Strategies for Minimizing Corruption in the Construction Industry in China

Corruption is a social phenomenon deep rooted in the history of mankind. It is similar to other kinds of crime which are likely to occur in procurement of works by governments and local authorities, due to the large amount of money involved in a single transaction and the difficulty in monitoring project expenditure. Therefore, it is necessary to develop strategies to minimize any corruption risks and corrupt behaviour in procurement of construction projects. The aim of this paper is to review the current corruption prevention practices in China’s construction industry and suggest ways for improvement. To collect useful and insightful information, desktop studies, focus-group workshops and face-to-face interviews were conducted with supervisory and construction officers at different levels – state, province and municipal in China, who have direct responsibilities and experience in cracking down construction corruption. It was found that corruption happens in different forms during any stage of construction project procurement, and the current anti-corrupt practices are reactive rather than proactive. It was also found that improvements on the legal system, inspection strategies and processes, and promotion of ethical culture are all required. Based on the research findings, corruption prevention strategies were developed. The paper concludes that institution of random and regular checks, severe punishment and prosecution to corrupt personnel, and promotion of a healthy and clean construction culture are all necessary to mitigate the scourge

A Simulation Study of Passively Heated Residential Buildings

This research aims to gain understanding of the key design aspects in using renewable sources (e.g., geothermal and solar) for residential heating. To achieve this aim, a simulation study has been undertaken by using the EnergyPlus™ software Version 8.1. First a brief review of the literature was carried out, which covers solar ground-source heat pump, solar-heated water, lowtemperature wall and floor surface radiators, types of solar collector, fixed tilt versus solar tracker, and cost versus savings. Then the conceptual design idea and energy simulation process are described. Following this a simulation study of a 30 m2 onebedroom simple house, as a case example was carried out. The results show that, with two surface radiators, a 30 m2 house would remain within the acceptable thermal comfort temperature range in winter. The simulation results also show that the floor radiator, fed with water from U-tube in deep ground warms the concrete-in-ground floor, which would otherwise be cold for more than half a year. The simulation results also show that the wall radiators, fed with water (stored in a 2 m3 indoor tank) heated by evacuated tubes make the indoors comfortable throughout the year. Furthermore, the results of additional 3-dimensional simulation show that, the creation of a thermal mass under the floor, using vertical insulation into the ground along its perimeter, may obviate the need of the floor radiator and borehole. In conclusion, the results of the simulation study show that it is feasible to utilise a combination of the renewable geothermal and solar energy to achieve indoor thermal comfort in houses. Future research is needed which includes validation of these simulations results with actual data collected from the case example and simulation study of more complex and larger scales residential houses

Stakeholder-associated risks and their Interactions in complex green building projects : a social network model

Previous research on risks in complex green building projects has been mainly focused on what the risks are and how they may impact on project objectives. Such studies have tended toward an inward looking perspective that treats risks in isolation from one another. In reality, most risks are interrelated and associated with internal or external project stakeholders. To address this research gap, this current research developed a Social Network Analysis (SNA) based stakeholder-associated risk analysis method to assess and analyse the risks and their interactions in complex green building projects. A case study was conducted to highlight the green-specific risks and their profiles, together with the proposed mitigation actions. The research results presented in this paper may broaden researchers and construction professionals' awareness of influential risks in green building projects and enhance their ability to perceive, understand, assess, and mitigate the risks in an effective and efficient way; thereby achieving higher performance in strategic risk management and stakeholder communication in green building project management

Households\u27 perceptions on sustainable home behaviour and improvements in Australia

The consumption of energy in the residential building is a major contributor to Australia\u27s stationary energy greenhouse gas emissions. With the aim of investigating the householders\u27 motivations and perspectives on sustainable home improvements, this study, by using an online survey instrument, collected more than 500 sets of questionnaire data from households in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Through statistical analysis of the data collected, this research has found that construction cost and government incentive were considered as major influence factors on achieving energy efficient residential building development, and the lower bills from reduced energy and water consumption were considered as the most important benefits from the households\u27 perspectives. The research also found that although many households exhibited a high level of awareness or had implemented some sustainability improvements, the total number of potential improvements scored poorly. A suggestion, based on these research findings, is that the government should promote the reasons and benefits for sustainability home improvements that are identified in this research paper, and try to reduce material costs and improve government incentives

Managerial Skills for Managing Construction Safety

Previous research has suggested that self-awareness, visioning, and sincerity are foundational managerial skills for delivering positive safety outcomes in construction projects. This paper aims to verify this finding and to suggest learning approaches for developing these skills in practice. Interviews with experienced construction practitioners were analysed thematically to find common themes. The thematic analysis confirms the necessity of the mana­gerial skills identified in the previous research for managing construction safety and provides directions for construction organisations to improve safety learning. Existing approaches, which mainly adopt the cognitivism learning philosophy, may not be sufficient because the nature of learning in practice aligns with social constructivism, showing that learning occurs informally through interactions with people and artefacts at work instead of in a classroom-structured environment. Furthermore, although learning methods to develop safety skills have been suggested, there remains a need for better statistical evidence of the effectiveness of these methods in delivering safety outcomes