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This study aims to develop a taxonomy of requirements for mobile BIM technologies (MBT), clarify the relating terms and concepts, and identify the interactions between MBT features and the construction management functions on sites.

A positivist approach with elements of interpretivism is adopted to allow to capture what is perceived as “reality” in relation to individuals’ interpretation and experience in the use and implementation of MBT. This is achieved by using a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach that can capture the various understandings of MBT. The research methods included a longitudinal case study over 12 months, two project workshops, expert interviews and an industry survey that together helped to investigate MBT at project, enterprise and industry levels.

The MBT requirements taxonomy included requirements relating to both project and organisation. Project requirements addressed MBT functionalities for sites and information management, while organisation requirements focused on the integration of MBT solutions with the enterprise from information technology, legal and security perspectives. A detailed matrix showing the interactions between five key MBT features and seven construction management functions was also developed.

The two constructs developed by this study can help researchers to structure their investigation of key uses of MBT applications and their benefits. It can be used by researchers aiming to investigate integrated approaches to the digitalisation of construction sites, such as those enabled by Digital Twins. The interaction matrix can aid researchers in evaluating the intersections between the MBT functionalities and the site construction management functions (e.g. theoretical analysis of interactions from Lean Construction, benefit evaluation perspective). More broadly, the two constructs can support research and practice investigating the development of data-driven approaches on construction sites.

The developed MBT taxonomy can guide construction organisations in selecting suitable MBT for Field BIM for their projects. It can also act as a baseline against which varying MBT solutions can be compared.

Constructs such as taxonomies for MBTs; an understanding of MBT capabilities and use within the industry; and a lack of delineation between related terms, such as Mobile BIM, Field BIM, Site BIM, Cloud BIM and Mobile Apps, were lacking in the literature. This study contributed to addressing this gap.

Sources highlight that insufficient skills of site supervisors considerably influence the progress of many construction projects in numerous countries. This study intends to identify the crucial supervisory competencies that influence the effectiveness of building project operations in the context of developing countries.

The crucial construction site supervisory competencies were qualitatively identified through a comprehensive literature survey and a series of expert interviews with the use of thematic analysis approaches. A questionnaire survey was then carried out among 154 building project firms to quantify the impacts of the competencies on the effectiveness of project tasks with the use of the relative importance index approach. Additionally, industry-consultative meetings were held using problem-focused communication strategies to scrutinise the necessary actions.

Overall, 22 cognitive elements and 24 skills/abilities of supervisors were determined as being critical according to their impact values, where the site supervisors cognitive domains in construction planning and construction materials were determined as the top-ranking competencies in the list, with their manual skills/abilities in labour management and labour performance evaluation. Accordingly, a group of key competency outcomes were produced for the considerations in developing new site supervisory training components. Relevant statistical analysis results and the industry consultative outcomes substantiated the validity and dependability of the overall results.

Although the study's focus was to site supervision procedures used in Sri Lankan building construction projects, the overall findings/outcomes might be put to the test in related situations in other emerging industries in other countries.

The study has constructed a base that shows how the significant site supervisory competencies influence the effectiveness of building construction operations, contributing to making a big difference in the methods of reskilling/upskilling in the industry associated with construction labour, supervision, efficiency management and productivity enhancement.

This study aims to improve a construction company's overall project delivery by utilising lean six sigma (LSS) methods combined with building information modelling (BIM) to design, modularise and manufacture various building elements in a controlled factory environment off-site.

A case study in a construction company utilised lean six sigma (LSS) methodology and BIM to identify non-value add waste in the construction process and improve sustainability.

An Irish-based construction company manufacturing modular pipe racks for the pharmaceutical industry utilised LSS to optimise and standardise their off-site manufacturing (OSM) partners process and leverage BIM to design skids which could be manufactured offsite and transported easily with minimal on-site installation and rework required. Productivity was improved, waste was reduced, less energy was consumed, defects were reduced and the project schedule for completion was reduced.

The case study was carried out on one construction company and one construction product type. Further case studies would ensure more generalisability. However, the implementation was tested on a modular construction company, and the methods used indicate that the generic framework could be applied and customized to any offsite company.

This is one of the few studies on implementing offsite manufacturing (OSM) utilising LSS and BIM in an Irish construction company. The detailed quantitative benefits and cost savings calculations presented as well as the use of the LSM methods and BIM in designing an OSM process can be leveraged by other construction organisations to understand the benefits of OSM. This study can help demonstrate how LSS and BIM can aid the construction industry to be more environmentally friendly.

The purpose of this study is to present an overview of the existing knowledge on the combined application of lean, off-site and simulation (LOS) in housing delivery.

