Thermal Comfort and Occupant Behaviour in Naturally Ventilated Students’ Hostel Buildings: A Case of Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria

The performance of a building goes a long way in affecting the productivity and heath of its occupants. Indoor thermal comfort of a building is one of the most important considerations. In warm humid tropical areas, natural ventilation has been observed to be ineffective in providing adequate thermal comfort. The study examined the thermal comfort of naturally ventilated students’ hostel buildings in Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria, during the hot season. The study identified and assessed the physical characteristics, examined the indoor environmental conditions relating to thermal comfort, identified and examined factors that affect the thermal comfort of occupants and observed their adaptive behaviors.The study involved a subjective assessment through questionnaires and physical measurements of the prevailing indoor environmental variables. The parameters measured were air temperature, air velocity and relative humidity. This was done using a Kestrel 4500 Pocket Weather Tracker. One hundred respondents participated in the survey. A statistical analysis of the measured environmental parameters and the student’s responses was carried out to determine the indoor environmental conditions and adaptive measures used. All the measured parameters fell below the comfort range prescribed by ASHRAE standard 55 and ISO 7730 standard. The study concludes that natural ventilation alone is insufficient to provide adequate thermal comfort levels for its occupants

Incentive Package, Employee’s Productivity and Performance of Real Estate Firms in Nigeria

The level of motivation received by an employee as reflected in the satisfaction with the base pay package and other incentives goes a long way to influencing the employees’ attitude to work, loyalty, performance and job satisfaction. Employee’s motivation and organization performance has been investigated across different fields and economic sectors. This study takes it further by examining incentive package, employees and organization productivity in real estate firms in Nigeria. Panel survey approach was adopted and three questionnaires administered in each of the one hundred and seventeen (117) estate firms in Ikeja, Victoria Island and Lekki Area of Lagos State. Respondents were two employees and one other in employers’/management capacity. Descriptive tools such as frequency and percentage were used to identify and determine the proportion of firms that make use of incentive package/option while a 5-point Likert scale and ranking were used to determine and rank the options in order of importance among these firms. Panel data regression model was used to determine the strength of relationship between firms’ performance/productivity and incentives whilst holding other factors constant. Findings showed amongst others that there is strong positive correlation between incentive and employee productivity, employees are largely dissatisfied with the incentives offered by majority of estate firms and that incentive package is not the most important determinants of performance in real estate firms. The study therefore concludes that employers in real estate firms pay attention to other factors identified and review remuneration and incentive package to boost the morale of their employees for better performance

Building production management practice in the construction industry in Nigeria

Growing demands for building projects result from economic development. The building industry is dynamic and multifaceted. Efficient and effective practice of building production management (BPM) is required to successfully execute projects and achieve project goals upon completion as well as functionality aims for the lifespan of a building. This research aims to determine factors that influence the BPM practice in the Nigerian construction industry, particularly; during the project execution phase. A cross-sectional survey used; a questionnaire to identify 73 factors, which were grouped into 12 categories and assessed. A purposive sampling technique was used to identify 20 construction organisations specialising in building production management in Lagos, Nigeria. 114 questionnaires were distributed to the pool of stakeholders, which included 31 clients, 34 consultants and 49 contractors of current and past building production projects carried out by the selected firms in Lagos. The research used a selection of statistical tools for SPSS v.23, including the chi-square test, the Kruskal-Wallis test and Kendall's coefficient of concordance. The obtained result revealed the factors that mostly influence the BPM practice namely, architectural drawings, the construction programme document, the work breakdown structure, the adequacy of communication and coordination between the parties, the adequacy of raw materials and equipment, the availability of the competent team, the implementation of the safety management system, regular maintenance of project equipment, clear and timely inspections, the availability of funds as planned throughout the project duration, the availability of skilled personnel, and the aesthetics of the completed work. The research resulted in the development of the BPM implementation framework and recommendations for the improvement of the BPM practice in Nigeria