Jason von Meding

Reducing Waste to Landfill in the UK: Identifying Impediments and Critical Solutions

Purpose – The UK construction industry produces up to one third of all waste to landfill. This study aims to identify specific project practices impeding the reduction of waste in construction projects as well as uncovering potential waste solutions throughout the project delivery process. The rationale being that for such a drastic reduction in waste to landfill, holistic and extensive measures would be required.Design/methodology/approach – A two‐way methodological approach was used. This comprised qualitative unstructured interviews and a quantitative questionnaire survey of three major stakeholders in the UK construction industry: clients, architects and contractors.Findings – Design factors remain the major cause of impediments to waste reduction to landfill. Critical impediments include clients making waste prevention a top priority in projects, overly complex designs, waste taking a low priority compared to project time and costs, lack of concerns by designers for buildability, among others. Critic...

A Conceptual Governance Framework for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction Integration

Climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR) have similar targets and goals in relation to climate change and related risks. The integration of CCA in core DRR operations is crucial to provide simultaneous benefits for social systems coping with challenges posed by climate extremes and climate change. Although state actors are generally responsible for governing a public issue such as CCA and DRR integration, the reform of top-down governing modes in neoliberal societies has enlarged the range of potential actors to include non state actors from economic and social communities. These new intervening actors require in-depth investigation. To achieve this goal, the article investigates the set of actors and their bridging arrangements that create and shape governance in CCA and DRR integration. The article conducts a comprehensive literature review in order to retrieve main actors and arrangements. The article summarizes actors and arrangements into a conceptual governance framework that can be used as a backdrop for future research on the topic. However, this framework has an explorative form, which must be refined according to site- and context-specific variables, norms, or networks. Accordingly, this article promotes an initial application of the framework to different contexts. Scholars may adopt the framework as a roadmap with which to corroborate the existence of a theoretical and empirical body of knowledge on governance of CCA and DRR integration.

Cross-cultural intelligence (CQ): it's impact on British expatriate adjustment on international construction projects

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the facets of cultural intelligence (CQ) (cognitive, meta-cognitive, motivational and behavioural) and the dimensions of cross-cultural adjustment (interaction, general and work adjustment). Design/methodology/approach – Interviews and questionnaire survey were carried out with British expatriates from the architectural, engineering and construction sector. A total of 191 respondents, with experience from 29 different countries, actively participated in this research. Structural equation model was subsequently developed to investigate the relationship between elements of CQ and cross-cultural adjustment. Findings – Results of structural equation modelling revealed that collectively all the four aspects of CQ have significant influence on general, interaction and work adjustment, particularly motivational and cognitive CQ. Cognitive CQ which empowers the expatriates with in-depth knowledge about different cultures was a signific...

A framework for stakeholder management and corporate culture

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the link between two knowledge areas that have not been previously linked conceptually: stakeholder management and corporate culture. Focussing on the UK construction industry, the research study demonstrates mutual dependency of each of these areas on the other and establishes a theoretical framework with real potential to impact positively upon industry.Design/methodology/approach – The study utilises both qualitative and quantitative data collection and then analysis to produce results contributing to the final framework. Semi‐structured interviews were used and analysed through a cognitive mapping procedure. The result of this stage, set in the context of previous research, facilitated a questionnaire to be developed which helped gather quantitative values from a larger sample to enhance the final framework.Findings – The data suggests that stakeholder management and corporate culture are key areas of an organisations success, and that this importance will onl...

Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Policy in Australia

Abstract Disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change (CC) are pressing fields of action for scholars, practitioners and policy-makers to promote a sustainable level of wellbeing for local communities and to increase the resilience of communities coping with multi-origin hazards. Unfortunately, in the case of Australia, there is evidence to suggest that disaster risk reduction and climate-change policy is highly fragmented and politicised (von Meding et al., 2013). The main focus of this paper is, therefore, to develop a deep understanding of the underpinning factors of local, regional and national policies in Australia. In terms of policy and multilevel integration of policies, we will particularly focus on the risk of failure to adapt to climate change in Australia. The national and local Australian context will be analysed in terms of its recent past experiences in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation policies, stressing on the changes through the years, investigating key terminology, frameworks and goals. These will be described and critically analysed in a multilevel context, beginning with national government objectives and working through to the local dimension of these policies. A clear and comprehensive analysis of the evolution of local, regional and national policy in Australia, as well as a critique on the past and current effectiveness of implementation, will pave the way for further research to take place towards DRR and CCA action.

