The coevolution of AEC professional work practices with technology: collaborative delivery framework modelling for BIM projects

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Johannesburg, 2018Despite BIM’s potential to alleviate persistent construction industry challenges, its use does not guarantee results. Therefore, it was argued and established from a theoretical and practical standpoint that the implementation of BIM, an evolving technology, within pre-BIM organisational and project team work practices (as activity systems), induces their evolution through dysfunctions created in the systems and their resolution. A multi-stage\multi-method research design involving a study of BIM implementation cases, documents analysis, swimlane modelling and multi-domain-mapping (MDM) of pre-BIM and BIM-enabled project delivery processes was employed. This was to develop an understanding of how construction professional work practices evolve with the implementation of BIM. The findings show that evolutionary change of work practices within organisations precedes that of project teams. The findings further suggest a link between organisational attitude towards BIM as a method of working and success at implementing it. Using activity theory, a novel conceptual analysis of BIM induced change in professional work practices aided a theoretical understanding of the implications of implementing BIM on construction professional work practices. The theory provided a basis for analysing historical and future change patterns in professional work practices with BIM and indeed similar work mediating tools. An in-depth conceptualisation and new theoretical insight were developed on the phenomenon of new role legitimation, establishing that new BIM role takers are legitimated to exercise authority within project teams and organisations mainly because they leverage knowledge as a strategic resource. By implication, they will remain legitimate only as long as the constraint or dysfunction prompting their creation subsists. Furthermore, using swimlane and MDM modelling methods in complement, the BIM change impact on pre-BIM workflows was modelled. An objective evaluation of the BIM change impact at the pre-construction phase showed that the BIM-enabled project delivery workflows structure, compared to the pre-BIM is more connected and integrated.MT 201

Understanding BIM's impact on professional work practices using activity theory

Recent critiques of the BIM literature describe it as largely devoid of critical theoretical perspectives and theorisation capable of explaining the nature of change in work practices in a holistic manner. In response, the authors argue from a theoretical standpoint, that implementing BIM within professional work practices (as activity systems) induces their evolution through dysfunctions created within the systems and their resolution. Cases of professional organisations in South Africa that have implemented BIM within their organisation and in multi-organisational projects, helped to develop new theoretical insights into how professional work practices evolve using activity theory-based re-description of the data. Changes in professional work practices were analysed sequentially within the framework, confirming theoretical propositions and revealing the dynamics between and within the interconnected system of actors, their object, tools, rules guiding work, roles they assume, and the stakeholders. Essentially, the findings imply that the implementation ofBIM significantly changes work practices within organisations, but gradually and over time. This supports an evolutionary, rather than a radical or revolutionary, view ofBIM-induced change. This theoretical perspective could explain future dimensions of change in professional work practices involving BIM, and indeed similar work mediating tools

Analysis of Pedestrian Accident Injury-Severities at Road Junctions and Crossings using an Advanced Random Parameter Modelling Framework: The Case of Scotland

This paper investigates the determinants of injury severities in pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents at signalised and unsignalised junctions, and at physically-controlled and human-controlled crossings in Scotland. The accident data were drawn from the official police crash report database of the UK spanning a period between 2010 and 2018. Correlated random parameter ordered probit models with heterogeneity in the means were developed in order to account for the multi-layered impact of unobserved heterogeneity on statistical estimation. The model estimation results showed that the severities of accident injuries are affected by roadway, location, weather, vehicle, and driver characteristics as well as temporal attributes (including time and day of the accident). Factors such as the urban context, lighting and weather conditions and road surface conditions were found to result in correlated random parameters, thus capturing the intricate, yet interactive effects of unobserved heterogeneity, and particularly the unobserved behavioural response of road users to different traffic control types at junctions and crossings. Vehicle type, driver’s gender and day-of-the-week were observed to influence the random parameters' distributions. Empirically, the results showcase variations in the determinants of injury severities at signalised and unsignalised junctions, and at physically-controlled and human-controlled crossings. Even though most of these variations were related to the magnitude of impact of the determinants, differences in the directional effects on injury severities were also identified, mainly for factors related to weather conditions, hazard presence on the road, and temporal characteristics of the accidents

A BIM-driven framework for integrating rules and regulations in the decommissioning of nuclear power plants

