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Buildings and their construction activities consume a significant proportion of mineral resources excavated from nature and contribute a large percentage of CO₂ in the atmosphere. As a way of improving the sustainability of building construction and operation, various sustainable design appraisal standards have been developed across nations. Albeit criticism of the appraisal standards, evidence shows that increasing sustainability of the built environment has been engendered by such appraisal tools as Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), Code for Sustainable Homes (CfSH), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficacy, among others. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the appraisal standards in engendering whole lifecycle environmental sustainability of the built environment.

In order to evaluate the adequacy of sustainability scores assigned to various lifecycle stages of buildings in the appraisal standards, four case studies of a block of classroom were modelled. Using Revit as a modelling platform, stage by stage lifecycle environmental impacts of the building were simulated through Green Building Studio and ATHENA Impact estimator. The resulting environmental impacts were then compared against the assessment score associated with each stage of building lifecycle in BREAAM and CfSH.

Results show that albeit the consensus that the appraisal standards engender sustainability practices in the AEC industry, total scores assigned to impacts at each stage of building lifecycle is disproportionate to the simulated whole-life environmental impacts associated with the stages in some instances.

As the study reveals both strengths and weaknesses in the existing sustainability appraisal standards, measures through which they can be tailored to resource efficiency and lifecycle environmental sustainability of the built environment are suggested.

The purpose of this paper is to identify challenges faced in resource management in the UK construction industry and to propose some solutions to these problems.

Based on a qualitative research methodology, 14 experts from the UK construction industry were chosen to be participants in the study. The participants were equally divided into two focus groups to discuss resource management using five projects as case studies. Thematic analysis of the discussion reveals seven key factors that affect resource management.

The results show that most of the problems identified are due to poor data management processes and the practice of having data in silos. Overcoming this challenge requires the adoption of big data approaches for resource management to allow the integration of large and different forms of data.

This study seeks to bring to the fore challenges faced in resource management by the UK construction industry and to outline some solutions to address them.

A major challenge for foreign lenders in financing public private partnerships (PPP) infrastructure projects in an emerging market (EM) is the bankability of country-related risks. Despite existing studies on country risks in international project financing, perspectives of foreign lenders on bankability of country-specific risks in an EM is yet to be explored. Hence, using a mixed methodology approach, three private finance initiatives/PPP projects in Sub Saharan Africa (Nigeria) were used to investigate political risk, sponsor, concession and legal risks in PPP loan applications. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The study adopted mixed methodological approach comprising focus group discussions and analysis of loan documents obtained from foreign project lenders, in addition to the questionnaire survey distributed to local and international project financiers with experiences in PPPs within Nigeria.

Results identified seven topmost bankability criteria for evaluating country-related risks (political risk, sponsor, concession and legal risks) in EM PPPs. In addition, a “Risk and Bankability Framework Model” was developed from the study presenting critical parameters for gaining foreign funding approval for EM’s PPP loan applications.

Since the study only explored bankability of PPPs in Sub Saharan Africa with the exclusion of other geographical regions, the proposed framework model should be taken in context of EMs as a mind-map for foreign lenders and local private investors seeking to finance PPPs in an EM.

Results from the study represent critical parameters for winning foreign loan approval for PPP infrastructure projects within an EM context.

Study proposed “Risk and Bankability Framework Model” relevant for evaluating PPP loan applications at the pre-approval stage for EM PPPs.

Although the UK Guarantee Scheme for Infrastructures (UKGSI) was introduced in 2012 to address the huge financing gap for critical infrastructures, PFI sponsors have so far guaranteed only few projects. Many stakeholders in the project finance industry have blamed this situation on lack of general understanding of strategies for harnessing the benefits of the government guarantee scheme. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perspectives of UK’s PFI/PPP stakeholders on critical factors influencing approval for government guarantees using the UKGSI as a focal point.

