QSV Dept

Delays are one of the biggest problems faced by construction firms. The objectives of this study are to identify non-excusable delay factors, their effects on project completion and means of minimising these delays. A questionnaire survey was conducted to solicit the causes, effects and methods of minimising delays with two groups of respondents: consultants and contractors. Data were collected and analysed using a weighted mean method. A total of 57 major factors that cause non-excusable delays were identified from the reviewed literature and were further classified into eight major groups. The findings of this study revealed 20 key factors that cause non-excusable delays. The resultant effects of nonexcusable delays are time overrun, cost overrun and disputes, among others. Ensuring adequate financial sources, engaging competent project managers and making all necessary resources available are some of the most important means of minimising nonexcusable delays. Since non-excusable delays are specific to contractors, this study concludes that contractors should review their activities so that construction work will not be delayed.

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Purpose Disaster risk reduction is prominent in the international policy agenda, and the year 2015 brought together three international policy frameworks that contribute to disaster risk reduction (i.e. the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction, the Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Change Agreement – COP21). However, there is a dearth of effort at identifying and aligning the specific educational needs of built environment professionals with the three policy frameworks. This is needed to facilitate the incorporation of the contents of the policy frameworks into built environment professionals’ training. Therefore, this study aims to map the educational needs of built environment professionals with the core areas of the three international policy frameworks. Design/methodology/approach This study utilized CADRE (Collaborative Action towards Disaster Resilience Education) research project outcomes alongside the earlier mentioned three international policy framewo...

The inability of organisations to adequately assess climate risk, understand and execute necessary actions contribute significantly to the increase in economic loss from disasters. This is a threat to business resilience and sustainability of the society. Hence, resilience capabilities of organisations need to be improved, and there should be a way of assessing these capabilities. This paper focuses on the methodology adopted and the maturity model produced by utilising Capability Maturity Model (CMM) concept to develop a capability maturity assessment method for built environment flood resilience of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Capability areas obtained from literature were refined and carefully mapped to maturity level characteristics obtained from studies on capability maturity, and a conceptual model was produced. The conceptual model was subsequently refined and validated via expert forum and case studies. The study produced a maturity model for assessing flood resilience capability maturity of businesses, and technically provides an outline of steps for improving flood resilience of business premises.

Capabilities are required for managing the impact of disasters on the built environment. These capabilities need to be continually improved and there should be a way of assessing them. This paper focuses on the development of a built environment flood resilience capability maturity model for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). The study utilised the concept of capability maturity modelling to achieve its aim. The model developed identifies the built environment flood resilience capabilities of MSMEs. This was achieved by identifying relevant capabilities from the literature and mapping accordingly with maturity level characteristics prior to verification and refinement. This paper is limited to the development of the conceptual version of the model. The flood resilience capability maturity model is aimed at providing an assessment, improvement and benchmarking methodology for built environment flood resilience capabilities.

Purpose Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to both developed and developing countries have increased over the past three decades. However, investigation of opportunities and challenges associated with FDI on the host economy and its impact, especially on the construction sector through empirical assessment, have received scant attention. The purpose of this study is to address this gap in knowledge within the Nigerian context and examine the trend of FDI inflows to the construction sector for the period 2000-2013 inclusive. Relationships between contributions of the construction sector to Nigeria’s gross domestic product (GDP) are also studied. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a literature review, a questionnaire survey and archival data culminated in data analysis. The survey targeted financial experts in Nigerian financial institutions/local banks. Archival data included the annualised data extracted from the Central Bank of Nigeria statistical bulletins. The per...

Disasters often result in severe socio-economic losses, although there is significant progress in dealing with the social aspect, economic aspect is addressed relatively insufficiently. Therefore, the capabilities of organisations in managing disasters need to be improved, and there should be a way of assessing these capabilities. Hence, this study used capability maturity model (CMM) methodology to develop an assessment method that identifies the built environment flood resilience capabilities of micro, small and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs). Towards achieving the aim of the study, a conceptual model was developed using the capability areas identified from the literature. The model was then verified and refined by an expert forum. The conceptual model was further improved in case studies, applied in case organisations and after that validated; this resulted in the final model. This study identified 19 capability areas for enhancing built environment flood resilience and develope...

With the increase in occurrence of high impact disasters, the role of Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in enhancing the disaster related knowledge and skills of construction professionals is highly recognised. HEIs are expected to contribute to both theory and practice in the development of societal resilience to disasters through the development of curricular and modules to update the knowledge and skills that employees have obtained in the past. Doctoral education is identified as one of the methods in upgrading the knowledge of the construction professionals in this regard. Due to the shortcomings of the traditional doctoral programmes in addressing the needs of the industry and professionals, professional doctorates have become increasingly recognised. As such professional doctoral programmes have been considered as more appropriate in developing knowledge and skills of the construction professionals. Accordingly, a EU funded project, CADRE, aims to develop and test an innovat...

Although scientific research community has shown increased interest in enhancing disaster resilience of societies, yet effort at identifying the needs and skills of stakeholders affected by disasters has not received adequate attention. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify and assess the needs and skills of communities affected by disasters from four different countries. Community as one of the stakeholders in disaster resilience is considered as respondent in this study, due to the fact that they are on the frontlines of both the immediate impact of a disaster and the initial emergency response. Thus, identification of specific needs and skills requirement for the community in enhancing disaster resilience becomes imperative. The study adopted literature review and semi-structured interviews. The interviews were conducted with fifteen purposively selected experts in four different countries to include the UK, Estonia, Lithuania, and Sri Lanka. Data obtained were anal...

Delays are one of the biggest problems faced by construction firms. The objectives of this study are to identify non-excusable delay factors, their effects on project completion and means of minimising these delays. A questionnaire survey was conducted to solicit the causes, effects and methods of minimising delays with two groups of respondents: consultants and contractors. Data were collected and analysed using a weighted mean method. A total of 57 major factors that cause non-excusable delays were identified from the reviewed literature and were further classified into eight major groups. The findings of this study revealed 20 key factors that cause non-excusable delays. The resultant effects of non- excusable delays are time overrun, cost overrun and disputes, among others. Ensuring adequate financial sources, engaging competent project managers and making all necessary resources available are some of the most important means of minimising non- excusable delays. Since non-excusa...

Stress is a universal phenomenon that essentially manifests itself in human as a result of pressure emanating from several experiences or challenging situation. Due to the nature of the construction industry which embraces a wide range of loosely integrated activities, stress becomes an issue of concern. This research work focuses on identifying the sources of stress among construction professionals, assessing the impact of stress on the productivity of professionals and examining ways of effectively managing stress level among construction professionals. To achieve these objectives, 100 questionnaires were administered to professionals in the construction industry out which 70 were returned and suitable for analysis. Using descriptive statistical analysis tool on the data obtained shows that insufficient finance/resources, staff shortage, and conflicting roles ranked highest as the main sources of stress. Delay in job completion, deterioration of power of organization and planning,...