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Several studies have addressed the use of four-dimensional (4D) building information modeling (BIM) for construction management. However, the automation of the processes for generating 4D models and their integrated use with Location-Based Planning and the Last Planner® System is not well discussed. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a method for automating the generation and use of 4D BIM models integrated with Location-Based Planning and Last Planner® System supporting project control cycles.

The research strategy adopted was Design Science Research. The automated method for using the 4D models was developed and refined in two residential building projects in Brazil, along with 31 meetings and involving 11 direct users. The assessment of the proposed method focuses on four constructs: the impact of process automation, the impact on the identification and assessment of site progress and the planning process, ease of adoption and utility of the proposed method.

The results of this paper indicated increased adherence between planned and executed through an automated method for using the 4D models. The established routines enabled automating the link between the planning levels and the three-dimensional (3D) model, providing a more agile and updated data source and achieving 92.8% of user satisfaction regarding the deadline and frequency of delivery of the 4D model reports. Moreover, this study identified the relationships between the processes of the method proposed and Digital Models.

The primary scientific value achieved in this study is creating a method for automating processes and simplifying steps for the generation and use of 4D BIM models in the production planning and control cycles during the construction phase.

The construction industry has actively attempted to tackle the low-productivity issues arising from inefficient construction planning. It is imperative to understand how construction practitioners perceive technology integration in construction planning in light of emerging technologies. This study intended to uncover unique experimental findings by integrating 4D-building information modelling (BIM) to virtual reality (VR) technology during construction planning among construction professionals at light steel framing (LSF) projects.

The building industry participants were invited to provide inputs on two different construction planning methods: conventional and innovative methods. The conventional method involved the participants using traditional platforms such as 2D computer-aided design (CAD) and physical visualisation of paper-based construction drawings for the LSF assembly process with a Gantt Chart tool to complete construction planning-related tasks for the targeted project. Comparatively, participants are required to perform the same tasks using more innovative platforms like 4D-BIM in a VR environment.

A Charrette Test Method was used to validate the findings, highlighting an improvement in usability (+10.3%), accuracy (+89.1%) and speed (+30%) using 4D BIM with VR compared to the conventional paper-based method. The findings are also validated by a paired t-test, which is supported by the rationality of the same findings. This study posits positive results for construction planning through the utilisation of modern practices and technologies. These findings are significant for the global construction industry facing low productivity issues, delays and certainty in terms of building delivery timelines due to poor construction planning.

This new blend of technologies—combining 4D BIM and VR in industrialised construction projects—potentially directs future initiatives to drive the efficiency of construction planning in the building lifecycle. The interactive BIM-based virtual environment would purposefully transform construction planning practices in order to deliver modern and more certain building construction methods with a focus on prefabrication processes.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and occurrence, and peculiarities and dynamics, if any, of perceived challenges to the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT) in construction site management; using South Africa as context for empirical study.

Literature on the constraints to technology transfer and ICT adoption in construction is used as basis for the study. A national survey of registered persons in South Africa was used to collect qualitative data. A robust multi-stepped analytical approach was used to derive results.

Findings suggest appreciable similarity between literature and primary data, in types of individual challenges and their categories. Lack of technology and management support, and knowledge and information related issues, are relatively more prevalent in site management. There is a fair level of commonality in perception of technical barriers among the various categories of respondents who are active in site management. However, project managers seem to be more sensitive to some inhibiting factors, more than other respondent groups.

Inherent limitations of survey strategy were experienced, but highly qualitative data were collected at a national level. The study highlights the range of barriers to ICT in site management, and compounding effects of technology-, knowledge- and management-related constraints.

The possibility of knowledge-based factors remotely manifesting in other categories was highlighted. There is need to consider all challenges in planning for ICT in projects, and prioritise technology-, knowledge- and management-related challenges. A classification for exploring challenges to ICT in the site management process is also proposed.

Appreciable paucity remains in research focused on ICT in the site management process, as opposed to the popular operations/application focus of IT/ICT studies. Furthermore, there is still scarcity of ICT research in Africa, with regard to the built environment and specifically site management.

