Alessandra Corneli, Francesco Spegni, Marco Alvise Bragadin, Massimo Vaccarini
Construction management can be grouped into two different levels: strategic early planning, that provides the baseline for project monitoring, and \nshort time initiatives, based on objectives and selforganization from actors who are involved in on-site processes. This is currently managed through the \nrepresentation of many separate processes and this does not eliminate the inefficiencies that arise at the level of synchronization of the individual tasks \nperformed by different organizations. Efficiency in construction management implies to take into consideration choreographies because they better \nreflect synchronization of different organizations management processes. On the other hand, smart contracts linked to single task execution assure both promptness and irreversible tracking at single task level. The actual execution of processes depends both on what happens and on the information that flows between the subjects who actually carry out processes asynchronous to each other, so the only possibility to synchronize them is information. This research describes a framework for \napplying BPMN choreographies to construction site processes in order to better model processes and integrate them with smart contracts. Every single activity in the baseline can be modelled as a choreography at a lower level. On the other hand, process performance monitoring can be performed thanks to blockchain tasks notarization. Concrete casting quality assessment process has been chosen as use case. A BPMN choreography has been defined for this purpose and blockchain \napplication for accomplished tasks and information notarization has been developed and tested on a construction site.
Agustín Moya-Colorado, Nina León-Bolaños, José Luis Yagüe Blanco
Project management is an autonomous discipline that is applied to a huge diversity of activity sectors and that has evolved enormously over the last decades. International Development Cooperation has incorporated some of this discipline’s tools into its professional practice, but many gaps remain. This article analyzes donor agencies’ project management approaches in their funding mechanisms for projects implemented by non-governmental organizations. As case study, we look at the Spanish decentralized donor agencies (Spanish autonomous communities). The analysis uses the PM2 project management methodology of the European Commission, as comparison framework, to assess and systematize the documentation, requirements, and project management tools that non-governmental organizations need to use and fulfill as a condition to access these donors’ project funding mechanisms. The analysis shows coincidence across donors in the priority given to project management areas linked to the iron triangle (scope, cost, and time) while other areas are mainly left unattended. The analysis also identifies industry-specific elements of interest (such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals) that need to be incorporated into project management practice in this field. The use of PM2 as benchmark provides a clear vision of the project management areas that donors could address to better support their non-governmental organization-implemented projects.
Affected by factors such as cost, the financial constraints faced by the supply chain are becoming more and more severe. This paper constructs a financing and pricing decision-making model for the construction supply chain under capital constraints, and uses Stackelberg game theory to analyze and obtain the best financing and pricing strategy for the construction supply chain under the internal and external financing modes. The study found that when centralized decision-making is adopted, there is a profit distribution model that makes the profits obtained by construction developers and contractors greater than the profits obtained in decentralized decision-making; the internal financing model of the construction supply chain is better than external financing, and can enable the construction supply chain get higher profits.
Sulafa Badi, Edward G. Ochieng, Mohamed Nasaj, Maria Papadaki
This study aims to identify the factors that influence the adoption of smart contracts in the UK construction sector. A deductive questionnaire-based approach informed by the technology-organisation-environment (TOE) model is adopted. The framework is comprised of twelve independent variables and one dependent variable of smart contracts use intention. Ten hypotheses are developed to statistically test the causal relationships between the eleven variables of the research model. The study adopts a convenience sampling approach, with the population of interest being primarily drawn from among UK construction practitioners. The results generated from linear regression analysis suggest that the following four factors have a significant influence on the adoption of smart contracts: supply chain pressure, competitive pressure, top management support, and observability. The descriptive statistics obtained also offer a greater understanding of the perceptions and attitudes towards smart contracts across the UK construction sector. The results demonstrate the usefulness of a perception-based model that utilises the TOE framework to assess facets that influence the adoption of smart contracts. The study contributes to innovation diffusion studies in construction project management and supports “early adopters” at the footfall of the technology’s diffusion curve.
