Jeff H. Rankin

Absenteeism, Performance and Occupant Satisfaction with the Indoor Environment of Green Toronto Schools

This study aimed to compare a number of quantitative and qualitative aspects of usage across a sample of 10 conventional, 20 energy-retrofitted and three green Toronto schools. Student, teacher and staff absenteeism data, as well as Grade 3 and 6 student performance data on reading, writing and arithmetic tests administered by Ontario’s Education Quality and Accountability Office were collected. A survey of 150 teachers was conducted to investigate their satisfaction with the indoor air quality, lighting, thermal comfort and acoustics of their school buildings. The statistical analysis of the data showed that teachers in green schools were in general more satisfied with their classrooms and personal workspaces’ lighting, thermal comfort, indoor air quality, heating, ventilation and air conditioning than teachers in the other schools. Nevertheless, they were less satisfied with acoustics. Student, teacher and staff absenteeism in green schools also improved by 2–7.5%, whereas student performance improved by 8–19% when compared with conventional schools. However, these improvements were not statistically significant and could not therefore be generalised to all Toronto public schools. Whether these marginal improvements justify the extra cost premium of green buildings remains an active contentious topic that will need further investigation.

Energy consumption in conventional, energy‐retrofitted and green LEED Toronto schools

Green buildings have been marketed as the economical, energy‐efficient alternative to conventional buildings. This is despite little existing empirical evidence to prove their energy efficiency, especially in Canada. To overcome this limitation, the electricity and gas consumption quantities and costs of a sample of 10 conventional, 20 energy‐retrofitted and three green Toronto schools following the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Rating (LEED) System for New Construction were analysed in this study. The analysis conducted over eight years for conventional and energy‐retrofitted schools, and since their inception for green schools, showed surprisingly that energy‐retrofitted and green schools spent 37% more on electricity than conventional schools. Nevertheless, green schools spent 56% and 41% less on gas than conventional and energy‐retrofitted schools respectively. Their total energy costs were also 28% lower than conventional and energy‐retrofitted schools. Nevertheless, these savings do not always justify their construction cost premiums. The study showed that more research was needed to overcome the scarcity of data on green buildings in Canada. There was a need to focus on analysing more green buildings, of various types, and over longer study periods in order to better understand why some green buildings do not live up to expectations.

A framework for benchmarking e-procurement in the AEC industry

The architecture-engineering-construction (AEC) industry applies a wait-and-see approach because there are no suitable strategic electronic procurement (e-procurement) solutions for the industry. The benefit of electronic procurement is anecdotal for the industry in advance of determining its value. It is necessary to evaluate e-procurement and measure the added value during implementation in order to motivate users to adopt it. In this research project a survey was conducted to provide a clearer picture of the level of penetration of e-procurement. Functional benchmarking parameters were established to quantify the values of e-procurement and an adoption of these parameters in the AEC industry was presented for a later comparison between the construction sector and manufacturing industry. The results of the comparison indicate potential opportunities for e-procurement in the AEC industry. However, there is a conflict with the real situation in the industry in that e-procurement service providers are focused on the supply side not on the demand side; and there is another conflict with current trends in that e-procurement technological providers are focus on individual enterprises not on industry associations. To overcome the conflicts, an electronic business platform is suggested as a strategic e-procurement model for the industry.

INFORMATION POPULATION OF AN INTEGRATED CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

There currently is a lack of complete construction management systems that are applicable to a broad range of construction management functions for a variety of project participants. A construction management system must support the management of an enormous amount of information produced by many sources at many levels of detail. This paper proposes a solution that combines an efficient user interface and methods to partially automate the creation of the required information through access to stored information from past projects. The research follows the path being established for integrated construction management systems that rely on a standard representation of the industrys information requirements. By exploring the comprehensive aspects of construction planning for an integrated construction management system, the research demonstrates the usefulness of applying sound information representation structures. The application of case-based reasoning to computer-assisted construction planning is explored and shown to hold promise as a method of simplifying the maintenance of knowledge-based planners. The resulting prototype construction management system has the primary characteristics of assisting the user in the manipulation of information in order to generate the initial information requirements of an integrated construction management system. Architectural characteristics such as a multi-user environment and seamless interaction among tools can now be tested using this data model.

Quality Management System for a Highway Megaproject

Although the concepts of quality management have been successfully applied in many industries, primarily manufacturing, and are equally applicable to the construction industry, highway megaprojects, especially those delivered through private–public partnership (P3) arrangements, present new challenges. The current movement from the use of traditional method specifications to the use of end-result specifications and the transfer of responsibilities for quality to the developer and builder give rise to the need to verify quality performance. A quality information management system becomes a necessity given the volume of information generated. The challenges of developing and implementing a quality information management system for a highway megaproject in New Brunswick, Canada, are discussed. The system developed addresses key needs including support for various levels of management (technical and executive), an open data structure and interoperability, hierarchical information levels, integration with facilitywide management information, and future scalability. The system developed addresses the needs of quality information management for a private project developer but can also be adapted to other project delivery mechanisms. The tool was implemented to support the entire project team, including construction field supervisors and the project’s senior management. A documented analysis is offered of a generic implementation process that can be adopted in other projects to improve efficiency in quality information management in the highway construction industry in general and in megaprojects delivered through P3 arrangements in particular.