A systematic literature review approach was adopted. Based on a comprehensive search using Scopus, Web of Science and the International Group for Lean Construction databases, 66 relevant journal articles were identified and analysed.

This study found that the most significant impacts of the combined application of LOS in housing delivery are the capacity to visualise the production processes as a whole in real time, exposure and removal of non-value-adding activities from the production and faster delivery. However, the combined application of LOS is low compared to a single application of each technique in housing delivery.

The results provide relevant stakeholders and actors in the housing sector (private and public housing developers, off-site housing manufacturers and constructors, housing associations and government housing agencies, among others) with the information needed to improve the outcomes of housing delivery through the application of LOS.

This study contributes to the ongoing debate on addressing the global housing shortage by presenting an integrated overview of the existing knowledge on the impact of the nexus of LOS and providing compelling evidence for its usage in housing delivery. It also demonstrates how the combined application of LOS supports the achievement of the flow and value view in the transformation flow value model, which was not previously reported.

This study aims to develop workplace well-being indexes for construction sites of different project types (infrastructure, high-rise and low-rise). Accordingly, the study objectives are to identify the critical factors that affect workplace well-being at construction sites, compare the critical factors between different project types, categorize the critical factors into subgroups and compute indexes for the critical factors and subgroups.

Data from a systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews with construction industry professionals were used to extract 19 potential factors that affect workplace well-being. Then, a structured questionnaire survey was distributed, and 169 valid responses were collected. Finally, the data were analyzed using normalized mean analysis, agreement analysis, factor analysis and fuzzy synthetic evaluation.

The study findings revealed that there are 11, 11, 8 and 12 critical factors across overall infrastructure, high-rise and low-rise construction projects. Out of those, six critical factors are overlapping across project types, including “general safety and health monitoring,” “salary package,” “timeline of salary payment,” “working hours,” “communication between workers” and “planning of the project.” Accordingly, the critical factors can be categorized into two subgroups within each project type. Finally, the development of indexes shows that infrastructure construction projects have the greatest index compared to other project types.

This study contributes to filling the current knowledge gap by developing workplace well-being indexes at construction sites across different project types. The indexes would assist decision-makers in understanding the current state of workplace well-being. This increases the commitment and recognition of well-being across different construction project types.

Construction activities conducted in urban areas are often a source of significant noise disturbances, which cause psychological and health issues for residents as well as long-term auditory impairments for construction workers. The limited effectiveness of passive noise control measures due to the close proximity of the construction site to surrounding neighborhoods often results in complaints and eventually lawsuits. These can then lead to delays and cost overruns for the construction projects.

The paper proposes a novel approach to integrating construction noise as an additional dimension into scheduling construction works. To achieve this, a building information model, including the three-dimensional construction site layout object geometry, resource allocation and schedule information, is utilized. The developed method explores further project data that are typically available, such as the assigned equipment to a task, its precise location, and the estimated duration of noisy tasks. This results in a noise prediction model by using noise mapping techniques and suggesting less noisy alternative ways of construction. Finally, noise data obtained from sensors in a case study contribute real values for validating the proposed approach, which can be used later to suggest solutions for noise mitigation.

The results of this study indicate that the proposed approach can accurately predict construction noise given a few available parameters from digital project planning and sensors installed on a construction site. Proactively integrating construction noise control measures into the planning process has benefits for both residents and construction managers, as it reduces construction noise-related disturbances, prevents unexpected legal issues and ensures the health and well-being of the workforce.

While previous research has concentrated on real-time data collection using sensors, a more effective solution would also involve addressing and mitigating construction noise during the pre-construction work planning phase.

Recent construction literature has been focusing more on integrative contracting approaches such as integrated project delivery (IPD). However, conceptual studies on integration in IPD literature are scattered and fragmented, that is, most of the studies only focused on the segmented dimension of integration. A systemic understanding of the concepts of integration in IPD project-based context is still lacking. To fill this gap, this paper analyzes two aspects of integration (dimensions and directions) in IPD literature and explores their extent in construction projects.

Grounded theory review and focus group discussion approaches were employed to perform a thorough conceptual review of the literature, frame the research into the theory and increase the fundamental understanding of the concept of integration in IPD literature.

In this study, IPD integrating techniques were identified and their integration dimensions and directions were discussed. Results show that integration in the project-based environment of IPD is a multidimensional construct. Based on organizational, contractual and operational characteristics of IPD projects, twenty-four integration mechanisms were identified and framed into seven clusters. The integration directions over project life-cycle were demonstrated in three contexts: (1) an on-site construction project, delivered traditionally, (2) an on-site construction project, delivered with IPD and (3) an off-site construction project, delivered with IPD.