Giulia Pattini, Giuseppe Martino Di Giuda, Lavinia Chiara Tagliabue
The proposed research aims at illustrating how Blockchain technology can support the contract execution optimizing and assuring a transparent information flow during the phases of the construction process. The traditional approach, chased in the industry, is indeed more hierarchical than networked, resulting in a high fragmentation of contracts and the break of companies in numerous tiers. This context prevents effective collaboration, hindering the achievement of the project objectives. The recent digital transition, guided by Building Information Modeling (BIM), has promised the creation of a shared environment for the information created and exchanged during the entire process, in favor of collaboration and reduction of critical issues typical related to the sector. Despite the initial promises, the use of BIM has shown problems related to trust and transparency of information, not encouraging participants to collaborate in meeting common goals. For these reasons, the study aims to investigate the potential of Blockchain technology in the management of the information flow to ensure transparency and stability of the process. The research proposes four frameworks showing how Blockchain can be integrated with the construction contract to support the execution of each phase, highlighting the improvement of information sharing, traceability of each activity or service and support for collaboration.
Construction contracts are always regarded as complex and voluminous documents that make it harder to extract required information, preventing its smooth functioning. Due to the recent technological advancements, automated and smart contracts can be considered as an alternative to the traditional contract documents that manage its provisions, obligations and clauses by itself. Since the adoption of smart contracts, which can only be performed with the whole participation of involved stakeholders, is limited in the construction industry, this study aims to investigate the stakeholder-associated drivers to implementing smart contracts. For this purpose, a framework based on fuzzy technique for order of preference by the similarityto-ideal-solution (TOPSIS) is developed consisting of eighteen drivers to be prioritized. A number of eighteen experts, who have adequate experience in both construction industry and contract administration, contributed to this study. The results indicate that (i) simple layout to read, (ii) reduction in risks of clients, (iii) clarity in responsibility and risk allocation, (iv) easy to comprehend from various stakeholders, and (v) conflict, claim and dispute reduction were the top five drivers to implement smart contracts. The findings imply that other than its own advantages, the reasons to seek the adoption of smart contracts are mainly the deficiencies of the traditional contract documents. The findings of this study are expected to assist research and development departments of the firms seeking to implement smart contract, while addressing the gap in the literature in this context.
Rob Vluggen, Cees J. Gelderman, Janjaap Semeijn, Marc van Pelt
Public agencies feel the need to advance sustainability and use procurement as an instrument to do so. Many studies focused on internal forces, explaining the limited success of sustainable public procurement. This study focused on how external forces are able to hold municipalities accountable for sustainable procurement. Three mid-sized Dutch municipalities were investigated through an extensive document study and 34 semi-structured interviews. The results show minor legal pressure to enforce sustainable procurement. National legislation, guidelines and principles are considered non-binding, due to a lack of penalties in the case of non-compliance. Real pressure stems from lobbying by branch organizations and political pressure initiated by citizens. In contrast with the New Public Management principles, municipalities appear to place more emphasis on legal and financial accountability, in contrast to performance accountability. Accountants mainly focus on legitimacy and the finance department only monitors spending within budget. The hybrid organization of the procurement function seems to impede sustainability development. Only the larger projects are subject to sustainability requirements, set by centralized purchasing departments. Smaller projects, responsible for 2/3 of the total spend are managed by decentralized groups, remaining under the radar of sustainability policies.
