Mohamed H. Issa

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 methodology to evaluate the effects of school buildings' occupancy and usage on their energy consumption

Buildings contribute 20 to 40% of the world’s energy consumption, making the need to regulate and minimize their energy use a priority. Although several parameters can have an impact on buildings’ energy use, the impact of buildings’ occupancy and usage seems to have been rarely investigated in the literature. This paper presents a methodology for the detailed assessment of building occupancy and usage, focusing on school buildings specifically. The methodology is part of an ongoing study aiming to evaluate the effects of school buildings’ occupancy and usage on their energy consumption, focusing on Manitoba school buildings. It is being conducted by the University of Manitoba Construction Engineering and Management Group in collaboration with the Government of Manitoba Public Schools Finance Board and Manitoba Hydro’s Customer Engineering Department. An extensive literature review was carried out to identify relevant methods used to evaluate occupants’ behaviour and energy use. The review showed how the few studies that have developed such methods focused on commercial or residential buildings, with little emphasis on school buildings specifically. The methodology and study aim to investigate overall building occupancy, as well as real-time usage of specific indoor spaces using surveys, interviews, visual observations and document analysis. The methodology focuses on 1) comparing building occupancy and usage across old, middle-aged, and new green schools 2) evaluating the effects of overall building occupancy on overall energy consumption, and 3) evaluating the effects of occupants’ behaviour and usage on space-level electricity consumption. It complements a previously developed methodology aiming to evaluate historical energy data and real-time electricity consumption in specific school spaces. The two methodologies will be validated by applying them at the building level to a sample of thirty-one schools in Manitoba and at the space-level to three representative schools. Once complete, the study is expected to provide a tool that researchers and industry practitioners can use to improve their schools’ energy efficiency and thus improve their schools’ design, construction, operation and maintenance.

Differences in teachers’ satisfaction with indoor environmental quality and their well-being in new, renovated and non-renovated schools

Most studies on buildings’ renovations in relation to indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and occupants’ well-being have focused on offices, while those investigating schools focused on students rather than teachers. Most of these studies limited their assessment of well-being to occupants’ satisfaction with IEQ factors, overlooking essential aspects related to psychological, social and physical well-being. This article presents results of a research conducted in 32 schools in Manitoba, Canada, to assess teachers’ IEQ satisfaction and well-being in new, renovated and non-renovated schools. The research involved adapting and refining an IEQ satisfaction survey and developing and refining three new surveys to assess teachers’ psychological, social and physical well-being. The results of the refined surveys showed statistically significant differences in teachers’ satisfaction with IEQ factors between the new and renovated schools on one hand and the non-renovated ones on the other. However, no statistically significant differences were found in teachers’ psychological, social and physical well-being perceptions between all pairs of the three school categories analysed. Association analyses suggested a potential indirect impact of schools’ renovations on teachers’ well-being via their satisfaction with IEQ. The results of this study should aid school managers in making strategic decisions about the maintenance of their existing schools.

Development and validation of disability management indicators for the construction industry

Purpose Support at the organizational and managerial levels defines the degree to which construction workplaces can accommodate disabled and injured workers. There is little empirical evidence about the indicators and practices that can be used by construction organizations to evaluate disability management (DM). This paper aims to develop and validate key indicators and practices of disability/injury management within construction. Design/methodology/approach To achieve this, the research used a two-phase sequential exploratory review of literature, followed by a quantitative phase, using analytic hierarchy process. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) involved recruiting eight health and safety and DM experts to conduct pairwise comparisons of these indicators. Findings The results found return-to-work and disability and injury management practices to be the most important indicators and physical accessibility and claims management practices to be the least important. Practical implications The development of these indicators should help construction organizations develop DM programs that better meet their needs, and benchmark and improve related performance. Social implications The results could also be useful for all stakeholders in general and decision makers in particular involved within construction. Originality/value Such prioritization helps organizations to prioritize their DM practices thereby optimizing performance.

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.

A model to evaluate the maturity of construction organization disability management practices

Evidence exists as to what constitutes successful disability management (DM), with many describing recent upsurge in the area as a major paradigm shift. Despite the benefits of return-to-work (RTW) programs in reducing costs and improving workplace morale, many workplaces appear unwilling or unable to develop and implement successful RTW programs. A review of the literature reveals a lack of coherent theoretical frameworks for implementing DM. This paper presents a model developed to assess the maturity of DM practices in construction organizations. The model is part of an overall research project aiming to evaluate DM in the Manitoban construction industry and its relation to health and safety performance. This project is conducted by the University of Manitoba Construction Engineering and Management Group and funded by the Workers’ Compensation Board of Manitoba. The proposed model is based on existing construction industry maturity models and the concept of process improvement and relies on leading and lagging indicators of performance at the organizational level, thus enabling a thorough evaluation of it. Once validated, the model should help construction organizations evaluate their DM practices against best practices, identify and address areas where improvements are needed, and assess and benchmark DM performance on a regular basis, thus providing a framework to guide the advancement of DM. Similarly, the model can be used by Worker’s Compensation Boards, safety associations and other regulatory bodies across Canada and elsewhere for auditing purposes.