Construction management research: a field of application

Research in construction management is diverse in content and in quality. There is much to be learned from more fundamental disciplines. Construction is a sub-set of human experience rather than a completely separate phenomenon. Therefore, it is likely that there are few problems in construction requiring the invention of a completely new theory. If construction researchers base their work only on that of other construction researchers, our academic community will become less relevant to the world at large. The theories that we develop or test must be of wider applicability to be of any real interest. In undertaking research, researchers learn a lot about themselves. Perhaps the only difference between research and education is that if we are learning about something which no-one else knows, then it is research, otherwise it is education. Self-awareness of this will help to reduce the chances of publishing work which only reveals a researcher’s own learning curve. Scientific method is not as simplistic as non-scientists claim and is the only real way of overcoming methodological weaknesses in our work. The reporting of research may convey the false impression that it is undertaken in the sequence in which it is written. Construction is not so unique and special as to require a completely different set of methods from other fields of enquiry. Until our research is reported in mainstream journals and conferences, there is little chance that we will influence the wider academic community and a concomitant danger that it will become irrelevant. The most useful insights will come from research which challenges the current orthodoxy rather than research which merely reports it.

ARCOM construction management abstracts : cumulative abstracts and indexes of journals in construction management, 1999 update

The purpose of this document is to provide a single source of reference for every paper published in the journals directly related to research in Construction Management. This volume brings together articles published during 1999. It is indexed by author and keyword and contains the titles, authors, abstracts and keywords of every article from the following journals: • Building Research and Information (BRI) • Construction Management and Economics (CME) • Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management (ECAM) • Journal of Construction Procurement (JCP) • RICS Research Papers (RICS) The index entries give short forms of the bibliographical citations, rather than page numbers, to enable rapid reference to articles. A cumulative volume is available from the editor. Included in this volume is an appendix listing a wide range of journals associated with construction management research, giving details of frequency, editorial addresses and web sites, as well as whether each journal is international and/or refereed.

Climate change and heat-related mortality in six cities Part 1: model construction and validation

Heat waves are expected to increase in frequency and magnitude with climate change. The first part of a study to produce projections of the effect of future climate change on heat-related mortality is presented. Separate city-specific empirical statistical models that quantify significant relationships between summer daily maximum temperature (T max) and daily heat-related deaths are constructed from historical data for six cities: Boston, Budapest, Dallas, Lisbon, London, and Sydney. ‘Threshold temperatures’ above which heat-related deaths begin to occur are identified. The results demonstrate significantly lower thresholds in ‘cooler’ cities exhibiting lower mean summer temperatures than in ‘warmer’ cities exhibiting higher mean summer temperatures. Analysis of individual ‘heat waves’ illustrates that a greater proportion of mortality is due to mortality displacement in cities with less sensitive temperature–mortality relationships than in those with more sensitive relationships, and that mortality displacement is no longer a feature more than 12 days after the end of the heat wave. Validation techniques through residual and correlation analyses of modelled and observed values and comparisons with other studies indicate that the observed temperature–mortality relationships are represented well by each of the models. The models can therefore be used with confidence to examine future heat-related deaths under various climate change scenarios for the respective cities (presented in Part 2).

Efficient tree construction for the multicast problem

A new heuristic for the Steiner Minimal Tree problem is presented here. The method described is based on the detection of particular sets of nodes in networks, the “Hot Spot” sets, which are used to obtain better approximations of the optimal solutions. An algorithm is also proposed which is capable of improving the solutions obtained by classical heuristics, by means of a stirring process of the nodes in solution trees. Classical heuristics and an enumerative method are used CIS comparison terms in the experimental analysis which demonstrates the goodness of the heuristic discussed in this paper.

