Peter S.P. Wong

• PhD, MPhil., BSc, MRICS, MCIOB. MAIQS, MIEEE
• Head of Faculty at RMIT University

It has been suggested that contracting organizations in construction projects do not seem to adapt resiliently under changing market conditions. Interestingly, recent organizational management literature reveals the essential role of practicing unlearning for generating more resilient performance improvement actions. This paper reports on a study t...

Organizational learning (OL) seems to be a legitimate contractors' response to project monitoring feedback. However, findings from previous studies reveal that contractors' responses to feedback are mercurial and difficult to model by using conventional approaches. This study applies catastrophe theory to model the contractors' learning behavior in...

The use of a partnering approach to deliver construction projects seeks to avoid the confrontational setting where energy is used in a non-productive manner. Partnering calls for concerted effort from the project participants and aligns their often different and conflicting objectives. Reported partnering success stories are mostly descriptive. Thi...

The global building and construction sector is known for its low resource efficiency which leads to a significant waste generation rate. Therefore, the management of construction and demolition (C&D) waste has become a priority issue in many countries. The use of products with recycled content (PwRC)-emerged from C&D waste materials- in modular con...

The construction industry has been hesitant to use products with recycled content (PwRC) in building and construction projects more extensively. It is important to gain stakeholders’ confidence and adequately inform them to consider using products with recycled and recyclable content by developing a range of adequate strategies, guidelines and poli...

The Australian waste management and resource recovery industry has achieved a satisfactory recovery rate within the construction and demolition (C&D) waste stream. Although initiatives are ongoing to reduce waste generation in the building and construction sector, growing construction activities underscore the need for enhanced resource efficiency...

Asbestos has been found in mulch used for playgrounds, schools, parks and gardens across Sydney and Melbourne. Local communities naturally fear for the health of their loved ones. Exposure to asbestos is a serious health risk – depending on its intensity, frequency and duration – as it may lead to chronic lung diseases.

Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) are becoming popular for managing energy supply in urban environments with Distributed Energy Resources (DERs). However, decision-making for VPPs in such complex environments is challenging due to multiple uncertainties and complexities. This paper proposes an approach that optimizes decision-making for VPPs using Reinfo...

Purpose Most educational institutions worldwide have shifted to online teaching and learning approaches to mitigate risks imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This causes several issues, particularly in delivering the construction management (CM) courses which require site visits, interpreting technical drawings and developing 3D building models. This...

Resource circularity has become a necessity in the built environment sector. A significant amount of construction and demolition (C&D) waste is generated worldwide. This waste results from poor resource efficiency in the sector. Australia is among the lowest-ranked countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) regard...

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is not popularly used by small to medium-sized enterprises (SME) in the Australian construction sector. While the strengths and benefits of adopting BIM were well documented, previous studies rarely delved into explaining why many SMEs resist changing their practices. This paper adopts a qualitative approach and...

Several educational institutions and universities have introduced Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Virtual Reality (VR) courses separately in the construction management (CM) programs around the globe, and others are in the process of integrating them into their curricula. However, fewer institutions have included integrated BIM and VR into...

The sustainable management of construction and demolition (C&D) warrants effective policy approaches to ensure minimum waste disposal. Sustainable procurement of recycled waste resources is an encouragement-based policy approach that can serve this purpose. This approach assists relevant stakeholders in improving the circular economy (CE) in the bu...

Growing population and urbanisation have led to a significant increase in construction and demolition (C&D) waste generation. There are urgent calls for government and industry to develop better methods for C&D waste management. The creation and stimulation of a market for recycled construction and demolition waste have emerged as a targeted interv...

Purpose This paper critically reviews economic impact assessment methods adopted in construction-related projects, to develop and present a novel bottom-up approach suitable to estimate regional economic impacts of building maintenance projects. Design/methodology/approach A thorough literature review of economic impact assessment in construction...

Whilst research of immersive technology has been growing, substantial efforts thus far have been scattered. Conflicting ideas and arguments from scholars provoke uncertainty and questions about the validity of these outputs in fostering more extensive implementation of immersive technology in the construction industry. Consequently, the direction f...

The effective undertaking of BIM as a systemic innovation requires tighter collaboration among multiple stakeholders and supply chain partners and entails a culture change. However, obtaining a high degree of collaboration is difficult given the nature of construction projects with a diverse supply chain and stakeholders involved in a project. Ther...

