Strategic development of the built environment through international construction, quality and productivity management

This thesis presents a coherent, sustained and substantial contribution to the advancement of knowledge or application of knowledge or both in the field of construction management and economics. More specifically, this thesis outlines the strategic development of the built environment through lessons from international construction, quality and productivity management. The strategic role of construction in economic development is emphasized. It describes the contributions transnational construction firms made towards modern-day construction project management practices globally. It establishes the relationship between construction quality and economic development and fosters a better understanding of total quality management and quality management systems in enhancing construction industry performance. Additionally, it prescribes lessons from the manufacturing industry for construction productivity and identifies the amount of carbon emissions reduced through lean construction management practices to alleviate the generally adverse effects of the built environment on global climate change. It highlights the need for integrated management systems to enhance quality and productivity for sustainable development in the built environment. The thesis is an account of how the built environment has evolved, leveraging on lessons from international construction, quality and productivity management for improvements over the past two decades

A project management framework for enhanced productivity performance using building information modelling

Although the Singapore government has mandated submissions of building plans in building information modelling (BIM) format since July 2013, this does not yet seem to lead to enhanced productivity performance. BIM collaboration between designers and downstream contractors appears to remain inadequate. While many studies have been conducted on using BIM for better project outcomes, studies that relate BIM with the identification of non-value adding activities in the project lifecycle and the reduction of the resulting wastes are at infancy stage. This paper aims to propose a project management framework for enhancing the productivity of building projects in Singapore, which forms Phase I of an ongoing research project. A two-pronged approach is presented. Firstly, non-value adding activities in the current project delivery process that uses BIM partially in Singapore are identified by comparing the typical current process with full BIM-based processes; such activities are cut down after process transformation in terms of people, process, and technology. Secondly, time savings derived from reducing the wastes caused by these activities are quantified. The proposed framework was validated by a case study of a local residential project. It was concluded that this framework provides a valuable tool for project teams to enhance productivity performance

Analysing Construction Trends in the European Union Using Geographic Information Systems

Geographic Information System (GIS) is a useful tool for storing and manipulating geographical information to analyse patterns, relationships, and trends in order to gain new insights to make better and more informed decisions. Using the power of spatial organisation to suggest causes, explanations and relationships is significantly more superior to other forms of data representation such as the table or graph. This paper examines the construction trends in the European Union (EU) by using GIS software as a computional and presentation tool. The performance trends of the construction market in EU countries relative to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), population and other economic sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing for a 20-year period between 1985 and 2004 were evaluated using GIS. Many EU countries seem to have a relationship with construction among the variables considered. This suggests that GDP, population, agriculture, and manufacturing are important factors that affect the role and development of the construction industry within an economy. GIS representation also demonstrated that it is capable of highlighting unique trends and features for further detailed analysis to be carried ou

Exploring Determinants Contributing to Disputes in the Closing of Final Accounts in the Construction Industry

The closing of final accounts without any disputes that satisfy all stakeholders is an important factor in measuring the success of a construction project, as it ensures that all financial matters are settled in a fair and transparent manner. It also provides an opportunity for the contracting parties (contractor and client) to reconcile their records and resolve any differences to ensure that the project is completed within budget. However, the closing of final accounts in the Malaysian construction industry has long been a problematic issue where settlements often take much longer than stipulated in the contract due to disputes and a lack of attention to settling the final accounts in a timely manner. This study aims to identify the determinants that constrain prompt settlement and contribute to disputes in the closing of final accounts as part of a broader research project. An extensive literature review was conducted to obtain relevant information relating to final accounts in the construction industry and the major determinants contributing to disputes in the closing of final accounts. The results suggest that the major determinants contributing to disputes in the closing process of final accounts can be categorised into seven aspects, namely: client, contractor, contractual, management, variation, human behaviour, and environmental/external. Through this research, a conceptual framework is proposed to serve as a reference for stakeholders to reduce disputes in the closing of final accounts. The findings of this research contribute to existing knowledge relating to issues in final accounts and enhance the understanding and awareness of contracting parties on the determinants that lead to disputes, thereby enabling them to prevent such conflicts at an early stage in construction projects. This ultimately serves to improve the closing process of final accounts in the Malaysian construction industry

Influence of human factors on the uncertainties of refurbishment projects : a proposed conceptual approach

The number of building refurbishment projects has increased significantly over the past few years in Malaysia. The key features of such projects are that these are unique, with high uncertainties especially when these involve structural modifications with sensitive, dangerous and difficult operations as well as the high number of building services involved. From many past studies, uncertainty has always been identified as one of the reasons for poor performance in such projects. This seems to be the case because few considerations were given to the human factor compared to the technical issues. This emphasis is however questionable in the real world. This conceptually based paper therefore aims to determine and understand the influence of human factor on the uncertainties of refurbishment projects. The method used for this study is based on a comprehensive review of related journal papers, book chapters and conference papers from 1997 to 2017. The exercise identified 146 articles initially. 57 papers were subsequently included for further analysis after screening and assessment for eligibility. This study concludes that the human impact element is indeed one of the most important factors that tends to influence the levels of uncertainties in building refurbishment projects. As a result, there is still room for improving the performance of building refurbishment projects. The findings of this study form the basis for an extended investigation to identify the effect of human factors on the uncertainties of building refurbishment projects in Malaysia

Towards TQM - Integrating Japanese 5-S principles with ISO 9001:2000 requirements

10.1108/EUM0000000005859TQM Magazine135334-340TQMM

Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching and its relevance to project leadership in construction

International Journal of Project Management135295-30