Evaluation of the drivers of bim implementation to support the delivery of client requirements (crs) among the early bim adopters

© 2019 Association of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2019 - Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference. All rights reserved. Managing clients and the project constraints to deliver the client requirements (CRs) is a complex process. There are tools, methodology or even theoretical discussion to explore the best solutions to create better dynamics and experience among team members and client, increased value for products and the people and importantly, to change the traditional project delivery processes. In on-going effort to bring in the required innovation, a new dimension of approach is introduced: Building Information Modelling (BIM). However, there is a gap to identify the drivers for BIM implementation for different type of clients across different type of projects among the early adopters. BIM become an important context by providing the collaboration platform to create clearer and visible CRs communication. This part of research sought to evaluate the drivers and its impact project delivery with one BIM champion across three projects. A qualitative inductive research approach was adopted for this study through interviews across three case studies. The first stage research confirms that BIM particularly important creating increased understanding and positive feedback loop among client and facility end user through better visualisation of alternative solutions which is crucial for the efficient iterative design process

To formulate a conceptual model for innovation: Reframing theoretical constructs of bim adoption within sme organisations

© 2019 Association of Researchers in Construction Management, ARCOM 2019 - Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference. All rights reserved. The Construction industry is facing a paradigm shift in the adoption of new innovative ways of designing and delivering of projects. This innovative process includes building information modelling (BIM) which have shown significant impact on efficiency and effectiveness during a project development process within the construction industry. However, the shift to its acceptance, adoption and implementation in the emerging markets has brought distortion in the organisational culture, behaviour, and business processes of small medium enterprises (SMEs). This is often associated to the lack of clear orientation of the impact of BIM adoption to the firms. Although several theories have explained different concept relating to acceptance of innovative technologies within an organisation, however, it is crucial to understand this concept through the lens of BIM. Thus, this paper identifies the different theories concerning BIM acceptance within organisations and highlights the relationship between different factors that influence BIM acceptance within organisations. This was achieved by identifying the key factors that influence the acceptance of innovation and the process of adopting an innovation within organisations. The study involved a two-step analysis; systematic literature review and theoretical formulation. The systematic literature review was used to identify various theories and models that explains the acceptance process and behaviour of individuals during adoption of new innovations within SMEs organisations. The theoretical formulation was achieved by synthesizing the key influencing factors and indicators identified from the systematic literature review which were categorised into four groups namely; organisation, human, technology and relationship. The output was consolidated to form the conceptual model that would be the basis of further research and will help in understanding the relationship between factors that influence BIM acceptance process within SMEs organisation in the construction industry

Urban heritage conservation and rapid urbanization : insights from Surat, India

Currently, heritage is challenged in the Indian city of Surat due to diverse pressures,  including rapid urbanization, increasing housing demand, and socio‐cultural and climate changes.  Where rapid demographic growth of urban areas is happening, heritage is disappearing at an  alarming rate. Despite some efforts from the local government, urban cultural heritage is being  neglected and historic buildings keep being replaced by ordinary concrete buildings at a worryingly  rapid pace. Discussions of challenges and issues of Surat’s urban area is supported by a qualitative  dataset, including in‐depth semi‐structured interviews and focus groups with local policy makers,  planners, and heritage experts, triangulated by observation and a photo‐survey of two historic  areas. Findings from this study reveal a myriad of challenges such as: inadequacy of urban  conservation management policies and processes focused on heritage, absence of skills, training,  and resources amongst decision makers and persistent conflict and competition between heritage  conservation needs and developers’ interests. Furthermore, the values and significance of Surat’s  tangible and intangible heritage is not fully recognized by its citizens and heritage stakeholders. A  crucial opportunity exists for Surat to maximize the potential of heritage and reinforce urban  identity for its present and future generations. Surat’s context is representative of general trends  and conservation challenges and therefore recommendations developed in this study hold the  potential to offer interesting insights to the wider planners and conservationists’ international  community.  This  paper  recommends  thoughtful  integration  of  sustainable  heritage  urban  conservation into local urban development frameworks and the establishment of approaches that  recognize the plurality of heritage values

Reusing knowledge and leveraging technology to reduce design and construction costs

Theories, principles and approaches, economic context, policy environment and the changing role of design economists. Theories and principle of design economics. New approaches and rules of measurement for cost estimating and planning

Barriers to BIM implementation and ways forward to improve its adoption in the Nigerian AEC firms

