Wei Pan

The University of Hong Kong | HKU · Department of Civil Engineering

The rapid development of extended reality (XR), including virtual and augmented reality, offers promising solutions to mediate human-robot interactions and support robotic construction in various forms. However, there is still a lack of systematic analysis of how emerging XR technologies and robotics could be effectively integrated to achieve mutua...

Low-energy buildings (LEBs) play an important role in improving energy efficiency, reducing energy use, and mitigating carbon emissions to achieve the 2050 global decarbonisation target. However, increasing evidence indicates that energy performance gap (EPG), defined as the difference between predicted and actual energy performance, significantly...

Purpose Modular construction is an innovative method that enhances the performance of building construction projects. However, the performance of steel modular construction has not been systematically understood, and the existing measurement methods exhibit limitations in effectively addressing the features of steel modular building construction. T...

Infrastructure sustainability assessment (ISA) has become increasingly important for achieving sustainable development goals. ISA systems are widely adopted by different stakeholders such as governments, architects, engineers, and academics to assess the manner in which sustainability is incorporated in infrastructure projects. However, a systemati...

Feedback is one of the most effective behavioral interventions. However, four issues, namely, the complex feedback strategies, the cost inefficiency, the onefold feedback information, and the unclear behavioral change mechanism, impeded the application of feedbacks for energy conservation in residential buildings. This study looked into the counter...

Modular construction (MC) is an innovative approach to enhancing productivity and sustainability, but its complex and dynamic supply chain is challenging. This paper develops and validates a dialectical system framework for understanding and enhancing MC supply chain, through the combination of a literature review, interviews with 59 professionals,...

Occupant behaviors have a significant impact on building energy performance and behavior models have been widely adopted in building simulation. Commonly, it takes weeks even years to collect data from field tests and achieve behavioral patterns as model inputs. However, the valid time of behavioral patterns drawn from empirical studies remains unc...

Purpose Despite carbon reduction commitments, many constraints hinder the delivery of low-carbon buildings (LCBs) in high-rise high-density cities. The collaborative commitment of relevant stakeholders is vital to effectively address and mitigate these constraints. Hence, this study aims to comprehensively explore the required stakeholder collabora...

The building stock in high-rise high-density cities is a principal contributor to global anthropogenic carbon emissions. Even though there are many commitments and action plans, an effective uptake in the delivery of low carbon buildings (LCBs) is not evident in high-rise high-density contexts due to several prevailing constraints. Despite many stu...

Due to different assembly requirements and novel integration strategies, the modular structures may have undesirable loading mechanisms and distinct structural behaviors. However, there are limited data on the progressive collapse performances of modular structures, which impedes their industrial applications. This study numerically investigates th...

Inter-building effect (IBE), which refers to the shading effect from surrounding buildings, plays an important role in building energy use in high-density cities. However, it is customary to neglect the IBE during energy simulation. Four issues are observed on previous research: 1) it has been controversial whether the IBE significantly affects ene...

Modular construction has been widely promoted with numerous benefits, but the promotion has largely been for low- to medium-rise buildings. The implementation of high-rise modular buildings in high-density cities remains limited. This paper aims to investigate modular adoption in high-rise high-density cities by examining drivers, constraints and s...

Increasing construction waste has been a severe environmental problem globally. Adopting new construction methods such as modular construction is considered as an effective measure to reduce construction waste. However, few studies have examined the potential of modular construction in construction waste reduction. This study aims to measure the ty...

Heavy crane lifting in high-rise modular integrated construction (MiC) is critical but challenging. The current crane-lift executions are heavily reliant on human judgment. Few studies on crane-lift path planning considered modular-specific characteristics such as installation of hefty modules. Therefore, this study aims to develop an automatic cra...

Modular building is an innovative construction method and imposes unique assembly requirements. Modular structures may exhibit different global responses and unexpected resisting mechanisms under loading scenarios. However, there is limited research dealing with collapse behavior of steel-framed modular structures exposed to fire. This paper studie...

Prefabrication and modularization have attracted much attention in building construction, and they are becoming increasingly important for the betterment of society. To fully benefit from prefabricated and modular construction, the application of artificial intelligence and robotics (AIR) is widely recognized as essential, but it has not yet been s...

Younger generations encounter much more challenges than their (grand)parents in fighting climate change and experience more radical behavioral changes in achieving net zero carbon target by 2050. However, there is insufficient research on energy-saving behavioral mechanisms of young people and the gender effect on their perceptions and practices. T...

