Involvement of construction management professionals in property-level flood adaptation

Flooding is a significant concern across the UK that has caused property damage, economic impact and health and safety concerns. The national climate change risk assessment for the UK projects the risk of flooding to increase in the future, and thus flood risk management is identified as an area that requires serious action. Whilst community level flood protection measures have been and are being put in places where there is an economic case for such intervention, the need for implementing property level flood adaptation (PLFA) is increasingly highlighted. This industry is worth £2.1 billion globally; with a forecasted UK growth at a rate of 7.1% by 2017-18. The aim of this research is to identify the ability of construction managers to provide PLFA advice to homeowners. Interviews were conducted with 10 professionals currently involved in flood adaptation product/service provision to gather their views on construction manager involvement within this niche area. Majority of participants interviewed accepted that construction managers could enter the PLFA industry. However, there has been a lack of evidence that suggest that construction managers have played a key role in this field. The paper suggests that there are several barriers that have resulted in the lack of involvement of construction managers in the PLFA industry. Previous research recognises lack of relevant skills and knowledge required to provide PLFA advice as a key barrier, this is supported by participants interviewed mentioning that the qualification, knowledge and training required were a barrier for construction managers to enter into the PLFA industry

Applicability of non-modular assessment in construction management and allied undergraduate programmes:perspective of the academics involved

Undergraduate programmes on construction management and other closely related built environment disciplines are currently taught and assessed on a modular basis. This is the case in the UK and in many other countries globally. However, it can be argued that professionally oriented programmes like these are better assessed on a non-modular basis, in order to produce graduates who can apply knowledge on different subject contents in cohesion to solve complex practical scenarios in their work environments. The examples of medical programmes where students are assessed on a non-modular basis can be cited as areas where this is already being done. A preliminary study was undertaken to explore the applicability of non-modular assessment within construction management undergraduate education. A selected sample of university academics was interviewed to gather their perspectives on applicability of non-modular assessment. General acceptance was observed among the academics involved that integrating non-modular assessment is applicable and will be beneficial. All academics stated that at least some form of non-modular assessment as being currently used in their programmes. Examples where cross-modular knowledge is assessed included comprehensive/multi-disciplinary project modules and creating larger modules to amalgamate a number of related subject areas. As opposed to a complete shift from modular to non-modular, an approach where non-modular assessment is integrated and its use further expanded within the current system is therefore suggested. This is due to the potential benefits associated with this form of assessment to professionally aligned built environment programme

SME resilience to extreme weather events:important initiatives for informing policy making in the area

Enhancing the resilience of local communities to weather extremes has gained significant interest over the years, amidst the increased intensity and frequency of such events. The fact that such weather extremes are forecast to further increase in number and severity in future has added extra weight to the importance of the issue. As a local community consists of a number of community groups such as households, businesses and policy makers, the actions of different community groups in combination will determine the resilience of the community as a whole. An important role has to be played by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs); which is an integral segment of a local community in the UK, in this regard. While it is recognised that they are vital to the economy of a country and determines the prosperity of communities, they are increasingly vulnerable to effects of extreme weather. This paper discusses some of the exploratory studies conducted in the UK on SMEs and their ability to cope with extreme weather events, specifically flooding. Although a reasonable level of awareness of the risk was observed among the SMEs, this has not always resulted in increased preparedness even if they are located in areas at risk of flooding. The attitude and the motivation to change differed widely between SMEs. The paper presents schemas by which the SMEs can identify their vulnerability better so that they can be populated among a community of SMEs, which can be taken forward to inform policy making in this area. Therefore the main contribution the paper makes to the body of knowledge in the area is a novel way to communicate to SMEs on improving resilience against extreme weather, which will inform some of the policy making initiatives in the UK

Minimising the Cascading Effects of Flooding through Property-level Flood Adaptation:Working Paper on Incentivising Property-level Flood Adaptation

Significant numbers of homes within the UK remain at risk of flooding despite significant investment on community=level flood protection schemes. Although community level flood protection schemes are the first line of defence for mitigating flood risk, not all properties are protectable. Property-Level Flood Protection (PLFP) provides those unprotected homeowners with an approach for protecting their homes from flooding. Although the level of take-up of such measures seems to have increased over the years, significant barriers still seem to exist preventing wider adoption. Government incentives have been identified as an effective method of encouraging property owners to adapt their properties and introduce flood resilience and resistance measures to their properties. The study seeks to discuss how such incentives have contributed towards property-level flood resilience and resistance measures being introduced by property-owners. Community perception of incentives and the likelihood of adapting if suitable incentives are available will also be investigated. An exploratory case study was undertaken to this end by conducting a survey of flood victims and at-risk residents in Worcestershir