This paper gathers the segments of integration into a comprehensive overview, which can help researchers and practitioners explore elements of IPD project success more precisely. A theoretical framework of integration clusters is developed, based on IPD literature. The impact of IPD on on-site versus off-site construction is illustrated from an integration direction perspective. Finally, future areas of studies for researchers and practitioners about the concept of integration in an IPD context are discussed. This paper provides a point of departure for future theoretical and empirical explorations.

Modular construction is an innovative method that enhances the performance of building construction projects. However, the performance of steel modular construction has not been systematically understood, and the existing measurement methods exhibit limitations in effectively addressing the features of steel modular building construction. Therefore, this study aims to develop a new performance measurement framework for systematically examining the performance of steel modular construction in building projects.

This study was conducted through a mixed-method research design that combines a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art practices of construction performance measurement and a case study with a 17-story steel modular apartment building project in Hong Kong. The case project was measured with data collected from the project teams and other reliable channels, and the measurement practices and findings were referenced to establish a systematic performance measurement framework for steel modular construction.

Considering steel modular construction as a complex socio-technical system, a systematic performance measurement framework was developed, which considers the features of steel modular construction, focuses on the construction stage, incorporates the views of various stakeholders, integrates generic and specific key performance indicators and provides a benchmarking process. Multifaceted benefits of adopting steel modular construction were demonstrated with case study, including improved economic efficiency (e.g. nearly 10% cost savings), improved environmental friendliness (e.g. approximately 90% waste reduction) and enhanced social welfare (e.g. over 60% delivery trips reduction).

This paper extends the existing performance measurement methods with a new framework proposed and offers experience for future steel modular construction. The measured performance of the case project also contributes in-depth understanding on steel modular construction with benefits demonstrated. The study is expected to accelerate an effective uptake of steel modular construction in building projects.

The purpose of this paper is to understand if and how industrialized house building (IHB) could support productivity developments for housebuilding on project and industry levels. The take is that fragmentation of construction is one explanation for the lack of productivity growth, and that IHB could be an integrating method of overcoming horizontal and vertical fragmentation.

Singe-factor productivity measures are calculated based on data reported by IHB companies and compared to official produced and published research data. The survey covers the years 2013–2020 for IHB companies building multi-storey houses in timber. Generalization is sought through descriptive statistics by contrasting the data samples to the used means to control vertical and horizontal fragmentation formulated as three theoretical propositions.

According to the results, IHB in timber is on average more productive than conventional housebuilding at the company level, project level, in absolute and in growth terms over the eight-year period. On the company level, the labour productivity was on average 10% higher for IHB compared to general construction and positioned between general construction and general manufacturing. On the project level, IHB displayed an average cost productivity growth of 19% for an employed prefabrication degree of about 45%.

Empirical evidence is presented quantifying so far perceived advantages of IHB. By providing analysis of actual cost and project data derived from IHB companies, the article quantifies previous research that IHB is not only about prefabrication. The observed positive productivity growth in relation to the employed prefabrication degree indicates that off-site production is not a sufficient mean for reaching high productivity and productivity growth. Instead, the capabilities to integrate the operative logic of conventional housebuilding together with logic of IHB platform development and use is a probable explanation of the observed positive productivity growth.

The crane plays an essential role in modern construction sites as it supports numerous operations and activities on-site. Additionally, the crane produces a big amount of data that, if analyzed, could significantly affect productivity, progress monitoring and decision-making in construction projects. This paper aims to show the usability of crane data in tracking the progress of activities on-site.

This paper presents a pattern-based recognition method to detect concrete pouring activities on any concrete-based construction sites. A case study is presented to assess the methodology with a real-life example.

The analysis of the data helped build a theoretical pattern for concrete pouring activities and detect the different phases and progress of these activities. Accordingly, the data become useable to track progress and identify problems in concrete pouring activities.

The paper presents an example for construction practitioners and researcher about a practical and easy way to analyze the big data that comes from cranes and how it is used in tracking projects' progress. The current study focuses only on concrete pouring activities; future studies can include other types of activities and can utilize the data with other building methods to improve construction productivity.

The proposed approach is supposed to be simultaneously efficient in terms of concrete pouring detection as well as cost-effective. Construction practitioners could track concrete activities using an already-embedded monitoring device.

While several studies in the literature targeted the optimization of crane operations and of mitigating hazards through automation and sensing, the opportunity of using cranes as progress trackers is yet to be fully exploited.