Digital Commons Network^™

Implementing Green Construction To Increase Competitiveness: A Case Of The Indonesian Local Construction Industry, Debby Willar, Bambang Trigunarsyah, Steve Supit, Novatus Senduk

CIB Conferences

A large amount of solid concrete waste construction results in enormous waste for construction projects and is a severe source of landfill pollution. Indonesian contractors have made several efforts to overcome this problem; however, they have yet to represent local contractors. Research in construction waste management has been conducted, which provides a breakthrough for local construction companies to implement green construction and increase their business performance and social responsibility. First, this paper reviews the weaknesses, needs, and possible improvements for the local construction companies to manage construction waste by implementing green construction. Second, it introduces a digital concrete crusher (DCC). …

Sustainable Healthy Communities: The Contested Role Of ‘Region’ In The Housing Development Sector, Graeme D. Larsen Dr, Ange Lee, Megi Zala

CIB Conferences

The English housing development sector is frequently described as being in a state of crisis, presenting challenges for a range of stakeholders. The research is tensioned against structural shifts in the housing development sector, with an agglomeration of a handful of large housing developers shaping the narrative, set against the decline of regional SMEs developers. The aim is to unpack the prevailing discourse and the common reductionist metric of ‘units’ built, in order to reintroduce notions of regionalism, place and sustainable healthy community into the debate. Central to this is unpacking what is meant by ‘region’ or ‘regional’. Contemporary perspectives …

Decentralising Flow Conversations: Improving Productivity Through Collaboration With Site Operatives, Emmanuel Manu, Ani Raiden, Emamode Eyituoyo Akwerigbe

CIB Conferences

Low productivity remains a persistent challenge in the construction industry, often stemming from fragmented workflows, poor integration, and collaboration across the supply chain. This study aimed to investigate how site operatives can be actively engaged in identifying and resolving constraints to site workflow through a structured collaborative practice using the eight-flow model as a framework. The study adopts an Ethnographic Action Research (EAR) methodology, encompassing three iterative stages—observation, action, and reflection. EAR was applied through 3 rounds of workshops with 30 site operatives on a live construction site in the UK focusing on collaborative risk management using a flow activity. …

Social Life Cycle Assessment In Construction: A Bibliometric Analysis, Belal Neazi, Sara Torabi Moghadam, Patrizia Lombardi

CIB Conferences

Urbanisation leads to the expansion of urban areas, which needs vigorous support from the construction sector for infrastructure development. While this sector is a contributor to job creation and economic development, it is also a major consumer of energy and greenhouse gas emissions, which emphasises its need for sustainable development. Achieving complete sustainable development involves an integration of social dimensions as well, which is often neglected in conventional Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Despite the recent development of S-LCA guidelines, research output remains limited compared to traditional LCA. This study aims to analyse research trends, patterns, and impacts of the Social …

Sustainability In Construction Projects During Budgetary Restrictions: A Case From Norwegian Higher Education, Truls-Petter Tofting Mr., Nora Johanne Klungseth, Renate Holiloekk

CIB Conferences

This paper supports practitioners in achieving their sustainability ambitions when budgets are constrained. Sustainability is high on the agenda in research, practice, and governments, and a necessary requirement for us to turn around the climate change challenges we currently are facing. A successful change requires solid evaluation of the contributions to society, economy, and the environment. Growing evidence supports the idea that sustainability enables economic growth. Advancements in technological solutions ensure that organizations can transform their impact on climate-harming actions in positive ways, reducing their CO₂ emissions. In this paper, we analyze a construction project in a higher education …

Reducing Embodied Carbon Emissions Of High-Rise Concrete Modular Buildings Leveraging Lightweight Module Design, Siwei Chen Mr, Yang Zhang, Wei Pan

CIB Conferences

To reduce embodied carbon (EC) emissions from the construction industry, promoting modular buildings, especially for highly populated regions, is of crucial importance. Nonetheless, the heavyweights of concrete modules have been reported to lead to a series of logistical problems in manufacturing, transportation, and hoisting. On the other hand, the double-panel issues in modular buildings posed concerns related to inefficient material usage, thus leading to potential EC increments. This paper aims to adopt the practical and idealized parametric lightweight designs of modules to estimate the EC reductions throughout the cradle-to-end-of-construction stages. Two types of lightweight module designs, i.e., dematerialized module and …