Purpose Current understandings of innovation in construction portray it as linear, deterministic phenomena centered around novel objects and technologies deployed in sequentially-organized supply chains. This study aims to develop an enriched understanding of construction innovation as non-linear, socio-material and dynamic phenomena in complex net...

With the COVID-19 outbreak across the world, policymakers and authorities have realised that they cannot solve the emerging issues using conventional policies and practices. COVID-19 has severely affected many industries, including construction and demolition (C&D) waste management and C&D waste resource recovery sector. Extended Producer Responsib...

Construction project organizations (CPOs) collaborate under a transient network with common project objectives but different corporate goals. It is understandable that CPOs working in the same project might have different perceptions about construction innovation. The respective perceptions have been affecting CPOs’ attitudes and responses towards...

Effective learning of building technology is stemming from persistent practices in transforming information from construction drawings to appropriate responses in compliance with the industry standards and the government requirements. This type of training has been delivered in a conventional fashion involving formal lectures and studios-based prac...

Due to rapid population growth and urbanisation, more than ever we need an urban environment with greater efficiency and fewer negative impacts. Virtual power plant (VPP) has great potential for improving urban sustainability by supplying clean energy from distributed generators. This paper provides a literature review on VPP from the perspective o...

Brick is a widely used construction material in the Australian construction industry. It has different applications in construction elements, notably walls and pavements. Between 85-90% of new dwellings in Australia in 2011 were built with external brick walls and concrete flooring. Furthermore, brickwork generates an abundance of waste in construc...

Applying Virtual Reality (VR) in construction professional training has been advocated as an effective method to improve learner’s cognition. However, there has been a lack of a systematic approach in VR-based training in the construction context. This study aims to develop a framework to institutionalize VR-based construction professional training...

In Australia, construction and demolition activities have substantially grown over the recent decades leading to the generation of a large amount of waste. Among available options, the development of end-markets for construction and demolition (C&D) waste materials is regarded as a sustainable option to tackle issues around their management. Despit...

While off-site construction presents opportunities for increased productivity, safety and decreased costs, little is understood as to why some contractors are not ready/prepared to change their practice and adopt off-site construction more extensively in projects. This study aimed to examine the effect of organisational readiness (OR) on the organi...

Increased construction activities in Australia have led to the generation of a massive volume of construction and demolition (C&D) waste annually. Management of this volume of waste requires an effective waste framework. The literature reported that the current Australian waste framework does not meet expectations and needs immediate improvements....

With increased construction activities in capital cities of Australia, the sustainable management of construction and demolition (C&D) has become an important item in the federal and state government agendas. According to the universally accepted concept of waste hierarchy waste disposal is the worst preferred waste management option due to environ...

Purpose In an attempt to create national harmonisation of legislation, a set of model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Regulations were developed in Australia. These regulations require principal contractors to undertake specific WHS planning and coordination activities if the construction works to be completed cost AU $250,000 or more. However, there...

Higher Education plays an influential role in societal transformation towards sustainability. An understanding of the application of sustainability learning from degree programs in a graduate’s professional practice can serve as an important feedback loop for developing and advancing sustainability in higher education. A knowledge gap exists betwee...

The lack of mechanisms to manage construction project information using traditional documentation methods leads to information waste. Building information modeling (BIM), as one of the recent developments in the architect, engineering, and construction industry (AEC) has revolutionized the process of managing information among project stakeholders....

The construction industry in Australia has grown significantly in the past two decades in the wake of population growth, migration and expansion in the tertiary education industry. The growing population has necessitated extensive property development, better public transport and improved infrastructure. To achieve all of this, construction activit...

The construction industry in Australia has grown significantly in the past two decades in the wake of population growth, migration and expansion in the tertiary education industry. The growing population has necessitated extensive property development, better public transport and improved infrastructure. To achieve all of this, construction activit...

The construction industry has faced issues regarding the proper management of Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste in Australia. As enshrined in many Australian waste strategy documents, waste is everyone's responsibility. Therefore, initiatives promoting the concept of shared responsibility are being paid attention in more recent waste managed...

The construction industry in Australia has grown significantly in the past two decades in the wake of population growth, migration and expansion in the tertiary education industry. The growing population has necessitated extensive property development, better public transport and improved infrastructure. To achieve all of this, construction activit...

The Australian construction industry has grown significantly in the past two decades. Population growth has led to the need for extensive property development, better public transport and improved infrastructure. This means there has been a substantial increase in waste produced by construction and demolition.

Sustainability in higher education aims to educate learners, as both citizens and future professionals, to build capacity to bring about a more sustainable future. As such, sustainability education can be seen as part of enabling work-ready graduates. Many universities, globally, have begun to embed sustainability capabilities into their degree pro...

