7-Score Function for Assessing the Strength of Association Rules Applied for Construction Risk Quantifying

There are several factors influencing the time of construction project execution. The properties of the planned structure, the details of an order, and macroeconomic factors affect the project completion time. Every construction project is unique, but the data collected from previously completed projects help to plan the new one. The association analysis is a suitable tool for uncovering the rules—showing the influence of some factors appearing simultaneously. The input data to the association analysis must be preprocessed—every feature influencing the duration of the project must be divided into ranges. The number of features and the number of ranges (for each feature) create a very complicated combinatorial problem. The authors applied a metaheuristic tabu search algorithm to find the acceptable thresholds in the association analysis, increasing the strength of the rules found. The increase in the strength of the rules can help clients to avoid unfavorable sets of features, which in the past—with high confidence—significantly delayed projects. The new 7-score method can be used in various industries. This article shows its application to reduce the risk of a road construction contract delay. Importantly, the method is not based on expert opinions, but on historical data.

Threatened Plant Translocation for Mitigation: Improving Data Accessibility Using Existing Legislative Frameworks. An Australian Case Study

Translocation of plants is used globally as a conservation action to bolster existing or establish new populations of threatened species and is usually communicated in academic publications or case studies. Translocation is also used to mitigate or offset impacts of urbanization and development but is less often publicly published. Irrespective of the motivation, conservation or mitigation, on ground actions are driven by overriding global conservation goals, applied in local or national legislation. This paper deconstructs the legislative framework which guides the translocation process in Australia and provides a case study which may translate to other countries, grappling with similar complexities of how existing legislation can be used to improve accessibility of translocation records. Each year, across Australia, threatened plants are being translocated to mitigate development impacts, however, limited publicly accessible records of their performance are available. To improve transparency and opportunities to learn from the outcomes of previous mitigation translocations, we propose mandatory recording of threatened plant translocations in publicly accessible databases, implemented as part of development approval conditions of consent. The contribution to these need not be onerous, at a minimum including basic translocation information (who, what, when) at project commencement and providing monitoring data (outcome) at project completion. These records are currently already collected and prepared for translocation proposals and development compliance reporting. Possible repositories for this information include the existing national Australian Network for Plant Conservation translocation database and existing State and Territory databases (which already require contributions as a condition of licensing requirements) with new provisions to identify and search for translocation records. These databases could then be linked to the Atlas of Living Australia and the Australian Threatened Plant Index. Once established, proposals for mitigation translocation could be evaluated using these databases to determine the viability of mitigation translocation as an offset measure and to build on the work of others to ensure better outcomes for plant conservation, where translocations occur.

Sustainability After Project Completion: Evidence from the GEF

This chapter examines the extent to which completed GEF projects are sustainable and the factors affecting sustainability. We considered only those projects that were covered through postcompletion evaluation at least 2 years after implementation completion, and where the evaluation reports provided adequate information related to observed sustainability during the postcompletion period. We assessed 62 projects to meet the selection criteria, then completed a desk review of the postcompletion evaluation reports and other relevant documents for these projects to assess the extent to which the project outcome was sustainable.We found that the projects covered through postcompletion evaluations were generally sustainable, with the sustainability outlook deteriorating for some projects while improving for others. The incidence of the catalytic processes that enhance sustainability—sustaining, mainstreaming, replication, scaling-up, and market change—was higher at postcompletion evaluation, as the passage of time allows long-term project outcomes to manifest. At the project level, we observed these catalytic processes in a wider set of activities at postcompletion evaluation than at implementation completion. Factors such as financial support for follow-up, political support, follow-up by and capacities of the executing agency, stakeholder buy-in, and project design seem to play a crucial role in determining project sustainability.

Using Technology and Innovation to Streamline Agile Project Management

Agile project management has transformed due to the rapid advancements in technologies. Digitisation of work processes has also contributed to increased efficiencies and lowering of costs within companies and organisations worldwide. This is essential in agile project management as managing and maintaining schedules and budgets are imperative for a successful project completion. The employees' drive, confidence, job meaningfulness, autonomy in job, and mastery of skills, or psychological empowerment as they often referred to in literature, are instrumental in nourishing employees' innovative work behaviour. This is a key contributor to successful agile project management.

