Decision making framework for green hospital building development

Phrases such as "going green" and "eco-friendly hospital" conjure images of futuristic building. Apparently, the main green criteria that have developed are hardly visible, yet very impactful. Dealing with many criteria for planning and design associated with green buildings can be daunting. Many research on green building only concentrate on commercial and high rise buildings, but paucity attention is given to hospital building. Significantly, the decision-making process should be an important features in identifying the best criteria for green hospital building development. Thus, this research aims to provide a decision-making framework for green building development of the public hospital. The investigation has been made to the planning and designing stages of Malaysia hospital development. Subsequently, the analysis of green and sustainable elements for the criteria of hospital building development were carried out to propose the decision-making framework of planning and design for green and sustainable hospital building development. The study begun with a critical analysis of the concept and guideline of a green hospital building and later examines the existing green rating systems specifically designed for the hospital building. The data then were analysed using content analysis. A pilot study has taken place based on an implemented literature search. This study utilised a questionnaire survey method for confirming the green elements and criteria. The results from questionnaire was analysed using factor analysis which resulted in 3 sets of components (environmental, social, and economic). 154 respondents of this study were public hospital designers who have experience in dealing with public hospital buildings. Identification of the elements and criteria affecting planning and designing towards hospital green building development has been conducted. The later part of this research provides the decision support framework for green building development of a public hospital. The analysis resulted in 10 main criteria with 337 score points and 16 sets of Green Hospital Building Development (GHBD) matrix rubrics. These results have established several potential aspects that could impact the implementation of green building development for a public hospital. The Technique for Order of Preferences by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) was applied to validate the results from the expert’s view. Findings from the research work are including ranking schemes produced for 3 main sustainable dimensions ordered as environmental, social, and economic. The important contribution from this study is to rank the sustainable dimensions in terms of how attractive the decision-maker(s) when all criteria are simultaneously considered in fair evaluation. In conclusion, this study had established a Decision-Making Framework for GHBD

Assessing BIM Adoption towards Reliability in QS Cost Estimates

BIM technology has been evolving around the world in recent years. As in Malaysia, the country has initiated BIM in its current Construction Industry Transformation Programme (CITP) 2016-2020. One of the CITP agenda is to encourage BIM usage to assist the construction players in improving their current practices towards better productivity, hence better sustainability within the construction industry. In quantity surveying field, the technology potentially helps the Quantity Surveyors to accelerate the process of taking-off building quantities, subsequently establishing more reliable and sustainable cost estimates. Although BIM is claimed to upgrade the conventional methods of the measurement tasks, there are still some limitations of BIM innovation, with previous studies lacking explanation in identifying those issues. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effectiveness of using BIM to aid Malaysian Quantity Surveyors primarily in cost estimating towards composing sustainability elements in the construction industry. To achieve this, a series of focus group discussions were conducted amongst BIM and non-BIM users. Through content analysis, it resulted that the capabilities of estimators in occupying BIM is critical to accomplish the sustainable benefits of the technology. It engages skills in both technology usage and traditional methods of measurement to achieve holistic knowledge of building construction. Thus, it enhances the performance of the estimators to likely generate reliability and sustainability in their cost estimates. This study contributes towards better understanding of cost estimating incorporating BIM and sustainability settings in quantity surveying practice

Barriers Impeding the Adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Construction Project Management

In today's world, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) adoption is one of the most critical factors influencing project stakeholders' ability to effectively coordinate and collaborate construction activities. The construction industry and its stakeholders are often confronted with a large volume of data and serious communication. Unlike other sectors, the building industry's use of ICT has not been extensively studied. Consequently, it adds to a range of obstacles to completely using ICT. As a result, the study aimed to investigate the barriers of ICT in managing construction project. The objectives for this study were to identify the current state of ICT use in the construction industry and to investigate the barriers to ICT use in construction project management. The data for this analysis was gathered using both secondary and primary data collection methods. Secondary data was gathered using a literature review of previous studies and documents on ICT for construction project management. The study used a quantitative research design that included a questionnaire survey. To explain the respondents, a non-probability sampling approach was used. A total of 40 people responded to the questionnaire survey, which included members of different project teams. Statistical Program for Social Sciences applications was used to complete the data analysis (IBM SPSS). The results were produced using critical and descriptive analysis. Computers and email were found to be among the most widely used ICT methods for managing construction projects, according to the findings. One barrier to ICT implementation in construction project management was resistance to reform and the high cost of ICT adoption. Resistance to change and the high cost of ICT adoption were among the challenges to ICT implementation in construction project management