Purpose: The relative low capital cost and contributions to mitigating global warming have favoured the continuous construction and operation of nuclear power plants across the world. One critical phase in the operation of nuclear plants for ensuring safety and security of radioactive products and by-products is decommissioning. With the advent of digital twinning in the building information modelling (BIM) methodology, efficiency and safety can be improved from context-focus access to regulations pertaining demolition of structures, and cleaning-up of radioactivity inherent in nuclear stations. A BIM-driven framework to achieve a more regulation-aware and safer decommissioning of nuclear plants is proposed. Design: The framework considers task requirements, and landscape and environmental factors in modelling demolition scenarios that characterise decommissioning processes. The framework integrates decommissioning rules/regulations in a BIM linked non-structured query system to model items and decommissioning tasks, which are implemented based on context-focused retrieval of decommissioning rules and regulations. The concept’s efficacy is demonstrated using example cases of digitalised nuclear power plants. Findings: This approach contributes to enhancing improvements in nuclear plant decommissioning with potential for appropriate activity sequencing, risk reduction, and ensuring safety. Originality: A BIM-driven framework hinged on querying non-structured databases to provide context-focused access to nuclear rules and regulations, and to aiding decommissioning, is new

A retrospection of methodological pluralism in the journal of financial management of property and construction (2005-2020)

Purpose.This paper presents a review of research methodologies used in addressing problems in the f inancial managementofpropertyandconstructionjournals from 2005 to 2020. Design/methodology/approach –Content analysis of 258 research papers published in the Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction was carried out, enabling the exploration of research approaches, epistemology, strategies, data collection and data analysis methods used in addressing problems researched in the area of financialmanagementofpropertyandconstruction Findings. The findings show that quantitative approaches and methods dominate, whereas qualitative and mixed methods were prominent in-depth understanding of a topics were needed. Interestingly, almost a third of the publications did not adopt quantitative approaches. In some journal issues, there was relatively high use of qualitative and multi-method approaches and up to 12% of the articles published over the past 16 years could be described asbasedonpragmatism. Research limitations/implications. An important implication of this paper is that a conventionally number-based area of research does not preclude the use of qualitative and mixed approaches. The findings are only generalisable to the Journal of Financial Management of Propertyand Construction. Practical implications. Financial management researchers could benefit greatly by considering pluralistic approaches more in the design of their studies. Originality/value –To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is an original synthesis of the articles published between 2005 and 2020. It provides new insight into the use of research methodologies by authors and how they have been combined to address their research problems. It further investigates an old issue or question about methodological choice-making using new evidence andoriginalempirical work

Impact of Wastes on Some Properties of Soil around an Active Dumpsite in Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria

Recently most farmers in developing country like Nigeria has resulted to the use of solid wastes as compost to replenish the deteriorated soils while some are farming on the abandoned waste dumpsite due to their richness in organic matter. This study assessed the soil nutrient and fertility status by investigating the influence of wastes (if any) on physical and chemical properties of soils in and around Lapite dumpsite for environmental sustainability. Ten soil samples each collected from three locations: dumpsite, downslope and upslope sites at depth of 0-20cm were analyzed for soil texture, bulk density, porosity, electrical conductivity, pH, organic carbon, organic matter content (OMC), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorus (AP), Na, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu, Pb and Ni. Significant differences were observed on soil physical: moisture content (18.05-38.11 %); Bulk density (1.01-1.54 g/cm3); porosity (49.09-74.56 %) and chemical properties: : OMC (1.39-5.98 %);TN (0.58-1.60 %); AP(0.35-1.09 %) among others in soils from the studied location sites at p ≤ 0.05; however, no remarkable impact was noticed on soil texture. This study has shown that deposition of wastes has impacted the physical and chemical properties by improving soil organic matter contents and increasing nutrient contents such as exchangeable bases and micronutrient, thus enhancing soil organic matter, fertility and productivity status of the soil for maximum plant growth. However, increase in heavy metal concentrations in dumpsite soils call for incessant assessment and monitoring, thus sorting, reuse and recycling should be encouraged to reduce the metal loads over time