Using a mixed methodology approach, this study identified 26 important criteria used in evaluating government guarantee applications through focus group discussions with PFI stakeholders. The identified criteria were then put in questionnaire survey to 195 respondents within the UK PFI/PPP industry.

Through factor analysis, five critical factors determining successful government guarantee application were unravelled. These include: compliance with UK National Infrastructure Plan; demonstration of project bankability and risk management; value for money; proof of projects’ dependence on government guarantee; and certainty of planning commission’s approval.

Results of this study will facilitate an in-depth understanding of critical factors necessary for accessing government guarantee scheme for PFI/PPPs, while also improving the bankability of potential PFI projects.

This paper sets out in the context of three strands of knowledge; disaster management, strategic management and project management and builds upon the authors’ (2009) theory for the delivery of post-disaster reconstruction (PDR) projects. With the expected increase in the magnitude and frequency of natural disasters in coming years, more people than ever will be faced with PDR scenarios. In many cases, non-government organisations (NGOs) are in a position to make interventions to improve conditions for people facing the impacts of disasters and it is essential that responding agencies deploy appropriate configurations of competencies to mitigate project barriers. Using a mixed-methods approach, a study incorporated four case studies in post-tsunami Sri Lanka and four case studies in post-cyclone Sidr Bangladesh. Exploratory interviews with expert NGO participants were combined with direct observations and the collection of quantitative survey data. The mechanisms and phenomena observed within the case studies contributed to the development of a conceptual theoretical framework. The study reveals that NGOs face barriers in seven key areas and that they must deploy certain configurations of organisational and operational competencies in order to effectively develop and implement strategies to address these barriers. The theoretical framework demonstrates how the utilisation of these competencies, deployed in targeted clusters, has the potential to create positive outcomes for beneficiaries as measured by PDR Project Success Indicators (PDRPSIs). If dynamic tools can be developed that effectively model competency and predict success, all organisations involved in disaster response and recovery could benefit. In addition, the knowledge is highly transferable to other sectors and environments.

Earlier studies on risk evaluation in private finance initiative and public private partnerships (PFI/PPP) projects have focussed more on quantitative approaches despite increasing call for contextual understanding of the bankability of risks. The purpose of this paper is to explore the perspectives of UK PFI financiers’ regarding the bankability of four critical risks (construction and completion risk, operations, supply and offtake risk) in PPP projects.

Multiple case study strategy was adopted to investigate the phenomenon within real-life context of PFI/PPP projects in UK. Using purposive sampling approach, the study examined school and road PFI/PPP projects through interviews, documentations and focus group discussions.

Results from the study unravelled 36 suitable bankability criteria and some mitigation strategies for evaluating the four critical risks in PFI/PPP during due diligence appraisal. Further evidences from the study also show that, financiers’ bankability criteria, when paired along with corresponding risks and mitigation strategies within with a single framework, provides a quick and effective view of bankability of risks in PFI/PPP funding application.

In order to ensure generalisability of findings, only projects with similar nature were selected from just two sectors of the UK economy (road and education sectors). The context of the study is also based on UK’s PFI/PPP and Construction Industry, as such, other geographical regions in Europe and beyond have not been contextualised in this study. Due to the significance of finance in PFI/PPP contracts, only the perspective of project financiers have been explored in this study.

This study provides a less complicated but useful understanding of how risks in PFI/PPP projects may be packaged in a bankable manner to secure the confidence of project financiers. By presenting a qualitative framework, the study addresses concerns of over quantification of risk analysis in PFI/PPP appraisals and provides a relatable approach useful for non-finance oriented PPP practitioners.

This study addresses the social concerns of too much complexity and ambiguity in PFI/PPP structuring especially regarding factors that could make a project acceptable to lenders.

The study proposes a “Bankability and Risk Qualitative Framework”, which presents bankability information on critical risks in clear manner and represents critical parameters for winning financiers’ funding approvals for PFI/PPP projects.

