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Age‐related disability in bathroom use is already a significant problem, and is destined to become even greater. Previous research has focused on how the person can be enabled to cope with the bathroom environment by functional training or introduction of assistive technologies. More recently attention has been drawn to the design of bathroom furniture. This article outlines the work undertaken to establish the views of the bathroom of older people and carers, and how involvement of older people as researchers has given strong direction, support and confidence in identification of issues in need of attention and in product development.

In recent years, school districts have faced numerous questions surrounding accommodations of transgender students. Strong objections to accommodations have been voiced in public argument and litigation, primarily in the areas of athletics, bathrooms, and dress codes. As younger transgender students express their gender identity at school, however, the existing objections are weakened by considering the context of elementary rather than high school students. Greater numbers of young transgender students will likely encourage accommodation of trans students of all ages, as well as challenge the gender binary unconsciously taught in school.

The provision of an accessible and inclusive built environment is both a common regulatory requirement for architects and facilities managers, and a critical issue of equitable access for people with disability. Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) is key to ensuring appropriate building accessibility is provided and maintained. Improved Building Information Modelling (BIM) integration with Facilities Management (FM) will enable more effective POE over time. This study aims to define and demonstrate the practicability and utility of a particular configuration of emerging BIM and related digital technologies, applied in the field.

A field study approach is applied to investigate the practicability and utility of the technology configuration and POE procedures. A proposed technology configuration is applied to evaluate 21 accessible bathrooms across three university buildings in Sydney, Australia. First, a checklist of technical functionality for a POE of accessible bathrooms particular to the field study FM context is established. The checklist is based on a review of recent literature, relevant standards, best practice guidelines, expert opinions, and the organisational requirements. Then, a technical and procedural approach to POE and BIM integration with FM is defined and applied in the field. Finally, a quantitative analysis of the results is presented and discussed relative to both the particular and general FM contexts.

The use of low-cost BIM and related technologies can usefully be applied in the field to promote a more progressive integration of BIM with FM and provide enhanced baseline models for ongoing POE. A rudimentary risk assessment of key accessible bathroom features (in the context of this field study) identified that the Toilet: toilet rolls location is unsatisfactory across all bathrooms surveyed and represents an immediate and high-risk failing. Other high-risk issues highlighted in this study included: Approach: access; Entrance: door fittings and security; and Layout: hazards.

This study offers a blue-print for building practitioners to adopt and progressively integrate low-cost BIM and related technologies with extant FM systems. The study also promotes an improved approach to effective POE practice in general, and to the assessment of accessible bathrooms in particular.

Recent reviews highlight key barriers to BIM integration with FM and significant limitations to current POE practice. Proposals for BIM integration with FM tend to focus on the comprehensive use of BIM. This study demonstrates the practicability and utility of a more progressive approach to BIM adoption and integration with FM in general. The study is also novel in that it shows how low-cost BIM and related technologies can be used as a baseline reference for ongoing POE. Building practitioners can adopt and adapt the technology configuration and approach to support a range of POE applications. This field study has identified immediate and high-risk potential failings of the accessible bathrooms provided on one university campus in Sydney, Australia.

Creating memorable experiences for customers at the individual property is one of the primary goals in hotel management across all segments. Adopting the concept of the ingredient branding, this study aims to attempt to identify the effects of bathroom amenity brands on customers' attitudes toward the hotel brand image and their behavior intentions toward a hotel brand. Specifically, this study assesses the importance of bathroom amenities on customer experience. It also examines the effects of bathroom amenity and their sustainable practices on hotel brand image and behavior intentions. Lastly, it provides suggestions for hoteliers in selecting right and appealing bathroom amenities while enhancing customers' hotel experience.

This study employed a 3 (hotel service level: economy, midscale, vs luxury) × 2 (bathroom amenity brand: luxury vs general) × 2 (bathroom amenity packaging: bottle vs dispenser) between-subjects experimental design. A total of 557 useable surveys were obtained to test the study's hypotheses.

The results reveal that customers had a better hotel image when high-end brand bathroom amenities in a bottle were offered. Specifically, when economy hotels provided high-end brand bathroom amenities, customers had a better hotel image, which lead to strong return intentions. Typically, bathroom amenities in the bottle were perceived better than those in the dispenser when it came to the hotel image.

