Patrick T.I. Lam

Factors affecting the implementation of green specifications in construction

Green specifications constitute one of the important elements in green construction. New sustainability requirements and changing priorities in construction management have spurred the emerging green specifications to a faster pace of development. A cross-sectional survey has been conducted in Hong Kong in 2007 to identify principal factors leading to the success of preparing green specifications. Based on extensive construction management literature, 20 variables concerning sustainable construction were summarized. Using the Mann-Whitney U-test, the subtle differences between stakeholders in specifying construction work have been detected even with the high consistency of the responses among the groups. Moreover, five independent factors for successful specification of green construction have been categorized by factor analysis. They are related to (1) green technology and techniques, (2) reliability and quality of specification, (3) leadership and responsibility, (4) stakeholder involvement, and (5) guide and benchmarking systems. Whilst the first and fourth factors are generally more important, different stakeholder groups have different emphases. The results of the survey have been validated against established principles.

A sectoral review of risks associated with major infrastructure projects

Abstract Infrastructure developments in sectors such as power, transport, telecommunication and process plants are undertaken in many parts of the world using either the conventional public-funded approach or some forms of privatised approach. Irrespective of the sources of funding, it is imperative to identify and understand the impact of the inherent risks in order to formulate appropriate risk management strategies to cope with them. Since a number of these projects have run into daunting risks resulting in their cancellation, serious delay and cost overruns, this paper attempts to draw lessons from them.

Environmental management system vs green specifications: How do they complement each other in the construction industry?

Environmental Management System (EMS) has been one of the important tools for sustainable construction for around two decades. However, many issues concerning sustainable development have not been properly addressed, and there is a need for the introduction of green specifications to advance green performance in construction through contract management. This paper defines green specifications, identifies the reasons for adopting green specifications and highlights the environmental issues that may not be addressed by solely adopting EMS. It also presents the results of a recent survey of practitioners concerning their opinions towards green specifications and possible impacts arising from their adoption. From the results of the survey, a framework for developing green specifications is deemed valuable for the cities striving for sustainability. Interestingly, the level of acceptable changes brought about by green specifications as perceived by different industry stakeholders is found to be unrelated to whether they were from organizations implementing EMS or not.

A sustainable framework of “green” specification for construction in Hong Kong

Purpose – A specification can be an effective contractual tool to help achieve green construction. In Hong Kong, a multifarious specification arrangement exists in the construction industry, despite progress being made in the public and private organizations towards green practice. The purpose of this paper is to propose a green specification framework by modeling after established green specification systems.Design/methodology/approach – Three sample work sections of green specification have been prepared for concrete, paint and lighting to represent structural, architectural and building services trades, with which a series of interviews with construction stakeholders was conducted. Assisted by a structured questionnaire, the time, cost, quality and liability implications of the proposed framework were studied.Findings – Apart from minor additional cost, time and liability impacts, which would level off with increasing use of green products and practice, the quality of construction is perceived to be go...

A comparative study of buildability perspectives between clients, consultants and contractors

Purpose – This paper aims to highlight the similarities and differences in the buildability perspectives held by the client and the design team (collectively known as the design decision‐making group) and the contractor (known as the execution group).Design/methodology/approach – Buildability attributes were identified through a questionnaire survey, followed by factor analysis to consolidate them into nine buildability factors. These were then presented to 31 construction experts (comprising clients, consultants and contractors), who ranked the buildability factors in association with common construction systems using the analytical hierarchy process.Findings – Whilst the consensus was on “enabling design requirements to be easily visualised and co‐ordinated by site staff” to make designs buildable, clients and design teams differed from contractors in perspectives such as overcoming site restrictions, achieving standardisation and flexibility. When applied to construction systems, clients and design tea...

Achieving sustainable building maintenance through optimizing life-cycle carbon, cost, and labor: Case in Hong Kong

AbstractThe need to maintain an ever-increasing building stock especially in developed economies is growing. This study provides a computational framework to find the optimal solution for sustainable building maintenance. The methodology is composed of two major steps. First, the authors evaluate the life-cycle carbon emission, cost, and labor requirements of a project, which embody important environmental, economic, and social aspects of sustainable building maintenance. Second, the authors develop an optimization model to identify the optimal portfolio of materials that would minimize three sustainability objectives including carbon emission, cost, and labor deployment in their respective turns one at a time. By testing the model with seven scenarios in a case study, the authors demonstrate how this typical case project could significantly improve its sustainability objectives from environmental, economic, and social perspectives. This optimization methodology is generic. It can be readily applied to ot...

Building features and site‐specific factors affecting buildability in Hong Kong

Purpose – Buildability is concerned with enhancing building designs to achieve ease of construction. Adapting from the Buildable Design Appraisal System in Singapore, a tailored‐made Buildability Assessment Model (BAM), which scores buildability of building designs, has been devised for use in Hong Kong. In developing the BAM, local factors and terrain characteristics, e.g. highly constrained and sloping site conditions, which are common features besetting the industry, are particularly considered. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to report on the effects of building sites on buildability.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire survey with 39 valid responses was administered on construction practitioners, aimed at understanding the relative buildability importance of a number of building features and site‐specific factors in Hong Kong. Analysis was carried out using the relative importance index method.Findings – It is found that the most important buildability considerations for building fe...

Critical success factors for bond financing of construction projects in Asia

Although bonds have been commonly used for financing construction works in developed countries such as the United States, Asian governments would like to see their construction growth increasingly funded by alternative sources such as the capital market, instead of overrelying on bank loans. Yet even in relatively active markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore, the use of bond financing for infrastructure development is limited. In a recent study based on two questionnaire surveys with subsequent interviews about retail and institutional investors, results demonstrated that credit risk was a major concern and that deterrents include lack of bond market information, illiquidity of domestic bonds, and the reliability of external credit ratings. Institutional investors, however, welcome infrastructure bonds because of the stable income stream matching their long-term commitments. To address these practical concerns, we have proposed credit and liquidity enhancement measures in this paper as the critical succ...

Employing the Net Present Value-Consistent IRR Methods for PFI Contracts

The internal rate of return (IRR) is a common financial indicator for private finance initiative (PFI) projects. Due to the long and complicated cash flow nature of PFI projects, more plausible IRR techniques are necessary for appropriate project evaluation and ranking. However, not all the published articles researching on IRR techniques are reliable. Given the importance of computing the profitability of PFI projects, this paper is intended to introduce three reliable IRR methods, which are proven to be consistent with net present value. Examples are used to illustrate their utility. The paper is of high value as it guides industry’s practitioners to use proper IRR methods for selecting PFI projects. It also provides academic researchers a platform to explore more robust methods.

A scheme design buildability assessment model for building projects

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to depict the developmental process of a buildability assessment model for use at the scheme design stage of building projects, which have a priority requirement for functional performance rather than aesthetic performance.Design/methodology/approach – First, major decisions made at the scheme design stage of building projects were identified through pilot interviews and a questionnaire survey on designers. Second, these decisions were rated for their relative importance towards buildability through another questionnaire survey on contractors, analysed using the reliability interval method. Based on these results, a list of buildable and non‐buildable features and their impacts is compiled by interviewing major contractors. These findings were incorporated into a modified framework of buildability assessment for complete design, substituting information available at the scheme design stage. Validation was carried out using four sample projects and feedback from pract...