In a circular economy, the goal is to keep materials values in the economy for as long as possible. For the construction industry to support the goal of the circular economy, there is the need for materials reuse. However, there is little or no information about the amount and quality of reusable materials obtainable when buildings are deconstructed. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to develop a reusability analytics tool for assessing end-of-life status of building materials.

A review of the extant literature was carried out to identify the best approach to modelling end-of-life reusability assessment tool. The reliability analysis principle and materials properties were used to develop the predictive mathematical model for assessing building materials performance. The model was tested using the case study of a building design and materials take-off quantities as specified in the bill of quantity of the building design.

The results of analytics show that the quality of the building materials varies with the building component. For example, from the case study, at the 80th year of the building, the qualities of the obtainable concrete from the building are 0.9865, 0.9835, 0.9728 and 0.9799, respectively, from the foundation, first floor, frame and stair components of the building.

As a contribution to the concept of circular economy in the built environment, the tool provides a foundation for estimating the quality of obtainable building materials at the end-of-life based on the life expectancy of the building materials.

The purpose of this paper is to review and provide recommendations to extend the current open standard data models for describing monitoring systems and circular economy precepts for built assets. Open standard data models enable robust and efficient data exchange which underpins the successful implementation of a circular economy. One of the largest opportunities to reduce the total life cycle cost of a built asset is to use the building information modelling (BIM) approach during the operational phase because it represents the largest share of the entire cost. BIM models that represent the actual conditions and performance of the constructed assets can boost the benefits of the installed monitoring systems and reduce maintenance and operational costs.

This paper presents a horizontal investigation of current BIM data models and their use for describing circular economy principles and performance monitoring of built assets. Based on the investigation, an extension to the industry foundation classes (IFC) specification, recommendations and guidelines are presented which enable to describe circular economy principles and asset monitoring using IFC.

Current open BIM data models are not sufficiently mature yet. This limits the interoperability of the BIM approach and the implementation of circular economy principles. An overarching approach to extend the current standards is necessary, which considers aspects related to not only modelling the monitoring system but also data management and analysis.

To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first study that identifies requirements for data model standards in the context current linear economic model of making, using and disposing is growing unsustainably far beyond the finite limits of planet of a circular economy. The results of this study set the basis for the extension of current standards required to apply the circular economy precepts.

This study explored use of big data analytics (BDA) to analyse data of a large number of construction firms to develop a construction business failure prediction model (CB-FPM). Careful analysis of literature revealed financial ratios as the best form of variable for this problem. Because of MapReduce’s unsuitability for iteration problems involved in developing CB-FPMs, various BDA initiatives for iteration problems were identified. A BDA framework for developing CB-FPM was proposed. It was validated by using 150,000 datacells of 30,000 construction firms, artificial neural network, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, Apache Spark and the R software. The BDA CB-FPM was developed in eight seconds while the same process without BDA was aborted after nine hours without success. This shows the issue of not wanting to use large dataset to develop CB-FPM due to tedious duration is resolvable by applying BDA technique. The BDA CB-FPM largely outperformed an ordinary CB-FPM developed with a dataset of 200 construction firms, proving that use of larger sample size with the aid of BDA, leads to better performing CB-FPMs. The high financial and social cost associated with misclassifications (i.e. model error) thus makes adoption of BDA CB-FPMs very important for, among others, financiers, clients and policy makers.

The purpose of this paper is to identify best practice relating to the effective management of materials in an urban, confined construction site, using structural equation modelling.

A literature review, case study analysis and questionnaire survey are used, with the results scrutinised using confirmatory factor analysis in the form of structural equation modelling.

The following are the leading strategies in the management of materials in a confined urban site environment: consult and review the project programme, effective communication and delivery, implement site safety management plans and proactive spatial monitoring and control.

With the relentless expansion of urban centres and the increasing high cost of materials, any potential savings made on-site would translate into significant monetary concessions on completion of a project.

As on-site project management professionals successfully identify and implement the various strategies in the management of plant and materials on a confined urban site, successful resource management in this restrictive environment is attainable.