Developing Sustainability-Focused Competencies In Civil Engineering Technology Students, Amanda Bao, Yewande S. Abraham, Satyanarayana Raju Penmatsa

CIB Conferences

As the world tackles climate change impacts, studies have shown a growing gap in green skills and green talent, emphasizing the need for higher education curricula to be aligned with sustainability goals to prepare students to address and mitigate these impacts. Consequently, there is a critical need to enhance sustainability education to equip the future engineering workforce with the knowledge and skills necessary to tackle these challenges and combat the adverse effects of climate change. By enhancing sustainability education, we can better prepare future engineers to lead the charge in creating a more sustainable and resilient world, especially considering the …

Smart Building Retrofitting Acceptance Model (Sbram): A New Angle Of Optimizing Smart Retrofitting Of Aged Residential Buildings, Fan Zhang, Yixin Tong, Yibo Qiang, Tiantian Gu, Hao Wu, Linyan Chen, Albert P.C. Chan

CIB Conferences

As society and techniques develop rapidly, people raise higher requirements for urban buildings where they live and work. Urban buildings should not only provide suitable space for kinds of activities, but also ensure occupants’ security and health, respond to the changing environments, and provide a better living environment for occupants. In order to improve age residential buildings, smart building retrofitting solutions are widely adopted, such as automatic control of indoor environment, activity detection, health monitoring, smart energy optimization, and other solutions based on IoT, digital twin, computer vision, and other techniques. Even lots of smart building retrofitting solutions have been …

A Case Study On The Revitalization Of A Hospital Building : Toward Open Building Of Existing Buildings, Leo Tanishige, Shigeru Aoki

CIB Conferences

Japan's rapidly aging and shrinking population has resulted in an increasing number of hospital facilities that do not meet today's demands. In order to cope with the rapidly changing healthcare environment in Japan, it is adequate to utilize and renovate existing hospital buildings. This study focuses on the “Refining Architecture” method, abbreviated as “RA” in this paper, which is a drastic renovation of existing buildings through seismic retrofitting, legalization, interior and exterior renovation, and plan and design changes. The process and method of investigation and renovation of existing buildings in RA are clarified using the Hospital project W, which was …

Ontology-Based Assembly Sequence Planning Optimization In Modular Integrated Construction Manufacturing, Zhongze Yang, Weisheng Lu

CIB Conferences

Modular integrated construction (MiC) is recognized as an innovative approach that can help increase productivity in the construction industry. The manufacturing phase of a MiC project plays a significant role in production time, cost, and quality. An interesting observation is that the current production process in MiC factories still follows a similar and long-established construction paradigm and doesn’t enjoy the factory setup. A question is raised for MiC manufacturing whether the assembly sequence can be optimized or even revolutionized to embrace robotics and automation. This paper proposes an ontology-based assembly sequence planning optimization in MiC manufacturing to discuss the possible …

Robotic Teleoperation Of Construction Machinery: Technologies, Applications, And Future Directions, Songbo Hu, Yihai Fang, Yingbin Feng, Tanghan Jiang

CIB Conferences

Robotic teleoperation of construction machinery effectively separates operators from hazardous environments, greatly enhancing safety for tasks in challenging working conditions such as earthmoving. Furthermore, by utilising advanced technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), automated hazard recognition, Mixed Reality (MR), and robotics, it facilitates a more thorough capture of reality, immersive and augmented visualisations, and refined control precision. Consequently, robotic teleoperation is swiftly gaining prominence in the construction industry, and the considerable development of teleoperation systems over recent decades, featured by a growing diversity of incoporated technologies, necessities a comprehensive review. Thus, this review paper delves into the deployment …

A Comparison Of 1d And 2d Hygrothermal Simulation Results For The Evaluation Of The Moisture Performance Of Wood Frame Wall Assemblies, Zhe Xiao, Maurice Defo, Lin Wang, Michael A. Lacasse

CIB Conferences

The moisture behavior of wood-frame wall assemblies is typically assessed using hygrothermal simulations, which can be conducted in either 1D or 2D models, each, respectively, incorporating varying levels of detail regarding the simulated subjects. The 2D simulation offers a more detailed representation of real-world scenarios. Consequently, discrepancies often exist between the results of 1D and 2D simulations in many scenarios. Meanwhile, the 2D simulation demands significantly more computing resources, which may impact the feasibility of certain analyses. For instance, investigating the effects of climate change on building envelope moisture performance includes considering numerous variables such as climate scenarios, wall assembly …

