaysian building maintenance delay factors and mitigation measures. A group of professionals and experts, including top management, project managers, engineers, architects, assistant engineers, technicians, human resources and administration, and others, participated in this survey. SPSS statistical software was used to analyse the collected data using the average mean index method and correlation. According to the data, the three highest mean index values from the factors that cause maintenance work delays are an increase in maintenance costs as the building age increases, an incorrect timing for work can incur higher maintenance costs when a critical job item is overlooked, and improper planning and budgeting. For correlation analysis, it was found that the correlations amongst the five groups of delay factors are having strong relationship with Pearson correlation value of 0.5. While for mitigation measures of the delay, it was found that three highest ranks are prefer other organizational structure follows by policy and objective and good communication. The findings can assist construction practitioners in prioritising their maintenance works

Certain Building Materials with Respect to Their Thermal Properties as Well as to Their Impact to Environment

Thermal properties of certain building materials were studied with respect to environmental aspects. The building materials with significant insulation properties were laboratory tested using the special equipment based on Peltier module. During the experimental work, the samples of the following materials were tested: Expanded polystyrene (EPS), Autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC): Ytong, Calcium Silicate Board: Super-Isol and Foam glass (Cellular Glass Insulation): PERINSUL. The temperature was measured directly in connection of material with the Peltier module as well as in the distances of 5mm, 27.5mm, 50mm and 95mm from the Peltier module. The temperature taken at the surface of Peltier module reached -22°C, a typical temperature in the cold winter season. The results of the laboratory experimental work were modelled using the graphic representation. Modelling the thermal distribution will help to determine the ideal material thickness in the design of the building insulation. 

Measures to Mitigate Causative Factors of Budget Overrun in Malaysian Building Projects

Completion of a construction within planned budget is one of the main criterion of project success, however budget overrun has become a recurring phenomenon in construction industry. Budget overrun can cause multiple negative effects such as loos of economy, disputes among construction stakeholders, project abandonment, and drop in construction activities. This study aims to identify causes of budget overrun in Malaysian Building projects and then to establish mitigation measures for the identified main causes. Literature review, questionnaire survey and interviews were used in this study. Detailed literature review results in identification of 28 causes of budget overrun. The main causes of budget overrun in building projects in Malaysia were investigated through a questionnaire survey of 83 contractors, 57 clients, and 40 owners. The feedback of questionnaire survey was analyzed statistically. The significant causes of budget overrun were:  improper planning, variation in materials price, poor site management, lack of communication between parties, frequent design changes, incompetent contractors, mistakes during construction, shortage of site workers, delay in material procurement, and   low speed of decisions making.   After questionnaire survey, interviews with 16 construction exports were carried out in order to develop mitigation measures for the top ten significant causes. On the basis of interviews, a list of mitigation measures for each of the top ten significant causes were established. The findings of this study can be useful for construction practitioners in controlling budget overrun and to achieve project success