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This paper aims to outline the state-of-the-art and research contributions in the construction mediation domain to determine whether existing research is compatible with a future scenario envisioning a wider adoption and more systemised use of mediation in the construction industry and to develop a research agenda based on key challenges facing mediation.

A systematic procedure based on keywords was adopted for the selection of relevant research contributions in the area, and a meta-classification framework has been designed based on independent classifications of the content, method and authorship to analyse the publications.

Research contributions in the past decade mostly focused on perceptions of professionals on mediation and the dynamics of the mediation process and mediator tactics. Based on the challenges identified, proposed research agenda includes court-connected mediation, mediation in public projects, project mediation, documentation of case studies of mediation applications and use of IT in mediation.

The publications investigated in this study are limited to scholarly articles published in the mainstream construction management journals and can be expanded to books or articles published in law journals if required.

Existing literature includes important contributions regarding many aspects of construction mediation, however, a holistic agenda is lacking to overcome the key challenges to the widespread use of mediation in the construction sector. The research directions presented in this paper is expected to contribute to the proliferation of the neglected areas and constitute the basis for the development of a research roadmap in the construction mediation domain.

The purpose of this paper is to: distinguish dispute factors from dispute categories, terms generally used interchangeably in the literature; compose consistent and comprehensive lists of dispute factors and categories; and identify the impacts of various dispute factors through empirical analysis of the associations between dispute factors and categories.

In total, 50 construction projects in Turkey (each with a contract amount of 1 million USD or over) were investigated and analysed employing a specially developed dispute research survey form and through interviews with the project managers.

Specific suggestions have been developed for various stakeholders of construction projects, building upon the associations revealed by the correlation analysis. These suggestions relate to the following issues; for employers: contractor selection (experience and technical capability), avoiding variations and punctual instructions; for consultants: preparation of project documents; for contractors: project selection and approach to conflicts; for project managers: defining the project scope, punctual instructions and use of ADR methods; for all stakeholders: project duration, unfamiliarity with local conditions, adversarial approach in handling conflicts and communication problems.

This paper suggests an improvement to dispute terminology by differentiating between dispute factors and categories, and identifies the relations between these factors and categories by an empirical study. The results of this research can help practitioners and academicians by providing insights on the dynamics of dispute occurrence. An increased awareness of dispute factors and their specific impacts can allow practitioners to discern and identify the associated risks and endeavour to avoid certain practices, and thus eventually contribute to reducing disputes in the construction projects.

The Turkish Ministry of Justice submitted the Draft Law on mediation in legal disputes, which was predicated on the European Council (EC) Directive on certain aspects of mediation in civil and commercial matters, to the Turkish Parliament in June 2008. Contentious arguments have followed on the provisions of the Draft Law as well as on the overall applicability of mediation in Turkey. The purpose of this paper is to examine the context surrounding the new mediation phenomenon in order to identify the key challenges awaiting its widespread use in the Turkish construction industry.

Two complementary approaches were adopted in this paper. First, an analysis of the most debated papers of the Draft Law is carried out to determine the potential problems associated with the legislation by making comparisons with the EC mediation directive and mediation laws in some of the member states. Second, a series of structured interviews are organized among the Turkish construction industry to gain better insight on prevalent perceptions of mediation, assess pertinent demand and determine the sector specific challenges.

The comparative analysis of the Draft Law and the empirical results obtained from the industry indicate a promising platform for the deployment of mediation. However, the adverse attitude of lawyers, inadequate financial incentives, the lack of an industry specific institutional framework and low level of knowledge on mediation in the industry hinder wide acceptance despite the growing interest, as evidenced in the results of the interviews.

This paper is aimed to be a timely contribution to the process of the establishment of mediation in the Turkish construction industry. The paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the Draft Law through comparison with other legislation and furnishes original data on the perceptions of mediation in the Turkish construction industry in the quest for making projections for its further development.

The purpose of this paper is to present a strategic overview of the current literature on “Building information modelling (BIM) for Building Refurbishment and Maintenance” to unfold the factors behind the relative underdeveloped state of the field and to contribute to the development of a more cumulative knowledge base by presenting the current status and suggesting future directions for research.

A systematic review of the literature has been undertaken by classifying and mapping the literature, identifying the input-output relations, exhibiting the areas focused on by researchers as well as neglected ones and by indicating the trends in research through the years. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis is used in the study to better interpret the existing studies in a holistic perspective.

Although the need for BIM in facility management (FM) has been acknowledged by researchers and practitioners, the results highlight that studies related to BIM applications in maintenance and especially refurbishment are relatively recent. However, the trend in published articles shows that the interest is continuously growing. Existing research in this field can be clustered in the following subtopics: (1) building survey and as-built BIM, (2) modelling and managing energy, (3) design assessment, (4) access to and integration of maintenance information and knowledge, and (5) information exchange and interoperability.

The paper identifies the gaps in the research domain that hinders a widespread adoption of BIM in refurbishment and maintenance stages and introduces roadmaps to surmount the challenges identified in each specific subtopic of the field.