The Bureau International des Poids et Mesures: establishing standards in the physical sciences

In a vault on the outskirts of Paris, a cylinder of platinum-iridium sits in a safe under three layers of glass. It is the kilogram, kept by the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), which is the international home of metrology. Metrology is the science of measurement, and it is of fundamental importance to us all. It is essential for trade, commerce, navigation, transport, communication, surveying, engineering, and construction. It is essential for medical diagnosis and treatment, health and safety, food and consumer protection, and for preserving the environment—e.g., measuring ozone in the atmosphere. Many of these applications are of particular relevance to chemistry and thus to IUPAC. In all these activities we need to make measurements reliably—to an appropriate and known level of uncertainty. The financial implications of metrology are enormous. In the United States, for example, some 15% of the gross domestic product is spent on healthcare, involving reliable quantitative measurements for both diagnosis and treatment.

How could construction supply chain benefit from RFID/GPS integration: a knowledge management perspective

Construction materials and equipment are essential building blocks of every construction project and may account for 50-60 per cent of the total cost of construction. The rate of their utilization, on the other hand, is the element that most directly relates to a project progress. A growing concern in the industry that inadequate efficiency hinders its success could thus be accommodated by turning construction into a logistic process. Although mostly limited, recent attempts and studies show that Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) applications have significant potentials in construction. However, the aim of this research is to show that the technology itself should not only be used for automation and tracking to overcome the supply chain complexity but also as a tool to generate, record and exchange process-related knowledge among the supply chain stakeholders. This would enable all involved parties to identify and understand consequences of any forthcoming difficulties and react accordingly before they cause major disruptions in the construction process. In order to achieve this aim the study focuses on a number of methods. First of all it develops a generic understanding of how RFID technology has been used in logistic processes in industrial supply chain management. Secondly, it investigates recent applications of RFID as an information and communication technology support facility in construction logistics for the management of construction supply chain. Based on these the study develops an improved concept of a construction logistics architecture that explicitly relies on integrating RFID with the Global Positioning System (GPS). The developed conceptual model architecture shows that categorisation provided through RFID and traceability as a result of RFID/GPS integration could be used as a tool to identify, record and share potential problems and thus vastly improve knowledge management processes within the entire supply chain. The findings thus clearly show a need for future research in this area.

Criticial determinants of construction tendering costs: Quantity surveyors' standpoint

Identification of cost-determinant variables and evaluation of their degree of influence play an essential role in building reliable cost models and enhance the competitive edge of quantity surveyors as well as contracting organisations. Sixty-seven variables affecting pre-tender construction cost estimates are identified through literature and interviews. These factors are grouped into six categories and a comparison analysis of their impact is conducted. Priority ranking of cost-influencing factors is carried out using a questionnaire survey commissioned amongst quantity surveyors based in the UK. Findings of this survey indicate that there is a strong agreement between quantity surveyors in ranking cost-influencing factors of construction projects. Comparisons between the outcomes of this research and other related studies are presented.

Understanding construction competitiveness: the initial results of a Delphi survey in Finland, Sweden and the UK

The competitiveness of the construction industry is an important issue for many countries as the industry makes up a substantial part of their GDP – about 8% in the UK. A number of competitiveness studies have been undertaken at company, industry and national levels. However, there has been little focus on sustainable competitiveness and the many factors that are involved. This paper addresses that need by investigating what construction industry experts consider to be the most important factors of construction industry competitiveness. It does so by conducting a Delphi survey among industry experts in Finland, Sweden and the UK. A list of 158 factors was compiled from competitiveness reports by institutions such as World Economic Forum and International Institute of Management Development, as well as from explorative workshops in the countries involved in the study. For each of the countries, experts with different perspectives of the industry, including, consultants, contractors and clients, were asked to select their 30 most influential factors. They then ranked their chosen factors in order of importance for the competitiveness of their construction industry. The findings after the first round of the Delphi process underline the complexity of the term competitiveness and the wide range of factors that are considered important contributors to competitiveness. The results also indicate that what are considered to be the most important factors of competitiveness is likely to differ from one country to another.