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Despite advancements in construction digitalisation and alternative building technologies, cost overrun is still a challenge in the construction industry. The inflation rate is increasing, especially in developing countries, and is critical in cost overrun matters. It can deviate construction built-up rate components. This may thwart improving construction-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Studies concerning the impact of the inflation rate on construction-related SDGs are scarce in developing countries, including Nigeria. The study investigated the impact of inflation on Nigeria’s construction projects and their outcome on SDGs and suggested possible ways to improve achievement of construction-related SDGs and their targets.

The researchers employed a qualitative research design. This is because of the study’s unexplored dimension. The researchers engaged 35 participants across major cities in Nigeria via semi-structured virtual and face-to-face interviews. The research utilised a thematic method for collated data and accomplished saturation.

Findings reveal that the impact of inflation on construction projects, if not checked, could hinder achieving construction-related SDGs in Nigeria. This is because of the past three years of hyperinflation that cut across major construction components. It shows that the upward inflation rate threatens achieving construction-related SDGs and proffered measures to mitigate inflation and, by extension, enhance achieving construction-related SDGs. This includes a downward review of the Monetary Policy Rate, control of exchange rate volatility and addressing insecurity to restore FDIs and FPIs confidence.

Besides suggesting possible solutions to mitigate hyperinflation on construction components to improve achieving construction-related SDGs, findings will stipulate government policymakers put measures in place through favourable fiscal and monetary policy implementation and encourage moving from a consumption to a production nation.

The construction industry is unique but with uncertainties. This is because of the operating environment. This intricacy gives rise to several construction risks and is compounded in developing countries’ turbulent times. If not managed, these risks enhanced in turbulent times could negatively impact the Nigerian construction projects’ cost, time, quality, and performance. Hence, this study investigated the perceived encumbrances facing construction risk management techniques and identified measures to promote sustainable-based construction risk management in turbulent times.

The researchers adopted a qualitative approach and achieved saturation with 28 participants. The participants were government policymakers, quantity surveyors in government ministries/agencies/departments, consultant engineers, consultant architects, consultant and contracting quantity surveyors, and construction contractors knowledgeable about construction risk management. The research employed a thematic analysis for the study’s data.

Findings identified turbulent times related to the industry and major techniques for managing construction project risks in the Nigerian construction industry. It revealed lax adoption and implementation of practices. Also, the study identified major encumbrances facing construction risk and proffered initiatives that would promote sustainable-based construction risk management in turbulent times.

This study investigates encumbrances and suggests measures to promote construction project risk management in turbulent times in Nigeria. Also, the study contributes to the literature’s paucity, uncovering perceived encumbrances and evolving organisations’ management styles to imbed sustainable-based risk management practices by qualitative research design method.

This paper investigates the impact of green construction procurement practices (GCPPs) on circular economy (CE) success by identifying environmentally sustainable procurement practices that can promote a CE in the construction industry. The goal was to promote circularity in construction through GCPPs.

A quantitative research approach was adopted and purposively selected 100 respondents for a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. Data from the questionnaire survey were analysed using mean score ranking, One-sample t-test and regression analysis.

The study found that using on-site systematic waste management, project stakeholder commitment and support for green practices and environmental requirements in technical specifications, significantly impact CE success in construction, with a 12.8% variance in CE when green procurement is practised. This implies that GCPPs have positive repercussions on CE success, where the CE success is expected to change as GCPPs levels increase.

The study provides insights into green procurement, promoting its use in infrastructure development and aiding clients, particularly in the government sector with insights into the challenges and practices involved in green procurement. Practitioners can also benefit from better implementing CE strategies to draft and manage contracts for infrastructure projects that prioritize circularity.

The limited impact of GCPPs on advancing CE principles in construction suggests policy and practice must strengthen procurement requirements to fully leverage spending and drive the sector’s transition towards a circular model. Also, novel insight is provided into the most effective types of GCPPs for promoting CE success, aiding policymakers in optimizing construction procurement strategies.

The concept of Circular Economy (CE) has gained significant traction in addressing the issue of Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste, which is generated because of global urbanisation and urban renewal. Therefore, this research aims to explore the applicability of CE strategies to minimise the C&D Waste Management (WM) issues in Sri Lanka considering the preconstruction stage of the building project.