Purpose –BIM has much potential to improve the effectiveness of construction works with respect to design, construction and maintenance. However, many Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) firms are still lagging in the adoption and implementation of BIM in both developing and developed countries. The purpose of this study is to assess the barriers to BIM implementation, and examine the ways forward to improve BIM adoption within the Nigerian AEC firms. Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive literature review and questionnaire survey were used in the study. The survey targeted four different AEC firms. These include architectural firms, facility management firms, quantity surveying firms and structural engineering firms in Lagos, Nigeria. The data obtained were analyzed using mean score, standard deviation, Kruskal- Wallis test, and factor analysis. Findings – The study identified 20 barriers to BIM implementation and identified 10 ways forward to improve BIM adoption in AEC firms, particularly in Nigeria. The relative importance of both the identified barriers and the ways forward were gauged. The Kruskal-Wallis tests revealed that except for one (out of 20) identified barriers, and one (out of 10) identified ways forward; there is no statistical significant difference in the perceptions of four different AEC firms. The factor analysis result grouped the 20 identified barriers into three major factors to include: weak top management support and BIM environment related issues; cost of BIM software and training issues; and incompatibility, legal, contractual, and culture related issues. Practical implications – The significance of the study cannot be over-emphasized due to BIM relevance to construction stakeholders and researchers at large. Originality/value – The study findings would inform the decisions of the construction stakeholders to make some policy recommendations capable of positively influencing the full BIM implementation in AEC firms

Impacts of service user involvement in mental health nurse training on management of aggression: a qualitative description research

The involvement of mental health service users in a Higher Institution prevention and management of violence and aggression (PMVA) team’s training delivery is a recognition of the contribution that the unique insights of people’s lived experience can make to the development of practitioners. This research aimed to determine whether or not their contribution to PMVA training delivery influenced the staff management of patients’ anger or aggression on mental health wards. The qualitative description research design was adopted for the study. Focus group interviews were used to collect data from final year mental health students and new trust staff, while semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data from experienced trust staff. A sample of feedback from previous training records was reviewed. The findings showed that: the students and new trust staff were determined to translate lessons learnt into practice; the experienced staff were reflecting lessons in ward practices; the feedback records held expressed intentions to translate lessons into practice; there were hindrances in practicing as discussed with service users. The findings confirmed those from other studies claiming that service user involvement in the education of professionals has the potential to improve practice

The critical success factors for stakeholder management in the restoration of built heritage assets in the UK

PurposeBuilt heritage or historic assets (BHAs) constructed in the pre-nineteenth century in the UK are perceived to have certain characteristics which instil cultural significance in them and have seen them become valuable to the economy of the country. The heritage sector makes significant contributions to the UK economy through provision of tourist attractive sites, construction and servicing of heritage assets, heritage conservation, research, and commercial activities carried out within and around heritage assets. These benefits have seen them draw considerable interests from diverse stakeholders within and outside the heritage sector. Hence, a lot of attention is drawn towards restoration of such assets, from stakeholders of different interests, ranging from advocacies for no alteration to complete alteration of the heritage assets. As with construction projects, conflict of interests amongst stakeholder affect the outcome of restoration projects and the purpose of this paper is to examine the critical success factors (CSFs) for managing the stakeholders to achieve the projects’ objectives. Design/methodology/approachThis paper examines the views and experiences of practitioners in the heritage sector who have been involved with BHA restoration projects. A total of 32 CSFs for stakeholder management, obtained through rigorous reviews of literature, were subjected to a severe scrutiny with eight restoration experts to determine the importance of the CSFs in restoration projects. The outcome of the exercise was a modified list of 20 CSFs which were further tested on 52 restoration practitioners in the United Kingdom (UK) using a structured questionnaire to determine the degree of importance of each of the CSFs in restoration projects and their relationships as perceived by the practitioners. FindingsThe results of the analyses performed on the data show that most of the CSFs were perceived by restoration practitioners as truly critical and vital for successful management of stakeholders in restoration of BHAs. The results also indicate that there is a strong consensus amongst a vast majority of practitioners on rankings of the CSFs. Practical implicationsThe identified CSFs could be used by the restoration practitioners as a “road map” for the development of appropriate solutions for successfully managing stakeholders associated with the promotion and BHAs restoration assets. Originality/valueAlthough CSFs for stakeholder management in construction have been studied by many scholars, no specific research could be identified prior to this study to have been done in defining the CSFs for stakeholder management in restoration projects. In this project, the authors have explored BHAs to identify and rank the CSFs for stakeholder management in restoration projects. Keywords: Built Heritage Assets, Stakeholder Management, Critical Success Factors, Restoration Projects, United Kingdom