Cross-cultural intelligence (CQ)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the facets of cultural intelligence (CQ) (cognitive, meta-cognitive, motivational and behavioural) and the dimensions of cross-cultural adjustment (interaction, general and work adjustment). Design/methodology/approach – Interviews and questionnaire survey were carried out with British expatriates from the architectural, engineering and construction sector. A total of 191 respondents, with experience from 29 different countries, actively participated in this research. Structural equation model was subsequently developed to investigate the relationship between elements of CQ and cross-cultural adjustment. Findings – Results of structural equation modelling revealed that collectively all the four aspects of CQ have significant influence on general, interaction and work adjustment, particularly motivational and cognitive CQ. Cognitive CQ which empowers the expatriates with in-depth knowledge about different cultures was a signific...

Urban settlements’ vulnerability to flood risks in African cities: A conceptual framework

In the recent past, the frequency and gravity of large-scale flood disasters have increased globally, resulting in casualties, destruction of property and huge economic loss. The destructive flood disaster devastating Louisiana, USA, is a recent example. Despite the availability of advanced technological capabilities for dealing with floods in developed nations, flood disasters continue to become more rampant and disastrous. Developing countries in Africa such as Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan have recently experienced severe flooding, leaving a considerable number of human casualties and thousands displaced. In African cities, most vulnerable urban residents usually have lesser capacity and fewer resources to recover from the shocks of disaster as a result of the failure of governments to build human security for poor African residents. Many scholars have acknowledged the lack of appropriate vulnerability assessment frameworks and policies, questioning the efficiency and effectiveness of the tested models in Africa. The ability to accurately identify, measure and evaluate the various vulnerabilities of affected people and communities is a right step towards reducing disaster risk. This article aimed at developing a framework for assessing urban settlements’ vulnerability to flood risks in Africa. The framework is currently being tested to assess various dimensions of vulnerability drivers in three urban communities in Ibadan metropolis, the third largest city in Nigeria, focusing more on flood risk perceptions and behaviour of the risk bearers. It uses participatory and mixed method approaches to socially construct vulnerability of populations at risk. This model emanates from the evaluation of considerable relevant literature and an array of vulnerability assessment frameworks. It integrates some approaches that are applicable to African cities in a bid to create a versatile tool to assess, identify and mitigate the effects of flood disaster risk and reduce urban poor’s vulnerability to natural and human-induced hazards.

Competence-based system development for post-disaster project management

Purpose – One of the key elements contributing to successful post-disaster project teams is individual competence. Each project participant brings his or her own knowledge, experience and ideas to the collective. The kind of chaotic and fragmented environment that is common in post-disaster scenarios presents specific barriers to the success of projects, which can be mitigated by ensuring that staff members possess competencies appropriate for their deployment to particular contexts. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The study utilizes a mixed-methods approach, incorporating unstructured interviews to extract key factors of competence, project barriers and strategy, and a subsequent questionnaire survey, designed to quantify the various elements. Interviews were undertaken and analysed using a cognitive mapping procedure, while survey data were processed using SPSS. The data were then utilized in the development of a software prototype using Design Science Research meth...

Confined site construction: An empirical analysis of factors impacting health and safety management

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify, clarify and tabulate the various managerial issues encountered, to aid in the management of the complex health and safety concerns which occur within a confined construction site environment.Design/methodology/approach – This is achieved through conducting extensive qualitative and qualitative research in the form of case studies, interviews and questionnaire survey.Findings – The leading managerial issues in the management of health and safety on a confined construction site are found to be: “Difficulty to move materials around site safely”; “Lack of adequate room for the effective handling of materials”; “Difficulty in ensuring site is tidy and all plant and materials are stored safely”; “Close proximity of individuals to operation of large plant and machinery”; and joint fifth “Difficulty in ensuring proper arrangement and collection of waste materials on‐site” along with “Difficulty in controlling hazardous materials and equipment on site”.Practical ...

Predicting the resilience of transport infrastructure to a natural disaster using Cox’s proportional hazards regression model

Transport infrastructure is at significant risk of direct damage from extreme climate events such as flooding, where the cost implications of delayed recovery are generally significant. Previous research in this regard has focused on the technical and engineering aspects of infrastructure construction. The risk management of resilient transport infrastructure is poorly considered, and little has been done to quantify the capacity of transport infrastructure to recover from the impact of natural disasters under varying conditions. This paper applies Cox’s proportional hazards regression model to determine the rate of recovery and cumulative probability that recovery occurs for transport infrastructure across regional areas in New South Wales, Australia. Data for post-disaster reconstruction projects over the period 1992–2012 are used to analyze recovery rate against geographic region, natural disaster type and post-disaster transport infrastructure reconstruction cost. Results demonstrate that transport infrastructure recovered slowest when the failure is the result of a flood rather than bushfire or storm, and in regions with a riverine geography. To validate the accuracy of the model, a bootstrap resampling technique is used. The bootstrap result confirms that the model is robust and reasonable.