To recover from the construction crisis, major French construction firms started developing 'package building' strategies at the beginning of the 1990s. Today, their desire to open up continues, but they have also shown renewed interest in the management of construction site activities and...

Some contractor selection methods currently in existence are criticized as incomplete and biased, and lacking consideration in terms of the contractor's ability to achieve simultaneously, time, cost, quality and safety standards. This research examines an alternative contractor selection model...

One of the major methods of managing construction risks in the Nigerian construction industry is the insurance method. On the basis of data from some selected construction sites in Nigeria, this paper evaluates the effectiveness of the method. Also it identifies, through a questionnaire survey,...

With mandatory implementation of the ISO 9000 quality system by the Housing Authority in Hong Kong, most construction firms there now claim to have initiated quality systems in their processes as defined in their quality manuals. In addition, an objective quality measuring yardstick, the...

The Electre III model may be considered as a decision-aid technique suited to the appraisal of complex civil/structural engineering projects. This conclusion is based on an assessment that the model permits a general ordering of alternatives, even when individual pairs of options remain...

A range of property and construction options is analysed using standard life-cycle costing methodology. The options are to renovate the existing building, buy an alternative building and renovate, and buy a development site and construct a new building. The do-nothing option and a hypothetical...

High shoring towers, the common shoring solution for high clearance construction, cause the entire formwork system to account for a remarkably high percentage of the cost of the constructed concrete element. However, data on work inputs in assembly and disassembly of high towers are scarce, and...

The bridging of different research disciplines such as computer modelling and design practice requires full understanding of both. Privileging one area of investigation while simplifying the other is not a feasible option. This approach is likely to produce work that scarcely reflects the actual...

The financial success or otherwise of a maintenance strategy can be determined realistically only when actual costs are compared with target 'predicted' values. This is because, in the absence of accurate cost control mechanisms, maintenance expenditure can exceed capital cost. In order to...

Many construction organizations have misunderstood the reality that total quality management (TQM) based on continuous improvement requires a commitment to learning and that essentially it is the means to a learning organization. The paper argues that if the construction industry is to improve...