Examining The Impact Of Socio-Economic Factors On Residential Water Use In An Aquifer-Based Urban Environment, Assessing Urban Hydrology: A Case Study Of Four Communities In Alachua County, Florida, Shirley N. Tandoh, Robert J. Ries, Jian Xiaoxun

CIB Conferences

One of the key challenges to urban development is balancing water demand with availability, particularly in rapidly growing populations, which is central to the United Nations' sustainable development goals. In aquifer-dependent water delivery systems, addressing water shortages requires a focus on urban hydrology, preserving groundwater levels, and understanding the interactions within the water cycle. Additionally, socio-economic dynamics significantly impact water use and must be considered in this balance.

This study developed a GIS-based Python simulation to assess the water cycle components using an urban water balance model. The simulation examined land use changes and cultural factors affecting water use, including …

Strategic Development For The Introduction Of A Holistic Sustainable Building Design Course In Construction Engineering Curricula, Geoff Graff

CIB Conferences

Training the future construction engineering workforce would benefit from an increased familiarity with sustainable building design. Given limits on total credits and accreditation requirements, engineering curricula often emphasize specialized content at the cost of essential context and connection between the range of systems and professional roles involved in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. Here, we explore how development of a building technology and design course addresses the unmet need. The subject class leverages the benefits of guiding students through an iterative design process to confront the challenges of, and synergies between, the multiple building systems present in contemporary …

A Review Of Passive Building Research: Energy Performance Influencing Factors, Research Trends And Future Directions, Patrick X.W. Zou, Hui Tian, Ji Bian, Xiaoxiao Xu, Linna Geng

CIB Conferences

The building sector accounts for one-third of the global energy consumption, making it a critical focus for energy efficiency initiatives. To reduce building energy consumption, various technologies have been developed and implemented, and among them, passive building technology has been viewed as effective. However, the development and application of passive building technology faces challenges due to different climate zones, different geographical locations and different social-cultural-technological contexts. Systematically reviewing existing research and analyzing its adaptability and challenges under varying climatic conditions, locations and contexts is important for advancing passive building technology. This study provides a comprehensive review of research progress, over …

Practical Challenges In Assessing Embodied Carbon And Cost Trade-Offs In The Design Phase: Insights From A Residential Building Project, Giulia Scagliotti, Martin Fischer

CIB Conferences

Environmental sustainability has become a core value for many companies in the construction industry. However, while methodologies and tools for carbon accounting are available, design decisions are still primarily driven by cost rather than carbon considerations. One reason for this lies in the timing and availability of data. Cost estimates are collected early and refined throughout the design phase, which supports decision-making. In contrast, carbon data is often unavailable or difficult to gather, rarely updated, and collected late when most design decisions have already been finalized. This misalignment poses practical challenges to effectively integrating carbon and cost assessments into the …

A Novel Approach To Delivering Superabsorbent Polymers For Internal Curing Of Concrete, Chibueze Sylvester Ajuonuma, Raikhan Tokpatayeva, Jan Olek, Kendra A. Erk

CIB Conferences

This study investigates feasibility of incorporating dry superabsorbent polymer (SAP) particles as internal curing agents in concrete utilizing two delivery methods: direct addition of the particles and addition of the particles encapsulated in dissolvable bags. The use of dissolvable bags provides a practical method of storing, handling, and dosing pre-measured amounts of dry SAP particles into cementitious mixtures. Concrete specimens containing SAPs were prepared using both methods, and their properties were evaluated through compressive strength tests at 3, 7, and 28 days, flexural strength tests, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) measurements, and dynamic elastic and shear modulus determinations. Results indicate that …

Future Perspectives On Enhancing The Delivery Of Construction Projects Based On Bim Technology, Hosam Hegazy, Meta Soy, Jiansong Zhang

CIB Conferences

Recently, the construction industry stakeholders in developed and developing countries have been utilizing advanced technologies such as building information modeling (BIM) to help with the delivery of construction projects. This study aims to provide a future perspective on enhancing project delivery using BIM. In this paper, the authors explore the role of BIM in the delivery of a construction project throughout its lifecycle. This paper highlights the findings and benefits of BIM to explore BIM's future use perspectives in the construction industry. Survey result indicates that the BIM applications are still limited, and further efforts are needed to improve its …

Automated Detection For Alignment Of Modular Integrated Construction Modules Using Yolov9, Sulemana Fatoama Abdulai, Tarek Zayed Professor, Abdul-Mugis Yussif, Ridwan Taiwo, Mohamed Sherif Abdallah Ebnsallam Elrifaee, Muhammad Muddassir Dr.

