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The purpose of this paper is to highlight the regulatory barriers to achieving sustainable buildings in Kosovo. The present paper focuses on regulatory barriers viewed from the perspective of construction industry experts in achieving sustainable buildings.

The present study uses a qualitative research method and semi-structured interviews as a research instrument. The present study interviews around 20 experts in construction and property management, property development, spatial planning and energy management.

The study finds that Kosovo building laws and regulations provide for the materials assessment criteria, but the materials assessment criteria are only for mechanic strength. The study further finds that the sustainability concept is not included and incorporated in Kosovo's urban planning laws and regulations. The study also finds that despite specific clauses mentioning energy performance certificates in the Law on Energy Performance of Buildings in Kosovo, energy performance certificates appears to be not enforced and the nature of the barrier is more organizational rather than regulatory. Finally, the study finds that Kosovo laws are silent as far as green labeling of building materials is concerned.

The implication of the present finding is that policymakers in Kosovo not only should include clear sustainable materials assessment criteria in the law, but also enforce those criteria through testing and inspection mechanisms included in the law and implemented in practice through funding and organizational support. Nonetheless, policymakers in Kosovo should contemplate amending the urban planning laws in Kosovo and include both the term of sustainability at the planning level and conformity guidelines for sustainable design that can be done at the administrative directive level. Further, the clauses in the law do not suffice if the clauses are not accompanied by specific systemic and organizational support in the issuance of energy performance certificates. Policymakers in Kosovo should be proactive in designing clauses that specify green labeling standards for materials; however, these labeling standards should not adversely affect the cost of construction and reduce the demand for real estate.

The study is the first qualitative study about the perception of construction professionals in Kosovo, regarding the regulatory barriers of sustainable buildings in Kosovo.

Industry 4.0 is exacerbating the need for offsite construction (OSC) adoption, and this rapid transformation is pushing the boundaries of construction skills towards extensive modernisation. The adoption of this modern production strategy by the construction industry would redefine the position of OSC. This study aims to examine whether the existing skills are capable of satisfying the needs of different OSC types.

A critical literature review evaluated the impact of transformative technology on OSC skills. An existing industry standard OSC skill classification was used as the basis to develop a master list that recognises emerging and diminishing OSC skills. The master list recognises 67 OSC skills under six skill categories: managers, professionals, technicians and trade workers, clerical and administrative workers, machinery operators and drivers and labourers. The skills data was extracted from a series of 13 case studies using document reviews and semi-structured interviews with project stakeholders.

The multiple case study evaluation recognised 13 redundant skills and 16 emerging OSC skills such as architects with building information modelling and design for manufacture and assembly knowledge, architects specialised in design and logistics integration, advanced OSC technical skills, factory operators, OSC estimators, technicians for three dimensional visualisation and computer numeric control operators. Interview findings assessed the current state and future directions for OSC skills development. Findings indicate that the prevailing skills are not adequate to readily relocate construction activities from onsite to offsite.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is one of the first studies that recognises the major differences in skill requirements for non-volumetric and volumetric OSC types.

Building information modeling (BIM) is mostly limited to the design phase where two parallel processes exist, i.e. creating 2D-drawings and BIM. Towards the end of the design process, BIM becomes obsolete as focus shifts to producing static 2D-drawings, which leads to a lack of trust in BIM. In Scandinavia, a concept known as Total BIM has emerged, which is a novel “all-in” approach where BIM is the single source of information throughout the project. This paper's purpose is to investigate the overall concept and holistic approach of a Total BIM project to support implementation and strategy work connected to BIM.

Qualitative data were collected through eight semi-structured interviews with digitalization leaders from the case study project. Findings were analyzed using a holistic framework to BIM implementation.

The Total BIM concept was contingent on the strong interdependences between commonly found isolated BIM uses. Four main success factors were identified, production-oriented BIM as the main contractual and legally binding construction document, cloud-based model management, user-friendly on-site mobile BIM software and strong leadership.