Urban areas afford 56% of the world population and the top 600 cities emit 70% of the world greenhouse gases, highlighting enormous challenges and potentials of carbon emission reduction and sustainability in high-density cities. Though vast research has reviewed the green building assessment (GBA) systems in different perspectives, little has expl...

Modular integrated construction (MiC) represents the most advanced off-site technology. It is challenging to install hefty modules’ safely and effectively in high-rise building projects. Nevertheless, existing crane-lift activities are largely built on the personal experience and subjective judgements of crane operators and signalmen, which often c...

Building inspection and maintenance are becoming increasingly essential means by which to consider the deterioration problems of old, reinforced concrete (RC) buildings. While such inspection work can be conducted with the aid of computer vision-based technology, this technology remains challenged, since real-world structural defects and environmen...

Planning, scheduling, and execution (PSE) are essential for coordinating tasks during on-site assembly in prefabricated construction. Real-time synchronization supports collaborative decision making for planning and scheduling, and dynamic adjustment of execution in on-site assembly. However, simple and resilient mechanisms are lacking for on-site...

By maximizing offsite work and minimizing onsite activities, modular construction has become increasingly popular in high-rise, high-density cities. For successfully delivering high-rise modular buildings, a key issue is the effective scheduling of offsite logistics, consisting of module manufacturing, transportation, and storage. This paper propos...

Space cooling is an important building energy end-use that was found in recent years to be significantly impacted by occupant behaviours. However, the majority of previous studies ignored the interplay between the operation of windows and air conditioners (ACs) on cooling load, particularly in building energy modelling. In addition, studies on the...

Purpose Lean construction is widely known as a theory or methodology of organizational management, while seldom been studied as a solution for industry improvements through practice. This paper explores the practical role of lean for construction industry improvements beyond its theoretical inspirations by empirically examining the industry underst...

Modular high-rises are attractive for metropolises, but few applications exist, partly due to the lack of knowledge about their lateral behaviors. Existing concrete modular high-rises usually adopt a time-consuming and labor-intensive cast-in-situ concrete layer on modules to satisfy the continuous rigid diaphragm assumption. This study aims to dev...

Modular integrated construction (MiC) is the most advanced construction method that involves off‐site manufacturing, factory‐to‐site transportation, and on‐site assembly of free‐standing integrated modules. Despite the growing interest in the manufacturability of MiC, little research is available on the passing ability issues where efficient and sa...

Modular construction has been widely employed to build low-to-medium-rise buildings but limited for high-rises partly due to the knowledge gap about the lateral force resistance of modular high-rises. Most modular high-rises adopt in situ cores which still require substantial onsite works to resist lateral loads. Previous research developed a modul...

Modular integrated construction (MiC) has been introduced in high-rise construction for achieving sustainable development. As high-rise MiC disruptively transforms the construction process compared with conventional construction, it is imperative to systematically understand its performance, which however has not been sufficiently reported in previ...

Purpose This paper explores the vocational training of construction workers in Guangdong Province of China and identifies its position in the global political-economic spectrum of skill formation. Design/methodology/approach The paper reviews construction vocational education and training (VET) of major political economies to develop a theoretical...

Tower crane layout planning (TCLP) is critical to achieving safe and efficient module installation for high-rise modular integrated construction (MiC). Nevertheless, the existing TCLP methods are inefficient in addressing the multiple heavy lifts in high-rise MiC. Therefore, this paper aims to develop an innovative virtual reality (VR) tool to supp...

Expected practical improvements in delivering low carbon buildings in high-rise high-density cities are still lagging behind those needed to meet global carbon reduction targets. This indicates that there could be a number of commonly prevalent constraints that hinder the delivery of low carbon buildings. Therefore, this paper aims to systematicall...

Foreseeable energy savings can be obtained by guiding curtailment behaviors through behavioral interventions. However, the underlying mechanism behind behavioral interventions remains largely unknown. This study aims to examine how behavioral interventions impact occupant behavior and energy use in buildings from a systematic perspective, especiall...

Tower crane layout planning (TCLP) is critical to high-rise modular integrated construction (MiC) that involves multiple heavy-duty lifts. However, previous studies have rarely addressed TCLP in modular construction. This study thus develops a new decision-making framework for selecting an optimal tower crane layout for high-rise MiC. First, the fe...

Purpose Applications of social network analysis (SNA) are evidently popular amongst scholars for mapping stakeholder and other relational networks in improving the sustainability of construction activities and the resulting built environment. Nevertheless, the literature reveals a lack of thorough understanding of optimal SNA applications in this f...

Purpose Modular integrated construction (MiC) is the most advanced off-site construction technology. However, the application of MiC for high-rise buildings is still limited and challenging. One critical issue is tower crane layout planning (TCLP) to guarantee safe and efficient multiple crane-lifts for module installation, which, however, has been...