Understanding the Hiring Issues of the Craft Workers in the UAE’s Construction Labor Market: Project Managers Perspective

The construction industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is faced with negative project performance, including low productivity, higher costs, delays in project completion, and defects during construction. One of the main reasons for these issues is the engagement of unskilled craft workers. Despite these labor issues, demand for construction projects in the UAE has been explosively increasing, in part due to Dubai winning the hosting of Expo 2020, which has given rise to an unprecedented demand for skilled construction craft workers. This study aimed to investigate the views and experiences of construction project managers regarding the reasons and challenges associated with the hiring of skilled craft workers in the construction labor market of the UAE. To fulfill the study purpose, the authors conducted structured open-ended interviews with UAE construction project managers. The results revealed several reasons for hiring craft workers despite a clear lack of qualifications and suggest some potential solutions.

Color in Selected Artistic Glass Compositions by Tomasz Urbanowicz as an Element of Intervention in Historic Buildings and Contemporary Architecture

Colored glass in the form of stained-glass windows has been used to decorate buildings for over a thousand years. Due to various late-twentieth-century technological achievements, this material allows for a broad spectrum of design solutions. Glass can be used both in contemporary and historical buildings. This paper presents an analysis of the work of Tomasz Urbanowicz, an artist who works with glass, and its objective is to present not only the body of work of this artist but also the means of using colored glass in creating new values in architecture. The work is based on a study of the literature that covers the contemporary application of colored glass, on-site analysis of projects, and a series of interviews with the artist before, during, and after project completion, as well as the authors’ personal experience in the matter. One of the main research methods used was an analysis of the artist’s stance, as to him, the very process of pursuing creative inspiration is a fundamental procedure. Glassworks by Urbanowicz were displayed at the EXPO 2000 in Hanover (Germany), the EXPO 2005 in Aichi (Japan), and the EXPO 2008 in Saragossa (Spain). The United Earth glass sphere has been decorating the agora of the European Parliament building in Strasbourg (France) since 2004. In the paper, the artist’s projects are presented in two groups: The first includes solutions that employ monochromatic color schemes, whereas in the second, color has been used to create a strong contrast. The analysis presented includes interventions in historical buildings under heritage conservation, but also compositions from architectural glass in newly built buildings and that reference place-based history. Both the initial vision and the final effect of the glass architectural compositions are site-specific. The analysis of these differences and how the artist works allowed us to formulate a scheme of how he operates. Urbanowicz’s glass interventions affect the quality of the spaces they create and highlight their existing or expected features. The influence of the works can either play a primary and dominant role in relation with the surrounding space or be a secondary and delicate addition. Applied color may have different functions, from highlighting specific aspects of a building to introducing symbolic or direct reference. In many projects, color works as a source of a building interior’s atmosphere. The artistic interventions in historic spaces emphasize their features without disrupting pre-existing authenticity, whereas contemporary projects with no historic reference offer a wide variety of color applications that focus on the function and form of architecture, landscape, or surroundings.

Implementation Of Program Evaluation And Review Technique (Pert) To Optimize Shophouse Development Projects

Construction development in Indonesia is being intensively carried out as a characteristic that Indonesia is a developing country. CV. X is a construction company that has a project in the form of ten shophouses with three floors. The project is planned to start in August 2020 and be completed in December 2021 or for 68 weeks. The change of seasons becomes an obstacle in the work of the project that causes delays. Progress expected by CV. X in 2 months of project work is 8%, but the reality on the project progress field is only 6%. Therefore, this study aims to optimize existing work time so that the delay can be overcome. The method used in this study is Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) with rainfall as the probability. The results of the study found that the project work time can be optimized by 3% and delays can be overcome because the project completion time becomes 66 weeks. The project is still ongoing, so there is still a possibility of error, therefore effective project management must still be considered. Usually in similar studies the probability of time or cost, while in this study use rainfall as the probability.

