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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the current state of FM preparedness required to deal with the risks to healthcare delivery posed by climate change‐related extreme weather events.

Selected stakeholders were invited to participate in targeted focus groups that, using the ROMS methodology, explored the status of current knowledge and preparedness of the NSW health system to deal with the expected demands imposed by increasing incidences of extreme weather events. Findings are summarised and discussed in terms of the key stakeholder objectives identified. Further areas of required research are then discussed.

The key objectives of the stakeholders were readily agreed, however a lack of information regarding the quantifiable impacts forecast to be associated with climate change constrained the development of other than generic strategies for dealing with these impacts. Further areas of research included assessment of changing demand for health services, likely physical impacts on facilities and their adequacy in coping with these, implementation strategies for augmenting coping capacity and associated costs, plus the need for integrating disaster planning and management strategies to ensure the continuity of operation of health facilities during extreme weather events.

The paper outlines the status of current knowledge regarding the likely impact of climate change‐related extreme weather events on healthcare infrastructure. It explores key issues and determines where future work should be undertaken to ensure that rigorous FM responses are available to cope with a clear and identified threat to the health of the Australian, and similar communities.

The purpose of this paper is to identify factors that influence the diffusion of a systemic innovation in the Swedish construction sector. The focus is on high-rise multi-storey timber housing; the development of which was enabled by a change in building regulations. This allowed building higher than two stories in timber.

A longitudinal case study was used with multiple data collection methods to study the development and diffusion of a multi-storey timber house system by a case study organisation.

The findings contribute to understanding for a number of interacting factors influencing the diffusion of a systemic innovation related to the case study organisation.

The research provides a holistic view of interacting factors influencing the diffusion of a systemic innovation. The results have value to the Swedish construction sector and to the global community of construction researchers, as it provides empirical findings that further increase the understanding for diffusion of systemic innovations in a specific context.

This paper aims to examine people's preferences for alternative cyclone vulnerability reduction measures in cyclone prone areas of Bangladesh.

A choice experiment (CE) method has been implemented based on the pressure and release (PAR) vulnerability model. Data were collected from a sample of households in two districts of Bangladesh in winter 2008.

The results of a choice experiment (CE) method conducted in selected areas of Bangladesh prone to cyclone hazards indicated that access to resources is viewed as the most influential factor in cyclone vulnerability reduction options. Findings support the pressure and release model (PAR) of vulnerability analysis. Access to training and education and cyclone warning systems are also found to have significant impacts on households' choices of cyclone vulnerability reduction. Structural mitigation measures and access to power and decision making, though significant, were found to have the least impact.

The paper shows that the choice experiment method is a good technique for understanding people's preferences for vulnerability reduction measures.

The paper concludes with a policy recommendation for governmental and non‐governmental agencies to focus on vulnerability reduction measures that tackle the root causes of vulnerability.

This is the first time that the choice experiment method has been used for cyclone vulnerability analysis, and it provides quantitative supports for the PAR model.

The purpose of this paper is to study knowledge integration (KI) when diffusing a systemic innovation. The objectives are to understand what mechanisms are used and when and what their effects are in terms of knowledge development.

The method comprised a longitudinal case study which followed a firm’s attempts to develop and diffuse a timber multi-storey building system (the systemic innovation) over a number of projects.

The findings emphasize actual projects as the most crucial activity for KI and when and why soft personalization mechanisms and codified knowledge should be mixed. Furthermore, it shows how different types of knowledge are built-up including construction process effects over a series of projects.

The research contributes with knowledge about mechanisms for the diffusion of a specific systemic innovation type and provides input regarding mechanisms to use. The introduction of the concepts “domain-specific,” “procedural” and “general knowledge” into construction has increased understanding of innovation diffusion and knowledge flows and where and how they are integrated.

The research shows how knowledge develops and through which mechanisms, and where problems occur. Construction organizations can learn from this to avoid mistakes and potentially better understand how to manage knowledge to diffuse a systemic innovation.

The research provides insight into systemic innovation diffusion over a series of projects and focuses on both projects and the construction process.

