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This paper analyses the daily activities of building operators and how they mediate between end‐users and technological systems in order to make “their” buildings energy efficient.

The empirical data consists of four selected cases of non‐residential buildings of different sizes.

The paper argues that building operators have the possibility of improving energy efficiency with or without extensive user involvement and with or without advanced technological systems.

Starting from the practitioners' point of view a new perspective on the link between facilities management and energy efficiency emerges, which calls into question approaches which focus on either the behavioral or the technical side of a building's energy consumption.

Buildings use approximately 40% of global energy and are responsible for almost a third of the worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. They also utilise about 60% of the world’s electricity. In the last decade, stringent building regulations have led to significant improvements in the quality of the thermal characteristics of many building envelopes. However, similar considerations have not been paid to the number and activities of occupants in a building, which play an increasingly important role in energy consumption, optimisation processes, and indoor air quality. More than 50% of the energy consumption could be saved in Demand Controlled Ventilation (DCV) if accurate information about the number of occupants is readily available (Mysen et al., 2005). But due to privacy concerns, designing a precise occupancy sensing/counting system is a highly challenging task. While several studies count the number of occupants in rooms/zones for the optimisation of energy consumption, insufficient information is available on the comparison, analysis and pros and cons of these occupancy estimation techniques. This paper provides a review of occupancy measurement techniques and also discusses research trends and challenges. Additionally, a novel privacy preserved occupancy monitoring solution is also proposed in this paper. Security analyses of the proposed scheme reveal that the new occupancy monitoring system is privacy preserved compared to other traditional schemes.

This paper aims to put the building manager (BM) as the professional responsible for implementing occupant engagement initiatives (OEIs) in the work environment and discusses the challenges they may experience in fulfilling their responsibilities.

This paper is based on a review of nine studies (six academic journals and three conference papers) that discuss the design and implementation of OEIs in office buildings.

The following categories and sub-categories were identified: mediator (facilitative, stakeholder alignment and persuasive) and educator (context indifferent advice, context-dependent advice and expert knowledge). The authors argue that embodiment of these roles should be supported through the delivery mechanism of the OEIs, rather than assume them as given traits in organizational environments.

Proponents of OEIs should expand their focus from supporting engagement of building occupants to fostering engagement of BMs and senior executives.

This study adopts the perspective of the building management profession to expose a gap in the design of energy-related occupant engagement interventions.

Compliance with standard specifications in stairway design and construction, particularly the step geometry, is imperative for the safety and usability of stairs. The purpose of this study, was to assess the compliance of stair step geometry parameters with standard specifications in selected public buildings in Ghana. Specifically, the study investigated the prevalence of deviations in step geometry parameters from standard provisions; how significant these deviations are in comparison, and by theoretical association, the potential risk of accidents.

Field measurement of the geometric parameters of a total of 1954 steps in 204 flights of stairs within 28 university buildings was undertaken using a calibrated Multi Digit Pro + digital spirit level and a tape measure following the Nose-to-Nose Method. The results were analyzed using in Microsoft Excel 2016 and Minitab 18 and interpreted based on mean values, one-sample t-test and percentages.

Although some parameters generally complied with standard specifications, dimensional inconsistencies in risers and treads of adjacent steps were most prevalent, and significantly at margins far above standard specifications. The findings of the study show the unique limitation of the step geometry design requirements specified in the current Ghana National Building Code and the National Building Regulation, and by association, the potential risk of accidents and discomfort in the use of stairs in public buildings such as those on university campuses.

The observed deviations in the dimensions of risers and treads point to a lack of strict compliance with standard specifications in the design and construction of stairs. Apart from engaging skilled artisans, and intensifying supervision in stair construction, development control authorities in Ghana need to strengthen inspection of stairs during construction to ensure and enforce compliance.

Findings of the study provide insight into stairway design, as well as stair safety and usability in a developing world context, and allows for a more comprehensive study of stair-related accidents and discomfort associated with stairs in public buildings as a basis for the review of standards and codes in Ghana and other developing countries.

The Sino‐Singapore Tianjin Eco‐city Project, the agreement of which was signed in 2007, is an important milestone that would further cement ties between Singapore and the People's Republic of China (PRC). The Eco‐city Project will be used to showcase the latest green technologies adopted in buildings with a view to reducing the adverse effects of global warming, carbon emissions, and climate change; leading in the process to sustainable facilities. The purpose of this paper is to examine the institutional compliance framework for transferring environmental sustainability regulations from Singapore to China.

The paper examines the current environmental sustainability regulations that are already in place in Singapore, with a view to possibly transfer these regulations as well as the supporting green technologies, codes and practices to the joint Sino‐Singapore Eco‐city Project in the PRC. The study proposes an understanding of the institutional compliance framework to facilitate this transfer.

There are existing statutory provisions within the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) in the PRC that encourage the use of solar and renewable energy with a view to fostering sustainable construction, including provisions dealing with water pollution. However, beyond these generic areas, it appears that statutory provisions within the MEP do not institutionalize the same level of details that can be found in Singapore relating to the conceptualization, design and construction of sustainable facilities. Hence, transfer of such provisions from Singapore to the Tianjin Eco‐city Project can be facilitated through an understanding of the institutional compliance framework from the Chinese side.