CIB Conferences

Modular Integrated Construction (MiC) represents an innovative approach in the construction industry, where building components are manufactured off-site and assembled on-site, offering enhanced quality control and reduced construction time. While computer vision technologies have advanced significantly in construction applications, the precise alignment of MiC modules during installation remains challenging, with traditional manual methods being time-consuming and error prone. This study develops an automated detection system using a modified YOLOv9 architecture to enhance the precision and efficiency of MiC module alignment. The research employed a three-stage methodology comprising literature analysis, data acquisition of 5,000 images, and model development implemented on a …

Geospatial Analysis Of China’S Overseas Development Finance (Codf) Projects With Protected Areas In Africa, Suyash Padhye, Jenan Almullaali, Makarand Hastak

CIB Conferences

Global infrastructure development is booming given the rise in various bilateral and multilateral infrastructure investment initiatives, like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment (PGII). These investments have covered various sectors such as transportation (road, rail, airports, ports) and energy (fossil fuels, renewables) that are expected to facilitate trade and connectivity between countries. The sub-Saharan Africa constitutes the majority of these development finance-based infrastructure projects (44 out of 149 participating BRI countries are in the sub-Saharan Africa). However, no previous study has explicitly focused on investigating the extent of the overlap between these …

Computing Infiltration For Sewer Asset Management, David Devine, Philip S. Dunston

CIB Conferences

Sanitary sewer flows are greatly impacted by infiltration and inflow (I&I), which is water that enters the sewer but is not wastewater. The presence of increased wastewater flows due to I&I increases costs to wastewater utilities and ultimately the public as well as causes detrimental impact to the environment. Water measurement techniques, both from water distribution systems and also from wastewater collection systems, available now, allow near real time data collection that has not been possible in the past. The potential to measure, for a well-defined system, water into the sewer system from a water distribution network and water out …

Concept Development Of Framework For Workplace Violence Prevention Through Building Components Modifications In Hospitals, Ali Mahmoudi, Gabriel Castelblanco

CIB Conferences

Workplace Violence (WPV) is a pervasive issue in healthcare systems worldwide, which significantly impacts the wellbeing of healthcare personnel and the efficiency of care delivery systems. This study aims to review the relationship between the influence of the physical environment attributes and the WPV risk mitigation within general service hospitals and academic medical centers to develop a preventive concept. The review focuses on the physical attributes of hospitals that contribute to creating safe and resilient environments for staff and patients. The conducted review included 22 out of 116 studies after full-text review. The synthesized findings were used to cluster the …

Provincial Carbon Inequality In China’S Construction Industry, Wenqing Han, Dezhi Li

CIB Conferences

The construction industry is a significant contributor to global environmental pressures, China, with its vast construction market, has pledged to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. However, provincial disparities in China, including economic structure, urbanization rates, and resource endowments, have led to carbon transfers and carbon leakage, exacerbating provincial carbon inequality and complicate the implementation of effective carbon reduction strategies. Using data from 2011-2020, this study analyses the spatiotemporal characteristics of CO2 emissions and value added in China’s construction industry and identifies driving factors contributing to regional disparities. Theil index is adopted to measure provincial …

Neo4j-Powered Workflow For Lifecycle Carbon Management: The Ntu Campus Case Study, Chien-Pu Huang, Shang-Hsien Hsieh

CIB Conferences

This research presents a groundbreaking automated workflow for lifecycle carbon emissions assessment, seamlessly integrating Building Information Modeling (BIM), Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Internet of Things (IoT) data into a unified framework. Addressing the complexities of carbon management in the construction sector, the workflow leverages Python to automate the Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) process and Neo4j for dynamic visualization and analysis. By streamlining data processing, the methodology achieves up to 80% reduction in processing time compared to traditional methods, significantly enhancing accuracy and efficiency. A case study at NTU campus validates the workflow's robustness and practical utility, identifying critical emission hotspots and …