Samad M. E. Sepasgozar, Reyhaneh Karimi, Sara Shirowzhan, Mohammad Mojtahedi · 6 authors
Delay is one of the main challenges of construction projects, and there is still much to overcome in order to reach near zero delay in all construction projects. This project aims to conduct a systematic critical review including a bibliography analysis on delay literature in construction. The main questions consider what has been learnt from a decade investigating delay causes and effects in the construction literature and what factors have been missed in the literature. This paper also presents a new and challenging question regarding how digital tools and associated technologies may prevent any delay in construction projects, which can change the research direction from delay investigations to identifying prevention factors. The paper identifies the delay dataset, including 493 papers investigating delay in construction, and establishes a specific dataset of papers focusing on delay effects and causes (DEC), including 94 selected papers covering different factors examined in over 29 countries such as Iran, India, Turkey, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Cambodia, Oman, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Vietnam, the US, the UK, and Egypt. In addition, the paper identifies 30 critical factors with the frequency of occurrences over three times in the DEC dataset and computes their medians of ranking. This paper also discusses digital tools and methods that can be used for delay analysis and preventions, including MS Project, Oracle Primavera P6, and Open Plan by Deltek. The paper discusses the project schedule delay analysis from project management methodology perspectives. It also discusses the current method’s limitations and future directions, which are based on the identification of the deficiency areas. In total, four overlooked factors are identified and suggested, including faulty data analysis, unmatched structure of the research questionnaires with new knowledge and standards [e.g., Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK)], overlooked effects of digital technologies [e.g., Digital twin, Navisworks, Building Information Model (BIM), Geographic Information System (GIS), and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)], and ignored job-site technologies. In addition, the paper presents the DEC model for future studies, including four main key factors. These factors are resources (e.g., project budgets, labour, material, equipment, and digital tool), project context, stakeholders performance (e.g., owner/client, consultant/designer, contractor, vendor/supplier), and external factors (e.g., ground condition, site location, regulation, natural disaster), which may significantly affect delay prevention and should be concurrently considered in the future delay investigations, since they may be required for designing an effective mitigation strategy when these proof points are identified. This would significantly help to utilise digital systems to prevent time overruns in different construction contexts.
Algan Tezel, Eleni Papadonikolaki, İbrahim Yitmen, Per Hilletofth
Blockchain, a peer-to-peer controlled, distributed database structure, has the potential to profoundly affect \nthe current business transactions in the construction industry through smart contracts, cryptocurrencies, and \nreliable asset tracking. The construction industry has often been criticized for being slow in embracing \nemerging technologies and not effectively diffusing those technologies through its supply chains. Often, the \nextensive fragmentation, traditional procurement structures, destructive competition, lack of collaboration \nand transparency, low-profit margins and human resources are shown as the main culprits for this. As \nBlockchain makes its presence felt strongly in many other industries like finance and banking, this paper \ninvestigates how to prepare construction supply chains for Blockchain technology through an explorative \nanalysis. Empirical data for the study were collected through semi-structured interviews with 17 subject \nexperts and focus groups. Alongside presenting a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses opportunities, threats) \nanalysis, the paper exhibits the requirements for and steps toward a construction supply structure facilitated \nby Blockchain.
Jiannan Li, Mohamad Kassem, Angelo Luigi Camillo Ciribini, Marzia Bolpagni
The complementarity among Building Information Modelling (BIM), distributed ledger technology (DLT), smart contracts, and the Internet of Things (IoT) is increasingly acknowledged in industry reports and major national digital transformation initiatives. However, theoretical foundation and empirical evidence to ascertain such a prerogative are still very limited. This paper analyses the interactions between these technologies and proposes an approach that capitalises on their complementarity by linking the physical environment; the digital environment; agreements representing the contract; and the DLT environment. A simulated installation activity is used to verify the conceptual interrelations included in the proposed framework as a proof-of-concept. The simulation reveals how a mini smart contract -for a limited scope such as an installation activity work -can be executed within the proposed approach and how payments can be automated when project delivery is coupled with machine-readable BIM requirements and contract clauses. The paper also discusses the key limitations and challenges facing the adoption of the proposed approach and in particular the diffusion of smart contracts.
