Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Arise (Certcoin)- Inspiring Demand For Sustainable Energy Skills, Barry Mcauley, Paul Mccormack, Andrew Hamilton, Eduardo Rebelo

Conference papers

The European AEC Sector now faces impending challenges over the next decade concerning escalating climate targets. To reach these targets, it vital that the green economy deliver a better-skilled workforce and develops new competencies and methods of working. Training in the domain of digital construction technologies and processes, such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), are now seen as essential upskilling vehicles that must be embraced if the sector is to transition towards a greener agenda. To assist in meeting these training needs a selection of partners from the BIM EPA will partake in the Horizon 2020 ARISE project, aiming to …

An Exploration Of Lean And Bim Synergies With A Focus On Smes In Construction, Barry Mcauley, Marina Andreou, Alan V. Hore, Avril Behan

Conference papers

Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) account for 99.7% of the Irish Construction Industry and contribute to 68% of all employment in the sector. These organisations now find themselves facing the challenge of returning to productive business post the Covid 19 shutdown. More than ever, SMEs must modernise and adapt their business models to embrace new ways of working, such as Lean Construction and Building Information Modelling (BIM), in the absence of clear business incentives. It has proved difficult to persuade SMEs to change their ways of working due to limited finances, internal resources and above all, the cultural shift required …

Digital Construction And Bim Research In Ireland 2016-2020, Barry Mcauley, Roger P. West, Alan V. Hore

Conference papers

As the construction industry opens up post pandemic, new and significant challenges will demand considerable expertise, not least in financial viability, solving the housing crisis and facing the very significant climate change pressures to make the industry less wasteful and less carbon intensive. This presents an excellent opportunity to further inculcate aspects of lean construction, particularly BIM into many aspects of construction not traditionally associated with digital construction, provided the necessary expertise is available and known to exist. Following a well-received recent conference paper summarising BIM-related research published by academics in Ireland’s higher education institutions in 2020, this paper will …

Improving The Sustainability Of The Built Environment By Training Its Workforce In More Efficient And Greener Ways Of Designing And Constructing Through The Horizon2020 Bimcert Project, Barry Mcauley, Avril Behan

Conference papers

The construction industry consumes up to 50% of mineral resources excavated from nature, generates about 33% of CO2 present in the atmosphere and is responsible for 40% of total global energy through both construction and operation of buildings. The realisation that current pervasive construction practices now face globalization, sustainability, and environmental concerns, as well as ever-changing legislation requirements and new skills needed for the information age has resulted in technologies such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) becoming a key enabler in navigating these barriers. To assist in overcoming these barriers, a number of funding initiatives have been put in place …

Centres Of Excellence And Roadmaps For Digital Transition: Lessons For Ireland’S Construction Industry, Barry Mcauley, Alan Hore, Roger West

Conference papers

Like most sectors in today’s working world, construction businesses are challenged to work in an increasingly digitised world with sophisticated demands from intelligent clients. So much has been written about the inefficiencies of the construction industry, its fragmentation, lack of collaboration, low margins, adversarial pricing, poor productivity, financial fragility, lack of research and development, poor industry image and relatively weak use of digital solutions. The Irish government recognises the importance of digital innovation to address many of the challenges the construction industry faces. With recent high profile reports of escalating spend on signature public sector projects and weak productivity performance …

An Investigation Into Current Procurement Strategies That Promote Collaboration Through Early Contractor Involvement With Regards To Their Suitability For Irish Public Work Projects, Barry Mcauley, Frederic Lefebvre

Conference papers

Previous research has established that multi-disciplinary collaboration will benefit a construction project throughout its lifecycle. While Lean Construction, Building Information Modelling (BIM), and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) can all be viewed as separate processes which add independent value to a project, they are more effective when used in partnership with each other. In order to ensure the high levels of collaboration expected for these processes to work in unison, the early involvement of the Contractor is paramount. Early contractor involvement within the design process can ensure a more focused integrated project team, improvement of both constructability and cost certainty, as …

From Roadmap To Implementation: Lessons For Ireland’S Digital Construction Programme, Barry Mcauley, Alan Hore, Roger West

Conference papers

As part of their Future of Construction initiative in 2018 the World Economic Forum published an action plan to accelerate Building Information Modelling adoption. The WEF report highlighted actions that companies, industry organisations and governments are advised to implement to accelerate BIM adoption and better capitalise on delivering better project outcomes. According the authors of the report BIM is seen as the centrepiece of the construction industry’s digital transformation, however they acknowledged that BIM adoption globally remain slow. Anecdotal experience would suggest that BIM usage in Ireland is also very low and that a similar initiative or an adaptation of …