The research adopted a qualitative approach, using three expert interview rounds with the Delphi technique. In each round, 17, 15 and 12 experts were involved. A manual content analysis method was used to analyse the collected data.

Findings uncovered effective strategies in CE to address the 14 issues within C&D WM and its effects on the project management iron triangle in Sri Lanka. Integrating CE strategies within the construction sector to tackle C&D WM issues can significantly contribute to establishing a more sustainable, robust and resource-conscious built environment. By adopting CE strategies such as design for adaptability of existing buildings and design for disassembly, construction projects can optimise the project's timeline, cost and quality factors.

This will help to minimise the demand for virgin materials and reduce the volume of waste generated. Using recycled materials also helps close the loop of the materials cycle, thereby contributing to the CE. Also, this research contributes uniquely by offering practical, context-driven solutions that align with Sri Lanka’s construction sector.

The purpose of this study is to identify the capacity needs of building professionals to deliver environmentally sustainable buildings (ESBs) globally, from a unique systems approach. Through a review of extant literature, this study contributes to knowledge of the global delivery of ESBs by identifying research trends and gaps that can be tackled in future research, and current hotspots in capacity building (CB) research within the built environment (BE). The adopted systems approach to CB postulates that the construction industry is systemized in nature, and thus, CB solutions within the industry should be approached from a systems approach.

A literature search was conducted using the Scopus search engine, augmented by Google Scholar and Web of Science, to produce 54 relevant articles for analysis. The scientometric analysis was undertaken with the use of VOSViewer to better understand the broad literature on CB in the construction industry which would not have been possible with traditional data analysis. The content analysis allowed, for a systematic review of selected articles, to reveal key themes in this study.

Through a content analysis, four levels of CB were identified within the construction industry; individual level, organizational level, industry level and state level. Nine sub-capacities were subsumed under the four identified levels adopted from Potter and Brough (2004), including but not limited to Performance capacity, Workload capacity, Supervisory capacity, Industry Role capacity and Systems capacity. Under each sub-capacity, key questions were posed to aid identify the capacity needs of BE professionals. A framework for identifying capacity needs in the BE is proposed.

The findings of this study serve as a useful reference for practitioners and policymakers to assess their level of commitment to CB efforts for ESB delivery. The findings of this study have revealed that building the capacities of BE professionals to deliver ESBs should be addressed as part of a broader framework, interdependent on the other levels of CB in the systemic construction industry.

As a review study identifying capacity needs for BE professionals to deliver ESBs, this study enhances knowledge of CB within the construction industry.

Though alternative building technologies (ABTs) have been encouraged to address accessible and affordable issues in low-cost housing (LCH) provision, their adoption is still overwhelmed with encumbrances. The encumbrances that hinder ABT adoption require an in-depth study, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. However, studies regarding ABT and its role in improving Nigeria's LCH to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 are scarce. This research investigates encumbrances to ABT adoption in Nigeria's LCH provision and suggests feasible measures to prevent or reduce the encumbrances, thereby improving achieving SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities).

This research utilised qualitative research and adopted a face-to-face interview as the primary data collection. The interviewees comprised ABT practitioners and end users in Nigeria who were chosen by a convenient sampling technique. The study's data were analysed manually through a thematic approach.

This study shows that stakeholders should embrace ABT in LCH provision to improve achieving SDG 11 in Nigeria. Also, it clustered the perceived 20 encumbrances to ABT adoption in LCH provision into government/policymaker, housing developers/building contractors, ABT users and ABT manufacturers-related issues in Nigeria's context. This study suggested mechanisms to mitigate encumbrances to ABT adoption in LCH provision, thereby improving achieving SDG 11.

This research adds to the limited literature by analysing ABT adoption encumbrances in Nigeria's LCH provision, which could assist policy formulation for the uptake of ABT in LCH provision and improve achieving Goal 11.

Climate change and global warming are two major ecological concerns. The construction industry has instituted measures such as green construction in response to these concerns. This study seeks to assess the views of architects on the uptake of innovative green construction (IGC) in Ghana.

