George Ofori

• London South Bank University

Despite the construction industry being a key contributor to the economic development of any country, it is responsible for a high number of fatalities associated with poor health and safety measures executed at construction sites. In addition, hazardous built environments linked to unresponsive designs, poor quality control measures put at risk th...

Delays in construction infrastructure projects is a global issue, which has continued to affect the effective delivery of projects. Research from other countries has not provided effective solutions to ameliorate this and has not been prioritised in UK compared to other project challenges. The research looks at the contribution of middle-level prof...

There is an increased demand for construction professionals to undertake rebuilding after disasters to reconstruct resilient cities ensuring the well-being of people. However, the post-disaster context is usually chaotic, time-compressed, resource-deprived, politically influenced, and legally challenged. Therefore, despite the construction industry...

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were agreed upon by the world’s leaders as the framework for a global agenda for development. The construction industry is key to the delivery of the SDGs because construction provides the physical basis for the economic activities necessary for attaining short-term economic growth and long-term development....

The ambition of this study is to create a computational design engine that develops testable simulated models that can adapt to various situations or environments by abstracting some adoption lessons from biology and their relationship to the evolutionary growth of natural systems. With an emphasis on the optimisation of thermal and visual comfort...

There is a common understanding that megaprojects are important drivers of societal change. Their impact is an important phenomenon because of the influence on both society and economy. Despite the best practices all around the globe, numerous challenges can move a megaproject from a programmed success to a failure scenario. It can create an uncert...

Productivity has long been considered highly important in Singapore. In 2015, a national strategy considering skills, innovation and productivity as the basis for sustaining economic growth involving all sectors, was replaced with one seeking to move the economy from a “value-adding” to a “value-creating” one. In Singapore, construction productivit...

There is a common understanding that megaprojects are important drivers of societal change. Their impact is an important phenomenon because of the influence on both society and economy. Despite the best practices all around the globe, numerous challenges can move a megaproject from a programmed success to a failure scenario. It can create an uncert...

The socioeconomic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic are likely to increase further across economies. There is increasing apprehension on the status of rail transport infrastructure megaprojects which are already complex and face many uncertainties and it is imperative to initiate a restoration coupled with support to be implemented in a timely manne...

This final chapter of the book provides a brief summary of the book and considers some issues which can be further studied in order to contribute to the development of Construction Economics. It is suggested that whereas Construction Economics is an important subject owing to the strategic role of the industry it studies and builds knowledge on, it...

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of Mega housing Projects around the world. This increase was to cater for increased population and urbanization. Construction of mega housing projects in Egypt faced a lot of challenges during the construction phase. There is no targeted framework that allows contractors to improve their risk managem...

The Construction industry has a strong influence on the economies of na-tions, the environment, and society. The quality of human life is greatly influenced by the built environment surrounding people. The construction industry serves almost all other industries, as all economic value creation occurs within or by means of buildings or other constru...

Project alliancing (PA) as an interactive contracting mechanism is arguably an archetype of modern-day contracting. Well-designed PA emphasises the notion of shared goals and objectives, including detailed understanding and recognition of risks and reward while recognising specialist contribution by parties. However, PA has significant influence on...

Purpose Professionalism indicates a devotion to and demonstration of exceptional performance and achievement in any activity. The built environment comprises the physical items required for economic activity, long-term national development and social well-being. Studies show a need to improve many aspects of the built environment and the sector whi...

This paper aims to explore and to make explicit of the existing safety climate assessment tools and dimensions. The concept of safety climate is firstly discussed with a review of different safety climate factors from the published literature. A qualitative research method was employed to explore the safety climate factors through a systematic revi...

Purpose This study examines the initiatives that would enable contractors in Singapore to improve the level of construction productivity. Design/methodology/approach A two-pronged research method was employed: questionnaire survey with contractors (109 responses received) and in-depth interviews with 12 subject matter experts. The questionnaire co...

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of Mega housing Projects around the world. This increase was to cater for increased population and urbanization. Construction of mega housing projects in Egypt faced a lot of challenges during the construction phase. There is no targeted framework that allows contractors to improve their risk managem...