The findings of this study reconfirm that the level of hotel service, bathroom amenity brand and bathroom amenity packaging jointly affect hotels' overall image. Specifically, the generic bathroom amenity in the dispenser somewhat degrades the image of the hotel for economy hotels; however, the image of hotel is not significantly affected by the type of bathroom packaging when the hotel has luxury bathroom amenities. Thus, hotel management should pay more attention to selecting the bathroom amenity brand, which can offer more memorable experience for customers.

Little research has been documented on the effects of hotel bathroom amenity brands on customers' attitudes toward hotel brand image and their psychological behaviors in the hotel industry, lacking rigorous theoretical examinations. The current study provides several important contributions not only to the body of knowledge but to the hotel industry.

Offsite is one of the main innovative techniques employed in the contemporary UK construction sector. Building maintenance accounts for over 5 percent of the UK's gross domestic product of which bathrooms are regarded as a critical area, with potential high risks and defects. However, the importance of its maintenance has been largely underestimated and research into this area appears to be limited. This paper aims to address this knowledge gap by investigating the maintenance performance of offsite and in situ bathrooms for student accommodation.

The paper examines 732 maintenance records over three years of 216 precast concrete modules, 84 Glass Reinforced Polyester (GRP) modules and 96 traditionally‐built in situ bathrooms.

The research found that offsite modules outperformed in situ bathrooms in terms of maintenance. GRP modules created the least maintenance problems, compared to precast modules and in situ bathrooms. The maintenance of in situ bathrooms was more complex than offsite modules, and involved more diverse problematic areas. The main causes of the problems included inappropriate design; poor build workmanship, lack of quality of component materials and improper usage by occupants. This supports a parallel study that found that the costs associated with maintenance were significantly higher for in situ bathrooms than for the equivalent offsite solutions.

The paper contributes to understanding the problems of offsite bathroom modules requiring maintenance in comparison with in situ bathrooms and their possible causes. Key aspects of offsite bathrooms including drainage, toilets, vents and sinks should be improved. Quality of component materials used for in situ bathrooms should be ensured. These improvements can only be achieved through better design for maintenance with clients' aspiration embodied. The findings should assist in design decision making of selecting bathrooms for residential buildings. However, a balanced approach, taking into account other factors for such selection, is open for future investigation.

The framework of strategies developed should improve the innovative design of bathrooms manufactured offsite and help maintain them for better lifecycle performance.

This paper aims to identify and discuss how process and people factors influence the successful implementation of organisational interface management in offsite bathroom construction.

A literature review identified 16 process and people factors. A mixed method approach was used to analyse data from eight offsite bathroom case study projects. A ranking approach determined the main process and people factors, consequently analysed using (Minitab) Frequency analysis, the Wilcoxon Signed Rank test and thematic analysis to establish the contributing sub-factors and their inter-relationships, to each other and to the literature. These factors and sub-factors formed the final conceptual model, bringing together interface management and offsite bathroom construction.

The nine factors instrumental to the conceptual model include six process factors: procurement, design management, supply chain management, health and safety, tolerance and quality and three people factors: communication, client/design team and project manager, reflecting the construction industry focus on hard processes over soft. The role of the project manager and communication, however, are the main factors which contribute to overall project success. Direct management of the offsite works by the contractor’s project manager is also highly significant.

Limitations include the (UK) geographical focus of the research and the focus on bathroom pods in buildings.

The research recognises three people (social) factors: communication, client/design team and project manager, with the first and third being the main factors which contribute to overall project success.

Originality stems from the focus on organisational interface management and how this relates to offsite bathroom construction (a practice gaining considerable momentum in industry) and the resultant model. Being grounded on more than one body of academic literature as well as 8 case studies and 82 industry interviews, there is value to both researchers and construction industry practitioners alike.

Prefabricated products are continually entering the building construction market; yet, the decision to use prefabricated products in a construction project is based mostly on personal preferences and the evaluation of direct costs. Researchers and practitioners have debated appropriate measurement systems for evaluating the impacts of prefabricated products and for comparing them with conventional on-site construction practices. The more advanced, cost–benefit approach to evaluating prefabricated products often inspires controversy because it may generate inaccurate results when converting non-monetary effects into costs. As prefabrication may affect multiple organisations and product subsystems, the method used to decide on production methods should consider multiple direct and indirect impacts, including nonmonetary ones. Thus, this study aims to develop a multi-criteria method to evaluate both the monetary and non-monetary impacts of prefabrication solutions to facilitate decision-making on whether to use prefabricated products.