The environmental sustainability regulations that are already in place in Singapore will be examined in the paper. The study explains the reasons why these regulations were implemented in Singapore, and the framework within which such provisions may be transferred to the Tianjin Eco‐city Project.

The paper observes that while the legal systems in both Singapore and the PRC may be different, it would be strategic and expedient for the Chinese partners in the Eco‐city joint project to familiarize themselves with the environmental sustainability regulations within Singapore's jurisdiction with a view to possibly adopting them in the PRC through the institutional compliance framework.

Singapore is probably the first and only country in the world to enact building regulations pertaining to environmental sustainability with attendant inputs from an appropriate Code for Environmental Sustainability of Buildings and the Green Mark Scheme. The successful completion of the Tianjin Eco‐city Project could provide a role model for further development of Eco‐cities in the world, leading to greater emphasis to be placed on sustainable facilities anchored on the institutional compliance framework.

The purpose of this paper is to present the estimates of the value of the built environment stock in Cape Verde, a Sub-Saharan African country that is scattered through ten relatively small islands.

It applies the perpetual inventory method in a long series of construction investment data at 1980 and 2007 constant prices published by the Cape Verde’s National Statistics Office.

The results show that the capital-output ratio is similar to those in the advanced industrial countries. The high value of this indicator suggests that the country should shift its focus from building new investment projects to managing the considerable amount of built stock.

The main originality of the paper comes from the use of different data sets from the National Statistical Office to construct the indicators of the construction industry activity in a comprehensive way.

This chapter discusses the profound and influential impact the construction industry has on the national economy, together with the huge negative effect it has on the environment. It argues that by adopting smart and industrialised prefabrication (SAIP), the Australian construction industry, and the construction industry globally, is well positioned to leverage the circular economy to advance future industries with less impact on our natural environment. It discusses aspects of the application of digital technologies, specifically building information modelling, virtualisation, augmented and virtual reality and 3D printing, coupled with reverse logistics as a proponent for advancing the circular economy through smart, digitally enabled, industrialised prefabrication. It further postulates a framework for SAIP for the circular economy.

On the basis of corporate wholesale and hypermarket stores, this study aims to investigate the relationship between energy consumption, physical building characteristics and operational sales performance and the impact of energy management on the corporate environmental performance.

A very unique dataset of METRO GROUP over 19 European countries is analyzed in a sophisticated econometric approach for the timeframe from January 2011 until December 2014. Multiple regression models are applied for the panel, to explain the electricity consumption of the corporate assets on a monthly basis and the total energy consumption on an annual basis. Using Generalized Additive Models, to model nonlinear covariate effects, the authors decompose the response variables into the implicit contribution of building characteristics, operational sales performance and energy management attributes, under control of the outdoor weather conditions and spatial–temporal effects.

METRO GROUP’s wholesale and hypermarket stores prove significant reductions in electricity and total energy consumption over the analyzed timeframe. Due to the implemented energy consumption and carbon emission reduction targets, the influence of the energy management measures, such as the identification of stores associated with the lowest energy performance, was found to contribute toward a more efficient corporate environmental performance.

In the context of corporate responsibility/sustainability of wholesale, hypermarket and retail corporations, the energy efficiency and reduction of carbon emissions from corporates’ real estate assets is of emerging interest. Besides the insights about the energy efficiency of corporate real estate assets, the role of the energy management, contributing to a more efficient corporate environmental performance, is not yet investigated for a large European wholesale and hypermarket portfolio.

Official statistics on the output of the construction industry capture on-site activities of contractors and sub-contractors; however, the role of the industry linking suppliers of materials, machinery, products, services and other inputs is also widely recognised. These two views have been called broad and narrow, with the narrow industry defined as on-site work and the broad industry as the supply chain of materials, products and assemblies, and professional services. An argument is made for using the term “built environment sector” (BES) for the broad industry definition of construction. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Construction industry statistics capture the on-site activities of contractors and sub-contractors. This paper reviews research that adds to construction output the contributions of suppliers of materials, machinery and equipment, products and components, professional services and other inputs required to deliver the buildings and structures that make up the built environment.

The same term, “construction”, has been used in a number of ways in different definitional studies of the narrow and broad industry. The term that best encompasses the large number and range of participants in the creation and maintenance of the built environment, from suppliers to end users, is the BES.

Construction economics makes an important contribution to researching the macroeconomic role of the BES. There is also a special role for construction economics in researching both the boundaries of the BES and the data available on the industries that contribute to the BES.

Measuring the BES would improve the understanding of its macroeconomic role and significance.

Measuring the BES would contribute to city policies and urban planning.

The paper proposes a new approach to defining and measuring the industries that contribute to the production, maintenance and management of the built environment. It introduces a new name for the combination of those industries.

While it may be in the interest of construction firms to expand either gradually or rapidly their workload over time, the need to maintain a stable volume of work is still crucial for long‐term survival. While it is obviously useful for the industry to try to resolve the specific quality problems identified, the need to attain a stable and minimal level of workload will remain a high priority for all construction firms. This is because without a stable workload, survival will be at stake, let alone expansion and provision of good quality services and products. Sets out to test two hypotheses. First, poor quality standards in the construction industry are primarily structural problems tied to the demand for construction. Second, because cyclical fluctuations are inherent in the construction industry, poor quality standards in construction are also likely to be perpetual problems.