The Function and Potential of Innovative Reinforced Concrete Prefabrication Technologies in Achieving Residential Construction Goals in Germany and Poland

This paper presents the role and potential of housing built using innovative reinforced concrete prefabrication technologies. The subject was presented by investigating the share of such buildings in the achievement of housing goals in Germany and Poland, where they currently constitute one of the most dynamically developing housing sector branches. The phenomenon has been presented via comparative analyses of selected designs by manufacturers from the sector and development companies. Prefabrication is essentially based on optimising architectural and structural solutions and leads to lowering financial and material cost; decreasing project completion time. At present, these goals are achieved by systematising the design and construction process and using the potential offered by building information modelling technology (BIM). This enables coordination between design specialisations and reduces the number of errors, increasing manufacturing and assembly efficiency. Innovative prefabricated technologies are solutions that are either new or are considerably improved in terms of technical specifications, components and materials, that use the latest software, are easy to assemble, durable, energy efficient, can be disassembled and reused and have a low carbon footprint and can be considered aesthetically pleasing. Contemporary prefabricated housing architecture is a combination of innovative technological solutions that enables constructing sustainable architecture and emphasizes the aesthetic features of structural solutions and solutions.

ANALYSIS METHOD OF GRADUAL CAST INSITU PROJECT COMPLETION OVERPASS PT. TALENTA BUMI MARABAHAN

Overpass project development Marabahan is a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) from PT. Talenta Bumi, namely making public care facilities for the security and facilitate road transport and to improve the welfare of society .This project Overpass consists of main bridge prestressed concrete girders with spans of 30 m and bridges using slab pile construction with a total length of 200 m. This study aims to determine the calculation method of the analysis of in situ casts gradually and to determine the method of implementation of the phased-situ cast on Marabahan Overpass project.Analysis of cast insitu method stages in the project completion Overpass PT. Marabahan Earth's talents will be obtained security calculations on the structure of the Overpass. Foundry work first is casting with cast in situ on the crown, after it's done casting method cast in situ stages at the slab to be divided into two stages, namely the first layer 20 cm (half slab) and the second layer 15 cm (top slab) using scaffolding as a scaffold and job formwork with main reinforcement ɸut 22-150 which gradually cast directly on the ground with the popularity chart Fc validation test cylinder '30 MPa and graphs coefficient of concrete strength PBI age 71. For loading on board, the work scaffolding (scaffolding) at the time of cast insitu gradually in the field wearing a scaffold with a heavy load capacity (heavy duty) has a maximum load of 675 kg/bay or 0.675 tons/m2, and using strong wooden scaffolding with wood class III based voltage PKKI 1961 timber permit.Based on the analysis results of calculations using the method of cast insitu gradually, by doing a test trial error with conditional on calculation of security moment of the plan should be greater than the moment of ultimate, then casting the first layer half slab in getting workable with the concrete less than one day the Fc '5 MPa and to stage a second layer using a comparison chart coefficient PBI age compressive strength, obtained Fc' 9.57 MPa to 1.5 days workmanship of the concrete casting. With the trial based on the test results of the concrete age, can accelerate and cut time jobs and can save the cost of the work, such as the cost of the use of formwork and scaffolding usage. suggestednecessary to test the concrete test cylinders for 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, etc,so that getting the maximum test.

Economic challenges: Conceptual framework on factors affecting construction cost during COVID-19 pandemic in malaysia

Various studies have found that COVID-19 pandemic impacts on a country’s economy through several channels, including the construction sector. The construction sector, which has always been a big growth generator for the economy, has also been completely shut down. Construction stakeholders are facing a several of the issues as the construction costs keep increasing as a result of the workplace safety and health compliance, suspension and termination of the project, and productivity loss. Accordingly, this paper attempted to propose a conceptual framework on the factors affecting construction cost during COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. Almost all evidence from the literature shows that project completion, supply chain and regulatory compliance are the main factors that need to take heed of by the construction players during COVID-19 pandemic. Significantly, all these three components have the potential as the contributors to the increment of construction costs during COVID-19 pandemic.