Editorial

Citation

Kumaraswamy, M. (2015), "Editorial", Built Environment Project and Asset Management, Vol. 5 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/BEPAM-09-2014-0048

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Built Environment Project and Asset Management, Volume 5, Issue 1.

Unveiling linkages and uncorking excellence

Volume 4 of BEPAM was launched with an editorial in Issue 4.1 that was captioned "Spreading Wings and Soaring Higher". This reflected BEPAM’s upward trajectory from the heights already attained in its first three years. The subsequent Editorials in Issues 4.2 and 4.3 drew on the same theme of pursuing synergies by forging connections between hitherto segregated functional domains or disciplines. In this light, the Editorials in Issues 4.2 and 4.3 were entitled "Unlocking Silos and Unleashing Synergies" and "Straddling Sub-themes and Synergising Topics", respectively, while 4.4 was a Special Issue edited by Florence Ling and Carlos Formoso, focusing on how similar issues are being approached in developing economies.

When launching Volume 5 with this issue, the same underlying theme and vision drives us, hence the title of this current Editorial, that summarises our efforts to activate and catalyse dormant connections between disciplines and topics that can transform from small steps into great leaps towards excellence.

The forthcoming Issues 5.2 and 5.3 have been earmarked for drilling into specific "areas of excellence" relevant to BEPAM, through Special Issues: 5.2 is on "Leadership, Culture and Sustainable Built Environment", guest edited by Vian Ahmed, Heather Cruickshank and Alex Opoku. 5.3 will be another timely Special Issue on a hot topic, "BIM for Built Asset Management", guest edited by Peter Love, Jane Matthews, Steve Lockley and Ian Simpson. BIM, being a mutually beneficial bridging medium between project and asset management is very relevant to BEPAM, hence we look forward to more forays into this field.

Meanwhile, a quick overview of the current issue will indicate the interesting coverage. The first paper in this issue being on BIM, could be considered a forerunner to one of the above-mentioned Special Issue on "BIM for BAM". It is entitled "A survey of the current status of and perceived changes required for BIM adoption in the UK". Similarly, the second paper, captioned "Managing public private partnerships: dealing with business-culture’s influences", may be considered a forerunner to the other forthcoming Special Issue on "Leadership, Culture and Sustainable Built Environment". While these two papers in 5.1 focus on specific domains, e.g. the latter being on PPPs, the two Special Issues of course open them out to a range of related and relevant interest areas.

The thread of PPP runs through to two more papers in this issue itself, namely, the third paper entitled "Review of performance measurement: implications for public-private partnerships", as well as the last (eighth) on "Government-led critical success factors in PPP infrastructure development". Such probes into topical sub-themes in PPP are expected in BEPAM, given that PPPs are inherently appropriate procurement vehicles to connect project managers with asset managers, given their necessarily long term if not life-cycle, outlooks from the outset.

The fourth paper focuses on one aspect of performance, i.e. timeliness (unlike the third paper which examines overall performance), but on projects in general (not PPP projects, as in the third) and on one country, being entitled "Analysis of characteristics affecting completion time for Malaysian construction projects", while the authors are based in both UK and Malaysia. Indeed, given the mobility of researchers and practitioners, while one would not be surprised, it is interesting to note the rich mix of author backgrounds within many papers in BEPAM, apart from their diversity across papers. This BEPAM issue is no exception.

The fifth paper is by authors based in Australia and Sri Lanka and captioned "Construction project leadership across the team development process". Apart from also resonating with a forthcoming Special Issue in terms of the "leadership" dimension, it also lies within the human resource domain which is addressed in a specific context in the sixth paper captioned "Employee architect’s perception of human resource practices and their job satisfaction" and centred in Nigeria. This human resource domain connects well to the "organizational" domain addressed in the seventh paper on "A conceptual model for evaluating infrastructure-based temporary multi-organisations". The eighth paper on "Government-led critical success factors in PPP infrastructure development", while already grouped with the other two papers on PPPs above, also delivers important findings that could enhance performance levels in built asset development. Furthermore, while the focus in on Indonesia, it is again interestingly brought to us by authors based in two different continents, as well as being from two different sectors, academia and government. Such multi-faceted perspectives or at least "starting points", often elicit broader and richer findings than usual, as will be evident in many papers in this issue too.

In conclusion, we bid farewell to our Emerald Managing Editor Emma Steele, who has been with the BEPAM team for almost three years, playing various roles first as our Assistant Publisher from 1 December 2011 and now as Managing Editor. We wish her all of the very best as she transitions to a fresh domain.

Mohan Kumaraswamy