Editorial

Citation

Shelbourn, M. and Proverbs, D. (2015), "Editorial", Structural Survey, Vol. 33 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/SS-08-2015-0039

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Structural Survey, Volume 33, Issue 3.

Welcome to the third issue of the 33rd Volume of Structural Survey: Journal of Building Pathology and Refurbishment.

Papers in this issue

The first paper in the issue is from Beddoes and Booth and is titled “Reducing floodwater ingress rates through an exterior masonry wall of a domestic building: a pilot investigation”. The paper aims to test a water repellent treatment for porous masonry in preventing flood water entering domestic buildings. Experimental testing was carried-out on the exterior wall of a domestic building constructed with a mix of Shropshire Solid Red Clay bricks (from brickworks such as Randlay, Hollinswood, Hanwood, and Lilleshall), typical brick units were 230×75×110 mm. The paper showed a difference in untreated and treated wall ingress rates were 4.99  litres/hour (234.99 litres/hour/m2), and 1.74 litres/hour (81.90 litres/hour/m2), respectively, and each tube displayed high intra-variability. The paper concludes that water penetration through masonry is linked to the initial rate of absorption of brick units and workmanship; whereby, in a situation where there may be standing water against masonry the incompatibility of masonry constituents combined with the inherent problems of poor workmanship produce large and varied rates of water ingress.

The second paper is written by Nieboer, van der Flier, and Thomsen and is entitled “Analysing obsolescence, an elaborated model for residential buildings”. The paper discusses the further elaboration and testing of a conceptual model as an analytic tool for the determination of various types of obsolescence in practice. The paper aims to address three key research questions:

RQ1. Which types of obsolescence can be found in cases from the three main tenures in the Dutch housing stock: the owner occupied sector, the social rented sector, and the commercial rented sector; which types are most important and which relationships can be observed between the types?

RQ2. What instruments are available to detect and analyse different types of obsolescence and the underlying cause-effect relations?

RQ3. How can the model be elaborated using the results of questions 1 and 2?

The paper shows that the model can usefully be applied as it enables the determination of types of obsolescence and problems found in the three property sectors under investigation. The case studies also show that several types of obsolescence occur simultaneously, and that these types can be inter-related.

Paper three in this issue is titled “BIM for building refurbishment and maintenance: current status and research directions” and is authored by Artan Ilter and Ergen. The paper analyses current literature on “BIM for building refurbishment and maintenance” in order to unfold the factors behind the relative underdeveloped state of the field of BIM and facilities management (FM), and presents the current status and suggest future directions for research. The results highlighted that most of the studies on “BIM in building refurbishment and maintenance” is focused on BIM applications on FM level, and studies related to BIM applications in either maintenance or refurbishment are relatively more recent.

However, the trend in published articles shows that the interest in BIM for building refurbishment and maintenance is continuously growing. The steep rise in the number of experimental/prototype models in the last two years highlights that the previous research on general insights and overview in the earlier years has laid the foundations for developing more experimental/prototype models.

The fourth paper in the issue is authored by Papadonikolaki, Vrijhoef, and Wamelink is titled “Supply chain integration with BIM: a graph based model”. The research published here is part of an ongoing project for developing a SC model with BIM as an integrator. The objective is to propose a method for the combination of BIM technology with SCM theory and the creation of an analysis tool by integrating the AEC products, processes, and actors. The paper considers three questions:

1. what managerial benefits can BIM offer in AEC projects? (Background);

2. to what extent do these benefits subsequently apply at an inter-organisational – SCM-level? (Gap); and

3. how could BIM technology and SCM theory be combined to further integrate BIM-enabled SCM?

The paper discovered the managerial benefits of BIM for AEC SC with regard to ubiquitous information flows, integrated operations, and workspace management. Yet, it underlined that these benefits do not further apply to an inter-organizational level. The research gaps include lack of cross-functional planning – which is directly related to operational losses – and lack of explicit organisational structures (especially with regard to designers and users).

The final paper in this issue is titled “Home owners and developers relationships: exploring the cordiality factor” and is authored by Rotimi, Tookey, and Rotimi. In the paper the authors aim to research the area of customer satisfaction and developer relationships within new homes in New Zealand, concentrating on those factors that are significant to customer satisfaction in New Zealand. The study revealed that the extent of defects, time frames of defect rectification, and service provided by house developers, are all key factors that could determine new home owners’ relationships with their house developers. The study also found that the higher the home owners’ satisfaction levels with the services provided by their developers, the better the relationship that could exists between them.

Once again all the papers show the diverse range of activities/issues that face buildings, building projects, and their management. The journal is proud to continually support the efforts of industry and academia in reporting their interesting findings.

Mark Shelbourn and David Proverbs