Relative importance index of sustainable design and construction activities criteria for green highway

Highway development and redevelopment inherently contributes to environmental impacts such as stimulation of urban sprawl, loss of open space, and noise and air pollution. Improvement to sustainable highway development is needed, as it will lead to green highway, minimal usage of fuel and greenhouse gas reduction. It is also necessary to have an indicator to reduce greenhouse gases during highway construction. The ideology of 'green' itself shows the connotation towards environment whenever the communities worldwide are concerned. The aim of this paper is to determine the relative importance index analysis in order to rank the criteria to their relative importance. Relative importance index analysis allows identifying most of the important criteria based on participants' replies and it is also an appropriate tool to prioritise indicators rated on Likert-type scales. 22 concessionaires with 140 respondents had been chosen to complete the questionnaires. The data had been analysed through formula of relative index analysis method from previous related studies. The finding showed that site maintenance was ranked first (RII = 0.836), warranty clause is provided in the contract specifications to incorporate construction quality was ranked second (RII = 0.830) and construction personnel training was ranked third (RII = 0.826). It was revealed that the site management which is responsible by the contractors and authorities is the most important factor towards promoting the concept of sustainable development and achieving green highway in Malaysia

Sustainable design and construction elements in green highway

Sustainable development principles have been implemented in various sectors including construction. Proper development and operation of infrastructure projects such highways can contribute significantly to the mission of sustainable development. Previous studies shown that most of conventional highways are unsustainable in many ways. Highways are facing severe challenge such as deteriorating condition, congestion, energy supply, and shortfall of funding for maintenance and capacity expansion to meet increasing demand. However at the same time, they consume huge amount of natural minerals and energy and generate waste and emission which contributing to climate changes and global warming. Therefore, sustainable design, construction, operation and maintenance have become priority these day. The aim of this paper is to determine critical elements for sustainable design and construction based on ranking of the priority level of the weighted value of each criteria. The questionnaires survey were developed and distributed to related respondents in order to obtain the agreement level for the element. The data was analysed using SPSS with factor analysis method. Result from the analysis shown the criteria, weightage and score for main criteria for sustainable design and construction activities for green highway

Methods of Valuing Construction Variation in Lump Sum Contract from the Public Client’s Perspective

A valuation of variation orders has become a daily task on large construction contracts. It is a norm where one of the contracting parties disagrees about the valuation of work done. Therefore, the valuation of variation orders has become one of the main causes of conflicts and disputes in construction management. The aims of study to determine the best practicing method in valuing a variation order for lump sum contract and identify the main related causes of variation project. The mixed method (interview and case study) of research was adopted in the collection of necessary data. Interview was conducted from 6 construction expert (clients) were analyzed. 6 case study building projects were selected by targeting sampling technique and used as the source of data for this study. The data were analysed with frequencies, sums and percentages. The study found that the client needs, lack of coordination during design and omission in design are the main causes of variation. An analysis of data indicated that used schedule of rate, fair market rate, daywork rate and negotiation are the four most famous method practicing in valuing a variation order in lump sum contract but its rely on the circumstances and the character of works

Key influencing factors for green public hospital building development in Malaysia

The green hospital movement began years ago, following by several countries release their green rating system for the hospital buildings. In the past few years, a few newly constructed private hospital buildings in Malaysia have strived for the green building index certification. Paucity studies demonstrate that public hospital buildings have established for certifying the index. Despite the recognition of the importance of green building in achieving sustainability goal and the existence of many studies on issues associated with green innovations adoption in general, few have specifically examined factors influencing the development of green public hospital building. As a result, with the intent to enhance green building promotion efforts, the primary objective of this study is to investigate the key factors influencing the development of green public hospital building. A review of literature has been conducted and a set of factors were identified. A questionnaire survey was carried out based on the literature review to solicit experts’ opinions. The experts were requested to evaluate the degree to which factor was an important in the implementation of green public hospital buildings. Feedbacks from 82 design experts were collected and analysed using descriptive analysis. The findings indicate that several factors were identified as key factors for the development of green public hospital buildings. The identified factors have incorporated with the accomplishment of environmental stewardship, social responsibility and economic prosperity