Tsunami disaster recovery experience:a case study on micro, small and medium scale enterprises in Southern Sri Lanka

Post-disaster recovery of Micro, Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs) remains an issue of interest for policy and practice given the wide scale occurrences of natural disasters around the globe and their significant impacts on local economies and SMEs. Asian Tsunami of December 2004 affected many SMEs in southern Sri Lanka. The study was developed to identify the main issues encountered by the Tsunami affected SMEs in Southern Sri Lanka in the process of their post-tsunami recovery. The study: a) identifies tsunami damage and loss in micro and SMEs in the Galle district; b) ascertains the type of benefits received from various parties by the affected micro and SMEs; c) evaluates the problems and difficulties faced by the beneficiary organizations in the benefit distribution process; and d) recommends strategies and policies for the tsunami-affected micro and SMEs for them to become self-sustaining within a reasonable time frame. Fifty randomly selected tsunami-affected micro and SMEs were surveyed for this study. Interviews were conducted in person with the business owners in order to identify the damages, recovery, rehabilitation, re-establishment and difficulties faced in the benefit distribution process. The analysis identifies that the benefits were given the wrong priorities and that they were not sufficient for the recovery process. In addition, the many governance-related problems that arose while distributing benefits are discussed. Overall, the business recovery rate was approximately 65%, and approximately 88% of business organizations were sole proprietorships. Therefore, the policies of the tsunami relief agencies should adequately address the needs of sole proprietorship business requirements. Consideration should also be given to strengthen the capacity and skills of the entrepreneurs by improving operational, technological, management and marketing skills and capabilities

Coping with extreme weather:strategies of construction SMEs

Weather extremes have created a considerable impact on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the UK during the recent years, especially on SMEs in the construction sector. Evidence in relation to the recent weather extremes have demonstrated that SMEs are some of the worst impacted by the Extreme Weather Events (EWEs) and have confirmed them as a highly vulnerable section of the UK economy to the impact of extreme weather. This is of particular importance to the construction industry, as an overarching majority of construction companies are SMEs who account for the majority of employment and income generation within the industry. Whilst construction has been perceived as a sector significantly vulnerable to the impacts of EWEs, there is scant evidence of how construction SMEs respond to such events and cope with their impact. Based on the evidence emerged from case studies of construction SMEs, current coping strategies of construction SMEs were identified. Some of the strategies identified were focused at organisational level whereas others were focused at project level. Further, some of the strategies were general risk management / business continuity strategies whereas others have been specifically developed to address the risk of EWEs. Accordingly, coping strategies can be broadly categorised based on their focus; i.e. those focused at project or organisational level, and based on the risks that they seek to address; i.e. business / continuity risks in general or EWE risk specifically. By overlapping these two aspects; their focus and risks that they seek to address, four categories of coping strategies can be devised. There are; general risk management strategies focused at business level, general risk management strategies focused at project level, EWE specific strategies focused at business level, and EWE specific strategies focused at project level. It is proposed that for a construction SME to effectively cope with the impact of EWEs and develop their resilience against EWEs a rich mix of these coping strategies are required to suite the particular requirements of the business

Utilising Intranet technologies in construction sector SMEs:building up knowledge bases for extreme weather event risk management

Intranet technologies accessible through a web based platform are used to share and build knowledge bases in many industries. Previous research suggests that intranets are capable of providing a useful means to share, collaborate and transact information within an organization. To compete and survive successfully, business organisations are required to effectively manage various risks affecting their businesses. In the construction industry too this is increasingly becoming an important element in business planning. The ability of businesses, especially of SMEs which represent a significant portion in most economies, to manage various risks is often hindered by fragmented knowledge across a large number of businesses. As a solution, this paper argues that Intranet technologies can be used as an effective means of building and sharing knowledge and building up effective knowledge bases for risk management in SMEs, by specifically considering the risks of extreme weather events. The paper discusses and evaluates relevant literature in this regard and identifies the potential for further research to explore this concept