Construction Organizational-Level Information Management Framework

AbstractComprehensive organizational-level information management (IM) performance assessment has the potential to improve IM performance in construction organizations. However, the organizational-level IM components and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure each component are not adequately developed in construction IM literature. This paper proposes an organizational-level IM framework, which identifies the IM components, IM activities, and KPIs required for comprehensive organizational-level IM performance measurement in construction-owner organizations. The eight IM components (IM processes, ICT resources, practice resources, people resources, IM inputs, IM outputs, IM constraints, and IM objectives) are developed and defined on the basis of the analysis of 55 documents related to IM frameworks published from 1990 to 2010 inclusive. In addition, a total of six IM activities and 40 lagging and leading KPIs are developed and defined on the basis of the analysis and synthesis of IM characteristics...

Assessing the management practices for small to medium sized Canadian general contractor organizations

This paper describes a research study entitled Enhancing the Performance and Productivity of the Canadian Construction Industry through Appropriate Digital Technology Adoption. The study was completed by researchers from four regions across Canada over the period of August 2013 to March 2014. The underlying purpose of the study was to assist in the development of decision-making tools to support the construction industry in the successfully adoption and implementation of new technologies. The study was accomplished by completion of the following steps: (1) an existing framework for the assessment of management practices at the project level for general contractors in the construction industry was refined and extended; (2) a standard assessment tool was developed and administered to 25 small to medium sized commercial/institutional building general contractor organizations, resulting in the identification of potential opportunities for improvement; (3) opportunities for improvement were validated with organizations; and (4) the assessment results were aggregated to provide an initial benchmark of the level of implementation of management practices. The assessment included 117 practices, across nine practice areas, and grouped as planning and control. The aggregated assessment results are indicating that at an industry level, the management practices in need of improvement that relate more directly to digital technologies are becoming clearer and include: Time better utilization of the capabilities of existing scheduling software; Cost improve the integration between time management and cost management software; Scope improve the capture of as-built information and the management of warranty and operation and maintenance information; Quality capture and categorize rework and nonconforming work; Materials implement materials tracking and on-site management; and Information and Communication implement processes to assess the performance of information and communication processes and use structured forms for information capture. The study built on previous work and extended it with respect to gaining insight on practices from the perspectives of the level of implementation and the consistency with which a practice is employed. To further extend this work, partnerships are being developed with national industry organizations to broaden the application of the assessment framework, thereby expanding the benchmarking dataset.

An exploration of image-based walk through technologies

Construction sites contain vast amounts of information. Recent advances in image-based visualization techniques enable monitoring construction progress using interactive and visual approaches. Photographs capture construction information in great detail while allowing the user to absorb as much information as they need. Construction as-built images captures great detail yet excludes portions of the site which may become of interest to the project participants. To overcome limitations of existing imagebased monitoring techniques, this research focuses on an image-based virtual walk-through visualization approach to monitor construction sites. The use of a 3D model to create a virtual walk-through enables a comprehensive record and delivers the information in an intuitive manner. A pilot study is conducted to create several as-built 3D models from construction photographs. Then these 3D models are visualized in a 3D walk-through model. Within such an environment, the as-built construction objects are visualized to generate the status of construction progress. The study shows that this 3D image-based walk-through system introduces an advanced model that enables the user to have a realistic understanding of the construction site.

Multimodal technology for municipal inspections: an evaluation framework

Our paper discusses research on using multimodal interaction to improve usability of mobile data entry. This can benefit users of mobile technologies such as mobile workers, construction crews, and students collecting data during field trips. The evaluation of a mobile multimodal application for construction field work was conducted in the laboratory. Designing this laboratory experiment required a detailed definition of the type of device to be used, user requirements, including interaction techniques and usage context. During this work we discovered a need to develop a generic evaluation framework to assist in the selection of mobile technology and interaction techniques for further testing. The development of such a framework for municipal inspections with a focus on field inspections is discussed. This paper presents examples of using our framework to gain a better understanding of the contextual aspects influencing the feasibility of using mobile technology in the field.

Methodology for Selecting Features of Mobile Technology for Municipal Inspections

Inspections are inherent in many steps throughout the management life cycle of municipal infrastructure. Mobile technology has the potential to improve information capture and management for inspections allowing for easier access, review, and increased detail. A plethora of possible technology solutions do exist but with few comprehensive techniques available to industry for adoption and implementation assessment. This research projects primary deliverable was the development of a method for selecting various technology features for a given inspection type with a medium-sized municipalitys information technology division serving as the research client. Six different infrastructure inspections, encompassing extensive contextual aspects and user requirements, were used in the development of an analysis framework. The framework, comprised of elements that segregate inspections into generic steps and corresponding information and data requirements, placed an emphasis on the contextual aspects that may influence the applicability of technology. The results are intended as input for formal usability evaluations to validate functional requirements.