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This paper aims to explore the current condition of the Big Data concept with its related barriers, drivers, opportunities and perceptions in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry with an emphasis on facilities management (FM).

Following a comprehensive literature review, the Big Data concept was investigated through two scoping workshops with industry experts and academics.

The value in data analytics and Big Data is perceived by the industry, yet the industry needs guidance and leadership. Also, the industry recognises the imbalance between data capturing and data analytics. Large IT vendors’ developing AEC industry-focused analytics solutions and better interoperability among different vendors are needed. The general concerns for Big Data analytics mostly apply to the AEC industry as well. Additionally, however, the industry suffers from a structural fragmentation for data integration with many small-sized companies operating in its supply chains. This paper also identifies a number of drivers, challenges and way-forwards that calls for future actions for Big Data in FM in the AEC industry.

The nature of data in the business world has dramatically changed over the past 20 years. This phenomenon is often broadly dubbed as “Big Data” with its distinctive characteristics, opportunities and challenges. Some industries have already started to effectively exploit “Big Data” in their business operations. However, despite many perceived benefits, the AEC industry has been slow in discussing and adopting the Big Data concept. Empirical research efforts investigating Big Data for the AEC industry are also scarce. This paper aims at outlining the benefits, challenges and future directions (what to do) for Big Data in the AEC industry with an FM focus.

Effective management of highways requires management of diverse data sets including traffic volume data, roadway, and road edge and road-side data. Like all major infrastructure clients, highways administration authorities are under pressure to use such platforms for better management of data that, in addition to creating other opportunities, allows improved life cycle management of asset data and predictive analytics. This paper aims to review such opportunities and the value that can be generated through integrated life cycle data management by leveraging Big Data and building information modelling (BIM).

A literature review is initially performed to systematically gather information to identify and understand BIM as a collaborative platform. Data management applications in other industries are also reviewed. Interviews were conducted and two industry workshops were organised to understand BIM implementation challenges within highways development projects and the role BIM can play in bridging inefficiencies resulting from loss of information at handover phases. The overall understanding lead to drawing up user needs, gathering system requirements and eventually a system architecture design to promote efficient information management throughout the asset lifecycle.

It is observed that data from the design and construction phases of projects can be used to inform asset registers from an earlier stage. This information can be used to plan maintenance schedules. Moreover, it can also be integrated with data generated from numerous other sensors to develop a better picture of network operations and support key decision-making. Effective road network management involves collection and analysis of huge data from a variety of sources including sensors, mobiles, assets and Open Data. Recent growth in Big Data analytics and data integration technologies provides new opportunities to optimise operations of highways infrastructure.

The system architecture designed for this research is translated into a prototype system as a proof of concept. However, it needs to be tested and validated by end users to be transformed into a useful solution for the industry.

This paper provides an enhanced understanding of new opportunities created to optimise operations of highways infrastructure using the recent growth in Big Data analytics and data integration technologies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the current challenges and drivers for data mining in the AEC sector.

Following a comprehensive literature review, the data mining concept was investigated through a workshop with industry experts and academics.

The results showed that the key drivers for using data mining within the AEC sector is associated with the sustainability, process improvement, market intelligence, cost certainty and cost reduction, performance certainty and decision support systems agendas in the sector. As for the processes with the greatest potential for data mining application, design, construction, procurement, forensic analysis, sustainability and energy consumption and reuse of digital components were perceived as the main process areas. While the key challenges were perceived as being, data issues due to the fragmented nature of the construction process, the need for a cultural change, IT systems used in silos, skills requirements and having clearly defined business goals.

With the increasing abundance of data, business intelligence and analytics and its related concepts, data mining and Big Data have captured the attention of practitioners and academics for the last 20 years. On the other hand, and despite the growing amount of data in its business context, the AEC sector still lags behind in utilising those concepts in its end products and daily operations with limited research conducted to explore those issues at the sector level. This paper investigates the main opportunities and barriers for data mining in the AEC sector with a practical focus.