Lei Yue Mun quarantine camp was the first Covid-19 isolation facility built in Hong Kong. The camp’s two sites provide 352 rooms built using innovative modular integrated construction. Smart construction technologies were also adopted to deliver the project in the shortest time possible, including real-time module logistics monitoring and automatic...

A critical concern in the supply chain of modular construction is offsite logistics that involve complicated module manufacturing, storage, and transportation processes. However, numerous uncertainties exist in a supply chain that could detrimentally affect the performance of offsite logistics and thereby the success of modular construction project...

The zero carbon building (ZCB) approach has been adopted in many cities and regions as an important government strategy for addressing climate change, achieving a low carbon economy, and uplifting the quality of people’s life. However, there is yet a lack of uptake of ZCB in high-rise high-density contexts, and mystery exists about its feasibility...

Occupant behavior significantly influences building energy consumption. However, two research gaps exist, namely, the lack of firsthand data for a complete understanding of the complex and stochastic nature of occupant behavior, and the limited consideration given to socio-psychological factors in the classification of behavior modes. This study ai...

With numerous and ambiguous information and often-conflicting requirements, construction management (CM) is regarded as a complex process with uncertainty. Fuzzy multi-criteria decision making (FMCDM) is thus becoming popular as an efficient approach to addressing complex problems with diverse decision-makers’ interests, conflicting objectives, and...

Buildings contribute to over one third of global energy-related carbon emissions, on which occupant behavior attains a significant impact. Occupant behavior is influenced by both internal and external factors, such as psychological and social factors, equipment properties. However, there is a marked lack of knowledge about the internal factors that...

Modular integrated construction is one of the most advanced off-site construction technologies and involves the repetitive process of installing prefabricated prefinished volumetric modules. Automatic detection of location and movement of modules should facilitate progress monitoring and safety management. However, automatic module detection has no...

More than two thirds of countries worldwide, the majority being developing countries still have not implemented mandatory regulations to control building energy usage and carbon emissions despite the rapidly increasing building stock in these regions. Thus, it is vital to develop effective energy and carbon policies for buildings in developing coun...

Construction robots hold much promise for buildings, but their real-world uptake is limited. Previous studies lacked in-depth explorations of stakeholder perceptions to help elaborate the development requirements and dialectics of construction robots. This paper examined stakeholder perceptions of future construction robots for buildings within the...

Digital twin (DT) is commonly known as a virtual model of a physical object, a process or a system. In order to create DT, the emphasis is on building a Cyber-Physical System (CPS), where information collected from physical processes is used for computation to generate a real-time monitoring cyber model. At the same time, changes of the cyber model...

Various lift planning and optimization (LPO) researches have been conducted; nevertheless, the body of knowledge is fragmented. This study aims to develop a systematic framework of LPO and predict its research trends, through a critical literature review, theoretical analysis, and model development. In total 108 journal papers from 1990 to 2019 are...

Modular construction has been widely adopted for low-to-medium-rise buildings, but fairly limited for high-rises. A particular knowledge gap resides with the lateral force resistance of modular high-rises. Most such buildings adopt cast-in-situ cores for lateral force resisting, which is still labor-intensive. This paper aims to develop a new later...

Steel‐framed modular buildings afford certain advantages, such as rapid and high‐quality construction. However, although steel‐framed modules have been adopted in several countries, most of them are limited to low‐to‐medium‐rise structures; modular high‐rise buildings are rare. This study proposes a feasible structural design solution for high‐rise...

Purpose While the investment in construction projects has increased over the past few decades, low construction project productivity (CPP) appeared to be persistent, thereby reflecting an “investment-in-failure” paradox between the investment and CPP. Hence, this paper aims to develop a systematic and holistic CPP evaluation framework to explain th...

Construction robots are expected to have disruptive impacts on the building industry, but 8 there is still a lack of utilisation. While significant attention has been paid to technical 9 advancement, little has been done to comprehensively understand the broader societal issues 10 associated with the use of this technology. This paper aims to provi...

The ‘zero carbon building (ZCB)’ approach has been hailed as an innovative strategy for addressing climate change and achieving a low carbon society. There has been burgeoning research on the technical aspects of ZCBs. However, the aspect of stakeholder engagement, albeit imperative for zero carbon development, has been largely overlooked in the li...

The technological development of construction robots is underway globally. However, current development activities face significant uncertainties, particularly in terms of the definition and management of system requirements, which are primarily based on vague assumptions about the future. Thus, a new tool is required to grasp how construction robo...