A unique case is studied where BIM is used throughout all project phases as a single source of information and communication platform. No 2D paper drawings were used on-site and the Total BIM case study highlights the importance of a new digitalized construction process.

This study aims to provide an excellent overview of current research trends in the construction sector in digital advancements. It provides a roadmap to policymakers for the effective utilisation of emergent digital technologies and a need for a managerial shift for its smooth adoption.

A total of 3,046 peer-reviewed journal review articles covering Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, building information modelling (BIM) and digital technologies within the construction sector were reviewed using scientometric mapping and weighted mind-map analysis techniques.

Prominent research clusters identified were: practice-factor-strategy, system, sustainability, BIM and construction worker safety. Leading countries, authors, institutions and their collaborative networks were identified with the UK, the USA, China and Australia leading this field of research. A conceptual framework for an IoT-based concrete lifecycle quality control system is provided.

The study traces the origins of the initial application of Industry 4.0 concepts in the construction field and reviews available literature from 1983 to 2021. It raises awareness of the latest developments and potential landscape realignment of the construction industry through digital technologies conceptual framework for an IoT-based concrete lifecycle quality control system is provided.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to present a rigorous bibliometric analysis and a systematic literature review of the critical success factors (CSFs) for Building information modelling (BIM)-based digital transformation; second, to identify the relationship between the dimensions in favour of BIM implementation.

This study adopts a two-step approach to combine bibliometric and systematic literature review to explore the research topic of BIM and CSFs. Bibliometric tools such as Biblioshiny in R language and Ucinet software were applied to this study.

Besides identifying the two most influential authors (e.g. Bryde and Antwi-Afari), the key journal for disseminating articles, and the most influential countries in this discourse (e.g. Hong Kong and Australia), the study also identifies four pivotal research themes derived from the co-occurrence analysis of keywords: the fusion of sustainability and technology with BIM; practical application and its integration within construction management; innovation and engineering paradigms; and the advent of emerging technologies (e.g. Blockchain) within developing nations. Additionally, the paper introduces a comprehensive framework for selecting CSFs pertinent to BIM-centred digital transformation as viewed through the lens of dynamic capabilities.

This paper establishes a link between dynamic capabilities theory, CSFs, and BIM dimensions, presenting a multifaceted framework guiding future paths and offering practical insights for managerial and political decision-makers engaged in digital transformation endeavours. The study positions dynamic capabilities as pivotal, aligning digital technologies with continuous business performance, and advocates for a strategic focus on digital transformation.

Global building failures, such as the Grenfell Tower fire in London, UK, emphasised the need for trustworthy building handover information for safety. However, a notable gap remains in understanding how reliable handover information can ensure the safety of occupants. This study aims to investigate the use and essential quality of handover information to understand the effects of the quality of information on the management of commercial buildings.

Ninety-four participants from nine organisations who regularly use handover information to manage multiple commercial buildings participated in the semi-structured interviews. Qualitative thematic coding using interview transcripts was performed to identify the utilisation of handover information and its quality requirements.

This study reveals that as-built drawings and product information are predominately used to fulfil statutory obligations, comply with the organisation’s internal policies, evaluate asset valuation and make informed decisions about capital investment and operating expenses. The quality dimensions of “accuracy”, “timeliness”, and “completeness” are preferred in combination to achieve desired outcomes.

This study focused on using handover information in the management of commercial buildings. However, its results can offer valuable perspectives for improving its application across various sectors in the built environment.

The findings affirm the need for quality handover information for safety, compliance and efficient management in commercial buildings.

This research significantly contributes to the current knowledge of handover information in the building sector. Given the study findings, building owners are equipped to define specific handover information requirements and quality requisites.

This paper covers the development of a novel defect model for concrete highway bridges. The proposed defect model is intended to facilitate the identification of bridge’s condition information (i.e. defects), improve the efficiency and accuracy of bridge inspections by supporting practitioners and even machines with digitalised expert knowledge, and ultimately automate the process.

The research design consists of three major phases so as to (1) categorise common defect with regard to physical entities (i.e. bridge element), (2) establish internal relationships among those defects and (3) relate defects to their properties and potential causes. A mixed-method research approach, which includes a comprehensive literature review, focus groups and case studies, was employed to develop and validate the proposed defect model.