The impacts and costs of natural disasters on people, properties and environment are often severe when these occur on a large scale and with no warning system in place. The lack of deployment of an early warning system (EWS), low risk and hazard knowledge and impact of natural hazard experienced by some communities in the UAE have emphasised the need for more effective EWSs. This work focuses on developing an integrated framework for EWSs for communities prone to the impact of natural hazards to reduce their vulnerability and improve emergency management arrangements in the UAE.

The essential elements of effective EWS were identified through literature review to develop an integrated framework for EWS. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were also used to identify and confirm hindering factors to deployment of effective EWSs in Abu Dhabi and Fujairah Emirates, while areas that require further development were also identified through this means.

The outcome of this research revealed that the warning for natural hazards in the UAE lacked the required elements for effective EWS, whereas the elements which are present are insufficient to mitigate the impacts of natural hazards. The information in this work emphasises the need to improve two elements, and to develop the other two essential elements of EWS in the UAE.

The outcome of this research revealed that the warning for natural hazards in the UAE lacked the required elements for effective EWS, whereas the elements which are present are insufficient to mitigate the impacts of natural hazards. The information in this work emphasises the need to improve two elements and to develop the other two essential elements of EWS in the UAE.

This paper aims to develop a crisis readiness framework for road traffic crisis response for law enforcement agencies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A Delphi method was used that combined questionnaire-based survey and the analytical hierarchy process to collect quantitative and qualitative data from an expert panel of crisis readiness professionals on how they prioritise and weigh the different strategic criteria, sub-criteria and performance indicators in the context of law enforcement agencies’ traffic response.

The findings of this paper resulted in the identification, ranking and validation of ten key dimensions of crisis readiness clustered into three distinct sets of priority rankings: response planning, resources, training and coordination; information management and communication and risk and hazard assessment; and early warning, legal and institutional frameworks, recovery initiation and property protection. The results additionally established the relative priority of sub-criteria for each criterion and validated a broad set of key performance indicators (KPIs) for the top six ranked criteria.

The findings are based on a single case study focused on a specific area of operation within crisis response and one group of organisations of the UAE police sector. This potentially places a constraint on the wider generalisation of the findings to different operational areas and agencies, as they may have different priorities or organisational conditions that have implications for the framework application and the relative importance of certain criteria and sub-criteria.

This paper provides strategic guidance in the form of a prioritised list of criteria, sub-criteria and KPIs that can direct efforts to optimise different dimensions of crisis readiness at a strategic and operational level.

This paper makes an original contribution in identifying the key criteria and performance indicators of crisis readiness for road traffic situations. The findings contribute a comprehensive strategic readiness framework that supports planning and decision-making for the development of organisational capacities that can enhance response times of police to road traffic crises. This framework ranks dimensions of crisis readiness and key sub-criteria in order of priority and validates the key components of crisis readiness that can support practitioners to structure, standardise and benchmark key processes and elements of crisis response.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current visual management (VM) practices in highways construction projects in England.

Following a comprehensive literature review, the research topic was investigated by using five case studies and focus groups.

The main findings are the current implementation of VM is limited, particularly on the construction field, there are some identified points (suggestions) that require attention to disseminate and advance the current practices further many conventional and Building Information Modelling (BIM)-based opportunities to extend the current VM implementations exist for the sector.

The highways construction and maintenance sector in England has been systematically deploying lean construction techniques in its operations for a while. One of those lean techniques is a close-range visual communication strategy called VM. The literature on the VM implementation in construction is scarce and generally limited to the building construction context. This paper documents the current industry practice in conventional and BIM-based VM and identifies a set of recommendations and some VM ideas for future implementation efforts in the highways construction and maintenance sector.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the integration of discrete event simulation (DES) and value stream mapping (VSM) to enhance the productivity of road surfacing operations by achieving high production rates and minimum road closure times. Highway infrastructure is one of the most valuable assets owned by the public sector. The success of national and local economies as well as quality of life of the general public depend on the efficient operations of highways. Ensuring smooth traffic operations requires maintenance and improvements of the highest standard.