In addressing anthropogenic climate change, many countries have tightened up their building energy regulations and even formulated zero carbon building (ZCB) policies. However, there still lacks real-world uptake of the ZCB approach. The importance of stakeholder engagement and partnership to effectively promote and deliver ZCBs has been emphasized...

Studies that have measured construction productivity, analyzed its influencing parameters, and explored enhancement strategies abound in the literature. However, few have quantified the relationship between the total factor productivity (TFP) of the construction industry and its parameters, nor have they provided quantitative evidence supporting th...

Carbon emissions associated with high-rise buildings are expected to grow with the increasing population in high-density cities. As an environmentally friendly construction method, prefabrication should lead to reduced buildings' emissions. However, few studies have considered the uncertainty caused by errors in input parameters, scenario assumptio...

Occupant behavior has a significant impact on building energy consumption and sustainable development of the community. In-situ monitoring of occupant behavior is one of the most effective and widely used research methods. It collects data of occupant behavior using smart sensors in the natural environment and, if appropriately designed and applied...

Construction robots have emerged as a revolutionary technology for buildings. However, real-world adoption is still limited. Little is known how the decision of adopting construction robots or not is made in organizations, which inhibits the benefits of robots from being fully realized. This paper aims to investigate the determinants affecting cons...

Many industries have benefited from modularisation; while in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, the concept of modularisation is associated with dimensional coordination. This has added to an already extensive list of challenges due to market size and the concept of economies of scale in AEC industry, to name but a few....

Modular construction has been widely adopted for low-to-medium-rise buildings. However, there are concerns about the wind and seismic resisting performance of high-rise buildings if adopting the modular approach, which inhibit the wider adoption of modular construction in most cities where high-rises dominate. This paper aims to develop a novel hyb...

Buildings account for more than 90% of total electricity consumption in Hong Kong, one third of which comes from the residential sector. High-rise buildings dominate Hong Kong, but energy use in high-rise buildings has been insufficiently examined in previous studies, especially at the household or occupant level. This paper aims to explore the mul...

Construction vocational education and training (VET) systems serve the mission of enhancing construction productivity and social cohesion, which are essential attributes to regional competitiveness. It is imperative to reveal the policy implications of the construction labor force's skill formation that concerns both the economic and social develop...

There is a worldwide policy agenda of reducing buildings’ carbon emissions. Zero-carbon building has emerged as an advanced model with policy support, but high-rise remains a knowledge gap. This paper aims to contribute a better understanding of the opportunities and risks of formulating and implementing a zero-carbon building policy, and identify...

Modular integrated construction of high-rise buildings has shown its potential in accelerating the speed of construction, improving safety, safeguarding quality and enhancing productivity. However, due to the disruptive change to the construction process, challenges are identified to effectively plan and handle multiple lifts for hoisting heavy mod...

Energy saving can be achieved with proper natural ventilation from window opening. Window operation behaviours affect the cooling load by introducing fresh air and interacting with the operation of air conditioners. However, there is limited knowledge on how window operation behaviours influence the cooling load in high-rise buildings. This paper t...

Robotics is an important technological innovation in building prefabrication to fully capitalize on the benefits of off-site construction, but its uptake has been low. This paper explores the determinants affecting the adoption of robotics in building prefabrication, with a focus on precast concrete elements. A qualitative multiple-case-study metho...

Emerging innovative building technologies offer unprecedented opportunities for accelerating transitions of the construction industry. To unlock the full potential of these technologies, their interactions should be conceptualised within co-evolution and transitions contexts. This paper develops a new theory to examine the 'co-evolution through int...

Reported benefits of modular construction include shortened construction period, improved health and safety, reduced site labour, and enhanced construction quality. However, the adoption of modular construction is still slow within high-rise high-density city contexts. A significant reason for that is the real or perceived low capability of supply...

This workshop proceedings contain the final author versions submitted to the CIB World Building Congress 2019. All articles originally appeared in the official proceedings of the CIB World Building Congress 2019 which can be accessed through www.cibworld.nl CIB Working Commission W119 on Customized Industrial Construction has been established as t...

Logistics planning is a critical part of developing supply chain for modular integrated construction (MiC) projects in Hong Kong where high-rise, high density and hilly landscape is the norm. It is important to minimize the total logistics and to guarantee timely delivery of modules, especially for several MiC projects being constructed during the...

Modularization and mechanization are widely promoted due to their potential benefits in enhancing site efficiency. However, the outcomes of the implementation lack quantitative supports at the project level. This paper aims to develop a quantitative evidence-based methodology for measuring site efficiency and evaluating the outcomes of the two tech...