Multi-criteria decision analysis for evaluating sustainable lifts design of public hospital buildings

Sustainability is a big trend in today's building industry. For instance, energy use, resource efficiency, materials selection, safety, and life-cycle management are all important considerations in making the transition to greener buildings. In the past, lifts have been overlooked in green building planning yet including them is a useful way to improve overall building functionality and efficiency. Lifts use a relatively small amount of energy compared to the overall energy consumption of a building yet they provide both daily carrier service for user and so they should be included in sustainability planning. With so many building products being marketed with a sustainable angle, lifts also need to be included in this improvement. Building process has become complex due to the involvement of multiple benchmark like social, economic and environmental dimensions. A significant challenge for those involved in the building industry is identifying and incorporating sustainable features into each of the building stage. This in turn puts constrains to decision makers in selecting the finest decision in achieving sustainable goal for every aspect of building processes. This paper investigates the multi-criteria decision analysis for sustainable lifts design, namely; criteria selection, criteria weighting, evaluation and final aggregation. Decision analysis plays a vital role for designing the systems by considering various criteria. The criteria were grouped based on economic, environmental and social dimensions. Technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) methods were employed to rank the most important criteria that need to be considered in making the decision. A design team from hospital project specifically from mechanical and electrical department have been chosen for this study due to their expertise in planning and designing the mechanical aspects for a project. As a result, it shows the process of decision analysis and provides the direction for sustainable lifts criteria selection which has a significant effect on the design. The result shows the preference dimension for sustainable lift design is economic aspect including its criteria required as decision analysis output for planning and designing lifts systems for public hospital buildings

Issues and challenges of joint management body in high-rise residential facilities management: the developers

High demand for housing and land scarcity in the town area has increased the provision of High-rise Residential Buildings (HrRB). HrRB has different owners but shares the same land and common facilities. Its common facilities are generally prone to damages either from “wear and tear” or vandalism. Therefore, Thus, maintenance works of HrRB and its common facilities should be done properly and periodically by experienced property management company. By the introduction of new laws and implementation thereof, Joint Management Body (JMB) was established to govern the rights and obligations of three parties’ i.e., purchasers, developer, and facilities manager. The residents constantly point fingers to property management if there is dissatisfaction on the damage restoration and maintenance work done. In fact, strata management issues were brought to court by owners for adjudication, such as ACN Infra Sdn Bhd v Perbadanan Pengurusan Kondominium Subang Indera [2020] 3 AMR 741, duties of management corporation in repairing defects were debated. In another case of Muhamad Nazri Muhamad v. JMB Menara Rajawali & Anor Civil Appeal No: W-02(NCVC)(A)-205710/2018, owners disputed whether the management body could charge a different rate of maintenance charges for different properties in HrRB. Hence, this paper intends to address the issues and challenges related to property management. This research is based on a questionnaire survey from the developer’s perspective. An Average Index analysis was used to rank the level of significance issues, challenges, and major roles of JMB. The key roles of developers in JMB under Strata Property Management were highlighted in order to ensure the common facilities for HrRB more manageable in its damage recovery

A Review on Green BIM Potentials in Enhancing the Construction Industry Practice

The construction industry environment nowadays is becoming more complex with more issues to be resolved with the agreeable approaches amongst the team. Nevertheless, the Building Information Modelling (BIM) innovation is acknowledged to disentangle those prevalent issues towards delivering a better project performance. With the emergence of BIM technology, various concerns such as constant errors and reworks, team-miscommunication, construction waste, energy inefficiencies, and many more in the industry practices, could be refined. Specifically, BIM capabilities mainly facilitate the design and construction operations. Albeit the processes involved demand an early planning and profound decision-making, the BIM mechanism helps the project team to execute the proposed construction projects effectively. With regards to maintaining the sustainability in the industry, “Green BIM” term is introduced to describe the manipulation of BIM technology to be incorporated along with the sustainable design and construction techniques. Therefore, this paper reviews the potentials of “Green BIM” in improving the traditional practices of project stakeholders throughout the project life cycle, particularly focusing on the design and construction phases. It discusses the previous studies on “Green BIM”, “Green BIM” concepts, and “Green BIM” approaches concerning its benefits and challenges in enhancing the construction industry practices. Significantly, through the appropriate “Green BIM” resolution, the procedures initiated with the green settings and completed with the green requirements, could empower more sustainable construction industr