Drawing upon a literature review, this research suggests a multi-criteria method that combines the choosing-by-advantage approach with a cost–benefit analysis. The method was presented for validation in focus group discussions and tested in a case involving a prefabricated bathroom.

The analysis indicates that the method helps a project’s stakeholders communicate about the relative merits of prefabrication and conventional construction while facilitating the final decision of whether to use prefabrication.

This research contributes a method of evaluating the monetary and non-monetary impacts of prefabricated products. The research underlines the need to evaluate the diverse benefits and sacrifices that stakeholder face when considering production methods in construction.

The proportion of the population aged 65 and over is rapidly rising and is expected to reach 24.3 per cent by 2031, up from 12 per cent in 2006. As a result, the Hong Kong government is facing challenges in meeting the growing demand for residential care homes. To provide a clear picture for construction professionals engaged in the future design and operation of such homes, it is first necessary to understand the opinions of end‐users in existing facilities. The paper aims to identify key facilities management (FM) components in three particular areas of residential care homes.

In order to collect data from end‐users, a questionnaire survey of 119 end‐users (both elderly residents and staff) based on post‐occupancy evaluation (POE) was used to evaluate the FM performance of the homes and establish the relationships between the comfort levels of FM components and the satisfaction of elderly residents.

The findings in the questionnaire survey indicated that all 16 key FM components were significantly related to the satisfaction with the home, while space planning, temperature, ventilation, privacy, finishes, and staff were the factors predicting satisfaction with different areas.

The paper makes a number of practical recommendations to government and construction professionals for improving the residential care environment, including a wide corridor with short distance and a low‐speed air‐conditioning machines in the common areas. In the bedroom, designers are recommended to install some partitions in terms of privacy and consider the microclimate carefully. In the bathroom, the use of lifting devices, louver doors, sufficient ventilation and a stable hot water supply are beneficial for the elderly's satisfaction.

Post‐occupancy evaluation is a commonly used tool to evaluate FM performance based on the end‐user's perspective. The study innovatively investigates the impact of different FM components on elders' satisfaction degree by application of POE.

This paper aims to understand housing demand of urban Indian households in terms of housing and household-level characteristics. Because a house is a bundle of certain characteristics which vary across houses, each characteristic has an implicit price. Finding this implicit price for certain important characteristics is the first objective of this study. The second objective of the paper is to compute the income elasticity and price elasticity of housing demand for these cities.

To achieve comparable estimates, household-level data from India’s National Sample Survey Organisation housing surveys for the years 2002 and 2008-2009 have been used. A hedonic price function is estimated using ordinary least squares (OLS) and Box-Cox functional forms to estimate the implicit prices of housing characteristics. This exercise is attempted for owned and rented houses separately. Demand function required for computing the elasticities, uses the hedonic price index derived from the implicit prices and household characteristics.

The study finds housing demand to be income elastic and price inelastic for the six cities across both the time periods.

Firstly, this study includes housing characteristics such as individual access to drinking water, modern sanitation facility, separate kitchen, condition of the structure, existence of a road with street light and whether the house is in a slum or non-slum area in the hedonic price function. These variables were not used in any of the earlier studies pertaining to India. Secondly, it uses the Box-Cox non-linear form to derive the hedonic price function, a specification not used earlier. Thirdly, this is the first study analysing housing demand across the six largest Indian cities.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a methodology to measure the circulation area required by a manual or powered wheelchair within a toilet stall and present the range of possible results that can be collected when used in an experimental bathroom setup.

A bathroom environment containing a toilet, grab bars and two transparent acrylic panels suspended on rails to simulate walls was built. Three setups were experimented: 1,500 mm from the walls, 1,500 mm diagonally from the toilet and 1,700 mm from the walls. For each of the participants, markers were placed on the back and on the rear of the wheelchair and one on the toes of the participants. The Vicon® optical motion capture system was used to register the markers’ position in the 3D space.

The methodology proved to be relatively easy to install, efficient and easy to interpret in terms of results. It provides specific points from which it is possible to measure the trajectories of markers and calculate the polygonal projection of the area covered by each participant. The results showed that manual and powered wheelchair users required, respectively, 100 and 300 mm more than the minimum 1,500 mm wall-to-wall area to complete a rotation task in front of the toilet.

These results showed that the 1,500 mm gyration area proposed in the Canadian Code of Construction is not sufficient for manual and powered wheelchair users to circulate easily in toilet stalls. The methodology can provide evidence to support the improvement of construction norms in terms of accessible circulation areas.