Egypt's population is increasing and expected to exceed 120 million by 2050. Egypt constructed mega housing projects (M.H.P) to cater with that escalation in population. The Egyptian strategy 2030 prioritized the construction of M.H.P. Contractors' in Egypt have struggled to manage construction risks and deliver housing projects successfully. The a...

The construction industry has a critical role to play in a achieving the SDGs; construction and demolition activities generate large volumes of waste, and this requires the adoption of practices that will reduce waste generated and maximise re-use. The construction industry as a sector could influence the realisation of the SDGs by formulating poli...

This study investigated the barriers to achieving high construction productivity in Singapore with the view to providing further input into policy formulation and action to enhance the industry’s productivity performance. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire, which was sent to all the 3032 members of the Singapore Contractors Associ...

In 2015, the UN member countries, on mutual understanding, identified 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to be achieved by 2030. According to several reports, some countries are reflecting good progress, but overall, no country is on track towards achieving all the UN SDGs. This paper aims to show the progress and commitment of the UAE toward...

Considering the importance of energy for social and economic development, access to clean, affordable and reliable energy has been adopted as one of the United Nations sustainable development goals that all countries aim to achieve by 2030. However, much of the world's energy is still produced from fossil fuels and thus the progress towards clean a...

The use of prefabricated building systems offers considerable advantages in cases wherein extensive solutions to housing problems are immediately required. However, this system’s share in the overall building housing market in Libya is nearly negligible. This study attempts to explore the current situation of prefabricated building systems and thei...

The UK's energy system is predominantly centralised with a major reliance on fossil fuels. The trilemma of successfully delivering energy security, equity, and environmental sustainability, whilst dealing with an ageing energy infrastructure, demands change within the entire energy system. In recent years, Community Renewable Energy (CRE) projects...

The drive toward implementing an industrialized building system (IBS) in Malaysia is in line with Malaysia’s Construction Industry Transformation Plan 2016–2020, which seeks to increase more than double the construction industry’s productivity. IBS is able to accelerate the construction timeline, provide a safer working environment on site, produce...

Challenges of Human Resources in Egyptian Construction Projects

Purpose Despite recognition of its importance to Singapore’s economy, the construction industry is plagued by poor safety and productivity performance. Improvement efforts by the government and industry have yielded little results. The study proposes a framework for developing a productivity and safety monitoring system using Building Information...

Environmental performance rating schemes such as LEED allocate separate indicator scores for various criteria (or aspects). The overall environmental performance score is obtained by summing these separate scores. However, no mention is made regarding any dependencies among aspect indicators. In this study, possible influences, including their degr...

p>Despite the safety improvement drive that has been implemented in the construction industry in Singapore for many years, the industry continues to report the highest number of workplace fatalities, compared to other industries. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the theoretical framework of the safety aspect of a proposed BIM System to deter...

The increasing demand for rental housing in the United States is causing rental rates to rise, straining the already limited supply of ageing affordable housing. Currently, half of the multi-family stock is 30 years old or older, and properties built between the 1940s and 1960s cost 50 per cent more to operate than buildings built after 2000. With...

With China being a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), more foreign construction-related consultancy firms (foreign firms) are expected to operate in China. The aim of this research is to identify critical strategies and important practices that would improve a foreign firm's project performance. The results show foreign firms need to ado...

The construction industry is not well understood. There is no common definition, and there are even arguments about whether it is an industry or a sector that comprises many industries. The contribution of the construction industry to economic growth and long-term national development is widely acknowledged, highlighting its importance, particularl...

Buildings have a major, wide ranging impact on the environment. The features which a building must have in order to be described as ‘green’ or ‘sustainable’ are now well known. Whereas a wholly sustainable building cannot be attained, there is need for action to minimise the adverse impacts of buildings. This contributes to the attainment of sustai...

From interviews with selected experts and secondary sources, this paper charts the actions that led to Malaysia having its own green building rating tool. It began with the Institution of Architects Malaysia and the Institution of Engineers Malaysia working together in 2008 to come up with the Green Building Index (GBI) specifically suited for the...

The construction industry is facing a period of change. The roles ofthe professions involved in the industry in general, and of quantitysurveyors in particular, are also changing. There are opportunitiesfor surveyors to seize the initiative to broaden their involvement inprojects, and attain strategic positions within the industry. However,they wil...