Energy: From Efficiency To Sufficiency, Laura Almeida Dr

CIB Conferences

Energy sufficiency emerges as the next step in driving sustainable developments to carbon neutrality. Energy is an existential component of modern societies subjected to geopolitical influences, resource availability, and type. The paradigm shift to fully electric societies and rapid urbanization calls for rethinking the roadmap to Net Zero. This paper explores energy sufficiency as complementary to efficiency and its integration within Net Zero. It intends to answer questions such as whether efficiency is enough to face the increasing demand for energy, renewable resources and reliable storage systems. Moreover, the paper briefly addresses the human impact on energy and questions how …

Estimation Of Cost Impact Of Risk Of Injury From Construction Accidents Using Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network Architecture, Based On Parts Of The Body Affected, Nuru Gambo, Musonda Innocent, Hamza Hussain

CIB Conferences

Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are increasingly being used to analyse occupational accidents related to construction projects to inform project stakeholders about the effects of accidents on project costs. Thus, this study used Long, Short-Term Neural Network Architecture (LSTM) to develop a model for predicting the cost of construction-related occupational accidents based on the body parts affected. Pycharm Community 2020.1.2 (using Python 3.9.6) was used for the experiment and analysis, in this experimental study. The findings effectively showed that the suggested LSTM model's prediction performance, with a training and testing ratio of 90:10, was determined to have a mean square error …

Self-Supervised Learning Framework For Automated Material Grouping Of Demolition Waste: Advancing Sustainable Waste Management, Ahmad Alshami, Juyeong Choi

CIB Conferences

The construction and demolition (C&D) sector generates significant waste, necessitating efficient sorting and recycling to promote sustainable waste management. Traditional sorting methods in C&D waste management often depend on manual processes, which are labor-intensive and prone to errors, thus limiting recycling efficiency. While automated sorting systems have been introduced, they face challenges with the complex, heterogeneous nature of C&D debris and require large datasets that are manually labeled—meaning every image must be tagged with material types by experts—for training. This study addresses this gap by developing a self-supervised learning framework that reduces reliance on labeled data for effective feature extraction …

Computer Vision-Based Yolo11 For Automated Damage Assessment Of Public Building Roofs Supporting Maintenance Management, Alisson Souza Silva, Walisson Santos Oliveira, Pedro Afonso Vieira Fernandes Braga, Luara Lopes De Araujo Fernandes, Dayana Bastos Costa

CIB Conferences

Maintenance Management (MM) of aging buildings is a critical challenge due to complex maintenance operations and limited resources. Digital technologies, such as Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), have improved inspection efficiency and accuracy, while Artificial Intelligence (AI) enhances the reliability of automated analysis of UAS data. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding operational methods and systems that effectively integrate these technologies to provide timely, actionable information for decision-making. Moreover, there is a lack of studies integrating multiple damage classes and roof typologies for automated roof inspections across diverse scenarios. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the application of …

Investigating Heart Rate Responses To Different Speaking Behaviours Under Different Thermal Sensations, Xuange Zhang, Minhyun Lee, Nyme Mohammad Uddin, Junjiang Luo

CIB Conferences

This study examines the effects of different speaking behaviors—Silent, Speech, and Conversation—on heart rate (HR) under varying thermal sensation (TS) levels. The research investigates how HR responds to the interaction of behaviors and thermal conditions, using statistical analyses and polynomial regression to identify trends and patterns. The results show distinct HR responses across the three behaviors, with Silent exhibiting the most stable and consistent patterns, Speech showing the highest variability, and Conversation displaying intermediate responses. These findings highlight the dynamic interplay between speaking behaviors and thermal environments, demonstrating that behaviors like Speech and Conversation can influence physiological responses differently depending …

Critical Assets And Value Networks In Resilient Innovation Ecosystems In The Eu Outermost Regions, Oliver Schwabe, Eduardo Leite, Juan Diego Lopez, Khalid Addi, Nuno Almeida

CIB Conferences

The authors share key insights gained regarding the effective management of critical assets in Resilient Innovation Ecosystems (RIEs) in the EU Outermost Regions (OR) through a program to “Discover, Incubate, and Accelerate Start-ups and SMEs” (DIAS) applied to 22 Start-Ups and SMEs in the Azores, Canaries, La Réunion and Madeira in the EU funded project “Innovation Capacity Building for Higher Education in Europe’s Outermost Regions” (INCORE) project.

DIAS is an experimental inductive case-study based research approach using Qualitative Comparative Analysis for assessment based on Diffusion of Innovation, Value Network Analysis and Knowledge Diffusion concepts. It is used to determine when …