The growth in the generation of construction and demolition (C&D) waste in Australia and new China's waste policy have put pressure on the C&D waste and resource recovery industry. Therefore, new solutions need to be provided to minimize the adverse effects of C&D on the environment, society, and economy. One of the highly preferred options is to d...

Despite Australia receives high levels of solar radiation annually, contributions to energy production from solar sources are significantly low across the country. Whist there is no lack of studies reviewing the initiatives of solar photovoltaic (PV) projects in Australia; few have been conducted in an approach that target construction industry's v...

The Building Economist ISSN 0007-3431

Despite the recognised benefits of more extensive use of prefabrication in construction projects, a widespread market transformation has yet to occur. One of the key barriers to more extensive adoption of prefabrication is the resistance to practice change within the contractors’ firms. Organisational readiness (OR) has been known as the antecedent...

While the industry professionals and government bodies have been advocating the use of prefabrication as a more sustainable option, literature indicates reducing construction time and the reliance of labours may be the true motives for pushing prefabrication forward. This study aims to investigate the roles of prefabrication in fostering sustainabl...

Over recent times concern about the physical environment has fluctuated. Even after the coverage of environment and sustainability issues in the education of many professions, a decline of community concern suggests that the potential for the inclusion of environmental issues in the work of professionals could be limited. This situation raises the...

Universities have developed sets of Graduate Attributes (GAs) to be achieved by their graduates across all programs. GAs are often associated with development of ‘sustainability’ capabilities. However, there is little indication that sustainability GAs are assessed to determine the extent of achievement, application, relevance to professional pract...

Carbon accounting allows for an estimation of the embodied carbon amount associated with the construction stage of project development. However, in Australia such practice is not mandatory. This research investigates if carbon accounting can affect decisions in building design. Semi-structured interviews of project managers were conducted in Melbou...

Contractors convert design into reality. They are presumed as a major contributor of carbon emissions from the construction development. Carbon reduction strategies were proposed in previous studies. Nevertheless, contractors were often criticised for standing aloof to adopt them. Some argued that the contractors may not have contractual leverage t...

Many studies have focused on the technologies and reasoning behind off-site construction and failed to address the implications to organizational change. This papaer aims to investigate the readiness of construction project organizations (CPOs) to accommodate new project environments that demand a more extensive use of prefabrication. Semistructure...

Prefabrication has been widely adopted in the construction projects in recent years. It has also been advocated as a greener and more sustainable approach of project delivery. However, with a wealth of evidence supporting other reasons as the drivers of using prefabrication, it is questionable whether the real goal of prefabrication is to achieve s...

The project world is plagued with the interest and influence of diverse stakeholders shaping major project policy strategies. From deception, strategic manipulation to illusions of control, stakeholders using power and any other means to influence project strategies to achieve their desired ends: the tribalism and Machiavellianism of the project wo...

The planning permit mechanism has been adopted to balance the benefits between landowners and the other stakeholders regarding construction development. Like many other construction disputes, planning permit application disputes have been suggested to be resolved by negotiations. In recent years, a considerable amount of dispute cases were referred...

This paper reports a study that investigates the causes of voluntary employee turnover in construction organisations. Questionnaire surveys and semi-structured interviews were conducted. The results indicate that respondents from different countries, genders and age groups may emphasise on different factors that lead them to quit a job and delineat...

The construction sector has been experiencing tension to eradicate their carbon-intensive ways of operations. Furthermore, researchers have put forward several strategies to reduce carbon emissions from construction operations. However, the construction sector has not yet changed operational practices. As with any initiative, organisational behavio...

The construction industry has been proven to be increasingly detrimental to the environment in the past few decades. As environmental awareness expands, efforts to reduce the carbon intensive sector into a sustainable and environmentally friendly industry increase. It is indisputable that the efforts put in place to transform such a sector. Subsequ...

Across the AEC industry, the non-technical skills possessed by organisations are key to their overall performance. In this study, the particular importance of optimising the so-called "soft power" of organisations, is addressed. Things like organisational culture, responsible corporate behaviour, and building trust-based relationships with other st...

Researchers in many countries advocated that the security of payment act (SPA) can help expedite resolution of payment-related claims compared with traditional methods such as litigation and arbitration. While the use of SPA was articulated, few researchers have attempted to review how SPA is being implemented by the construction practitioners in r...