Research approach involved the use of primary data collected from direct observation, interviews, review of archival records and productivity databases. Based on this, process maps and value stream maps were developed which were subsequently used to produce discrete event simulation models for the exploration of different optimisation scenarios.

This research highlights the synergistic relationship between VSM and DES in driving innovation in construction processes. Identified factors that affect roadworks process productivity include machine, manpower, material, information, environment and method-related factors. A DES model is presented to optimise the process and increase the production rates. A hybrid DES-VSM approach ensures an integrated approach to process optimisation.

This study is an application of hybrid version of previously published DES-VSM framework in the manufacturing sector. The present study has extended and tested its applicability within road surfacing operations. The different what-if scenarios presented in this paper might not be applicable to other parts of the world owing to various constraints. The study has focused on addressing the waste production inherent in pavement laying process. Even though external variables could possibly influence pavement process, those were ignored to allow for in-depth focus on the process under consideration.

Road users are one of the most important stakeholders that will benefit from the positive implications of this study. Private resurfacing companies and transport departments can optimise their overall process and style of working by comparing their end-to-end process and work plans with the ones mentioned in this paper. It will boost the productivity of equipment like planners, pavers and other machines used for resurfacing operations.

Existing approaches to process modelling such as VSM and process diagrams are constrained by their effectiveness in the analysis of dynamic and complex processes. This study presents a DES-based approach to validate targeted improvements of the current state of road surfacing processes and in exploration of different optimisation scenarios.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the benefits of visual management (VM) systems in transportation construction projects in England.

Following a comprehensive literature review, the benefits of VM were investigated through action and case study research executed within two construction projects in England.

The main findings are: VM can contribute to increased self-management, better team coordination, better promises or an increasing plan percent complete, easier control for the management and improved workplace conditions in the transportation sector. It is important for the management to obtain the engagement of their workforce for VM through increased participation and show the actual benefits. However, managerial monitoring and control on the systems should not be underestimated.

The transportation sector in England has been systematically deploying Lean construction techniques in its operations for a while. One of those Lean techniques is a close-range visual communication strategy called VM. The literature on the VM implementation in construction is scarce and generally limited to the building construction context. This paper documents the benefits of VM systems for the transportation sector by using data captured through both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. The paper also identifies a set of recommendations for similar research efforts in the transportation context in the future.

This paper aims to discuss how a high level of situation awareness (SA) has the potential to enhance first responders' performance and manage work demand resulting from distributed, dynamic, and chaotic situations resulting from a disaster in modern urban environments. It also aims to present a theoretical framework to address needs of an effective disaster response, enhanced collaboration and improved SA. The purpose of this is to help better understand current disaster response schemes in terms of SA, based on the understanding, find a way to improve the disaster response effectiveness, and quantitatively evaluate existing and future disaster response processes. The paper seeks to characterize current disaster response operations by various shortcomings, including inability to access information, lack of coordination, and poor communications. All this makes it difficult to deal with dynamic work demand resulting from disasters.

A response framework, integrating IT and Civil Engineering components is presented highlighting the relationship between situation awareness, collaboration and performance. Also, the implementation approach is discussed.

The paper finds that SA is very relevant to ensuring how much a current disaster response system is effective cognitively and physically, and in understanding how well disaster response systems support the responders at both strategic and operational levels.

Support of Civil Engineers and IT components can increase the response performance by facilitating collaboration through improved SA.

The paper presents a comprehensive framework and implementation approach to ensure effectiveness of disaster response operations. The framework ensures high situation awareness while supporting collaboration among first responders, including improved civil engineers' roles and exploiting IT components to collect, analyze, and share information.