Delivering Energy Savings For The Supply Chain Through Building Information Modelling As A Result Of The Horizon 2020 Energy Bimcert Project, Barry Mcauley, Avril Behan

Conference papers

The global buildings sector is now responsible for 40% of final energy consumption as well as accounting for 33% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. This has resulted in a growing urgency to address energy and emissions from buildings and construction, to meet restrictive 2020 targets as specified by the European Union (EU). To achieve these targets a number of funding initiatives have been put in place through Horizon 2020 with a focus on BIM, due to it having the potential to rapidly produce energy outputs that enable design teams to analyse and compare the most cost-effective, energy-efficient options. However, despite …

Development Of A Framework To Support The Effective Adoption Of Bim In The Public Sector: Lessons For Ireland, Shiyao Kuang, Alan Hore, Barry Mcauley, Roger West

Conference papers

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been formally adopted by many countries with the promise of creating greater economic, social and sustainability benefits. Several authors and institutions have presented alternative BIM policies and tactics which have been adopted by developed countries. However, there is evidence to indicate that BIM adoption theories are not well established and, in particular, the linkage between BIM public sector adoption strategy outcomes and their contribution to achieving Government policy objectives are underdeveloped. This paper will present the outcome of the first phase of a systematic literature review of published studies (including journal papers and noteworthy international …

Prediction Of Flood Hydrograph In Small River Catchments Using System Modelling Approach, Ahmed Nasr, Zeinab Bedri, Loreta Ramanauske

Conference papers

Floods remain to be one of the natural catastrophic disasters with serious adverse social and economic implications on individuals and communities all around the world. In Ireland, frequency of flood events have increased dramatically during the last forty years and is expected to continue to rise primarily due to changes in rainfall and temperature patterns as a result of the global climate change. Small river catchments are usually vulnerable to different types of flooding particularly those associated with “monster” rainfall events, which are characterised by short durations and high intensities. Therefore accurate prediction of flood hydrographs resulting from these rainfall …

Mass-Balance Assimilative Capacity Model Of Inniscarra Reservoir, Zeinab Bedri, Ahmed Nasr, Sean Crowley

Conference papers

Wastewater arising from the Coachford agglomeration is treated at the existing Coachford Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP). This wastewater treatment facility has a primary treatment only with a design capacity of 450 population equivalent (PE) and it discharges the effluent into the Inniscarra Reservoir. The discharge from Coachford WWTP has been identified by the Lower Lee - Owenboy Water Management Unit Action Plan (WMUAP) as a point source pressure on the waters of the Lower Lee - Owenboy catchment and also as a cause of the strongly eutrophic status of Inniscarra Reservoir water quality by the EPA in 2009. Therefore, …

Weighting The Perceived Importance Of Minimising Economic, Social And Environmental/Cultural Risks In Flood Risk Management, Zeinab Bedri, John O'Sullivan, Mark Adamson

Conference papers

In 2006, the Office of Public Works (OPW) began the National Catchment-based Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme through a series of pilot studies. A Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) Framework was developed through the CFRAM pilot studies that integrated a range of objectives related to human health and society, the environment and cultural heritage and the economy into the core process of selecting suitable flood risk management measures for a given area or location, and then for prioritising national investments for different schemes and projects. In support of this MCA framework, UCD, was commissioned to undertake a collaborative study with …

Establishing The Key Pillars Of Innovation Required To Execute A Successful Bim Strategy Within A Construction Sme In Ireland, Barry Mcauley, Patrick Carroll

Conference papers

The recent resurgence of the Irish Construction Industry comes at a time of global transition towards an information revolution, with technology now playing a vital role within our post-recessionary society. BIM is now seen as a core technology at the forefront of this transformational change which can present Construction SMEs with opportunities to new financial ventures. If any SME organisation is to be successful with BIM adoption then innovation must be the starting point. The aim of this paper is to establish the enabling factors required for innovating a BIM strategy within a SME Construction Organisation. The methodology involved a …

Reflecting Societal Values In Designing Flood Risk Management Strategies, Mark Adamson, John O'Sullivan, Zeinab Bedri