The decision of selecting the appropriate procurement/delivery system for large investment construction projects is a critical and challenging task for clients, and therefore a significant factor for the project’s success. Complex projects as electric power plants can involve managing multiple contracts or subcontracts simultaneously or in sequence. The aim of this paper is to develop, and analyze a decision support tool to select the most efficient procurement/delivery system for multiple contracts Combined Cycle Power Plants (CCPP) constructed in Egypt and funded by the publicsector. This process involved the identification of various procurement routes, followed by the utilization of quantitative values developed in accordance with the requirements of the multi-criteria decision analysis technique known as simple multi-attribute rating technique (SMART). Results revealed that the procurement/delivery system with the highest score, for all contractual packages, is the integrated project delivery method (IPD) under which other procurement/delivery methods could be utilized such as performance-based contracting (PBC), and construction management (CM). Further in this research, a sensitivity analysis approach was adopted to validate the IPD selection, and to determine the most critical criterion and the most critical measure of performance for each contractual package.
As a tool for cross-disciplinary collaboration, energy and emissions calculations were central as common reference point throughout the whole process studied here. Considering only the design phase, it is clear that particularly the energy account was useful in defining both the necessary amount of work and the methods of the collaborative work. One of the merits was its ability to force each participant onto neutral ground based on shared information and work requirements. The energy account served as a boundary object (Star 2010) in this way as it provided “something” around which to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries and something that could translate different disciplinary specialities into a mutually comparable success criterion: the primary energy factor. The primary energy factor was both the what and the why of this collaboration, simultaneously a process of creation and a guiding force. The effort that went into creating the energy account and collaboration in workshops, which were employed as a sort of management tool, were argued by some informants to have made the process ‘heavy on the nose’. This was largely due to design aspects and the signal effect, which was important for PH Kjørbo as a pilot project. As this was a pilot project, it has received a certain degree of special attention from all involved institutions. The participants describe the special requirements connected to this building as \n• trust in the concept,\n• broad participation in the project’s definition process,\n• trust between partners, and\n• high level decision making at the different partners’ companies to cater to an acceptable risk allocation for all parts.\nAccording to the respondents, the design process benefited much from the oversight of a dedicated process manager, a role that was served by one of the project’s senior architects. In fact, many respondents noted the exact point in time when the process manager exited the project was also the point when the project encountered problems. \nThe participants agree that “closeness” (in terms of frequent communication both face-to-face and by other means) between the central and defining actors in the project team was a key to success. Failures accrued once the distance between actors increased due to their involvement in other projects. According to respondents, one important role for a process manager in the later stages could have been as a liaison between project management levels (contractor) and subcontractors. Some problems that appeared in this phase involved the sheer disbelief shared by the subcontractors when they first became acquainted with the calculations, the functional demands, and the specifications that had resulted from the design process - a process they knew little about. This constituted a failure on behalf of the PH collaboration to translate the concept to the hired hands, which complicated the execution phase. \nContract frameworks were also mentioned as a contributing source of errors as turnkey contract frameworks dis-incentivised subcontractors from making order changes also after they were clearly deemed necessary by consulting engineers. This is not an unusual mode of contracting in the construction business from a traditional viewpoint and could perhaps prove to work better in the future as the concept matures along with the market. A greater level of detailing in the design phase is one way to address this. However, in light of the experiences gathered at PH Kjørbo, the question is whether a more collaborative framework could have been applied to allow subcontractors to identify and share in ZEB Project report 25-2015 Page 6 of 32 the risk taking with the main contractors and/or project owner - or, in fact, to take part in the social learning that occurs as actors make the project ‘their own’. One way to incentivise junior contractors to join in more time-consuming, perhaps less profitable, contract arrangements could be to highlight the skill and knowledge development benefits available for participants in such projects. This would, however, require some proof of concept to be