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This study aims to identify senior citizens’ requirements related to “embedded retirement facilities (ERFs)”, which are small-scale, multi-functional and community-based care facilities for senior citizens in mainland China, and to discuss whether senior citizens’ perceptions are influenced by their backgrounds.

A questionnaire type of research was administrated to gain senior citizens’ rankings of services that should be provided by ERFs. Non-parametric statistical models were applied to analyse the collected data.

Results reveal that health care services for senior citizens are considered the most important. Requirements regarding rehabilitation and entertainment and daily life assistance are ranked second and third, respectively. Culture-related activities are the least important. Differences in the senior citizens’ background also influence their choices.

This research is based on a questionnaire survey completed in northeast China. Opinions from other areas of mainland China will be collected in the future study. Furthermore, the key items identified in this research, which was completed by participants from the built environment discipline, can be further elaborated by combining interdisciplinary feedback.

This study explores services that are supposedly provided by ERFs. Findings will provide useful perceptions from senior citizens and will enable decision makers to prioritise services for senior citizens.

Although senior citizens are the end users of ERFs, their needs are easily overlooked. This study calls attention to their needs from ERFs, and the results are likely to serve as references for stakeholders in building improved facilities.

ERFs have been provided in mainland China to cater to senior citizens’ needs since 2014. However, few studies have identified senior citizens’ requirements for provided services. The survey-based results of this work will serve as references for various stakeholders in making enhanced decisions.

The capacity of landfills will reach saturation in the 2020s. There are more than 50,000 buildings in Hong Kong over 30 years old and which may require extensive refurbishment under the Mandatory Building Scheme. Additionally, most new owners/tenants tend to renovate their premises before moving in. Hence, there is an urgent need in Hong Kong, to explore strategies and measures to enable the development of effective refurbishment and renovation (R&R) waste management for such projects. The objectives of this paper are to investigate the process of R&R for identifying the perceived barriers and thereby the strategies for minimisation and management of R&R waste in Hong Kong.

Desktop study, semi-structured interviews, site observations and document reviews were used as the data collection methods to achieve the objectives of this research. Considering the nature and characteristics of the industry structure, the snowball sampling process was deployed for data collection. Thematic analysis and content analysis were used for data analysis. Waste minimisation and management strategies for R&R projects were then discussed and developed by the research team and a focus group meeting was held to validate the research findings. Six strategies were then proposed to the government.

R&R projects contribute 10–20% of the construction and demolition waste. The barriers to recycling of R&R waste can be grouped into six major categories: (1) lack of sorting and storage spaces, (2) high cost, (3) insufficient government supporting policy, (4) complicated recycling processes, (5) immature recycling market and (6) insufficient public education. Also, six strategies are proposed in this study, which include (1) pre-refurbishment audit, (2) development of recycling market, (3) sea reclamation, (4) incineration, (5) government support and (6) education and research.

The strategies and measures proposed in this research could most adequately serve as reference for the government officials, building professionals and academic researchers. Such knowledge would make possible the development of effective strategies and measures for minimising and managing R&R waste.

A reengineering philosophy for the construction industry has emerged, harvesting components of a production philosophy. The objective of construction process reengineering is to progressively develop an integrated project delivery process focusing on optimising process predictability and enhancing the value of the final product. This philosophy requires a holistic approach to reengineering, integrating the concepts of concurrent engineering, lean production and process redesign into the construction process. The objective of this paper provides an overview of construction process reengineering (CPR) through the examination of its origin, definition, concepts and application. A hospital project was used as a pilot case study to examine the application of the CPR concepts.

Hong Kong is running out of both reclamation sites and landfill space for the disposal of construction and demolition waste. This paper reports on the findings of a study, consisting of a questionnaire survey, interviews and work‐site visits, to compare the use of low‐waste building technologies in public housing and private residential projects in Hong Kong. The results show that large panel formwork and prefabricated building components are widely used in public housing projects in Hong Kong. Due to the difference of the design with public housing, the use of smaller aluminium panel formwork is more common in the private housing projects. The barriers for the adoption of low‐waste building technologies in the private sector are identified and discussed.

This paper aims to investigate the prevailing practice of managing client requirements for design and build (D&B) construction projects in Hong Kong. It attempts to evaluate the limitations and addresses the need for a practical framework for facilitating the implementation of client requirements management within the industry.

Two research instruments were used in this paper: semi‐structured interviews and case studies.

The study revealed that the limitations of the current practice included the lack of a comprehensive client's project brief, inadequate involvement of client in the briefing process, the lack of impartial agents, the controversy caused by the uncertain legal status of end‐users and the improper timing of raising requirements by key project stakeholders. Recommendations are given that an inclusive project brief is necessary in clarifying the goals and covering all‐rounded perspectives. A practical framework is needed to improve the client requirements management practice within the construction industry.