This study applies the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to investigate the factors influencing the decision to adopt IGC. A structured questionnaire was issued to architects who have been involved in the design and/or construction of green buildings in Ghana. The dataset was obtained from 61 architects and Partial Least Square was used to analyse the data.

The results show that two TPB factors; attitude and perceived behavioural control are significant determinants of architects’ intention to adopt IGC. Interestingly, behavioural intention did not have an influence on the actual behaviour of IGC adoption. However, perceived behavioural control had a significant impact on the actual adoption of IGC.

Contextually, the findings of the study will contribute to policy development and marketing of various green innovation within the Ghanaian construction milieu. Practically, the study will help encourage stakeholders to build the right capacity and competence towards the uptake of IGC.

The originality of the paper is based on the theoretical framework underpinning the study and the target respondents as the unit of analysis in assessing the full uptake of IGC in Ghana. The utility of the model evinces the role behavioural changes play in ecological development.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the benefits and challenges of implementing circular economy (CE), as well as shed light on the influence of procurement strategy in CE implementation in construction projects.

A qualitative research approach with abductive reasoning was adopted. The empirical data were collected from the construction industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The results reveal that clients, consultants and contractors have limited awareness, knowledge and motivation to implement CE in construction projects. The absence of incentives to design projects following CE principles, lack of involvement of contractors and suppliers, non-use of materials that use CE principles and current procurement strategies are the main challenges for the implementation of CE in the UAE.

Previous research offers limited knowledge on CE and its implementation in construction projects particularly from a procurement strategy perspective. The findings of the study provide new knowledge of the benefits, challenges and role of procurement strategy for implementing CE. It is suggested that collaborative and partnering-based procurement methods are needed to facilitate the effective implementation of CE.

The proliferation of lean principles in the construction industry is offset by the enduring uncertainty among industry stakeholders regarding their respective roles in lean implementation. This uncertainty is further compounded by the scarcity of empirical investigations in this area. Consequently, this study undertakes the task of bridging this knowledge gap by identifying the critical roles of lean learners and their indispensable contributions to achieving successful lean implementation.

A qualitative exploratory approach informed by an interpretivism perspective was adopted. The case study strategy was employed to gather data from three contracting organisations that had implemented lean practices. Empirical data was collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with fifteen industry experts and complemented by document reviews. To analyse the data, a code-based content analysis approach was employed using NVivo software, while Power BI software was utilised to develop a comprehensive force-directed graph visualisation.

The research findings substantiated nine lean learners and unveiled a set of seventy-three roles associated with them. The force-directed graph facilitated the identification of lean learners and their connections to the emerged roles. Notably, the graph highlighted the pivotal role played by project managers and internal lean trainers in ensuring the success of lean implementation, surpassing the contributions of other lean learners.

The implications of findings extend to industry professionals seeking to establish a robust lean learning framework to expedite lean implementation within the construction sector. This study not only provides a comprehensive definition of lean learners’ roles but also transcends specific construction types, making it a significant catalyst for global impact.

The construction industry has considerably evolved in the recent two decades due to the emergence of sustainability, lean construction (LC) and building information modelling (BIM). Despite previous research efforts, there is still a gap concerning the multidimensional nature of their integration. Hence, this study aims to fill the mentioned knowledge gap through exploring and comparing the challenges, enablers, techniques as well as benefits of integrating LC with BIM and sustainability in building construction projects.

A systematic literature review was conducted to fulfill the purpose of this study.

The findings reveal and compare the challenges, enablers, techniques and benefits of integrating LC with BIM and sustainability in building construction projects. The results suggest that there are eight common challenges for integrating LC with BIM and sustainability, including high initial cost, lack of collaboration, lack of professionals and lack of compatible contractual framework. The discovered challenges, enablers, techniques and benefits seem to be mostly routed in people. The findings also suggest that the synergistic benefits of integrating LC with BIM and sustainability can overcome the common challenges (safety, reliability, productivity, collaboration and quality) in construction projects.

The findings contribute to the literature and practice concerning the integration of LC with BIM and sustainability by exploring, comparing and discussing the relevant challenges, enablers, techniques as well as benefits. Moreover, the findings reveal the significance of the development of people in construction industry, besides processes and technology, as people are always subject of activities in construction while processes and technology are always objects.