Smart motorway innovation for achieving greater safety and hard shoulder management

Smart motorways are becoming more prevalent through technology-driven approaches such as active traffic management (ATM) systems, hard shoulder management (HSM) control systems and digital enforcement cameras. Such technologies are able to monitor and respond to fluctuating traffic conditions by altering the speed limit to smooth traffic flow, activate warning signs to alert users of hazards up ahead and permit the use of the hard shoulder, either permanently or at peak times. This paper investigates smart motorways as a way of reducing congestion achieving greater road safety and improving hard shoulder management. This research is one of the first which deals specifically with the topic of smart motorways, where much of the focus to date has been on smart cities alone. A questionnaire approach was undertaken with 124 members of the public relating to their knowledge of smart motorways. The results indicate that user knowledge of smart motorways was lacking in some areas and that there is an inclination to wilfully ignore some of the smart rules of the road which contrary to the intention of smart motorways, may increase the safety risk and CO2 emissions

The impact of the ambient environment and building configuration on occupant productivity in open-plan commercial offices

Purpose This paper sets out to understand the impact of the ambient environment on perceived comfort, health, wellbeing and by extension, productivity in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach The research combined an occupant survey considering satisfaction with the ambient environment, health and wellbeing and workplace behaviour with the monitoring of ambient environmental conditions. Findings The paper demonstrates that the ambient environment can have a significant impact on occupant comfort, health and wellbeing, which in turn has implications for built asset performance. Within the ambient environmental factors considered a hierarchy may exist with noise being of particular importance. Occupant behaviour within the workplace was also found to be influential. Research limitations The research was limited to a single commercial office building and a wider range of case studies would therefore be of benefit. The research was also limited to the summer months. Practical implications The findings show that an active approach to asset management is required, by continuously monitoring internal environment and engaging with occupants. This must carefully consider how ambient environmental factors and workplace behaviour impact upon occupant’s comfort, health and wellbeing in order to ensure the performance of the built asset is maximised. Originality/value This paper demonstrates that both occupier’s workplace behaviour and ambient environmental conditions can have an impact on occupant comfort, health, wellbeing and productivity. The paper strengthens the case for the active management of the workplace environment through environmental monitoring and behaviour change campaigns supported by corresponding changes to workplace culture

Mobilising theory and practice for the enhancement of building information modelling based building sustainability: An exploratory study and a conceptual framework

The adoption of Building Sustainability Assessment (BSA) systems is becoming a growing trend, but it has been criticised for being inconsistent and resourceconsuming. Recent development of Building Information Modelling (BIM) could help facilitate the BSA process. There has been useful research conducted in this area but there has been limited focus on the practitioner’s perspective. This paper fills that gap by exploring the practitioners outlook on the subject. The main aim is to develop a conceptual framework that compiles the wisdom of both theory and practice. Twostep method was adopted; a survey targeting different practitioners, followed by semistructured interviews with selected experts. Lack of knowledge and data exchange limitations were ranked highest among the survey respondents, while the level of information (LOI) and BIM libraries attracted more attention by the experts. Additionally, new challenges were introduced and new research areas to promote the development of BIM-based BSA were uncovered