Short Brothers, the Belfast‐based aerospace manufacturer, announce that their new 360 wide‐body commuter airliner made its first flight in June—some six months ahead of the original target date set when the project was announced at press conferences in London and Washington nine months ago. At that time the Company planned to fly the first 360 in December 1981, but excellent progress with the design phase and some major re‐scheduling has resulted in a very rapid manufacturing cycle of the first prototype aircraft which is now complete. This revised schedule means that Shorts has reduced by almost one‐third the time originally allocated to build the number one prototype.

This paper aims to study the effects of different weather conditions on typical concrete work tasks’ productivity. Weather is one important factor that has a negative impact on construction productivity. Knowledge about how weather affects construction works is therefore important for the construction industry, e.g. during planning and execution of construction projects.

A questionnaire survey method is used involving means to perform pairwise comparisons of different weather factors according to the analytical hierarchical process (AHP). The survey also contains means to enable assessment of the loss in productivity for typical work tasks exposed to different weather types. The survey targets practitioners involved in Swedish concrete construction projects, and the results are compared with previous research findings.

The survey covers responses from 232 practitioners with long experience of concrete construction. The pairwise comparisons reveal that practitioners rank precipitation as the most important followed by wind and temperature. The loss in productivity varies significantly (from 0 to 100%) depending on the type of work and the type of weather factor considered. The results partly confirm findings reported in previous research but also reveal a more complex relationship between weather and productivity indicating several underlying influencing factors such as type of work, type of weather (e.g. rain or snow) and the intensity of each weather factor.

This paper presents new data about how 232 practitioners assess the effects of weather on construction productivity involving novel means to perform objective rankings such as the AHP methodology.

This paper aims to present the cyclone shelter location problem as a problem of grouping a set of villages into a minimum number of clusters and finding the location and capacity of the shelters.

Proposes an algorithm to solve the location problem that uses a distance matrix of the villages, applies Elzinga‐Hearn method iteratively to group them into circular clusters, and determines the shelter size. It is implemented in a software package, which reads the village records from a database, executes the steps of the algorithm, and writes the results into a file.

The villages are grouped into 13 clusters, eight requiring cyclone shelters to be built and five requiring no shelter, taking into consideration the available space in double‐storeyed buildings in the villages. The capacity and location of the each shelter are also obtained.

The approach can be modified to address several practical constraints. For example, for the villages situated far from the coast, the limiting travel distance can be increased, considering that a lesser intensity cyclone would give more time to the villagers to reach the shelter.

Funds are available from a number of public and private organizations to construct cyclone shelters, which could be used properly only when optimal locations for the cyclone shelters are identified.

Originality of the work lies in adapting Elzinga‐Hearn method iteratively to group the villages into circular clusters and implementing the algorithm in software solution. The concerned authority, to take cyclone shelter location decisions, can use the software.

The object of this article is to disclose the results obtained from a programme of work studying the use of zinc‐rich paints as primers for painting systems to be exposed to marine immersion. This programme was commenced early in 1963 with a view to deriving information on the way these systems functioned and hence to establish a code of practice which would enable personnel responsible for the protection of marine structures to obtain the best results with systems based on these primers.

Thermal protection of a flange is critical for preventing tower icing and collapse of wind turbines (WTs) in extremely cold weather. This study aims to develop a novel thermal protection system for the WTs flanges using an electrical heat-tracing element.

A three-dimensional model and the Poly-Hexacore mesh structure are used, and the fluid-solid coupling method was validated and then deployed to analyze the heat transfer and convection process. Intra-volumetric heat sources are applied to represent the heat generated by the heating element, and the dynamic boundary conditions are considered. The steady temperature and temperature uniformity of the flange are the assessment criteria for the thermal protection performance of the heating element.

Enlarging the heating area and increasing the heating power improved the flange's temperature and temperature uniformity. A heating power of 4.9 kW was suitable for engineering applications with the lowest temperature nonuniformity. Compared with continuous heating, the increased temperature nonuniformity was buffered, and the electrical power consumption was reduced by half using pulse heating. Pulse heating time intervals of 1, 3 and 4 h were determined for the spring, autumn and winter, respectively.

The originality of this study is to propose a novel electrical heat-tracing thermal protection system for the WTs flanges. The effect of different arrangements, heating powers and heating strategies was studied, by which the theoretical basis is provided for a stable and long-term utilization of the WT flange.