Distilling agency in BIM-induced change in work practices

Purpose: Critics of claims about BIM’s capability to revolutionise construction industry practices, describe it as overhyped, fallacious, and therefore suggest that there is need for a more critical examination of its’ change impacts. Others have posited that the changes BIM induces are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. In this vein, a careful analysis of the nature of such changes was undertaken to distil actual changes that happened, and the type of agency that brings such changes about. Design: Drawing from appropriate qualitative research strategies, data was collected through key informant interviews from consulting organisations in South Africa that have implemented BIM within their organisations and on projects. Findings: Changes in organisations’ work practices were evident in their workflows, formal/informal methods of interaction, norms, leadership and authority structures, remuneration, and the way work was conceived or conceptualised. Furthermore, changes in organisational work practices do not solely occur through the direct agency of the BIM tool’s implementation. Instead, BIM-induced change occurs by delegated, conditional and needs-based agency – which are not mutually exclusive. Originality: The nature of changes in professional work practices could be misconstrued as being solely due to the actions of agents who actively participate in implementing BIM. The discussion in the literature has been advanced from general to specific theoretical understandings of BIM-induced change, that emphasise the need for construction stakeholders to actively participate in developing the innovations that drive change in the industry rather than hand the power to drive change to BIM authoring and management application developers who have less stake in the industry

Distilling agency in BIM-induced change in work practices

Purpose: Critics of claims about BIM’s capability to revolutionise construction industry practices, describe it as overhyped, fallacious, and therefore suggest that there is need for a more critical examination of its’ change impacts. Others have posited that the changes BIM induces are evolutionary rather than revolutionary. In this vein, a careful analysis of the nature of such changes was undertaken to distil actual changes that happened, and the type of agency that brings such changes about. Design: Drawing from appropriate qualitative research strategies, data was collected through key informant interviews from consulting organisations in South Africa that have implemented BIM within their organisations and on projects. Findings: Changes in organisations’ work practices were evident in their workflows, formal/informal methods of interaction, norms, leadership and authority structures, remuneration, and the way work was conceived or conceptualised. Furthermore, changes in organisational work practices do not solely occur through the direct agency of the BIM tool’s implementation. Instead, BIM-induced change occurs by delegated, conditional and needs-based agency – which are not mutually exclusive. Originality: The nature of changes in professional work practices could be misconstrued as being solely due to the actions of agents who actively participate in implementing BIM. The discussion in the literature has been advanced from general to specific theoretical understandings of BIM-induced change, that emphasise the need for construction stakeholders to actively participate in developing the innovations that drive change in the industry rather than hand the power to drive change to BIM authoring and management application developers who have less stake in the industry

Hydrochemical Assessment of Groundwater around Lapite Dumpsite for Irrigation Water Quality in Ibadan, Southwestern Nigeria

Due to the increase in population and industrialization growth, most countries in the world depend on groundwater to meet agriculture demands for food production. The increase in water contamination due to indiscriminate solid wastes has necessitated the assessment of water quality and its suitability for agricultural usage. Twenty four groundwater and ten stream water samples were randomly collected from the downslope and upslope side of the dumpsite for all the major physio-chemical parameters. The pH of water samples indicates slightly acidic to alkaline in nature. High concentrations of nitrate, total dissolved solids and electrical conductivity suggest the impact of the waste on the water resource. Assessment of irrigation water quality based on Sodium Adsorption Ratio (SAR), Soluble Sodium Percentage (SSP), Permeability Index (PI) and Magnesium content (MC) indicated that most of the water samples fall within the permissible standard for irrigation water. Thus, the water should be used with caution on crops for long time agricultural sustainability

Analysis of pedestrian accident injury-severities at road junctions and crossings using an advanced random parameter modelling framework: The case of Scotland

This paper investigates the determinants of injury severities in pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents at signalised and unsignalised junctions, and at physically-controlled and human-controlled crossings in Scotland. The accident data were drawn from the official police crash report database of the UK spanning a period between 2010 and 2018. Correlated random parameter ordered probit models with heterogeneity in the means were developed in order to account for the multi-layered impact of unobserved heterogeneity on statistical estimation. The model estimation results showed that the severities of accident injuries are affected by roadway, location, weather, vehicle, and driver characteristics as well as temporal attributes (including time and day of the accident). Factors such as the urban context, lighting and weather conditions and road surface conditions were found to result in correlated random parameters, thus capturing the intricate, yet interactive effects of unobserved heterogeneity, and particularly the unobserved behavioural response of road users to different traffic control types at junctions and crossings. Vehicle type, driver’s gender and day-of-the-week were observed to influence the random parameters' distributions. Empirically, the results showcase variations in the determinants of injury severities at signalised and unsignalised junctions, and at physically-controlled and human-controlled crossings. Even though most of these variations were related to the magnitude of impact of the determinants, differences in the directional effects on injury severities were also identified, mainly for factors related to weather conditions, hazard presence on the road, and temporal characteristics of the accidents