This paper reports a study that examines the effect of some key drivers on the construction contractors' adoption of carbon reduction strategies. An industry survey was conducted in Victoria, Australia, for data collection. Interviews with industry experts were conducted to validate the survey findings. The results indicate that most carbon reducti...

Construction contracting is typically subjected to monitoring and control mechanisms. This policing contracting environment reflects the inherent distrust among the contracting parties. Paradoxically, construction project teams work best in a trusting environment because the members are mutually dependent on each other. Furthermore, where flexibili...

In Australia, the introduction of a carbon tax has been coined as a righteous response to climate change. However, recent industry reports indicate that construction practitioners are opposed to the carbon tax and argue that it would be revenue-neutral. Whereas anecdotal evidence and facts about the effect of a carbon tax coexist, pragmatic solutio...

Policies like the carbon tax and tightened building regulations have been advocated as the effective drivers of carbon reduction strategy adoption. Few however, have acknowledged that project environment strategy adoption is a matter of organisational culture (OC). This paper reports a study that aims to examine the effect of some key drivers on th...

The process of 'unlearning' may prove, paradoxically, to be a critical factor in enabling successful learning behaviour in organisations. For this study a conceptual model of the relationship between unlearning and organisational learning was developed and arranged in a structural equation modelling (SEM) format. A survey was conducted of 112 const...

The operation of organizations is very much influenced by their culture. Organizational culture (OC) has been defined as a pattern of basic assumptions that are manifested by the behavior of an organization. Positive OC is considered to be catalytic to performance enhancement. As construction aspires to be an efficient industry, this study aims to...

Organizational learning (OL) is recognized as crucial in construction organizations' performance. Nevertheless, scholars have argued that construction organizations do not seem to learn in a manner that fosters resilience in coping with changes in developers' demands. Skeptics argue that OL should be facilitated by unlearning (UL)-a process of disc...

Organizational culture gives identity to an organization. Notwithstanding the individuality of the staff members, their actions are collectively bound by the organizational culture. A review of the literature in this topic reveals that despite a number of organizational culture models have been developed, these are mainly for generic business setti...

Monitoring is an essential part of construction project management and has typically been devised to guard against non-compliance. When contractors are subjected to regular performance feedback, instead of just taking remedial action, they may take the opportunities to enhance their operations in the light of the feedback. Thus, it has been advocat...

A review of literature on organizational learning suggested that organizations mainly exhibit three types of learning styles: single-loop learning (SLL), double-loop learning (DLL), and deutero learning (DeuL). SLL refers to the detection and correction of errors without adjusting one's underpinning assumptions about performance requirements. DLL r...

There has been strong advocate that through effective inter-organizational learning (inter-OL), construction project efficiency and effectiveness can be improved. In this regard, some researchers recommended exploring the possible ways to facilitate inter-OL. It has been suggested that project team members may have different learning styles that sh...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of bid information, including both price and non‐price factors in predicting the bidder's performance. Design/methodology/approach The practice of the industry was first reviewed. Data on bid evaluation and performance records of the successful bids were then obtained from the Hong Kong Housi...

It has been advocated that information available from a performance measurement system (PMS) is an invaluable source of knowledge for contracting organizations. As such, it has been suggested that performance improvement can be achieved if contracting organizations can capitalize on the learning opportunities accorded from feedback derived from a P...

Previous studies have rarely examined the link between contracting organizations’ practice of intra-organizational learning (intra-OL) and engagement in inter-organizational learning (inter-OL). Thus, when the effect of intra-OL on performance improvement was investigated, the role of inter-OL was not included in the equation. This paper reports a...

It has been noted that, with the advance in multimedia and information technology, many traditional classroom-based teaching activities have migrated on-line. However, without a proper design framework, a lot of these programmes are just on-line information disseminators. This paper describes a web-based self-learning measurement of building servic...

Predicting performance of contractors is of interest to both academics and practitioners. The physical execution of a project is critical to the overall success of the development. Having a competent contractor that can deliver is most desirable. In this aspect, a significant number of performance prediction models have been developed. Multiple reg...

Previous researches in partnering have highlighted the importance of developing trust among construction partners to facilitate project success. This paper seeks to investigate the relative importance of the trust factors contributing to partnering success in Hong Kong. To compare the views from parties of a partnering dance, data was collected fro...

Partnering has been advocated as one of the plausible solutions for improving project performance. Notwithstanding a number of studies about partnering had been undertaken, few of them were contributing to the measure the performance of partnering projects in a holistic manner. This study seeks to investigate the use of Balanced Scorecard (BSC) app...