Decisions made during the briefing and conceptual design stages of a building project are critical to its success. One of the earliest major decisions which can have a significant effect on downstream events and results is the selection of the structural frame. Given its importance to the...

Searching for new ways to be competitive in an increasingly deregulated market, energy suppliers worldwide have turned to energy conservation measures (ECMs) to avoid costly generation expansion, to build relationships with consumers and to comply with new international emissions standards. To...

From a construction perspective, Public-Private Partnership projects (PPPs) are often credited as providing real incentives for the actors involved as well as a business environment that is conducive to innovation and improved practices. The validity of four common rhetorical arguments used to...

The real tests for technology transfer are whether such transfers have contributed significantly to the vibrant development of the recipient industry. Technology transfer (TT) process that is knowledge driven demands a recipient industry with adequate capacity for absorbing new knowledge....

Neo-classical microeconomic theory has been suggested to offer (1) an appropriate analytical tool for construction price determination while, at the same time, (2) full-cost pricing is most commonly accepted pricing policy of construction firms. Paradoxically, however, both are mutually...

During the last decade, sustainable development issues have been gradually adopted in Greece's construction industry, changing the traditional methods and technology. The aim of this investigation is to identify potential drivers of change, to position them properly in the wider context of...

The literature on middle managers tends to portray their role in rather negative terms. Middle managers are here stuck in between superiors and subordinates, with few opportunities for determining their work situation. In the construction industry, site managers play a role similar to that of...

With notably few exceptions, bidding models contain probability distributions with parameters that are assumed to be fixed, or stationary, over time. Some methods of testing the tenability of this assumption are examined and applied to eight datasets. Of particular interest is the statistical...

In financial decision-making, a number of mathematical models have been developed for financial management in construction. However, optimizing both qualitative and quantitative factors and the semi-structured nature of construction finance optimization problems are key challenges in solving...

In addition to the earnings, costs determine the commercial success of real estate investments. The discussion in the German-speaking region focuses on occupancy costs and their planning. When planning, the occupancy costs must be determined early, continually monitored, and controlled if...