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Most existing research on built environment policy has focused on the independent variable - policy formulation - and assumed that the prescriptions that follow are readily accepted by a multitude of stakeholders. Less focus has been placed on the dependent variable - the projects where those policies are applied. Studies on practical implementation of new policies, such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) mandates, however, have suggested that implementation has not happened as envisaged. In this paper, by drawing on institutional theory, specifically the concept of decoupling, we adopt the perspective of the implementers of built environment policy approaches to explore how projects respond to the environmental pressure of a BIM mandate and the implications of such responses to the wider transformation of the sector. Through an inductive research design and by conducting multiple case studies on BIM Level 2 projects in the United Kingdom, we observed that two variances of a decoupling phenomenon are happening across projects - policy - practice decoupling and means-end decoupling. Our findings revealed that the decoupling phenomenon manifested in the responses employed by projects when implementing the 'new working practices' part of the policy mandate. Those responses included non-implementation of practices, violation of implementation and assimilation of the practices but not their meaning. Underlying reasons for such responses were also identified. By adopting an implementers' perspective on built environment policy design and implementation, we contribute to the construction management literature by providing new insights on the slow transformation of the sector, differing from what is generally envisaged by built environment policies. Our findings call attention to the consideration of implementers' prior knowledge, by institutional designers, when designing policy.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been widely seen as bringing a paradigm change to the construction industry. However, scholars have acknowledged that neither widespread BIM implementation nor the envisaged systemic changes within the sector have taken place. Despite acknowledging that the industry’s conditions and embedded contexts shape innovation diffusion, existing studies have not explored in any depth “how” the context might influence the episode of change when a new technology is introduced and the new practices accompanying that technology and old practices co-evolve. By adopting activity theory, its concepts of contradictions and multiple layers within the activity system, in this paper, we explore the interaction between situated and existing practices, or the “how” of implementation; that is, how the activity system is questioned and redefined during an episode of technological change. Drawing on data from multiple case studies, our findings demonstrate that situated practices related to the definition of information requirements, and the production and the handover of information were re-enacted following institutionalised socio-historical constructs (e.g. norms, rules, division of labour) at the industry and organisational levels. The findings provide insights regarding the inertia in the transformation of the sector as also deriving from re-enactments of socio-historical constructs that mediate the institutionalisation of situated practices. Our findings reveal re-enactment as part of the transformation process and contribute to calls for more realistic views on BIM implementation.

Objectives In the Netherlands there is an ongoing debate regarding environmental health risks of livestock farming for neighbouring residents. This explorative study aims to determine the prevalence of carriage of extended-spectrum β-lactamase and/or plasmid-mediated AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL/pAmpC-E) in the general population living in a livestock-dense area, and to study associations between determinants, including exposure through contact with animals and the environment, and human carriage of ESBL/pAmpC-E. Methods A cross-sectional study was performed among 2432 adults (aged 20–72 years) in 12 temporary research centres in the south of the Netherlands, consisting of a questionnaire and analysis of a faecal sample to assess carriage of ESBL/pAmpC-E. Risk factors were analysed using logistic regression. Results The prevalence for carriage of ESBL/pAmpC-E was 4.5% (109/2432; 95% CI 3.7–5.4) ranging from 1.4% to 10.9% among the research centres. ESBL/pAmpC resistance genes were detected in Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates obtained from these 109 persons and the most common ESBL-resistance genes were bla CTX-M-15 , bla CTX-M-14/17 and bla CTX-M-1 , originating from 76 participants. Travel in the previous 12 months to Africa, Asia or Latin America (OR 2.82; 95% CI 1.71–4.63), having kept cows for a hobby in the previous 5 years (OR 3.77; 95% CI 1.22–11.64), usage of proton-pump inhibitors (OR 1.84; 95% CI 1.05–3.23), and living within 1000 m of a mink farm (OR 2.26; 95% CI 1.28–3.98) were identified as risk factors. Exposure to poultry was not identified as a risk factor. Conclusions Overall, living in close proximity to livestock animals and farms does not seem to be a risk factor for carriage of ESBL/pAmpC-E.