A Risk Analysis of Construction Projects Delay Factors in the United Kingdom

Project time overruns is a recurring challenge in the construction industry. This paper mainly identified the causes of construction project delays, analysed the probability and impact of occurrence, and ranked the risk factors. The identified factors are categorised into Client, Consultant, Contractor, and External related factors. To achieve the research objective, the identified delay factors were part of a questionnaire survey; and responses were yielded from building construction experts in the United Kingdom. The relative importance index (RII) method was applied to prioritise the probability and impact of project delay factors and determine the risk level. In the four categories, delay in decision-making and order issuance by the client, variation and changes in design, delay in the approval of drawings, and delay in design preparation and late revision of designs are some of the identified top-ranking risks. In addition, the delay in providing utilities, construction mistakes, defective works and rework, adverse weather conditions, and delays or issues regarding permissions and statutory approvals are among the top-ranking risks. This research is expected to significantly contribute to and improve the understanding and perception of the risks posed by the various delay factors, especially in the building construction industry

Sustainable development in a construction related curriculum- quantity surveying students’ perspective

Higher education institutions (HEIs) across the globe are increasingly aware of the need to integrate sustainability education within the curricula. This triggered a number of studies that were conducted by earlier researchers in embedding sustainability education within the curricula. Thus, studies have been carried out to evaluate how students perceived sustainable development in their curricula, particularly in engineering and other related courses. Few of these studies were conducted in built environment, most especially in quantity surveying. It is against this backdrop that necessitated this study. The purpose of this study is to establish the extent in which sustainable development is embedded in the construction related curriculum using the perception of quantity surveying students. The study adopted literature review, documentary reports among others as a secondary method of data collection. Primary data were collected through online questionnaire survey administered to 330 randomly selected quantity surveying students in a university in the UK. Out of which 87 completed questionnaires were retrieved and suitable for the analysis. The quantitative data obtained were analysed using mean score, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis. The study identified 46 sustainability topics, which were grouped into 6 categories (i.e. A-F). Based on these categories, the study found that students’ knowledge level on sustainability was a little above ‘basic/limited knowledge with the overall mean score value of 2.38 on a 4- point Likert scale. The study further revealed that the students placed high importance on sustainability education, despite their knowledge level were found lower. The study findings would be used to establish the extent of sustainability within the curriculum in the quantity surveying programme. Also, this study would be of great value to academic staff and University management boards to develop a framework for incorporating sustainability education in the curriculum

An investigation into the sustainability practices in PPP infrastructure projects : a case of Nigeria

Purpose – In the global construction industry, the concept of sustainability is not new, particularly within building projects. Against this backdrop, several studies have been conducted, mostly in developed countries, on sustainability in construction projects. However, efforts at investigating sustainability practices in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects in developing countries have received limited attention. Hence, the purpose of this study is to investigate the incorporation of sustainability practices within the context of Nigeria PPP infrastructure projects. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey, which targeted four different types of stakeholders, was conducted in this study. These stakeholders included public sector authorities, concessionaires, consultants, and banks undertaking PPP infrastructure projects in Lagos State, Nigeria. The data collected were analysed using frequency, percentage, mean score, standard deviation analyses, and the Kruskal-Wallis test. Findings – The findings of this study revealed that all the respondents are very much aware of sustainability principles, and majority of the respondents from the public sector authorities and the consultant organizations confirmed that they have incorporated sustainability requirements into their bidding documents for PPP infrastructure projects. The study revealed sustainability features in the three aspects of sustainability, namely economic, environmental and social factors. Furthermore, the study revealed the top three ranked economic factors of sustainability (considered to be the most important factors) were low maintenance costs, whole life costing, and supporting the local economy, respectively. Similarly, the study revealed the top three ranked environmental factors of sustainability were biodiversity, energy use during the operation stage, and energy use during the construction stage, respectively. Furthermore, the study further revealed that the top three ranked social factors of sustainability were the educational aspect, equity between stakeholders, and health and safety, respectively. Practical implications – The study will be of great value to PPP stakeholders involved in sustainability decision-making processes when delivering sustainable PPP projects, particularly in Nigeria. Also, the study findings are important as not many empirical studies have been conducted on the sustainability practices of current PPP projects in Nigeria. Originality/value –The study findings would further inform the need for both the public and private sectors to take a more strategic approach to enhancing sustainability in PPP projects