This study contributes to research in ICT innovation adoption in the construction industry, by developing a better understanding of the dynamics of perceived challenges to ICT adoption in the site management process; according to types and classifications of challenges, and roles and age groups of stakeholders. The study further sets a baseline for future studies in this area by proposing a frame of categorisation that is focused on site management.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents and benefits of 3D and 4D modelling as a construction planning tool in the construction process, and examine why it is not being implemented throughout the construction industry.

A survey of the literature, questionnaire survey, and a case study including interviews and observations were used to conduct the study. The findings are investigated using appropriate statistical tests.

This study shows that using 4D modelling will benefit the industry once the lack of confidence amongst contractors, design teams and clients has been overcome. Eventually design teams will provide 3D models, but in the interim contractors wishing to receive the benefits of this technology are using modellers to produce these 3D models which planners can then manipulate to display their construction schedule as a 4D model. Attitude, lack of continuity of similar work, and lack of knowledge rather than cost of producing 4D models are identified as the main barriers impacting on the deployment of this technology among the construction planners. The preferred mode of communicating 3D and 4D awareness was via presentation, whereas the least ranked was through articles.

The cross‐sectional data would make it difficult to generalise the findings.

This technology will provide many benefits to the planning role, resulting in a much more thoroughly planned project which will in turn improve health and safety, shorten contract periods, improve quality and reduce costs. Furthermore, the results have provided a new series of issues and concepts that can help to develop the technology further.

The paper explains how this technology can benefit the planning role. The deployment of the technology results in costs reduction during the construction period and impacts on the securing of future work. The paper stresses that the planner should be involved in the process of adding the 4D modelling to a 3D model.

The purpose of the paper is to investigate how health and safety gains and improvements of the construction workplace can be made through the use of three‐dimensional (3D) and four‐dimensional (4D) visualization technologies.

The methodology used in the paper was a combination of semi‐structured interviews with five construction project planners from three construction projects and observations of a 4D model used in one of the three projects.

The findings of the paper have shown a great potential for 3D and 4D visualization in terms of communicating construction information as well as the health and safety risks in the design process where clash detection, work tasks sequence, workspace congestion can be identified by project stakeholders who are thus able to plan for alternative solutions to reduce or eliminate rework, heavy material handling and repetitive and awkward postures which expose workers to musculoskeletal injury risk.

The 3D and 4D models as they are currently used in the design of construction projects, particularly in the three projects investigated in this paper, still lack the worker reference frame and the visual interaction between the worker and the permanent as well as the temporary works.

The paper describes the current and emerging trends in the development of 3D, virtual reality and 4D computer‐aided design visualization and simulation, which have affected or are likely to have an impact on construction projects planning in the Swedish construction sector.

Although there is a boom in the construction industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), it is yet to fully adopt building information modeling (BIM), which has received a lot of attention in the US, UK and Australian construction industries. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to provide the current state of the art in BIM implementation in Saudi Arabia, as well as perceived benefits and barriers through a case study.

A broad overview of BIM, the construction industry in KSA and the research and implementation of BIM in KSA was presented in this study. The research further established the perceived benefits and barriers of BIM implementation through a case study of a local AEC firm. A questionnaire survey was used to obtain lessons learned from the BIM team of the pilot project and was further analyzed using the RII approach.

The study’s findings include the lack of policy initiatives in KSA to enforce BIM in the construction industry, as well as the lack of sufficient research in the domain of BIM in KSA. Furthermore, the case study also revealed that the most important benefit of BIM adoption is “detection of inter-disciplinary conflicts in the drawings to reduce error, maintain design intent, control quality and speed up communication,” whereas the most important barrier is “the need for re-engineering many construction projects for successful transition towards BIM.”

The study provides a background for enhanced research towards the implementation of BIM in Saudi Arabia and also demonstrates the potential benefits and barriers in BIM implementation.

The integration of building information modelling (BIM) and integrated project delivery (IPD) is highly recommended for better project delivery. Although there is a methodology for this integration, the BIM requires some improvements to foster the adoption of IPD. The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative way to support 4D BIM automation/optimisation within the IPD approach. Similar to structural and architectural design libraries, this research proposes a planning library to enable automating the formulation of schedule, as well as embedding the multi-objective optimisation into the 4D BIM.

The literature review was used to highlight the existing attempts to support the automation process for 4D BIM and the multi-objective schedule optimisation for construction projects. A case study was done to validate the developed framework and measure its applicability.