The D&B procurement system adopted in Hong Kong actually exists in various forms within the construction industry, which differ from the prototype that has long been recognized. Therefore, a more detailed study into D&B projects covering a broader area is necessary in the future.

Little research work has been undertaken on the study of client requirements management, especially for D&B construction projects. This paper has improved the comprehension of the nature of client requirements and has provided valuable insights into the prevailing problems associated with the management of client requirements.

This paper aims to focus on requirements management of projects constructed under traditional procurement system. It seeks to discuss the requirements management processes highlighting the limitations and addressing the need for a practical framework for facilitating the implementation of requirements management in the construction industry.

Two research instruments were used in this paper: semi‐structured interviews and case studies.

The literature review introduced a generic process for requirements management practice potentially to be adopted in the construction industry. The research study identified that the processes and limitations of current practice included the lack of a practical framework, misinterpretation of requirements, difficulties in identifying requirements, conflicts between expectation and constraints, complex hierarchy of client's organisation and communication problems in eliciting client requirements. Recommendations are given that an inclusive project brief and a competent project manager to manage the project requirements are necessary in capturing and tracing the requirements during the project development process. A practical framework is needed to improve the requirements management practice within the construction industry.

The research findings establish the basis for further research to examine the implementation of these potential solutions and development of a systematic framework for RsM. The research is of significant value to the construction industry where value generation is essential and critical, especially in difficult economic and financial situations.

Requirements are the foundation of the projects which are critical to the successful delivery of the projects. Although many guidelines have been published for managing client requirements, the existing practice on requirements management is still considered to be inadequate. This research provides insight for professional practitioners in the construction industry to improve the requirements management practices for development projects.

The purpose of this paper is to explore existing problems and potential solutions of managing Employers' Requirements in the project development process of construction projects under traditional procurement systems.

Two research instruments are used: semi‐structured interview and questionnaire survey, to investigate the problems and potential solutions to Requirements Management in the construction industry.

The research revealed that Requirements Management is crucial to the successful delivery of construction projects. However, the current practice of Requirements Management in the industry is informal and there is a lack of a systematic approach to tackle the problems. The authors also propose potential solutions to Requirements Management as well as a vision for further research.

The paper presents the problems of managing Employers' Requirements, and the potential solutions to improve the Requirements Management process that need to be addressed.

The paper improves one's comprehension of the nature, characteristics, problems and potential solutions of Requirements Management in the project development process under the traditional procurement systems in the construction industry, relevant to both practitioners and scholars. A model is proposed as a “preliminary framework” to show the processes involved.

The purpose of this paper is to review the development of value management (VM) over the last few decades and propose ways for future development.

A qualitative research methodology was adopted which involved a comprehensive review of relevant literature leading to a better understanding of the history and development of VM. A way forward is suggested for the future development of VM.

The research revealed that sustainable development is an area which has great potential for the application of a VM methodology in the construction industry in order to ensure sustainable design and development is leveraged during the life span of construction projects.

The research work described in this paper encourages researchers and practitioners to integrate VM and sustainable development. It enables the VM community to have a better understanding of applying VM techniques to address “green building” issues and the potential of applying VM to promote sustainability in buildings.

This paper aims to investigate how unique features of built facilities would affect the application of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading, and to explore what adaptive measures may be taken for emissions trading to be applied to the built environment. Emissions trading is a financial tool to encourage GHG emissions reduction in various industries. As the building sector is responsible for a large amount of GHG emissions, it is valuable to explore the application of emissions trading in built facilities.

The analysis is based on a comparative study reviewing the current emissions trading schemes (ETSs) in Australia, Japan and the UK covering the building industry, and to evaluate the approaches adopted by the schemes to tackle the problems related to buildings and facilities management.

The research findings reveal that the small energy savings of individual building units, the large variety of energy-saving technologies and the split incentives and diverse interests of building owners and tenants would be the barriers hindering the development of emissions trading. To overcome these barriers, an ETS should allow its participants to group individual energy savings, lower the complexity of monitoring and reporting approaches and allow owners and tenants to benefit from emissions trading.

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the current emissions trading practices in the built environment. Besides, it raises the attention and consciousness of policymakers to the need that building characteristics and facilities management should be taken into consideration when designing an ETS for the building sector.

To describe a research project which seeks to establish a value management framework for project briefing to systematically identify and clarify client requirements, and represent these requirements precisely and explicitly to facilitate the design process.

Two research instruments are used: structured questionnaire survey to validate the theoretical framework established; and experiments to test the proposed value management framework with real‐life projects, supported by case studies.

The primary research findings of this project are the identification of 13 variables that have an impact on the briefing process, which form the basis of the theoretical framework. It is revealed that the theoretical foundation of the research supports the use of value management to the briefing process. Further validation will be completed by conducting questionnaire survey and real‐life case studies.

This paper improves comprehension of the nature, characteristics and problems of the briefing process. It also introduces the theoretical foundation of the research project and describes the process for the development of the value management framework for project briefing.