Architectural, engineering and/or construction firms (A/E/C firms) need to be competitive in order to survive and grow. This research investigates the components of competitiveness, and develops and validates mathematical models to predict the competitiveness levels of A/E/C firms headquartered in mainland China (Chinese A/E/C firms). The strategie...

The ability to predict and develop organizational flexibility is important for firms to survive and prosper in volatile business environments. The aim of this study is to investigate the constituents of and the constructs for predicting organizational flexibility. The specific objectives are to ascertain the relative importance of different constit...

Leadership is important in all fields of human endeavour. Features of the construction process and construction projects render leadership even more essential. Construction projects are expensive and technically demanding and the project teams are large and diverse. The process is long and involves a large number of discrete and interrelated tasks....

A cooperative attitude is essential for successful teamwork in construction. The levels of conflict and dispute on construction projects are conceptualized as forms of cooperative/uncooperative attitude. A theoretical model demonstrates how conflict intensity, contractors' dispute tendencies and six identified constructs of organizational justice i...

The role of women in the growth of the construction industry of Singapore is discussed. Meta-analysis carried out by Eagly and Carli 2003 revealed that female leaders are more likely to be transformational and engaged in more contingent reward behaviors. Work on sustainable organizations by Bradbury 2003 highlights the group Women Leading Sustainab...

Leadership has been looked at through various lenses, such as behaviors, styles, and skills. More recently, leadership has been viewed from the lens of the legacies leaders want to leave behind. Leaders' desired legacies not only reflect the impact they want to have on the people and organizations they work with, but also portray the future they ho...

Wafer fabrication is a business which has the potential to adversely impact the environment through excessive consumption of natural resources, electricity, and materials such as chemicals and silicon. Large amounts of waste, toxic air, and water pollution could be generated if its operations are unsustainable and not properly managed. Thus there i...

This study examines the issues related to the implementation of ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) in Vietnam. Its objectives are to explore the current trend of ISO 14000 certification and implementation in Vietnam, its possible benefits and problems encountered by firms in implementing this standard. As Vietnam develops, attention is...

Business plays an important role in the efforts to attain sustainable development. Its production and consumption activities must be able to work with (and not against) ecological systems where it extracts its raw materials and releases its wastes. To be effective in meeting the challenge of sustainable development, adopting a systems approach is r...

This is a compilation of some of the best research papers of 4students from the MSc (Environmental Management) programme at the National University of Singapore from 2001-2006. They have been edited for brevity and cover a wide range of topics encompassing Corporate Environmental Management, the Conservation of Biological Diversity, Land use Planni...

Innovation is often classified as a cost intensive investment in the construction industry with indefinite returns. Due to the clients' tendency to award projects based on the lowest costs, innovation is often seen as an unfeasible strategy toward the competitiveness that construction firms are seeking. This study questions whether it is indeed ine...

Psychological capital (PsyCap) has gained prominence as an important construct in leadership research. Comprising four factors (self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resiliency), PsyCap is considered to be a vital factor for authentic leadership development and influence. The current study reports the results of a questionnaire survey that was conduct...

Flexibility has been touted as an important requirement for firms to survive and prosper in turbulent and volatile economic environments. The aim of this research is to investigate the relevance of organizational flexibility management to construction firms, because firms that are more flexible are more likely to survive and prosper than less flexi...

Leadership which lacks ethical conduct can be dangerous, destructive, and even toxic. Ethical leadership, though well discussed in the literature, has been tested empirically as a construct in very few studies. An empirical investigation of ethical leadership in Singapore’s construction industry is reported. It is found that ethical leadership is p...

'Authentic leadership' has emerged as an important subject in the management science literature. Although several scholars have presented their viewpoints about authenticity and authentic leadership, there is scarcity of empirical evidence on what leaders can really gain from being authentic. The results of the questionnaire-based survey with 32 le...

A great volume of cross-cultural research has been undertaken during the past two decades. Although the interaction among participants and organizations from different cultures is one of the most complex issues evident on large construction projects, there is not much cross-cultural research in the context of the construction industry. An overview...

The current study seeks to assess the perceived benefits of compliance with environmental regulations by multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in Vietnam. Scott's (2001) principle of ?three pillars of institutions{norm of matrix} is used to synthesize literature on compliance into a conceptual framework of the benefits of compliance with envi...