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Ecological economics is a multidisciplinary endeavour to connect the social sciences and nature in general. It also connects aspects of ecology and economics to a particular understanding. The created concept centred on the mission to acquire a more advanced albeit better scientific understanding of the complex interconnections between humans, animals and the rest of nature. This is driven towards utilising the obtained knowledge to establish policies that will lead to a more environmentally sustainable world, with a fair resource distribution (both across human groups and generations, as well as between humans, the environment and other species), and also efficiently allocates limited resources such as ‘natural’ and ‘social’ capital. This practice necessitates the development of new methodologies that are comprehensive, adaptive, integrative, multi-scale, pluralistic and evolutionary, while also acknowledging the enormous uncertainties involved.

The model and existing practice of the construction supply chain (CSC) in the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia was presented in this chapter. The policies and reports that support the practice of the CSC were examined in both countries. It was discovered from the review of literature that the UK has a more detailed report targeted at improving the CSC than Australia. However, both countries have a common factor affecting their CSC which originates from fragmentation experienced within their supply chain. Construction stakeholders in the UK and Australia believe that collaboration and integration are vital components for improving performance. The majority of the contractors in both countries embrace collaborative working for the sole purpose of risk sharing, access to innovation and response to market efficiency. However, most of the models developed for managing the CSC in the UK are built around building information modelling (BIM). Also, the reviewed studies show that supply chain management practice will be effective following the following principle: shared objectives, trust, reduction in a blame culture, joint working, enhanced communication and information-sharing. Finally, the UK has a more established framework and more CSC models compared to Australia.

X = multiple interpretations

In recent years, sustainability considerations in the real estate sector have moved from being a niche market phenomenon to a mainstream trend. The movement has been accompanied by a shift in the industry’s perception of sustainable buildings. Traditional cost-saving goals are now complemented by a growing interest in the potential for sustainable buildings to tackle broader economic and social sustainability challenges as well as issues related to health and well-being. The real estate industry is increasingly expected to adapt its strategies to incorporate new and more stringent environmental and urban development requirements, to cater to shifting demographics, and to utilize new advancements in construction processes and materials. This chapter explores recent research on sustainable real estate and highlights some of the newest trends in the market. The chapter then examines how policy and technological advancements can enable real estate developers to tackle environmental, social, and economic sustainability challenges. This will be exemplified through a focus on carbon taxation and timber construction. Based on these case studies, the chapter illustrates how today’s sustainable real estate sector – marked by its move beyond a focus on cost savings – requires for building practices to be strongly rooted in global, sustainable development policies.

Allocating risk in public–private partnership (PPP) projects based on public–private parties’ risk management (RM) capabilities is a condition for success of these projects. In practice, however, risks are allocated to these parties beyond their respective RM capabilities. Too much risk is often assigned to the private or public party, resulting in poor RM and costly contract renegotiations and terminations. This chapter proposes a methodology based on fuzzy set theory (FST) in which decision makers (DMs) use linguistic variables to assess and calculate RM capability values of public–private parties for risk events and to arrive at risk allocation (RA) decisions. The proposed methodology is based on integrating RA decision criteria, the Delphi method and the fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) technique. The application of FSE allows for the introduction of linguistic variables that express DMs’ evaluations of RM capabilities. This provides a means to deal with the problems of qualitative, multi-criteria analysis, subjectivity and uncertainty that characterise decision-making in the construction domain. The methodology is outlined and demonstrated based on empirical data collected through a three-round Delphi survey. The public–private parties’ RM capability values for land acquisition risk are calculated using the proposed methodology. The methodology is helpful for performing fuzzy-based analysis in PPP projects, even in the event of limited or no data. This chapter makes the contribution of presenting a RA decision-making methodology that is easy to understand and use in PPP contracting and that enables DMs to track calculations of RM capability values.

Projects are created and planned with the intention of achieving a specific aim that refers to the project's client's requirement or desire. As a result of the diverse interests of other construction professionals and stakeholders, the goals of the projects have multiplied, necessitating an examination of the participants' perspectives. These objectives are referred to as project success, performance, or delivery measures, variables, methodologies, criteria, indices or qualities. Various elements influence the success of any building project in general. Project characteristics, contractual arrangements, project participants and interactive procedures are some of the categories. This chapter discusses the importance of budgeting in determining project success, concluding that a project cannot be considered successful without proper budgeting.

This chapter studies the importance of implementation of innovational projects of technological growth through public–private partnership (PPP). The authors determine the probability of implementing a project of PPP depending on distribution of risks between its participants. Usage of the mechanism of PPP allows optimizing possible risks during implementation of innovational activities, attracting large business for creation and implementation of new technologies, and forming sustainable ties between R&D departments and business structures. The types of risks in the projects of PPP are given, as well as tendencies of their emergence depending on the stage of implementation of the innovational project, including the following: formation of policy on development of PPP; preparatory, implementary, commercialization of the results of joint activities; and monitoring and control over execution of the project. The algorithm of the system of risk management in innovational projects of technological growth on the platform of PPP is presented. The methods of overcoming the risks that appear during implementation of an innovational project of technological growth within PPP are given. A special attention should be paid to the fourth (distribution of risks) and fifth (reduction of risks) stages. During implementation of innovational projects with application of a business model of PPP, the risks are dealt with by the participant who can manage them better. Reduction of risks is achieved better if several strategies are used – for decreasing the influence of the risk on the innovational project (strategies of risk evasion, acceptance of the risk situation, compensation, transfer, and reduction).

The idea of implementing supply chain management (SCM) principles for the construction industry was embraced by construction stakeholders to enhance the sector's performance. The analysis from the literature revealed that the implementation of SCM in the construction industry enhances the industry's value in terms of cost-saving, time savings, material management, risk management and others. The construction supply chain (CSC) can be managed using the pull or push system. This chapter also discusses the origin and proliferation of SCM into the construction industry. The chapter revealed that the concept of SCM has passed through five different eras: the creation era, the use of ERP, globalisation stage, specialisation stage and electronic stage. The findings from the literature revealed that we are presently in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) era. At this stage, the SCM witnesses the adoption of technologies and principles driven by the 4IR. This chapter also revealed that the practice of SCM in the construction industry is centred around integration, collaboration, communication and the structure of the supply chain (SC). The forms and challenges hindering the adoption of these practices were also discussed extensively in this chapter.