Putting policy initiatives into practice:adopting an “honest broker” approach to adapting small businesses against flooding

Purpose: Amidst the current economic climate, which places many constraints on expensive flood defence schemes, the policy makers tend to favour schemes that are sympathetic to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and which promote empowering local communities based on their individual local contexts. Research has shown that although several initiatives are in place to create behavioural change among SMEs in undertaking adaptation approaches against flooding, they often tend to delay their responses by means of a "wait and see" attitude. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach: This paper argues that unless there are conscious efforts in the policy-making community to undertake explicit measures to engage with SMEs in a collaborative way, the uptake of adaptation measures will not be achieved as intended. With the use of the "honest broker" approach the paper provides a conceptual way forward of how a sense of collaboration can be instigated in an engagement process between the policy makers and SMEs, so that the scientific knowledge is translated in an appropriately rational way, which best meets the expectations of the SMEs. Findings: The paper proposes a conceptual model for engaging SMEs that will potentially increase the uptake of flood adaptation measures by SMEs. This could be a useful model with which to kick start a collaborative engagement process that could escalate to wider participation in other areas to improve impact of policy initiatives. Originality/value: The paper lays the conceptual foundation for a new theoretical base in the area, which will encourage more empirical investigations that will potentially enhance the practicality of some of the existing policies

Proceedings of ARCOM Doctoral Workshop on 'Industry 4.0 and Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment': ARCOM Doctoral Workshop in association with CIB W120 - Disasters and the Built Environment

Disruptive innovations of the 4th industrial revolution are now starting to make an impact on construction. Although construction has lagged behind some of the other industries in embracing this revolution, recent years have seen a concentrated effort to drive change in construction processes and practices. The 4th industrial revolution is characterised by technologies such as digitisation, optimisation, and customisation of production, automation and adaptation; as well as processes such as human machine interaction; value-added services and businesses, and automatic data exchange and communication. In construction, the applications of Industry 4.0 include 3D printing of building components, autonomous construction vehicles, the use of drones for site and building surveying, advanced offsite manufacturing facilities etc. The application of technologies, processes associated with Industry 4.0 is seen to be already making an impact on construction, and reshaping the future of built environment. This new digital era of construction, fuelled by Industry 4.0, has significant potential to enhance disaster resilience practices in the built environment. Knowledge on resilience of the built environment including preparedness, response and recovery has advanced significantly over the recent years and we are now in an era where resilience is seen as a key constituent of the built environment. But the recurring and devastating impacts of disasters constantly challenge us to improve our practices and seek ways of achieving greater heights in our quest of achieving a resilient built environment. It is often proposed that the innovations associated with Industry 4.0 joined by IoTs and sensors can be exploited to enhance the ability of the built environment to prepare for and adapt to climate change and withstand and recover rapidly from the impacts of disasters. This integration of cyber physical systems through IoTs needs a holistic view of disaster resilience. Often, the focus is on benefits individual technologies can offer. However, the ability to integrate different aspects of disaster resilience using a range of new technologies promise to deliver wider benefits beyond and above what individual technologies can offer. For instance, an integrated digital twin allows to bring together advanced risk modelling, big data, cloud computing, internet of things, advanced off-site manufacturing, etc. together to deliver a resilient built environment. This requires careful planning and extensive research on the complexities surrounding disaster resilience related aspects and the use of related data. The ultimate objective of any new innovation, including Industry 4.0, should ideally be to benefit the society. The society that we live today is often disrupted by natural hazard induced disasters, whether it be floods, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides or tsunamis. The challenge that is in front of us is to effectively utilise new innovations driven by digital information to enhance disaster resilience in our buildings, communities, cities and regions. However, unlike earlier industrial revolutions, digital revolution is not easy to control. We must ensure that the fundamental values such as freedom, openness and pluralism are inbuilt in these new technologies. This is an uncharted territory for us. In addition to addressing complexities and challenges of using Industry 4.0 technologies, we also need to have policies and guidelines on the use of information. There should be a balance between innovation and regulation. We are confident that by bringing together researchers, practitioners and policy-makers alike from relevant disciplines we can deliver realistic benefits to transform our disaster resilience practices and policies, and make the built environment we live in more resilient