sufficiently translated into a clear added value for\nsuppliers. At this juncture, the newly constructed Powerhouse is one such proof. In replicating elements of the Kjørbo project, it is likely that resources can be saved on design and parts of the pre-project phase. However, to avoid the amount of order changes seen in the execution of PH Kjørbo (especially for different projects), more resources must be spent on learning for junior contractors. \nFinally, the symbolic value that was characteristic of Powerhouse Kjørbo contributed to both its ability to be realised and concrete benefits for actors involved in the time after completion. Many have drawn parallels between PH Kjørbo and Tesla, implying that PH Kjørbo is for the building industry what that electric car is for the automotive industry. As many of the respondents emphasised, the building is a statement that says “it’s possible.” The goal had never been accomplished, let alone attempted, before, and success hinged on the project participants’ belief in that final statement. A radically different approach combined with an ambitious goal made that belief possible, and it was reinforced by the interdisciplinary work that was the basis of the project. This extra effort was a necessity in this project, but it might not be in the next. Some of it can most likely be implemented in other projects. However, as this report also demonstrates, picking pieces out of the success story PH Kjørbo may not yield equally impressive results because there is a connection between the pieces that is important for the whole building to succeed.\n1.2 Summary of part 2: Taking a zero emission office building in use\nThe second part of this report examined the early use phase of PH Kjørbo, which was undertaken by local actors with the tenant as well as the project team. Although it is clear that the planning and design phase and the technological solutions played important roles in the success of PH Kjørbo, the way in which the running-in period was handled contributed some crucial finishing touches to the users’ overall very positive experience with PH Kjørbo. Notwithstanding the technical calibrations themselves (which are outside the purview of this inquiry), the way user expectations were met by specific consideration of practical and cognitive aspects of the use of the building created a good use experience and not just an energy-saving machine. Great care was taken to prevent technical shortcomings from interfering with work and causing frustrations, even when it has compromised energy targets temporarily. A positive use experience was considered “elementary”, an attitude that, at least in theory, denied allowing money to become an issue in this pulling contest between energy efficiency and user experience. Challenges experienced in the running-in period overall were experienced by the tenant as lower or not above what was considered normal based on experience with previous moving processes. In PH Kjørbo the ventilation system was allowed to let temperatures drift more than in a normal building.\nHowever, this system also proved that indoor temperatures experienced as normal do not necessarily require them to stay consistently at “22.2 degrees” - in fact, a drift in temperature between 20-25 degrees was found to be perfectly acceptable by the occupants. Temperatures in the lower end of this range were considered cold by some but were manageable by providing information and handling practical and cognitive expectations - or, simply speaking, a sweater kept handy. Indoor temperatures in the top range or above, should they occur at all in the Nordic climate, are equally badly handled in most Norwegian buildings, according to the informants. Again, handling users’ expectations with care in this phase proved helpful in improving user acceptance. This same characteristic of the running-in period at PH Kjørbo was found when examining the acoustic issues posed by the extensive use of exposed concrete. Negative experiences were reported largely by ZEB Project report 25-2015 Page 7 of 32 users who were used to extremely silent conditions. Addressing the reasons for the design choices openly (thermal mass) allowed users to settle into their new surroundings. As one of the respondents noted, when viewing the experience of this particular building as a whole, the somewhat increased noise levels caused by scarce sound roofing due to a minimal ventilation system meant that the ventilation noise normally endured in other buildings was totally eliminated, but the indoor climate was still described as extremely good. The result was a sum of experiences that evidently surpassed any conventional building.\nPH Kjørbo shows that treating the user as a form of “sensor” and devoting resources to the “processing” of information from such “sensors” in the running-in period provides substantial insight into the user experience that is crucial for improving the use experience. At Kjørbo, user experiences were collected through the office link system by the office manager, who then bore witness for the users in the user forums that guided the work of the running-in team. This provided a unique data source for detecting the comfort threshold. When complaints started to come in, they could be addressed quickly - either through informing about the reasons or through actual technical fixes. According to our informants, at the time of the interviews, as issues were picked up, negotiated and solved, complaints began to disappear.