The results show that there is a cost-saving of 22.86 per cent because of using the proposed automated multi-objective optimisation. The case study shows the significance of integrating activity-based costing into 4D BIM to configure the hierarchy level of overhead activities with the IPD approach; therefore, the maximum level of contribution in managing the IPD project is 33.33 per cent by the trade package level and the minimum contribution is around 8.33 per cent by the project level.

This research presents a new philosophy to develop the 4D BIM model – planning and scheduling – a BIM library of the project activities is developed to enable the automation of the creation of the project schedule with respect to the 3D BIM design sequence. The optimisation of the project duration is considered to be automated within the creation process by using the proposed genetic algorithm model.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest the application of the line‐of‐balance (LoB) scheduling technique in combination with a 4D CAD workspace model as a method to improve the management of the flow of resources through locations in construction projects, defined as work flow. Current scheduling methods fail to consistently manage work flow, which can disrupt the construction process, leading to waste such as conflicts in time and space by construction crews.

LoB and 4D CAD are applied to a case study of multi‐story timber housing project involving the construction of 95 apartments in five six‐storey buildings. Based on the case study results, the benefits and limitations of the combined use of both methods are discussed.

The majority of the problems experienced during the actual construction process quickly become evident from an analysis of a relatively simple LoB diagram. Furthermore, the 4D CAD workspace model provides additional insights in the scheduling of construction activities, such as workspace availability, the spatial context of workspaces and partial overlap of workspaces.

Virtual design and construction methods based on principles from lean construction can contribute significantly to the value of the product and the elimination of waste in any construction project.

The paper refers to the guiding principles from lean construction in relation to virtual design and construction methods, such as simulations with 4D CAD. Additional research and studies of practical applications are suggested to facilitate the combination of principles from lean construction with virtual design and construction methods.

The current air traffic management (ATM) operational approach is changing; “time” is now integrated as an additional fourth dimension on trajectories. This notion will impose on aircraft the compliance of accurate arrival times over designated checkpoints (CPs), called time windows (TWs). This paper aims to clarify the basic requirements and foundations for the practical implementation of this functional framework.

This paper reviews the operational deployment of 4D trajectories, by defining its relationship with other concepts and systems of the future ATM and communications, navigation and surveillance (CNS) context. This allows to establish the main tools that should be considered to ease the application of the 4D-trajectories approach. This paper appraises how 4D trajectories must be managed and planned (negotiation, synchronization, modification and verification processes). Then, based on the evolution of a simulated 4D trajectory, the necessary corrective measures by evaluating the degradation tolerances and conditions are described and introduced.

The proposed TWs model can control the time tolerance within less than 100 s along the passing CPs of a generic trajectory, which is in line with the expected future ATM time-performance requirements.

The main contribution of this work is the provision of a holistic vision of the systems and concepts that will be necessary to implement the new 4D-trajectory concept efficiently, thus enhancing performance. It also proposes tolerance windows for trajectory degradation, to understand both when an update is necessary and what are the conditions required for pilots and air traffic controllers to provide this update.

Rehearsing practical site operations is without doubt one of the most effective methods for minimising planning mistakes, because of the learning that takes place during the rehearsal activity. However, real rehearsal is not a practical solution for on‐site construction activities, as it not only involves a considerable amount of cost but can also have adverse environmental implications. One approach to overcoming this is by the use of virtual rehearsals. The purpose of this paper is to investigate an approach to simulation of the motion of cranes in order to test the feasibility of associated construction sequencing and generate construction schedules for review and visualisation.

The paper describes a system involving two technologies, virtual prototyping (VP) and four‐dimensional (4D) simulation, to assist construction planners in testing the sequence of construction activities when mobile cranes are involved. The system consists of five modules, comprising input, database, equipment, process and output, and is capable of detecting potential collisions. A real‐world trial is described in which the system was tested and validated.

Feedback from the planners involved in the trial indicated that they found the system to be useful in its present form and that they would welcome its further development into a fully automated platform for validating construction sequencing decisions.

The tool has the potential to provide a cost‐effective means of improving construction planning. However, it is limited at present to the specific case of crane movement under special consideration.

This paper presents a large‐scale, real life case of applying VP technology in planning construction processes and activities.