The data collected through the literature and focus groups were analysed and knowledge were extracted to form the novel defect model. The defect model was then validated and further calibrated through case study. Inspection reports of nearly 300 bridges in China were collected and analysed. The study uncovered the relationships between defects and a variety of inspection-related elements and represented in the form of an accessible, digitalised and user-friendly knowledge model.

The contribution of this paper is the development of a defect model that can assist inexperienced practitioners and even machines in the near future to conduct inspection tasks. For one, the proposed defect model can standardise the data collection process of bridge inspection, including the identification of defects and documentation of their vital properties, paving the path for the automation in subsequent stages (e.g. condition evaluation). For another, by retrieving rich experience and expert knowledge which have long been reserved and inherited in the industrial sector, the inspection efficiency and accuracy can be considerably improved.

Community centers play a socio-economic and urban role of combining different communal necessities, that serve inhabitants, at different neighborhoods in cities. Their role emerged in importance as being a hub for improving and customizing quality of life experiences of the public. This research presents a code-based risk assessment tool for evaluating fire safety measures that can be adapted in the context of community centers. It also provides an exemplary case study to demonstrate its application.

The study identified the factors that render community centers as a high-risk type of facilities in fire events. Various fire codes and standards were reviewed to describe the relevant fire safety measures. A code-based fire risk assessment tool was developed and implemented, through a case study. A set of recommendations were developed to improve the fire safety conditions of the case study facility.

Several violations to fire safety were identified in the case study building. The findings led to identifying a set of recommendations to improve its fire safety conditions.

This research introduced a systematic approach to raise awareness about fire incidences and consequences in community centers, and provides facilities managers with a tool, to assess compliance based on international fire code requirements.

In fire events, community centers are considered as high-risk facilities that may lead to significant losses of human lives and damages to assets. It is significant to study the causes of fire, for ensuring effective prevention and safe operations.

Automation of detecting cracked surfaces on buildings or in any industrially manufactured products is emerging nowadays. Detection of the cracked surface is a challenging task for inspectors. Image-based automatic inspection of cracks can be very effective when compared to human eye inspection. With the advancement in deep learning techniques, by utilizing these methods the authors can create automation of work in a particular sector of various industries.

In this study, an upgraded convolutional neural network-based crack detection method has been proposed. The dataset consists of 3,886 images which include cracked and non-cracked images. Further, these data have been split into training and validation data. To inspect the cracks more accurately, data augmentation was performed on the dataset, and regularization techniques have been utilized to reduce the overfitting problems. In this work, VGG19, Xception and Inception V3, along with Resnet50 V2 CNN architectures to train the data.

A comparison between the trained models has been performed and from the obtained results, Xception performs better than other algorithms with 99.54% test accuracy. The results show detecting cracked regions and firm non-cracked regions is very efficient by the Xception algorithm.

The proposed method can be way better back to an automatic inspection of cracks in buildings with different design patterns such as decorated historical monuments.

This paper aims to identify the different system approach using Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology that is equipped with decision making processes. Maintenance planning and management are integral components of the construction sector, serving the broader purpose of post-construction activities and processes. However, as Precast Concrete (PC) construction projects increase in scale and complexity, the interconnections among these activities and processes become apparent, leading to planning and performance management challenges. These challenges specifically affect the monitoring of façade components for corrective and preventive maintenance actions.

The concept of maintenance planning for façades, along with the main features of information and communication technology tools and techniques using building information modeling technology, is grounded in the analysis of numerous literature reviews in PC building scenarios.

This research focuses on an integrated system designed to analyze information and support decision-making in maintenance planning for PC buildings. It is based on robust data collection regarding concrete façades' failures and causes. The system aims to provide appropriate planning decisions and minimize the risk of façade failures throughout the building's lifetime.

The study concludes that implementing a research framework to develop such a system can significantly enhance the effectiveness of maintenance planning for façade design, construction and maintenance operations.