Conference papers

In 2006, the Office of Public Works (OPW) began the National Catchment-based Flood Risk Assessment and Management (CFRAM) Programme through a series of pilot studies. A Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) Framework was developed through the pilot studies that integrated a number of objectives related to a wide range of potential impacts and benefits into the core of process of appraising and selecting suitable flood risk management measures for a given area or location, and then for prioritising national investments for different schemes and projects. This MCA Framework, that provides a systematic process of developing a non-monetised but numerical indicator of benefit …

Water At The Centre Of Environmental Issues – Research At The Ucd Dooge Centre For Water Resources Research, Zeinab Bedri, Eva M. Mockler, Michael Bruen, Yaqian Zhao, Pj Purcell, John O'Sullivan, M. Alsaji, Aisling Corkery, Liam Doherty, M. Dzakpasu, M. Martins, A. Rymszewicz, L. Willuwet

Conference papers

Since 1988, the UCD Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research has been conducting research in a wide range of water topics including hydraulics, hydrology, coastal dynamics and wastewater with an emphasis on multi-disciplinary collaboration. This paper presents an overview of this research, both past and present, and provides an outlook to the future research directions of the Centre.

Hydro-Environmental Modeling Of Sewage And Riverine Discharges Into A Coastal Area: Comparison Of Depth-Averaged And Three-Dimensional Models, Zeinab Bedri, John O'Sullivan, Aisling Corkery, Louise Deering, Katalin Demeter, Wim Meijer, Gregory O'Hare, Bartholomew Masterson

Conference papers

This study applies and compares two hydrodynamic and water quality models; a depth-averaged (TELEMAC-2D) and a three-dimensional model (TELEMAC-3D) on their performance in simulating the transport and fate of Escherichia coli (a main microbial bathing water quality indicator) in the coastal waters of Bray, Ireland subjected to sewage discharges and freshwater inflows from the River Dargle. The models first calibrated and validated against hydrodynamic and water quality data, were used to simulate Escherichia coli distribution patterns based on mean spring and mean neap tides for dry and wet weather scenarios. The hydrodynamic calibration yielded a good match between both models …

Bathing Water Quality Prediction Using An Integrated Catchment And 3-D Coastal Hydrodynamic Model, John O'Sullivan, Zeinab Bedri, Aisling Corkery, Louise Deering, Katalin Demeter, Wim Meijer, Barthelomew Masterson, Gregory O'Hare

Conference papers

Under the new European Union Bathing Water Directive (2006/7/EC) which comes into force in 2014, more stringent bathing water quality standards, defined in terms of Escherichia coli (E.coli) and Intestinal Enterococci (I.E.), will apply in Irish bathing waters. Compliance with these standards is ensured through a structured water quality monitoring programme that is published by Authorities with responsibility for bathing water areas in advance of each bathing season. The directive recognises that elevated levels of faecal coliform bacteria in bathing areas can derive from the overland transport of waste from livestock in the rural fraction of river catchments. On days …

Real-Time Prediction System Of Bathing Water Quality At Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland, Zeinab Bedri, John O'Sullivan, Aisling Corkery, Louise Deering, Katalin Demeter, Wim Meijer, Gregory O'Hare, Bartholomew Masterson

Conference papers

Variations in water quality at recreational bathing beaches can have significant impacts with respect to compliance with related water quality standards, such as Directive 76/160/EEC. The “Blue Flag” award which bases its water quality standards upon the guideline E.coli levels of Directive 76/160/EEC, has become the measure of recreational value of bathing areas. Loss of such designations can have significant impacts with respect to local tourist economies. A revised Bathing Water Directive (Directive 2006/7/EC) came into force in 2006 and will supersede the existing 1976 Directive with effect from December 2014.

The revised Directive gives stronger focus on the protection …

An Environmental Consequence For Dublin Bay Of A Shift From Hydro-Carbon To Other Energy Production Methods, Zeinab Bedri, John O'Sullivan, Michael Bruen

Conference papers

The Liffey Estuary and Dublin Bay, Ireland are of a great recreational and conservational value. Until recently, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) plant at Poolbeg, Dublin, abstracted dilution water from the estuary for cooling purposes and subsequently discharged this water back to the estuary at temperatures that were sometimes 7-9oC above ambient values. Prior to its discharge to the estuary, the ESB cooling water was mixed with the sewage effluent from Ringsend Treatment Works, creating a warmer and less-saline pollutant plume that remained buoyant on the water surface, adversely effecting water quality. The ESB plant has since closed as part …