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The new trend in planning building projects involves incorporating space management on the construction site. Failing to consider the management of site operations can lead to either relaxed or congested construction sites. This is because labor, tools, equipment, and materials all require space. It is important to plan for the circulation and temporary storage of materials, including recycling, reuse, and disposal. Temporary installations and finished products also take up space and can impact traffic flow. For example, partitions can impair traffic flow, while finished flooring can restrict it. The occupation of spaces also changes as the work progresses, so it is important to monitor and accommodate these changes. Therefore, space management needs to be coordinated throughout the construction phase. Traditional planning methods do not consider the analysis of critical spaces or their evolution over time. As a result, they produce schedules that do not reflect the reality of the construction site. Dynamic space-time planning means modelling the operational flow in different sectors of the construction site to optimize the construction process. Efficient space occupation allows for more effective utilization of available resources. This paper aims to analyze the spatial requirements of various construction operations and develop standardized artifacts that integrate spatial information into the schedule. To achieve this objective, the methodology aims to: (i) Conduct site surveys to collect data and analyze construction operations and their spatial needs; (ii) Define the necessary parameters for determining the occupancy rate (OR); (iii) Develop the needed artifacts for representing the static models based on the survey results and the developed occupancy parameters to visually depict and compute various types of occupancy and operations; (iv) Conduct workshops with the professionals in the construction industry. The participants were asked to provide feedback on whether the artifacts effectively captured the various aspects of construction work, such as equipment, tools, materials, and safety protocols. The aim is to validate that the artifacts as reliable representations of real-life construction scenarios. The feedback and input provided by the professionals helped to ensure that the artifacts were accurate, informative, and valuable for training purposes in the construction industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Olympic Games of 1940 were due to be organized in Tokyo, Japan, but because of the Sino-Japanese war, the event was hastily re-scheduled to be organized in Helsinki, Finland. The Second World War however interrupted the preparations. Instead of 1940, the Games were organized in Helsinki in 1952. It thus became necessary to prepare twice for the same event. During the 12 years that had passed, the political situation had become significantly different, while also views concerning architecture and urban planning had changed. The postponed Helsinki Olympics represent an intriguing case in the history of Olympic Games, that has remained relatively little researched. This paper proposes that this 12-year 'Olympic gap' brings to view on one hand the need to prepare twice, and on the other hand, the processual, slow nature of building and planning, which continued almost uninterrupted. A close reading of period newspaper articles, history of urban planning and architecture, as well as studies of the Olympic Games reveals tensions between architecture, planning, and politics on local, national, and international level, as they unravel in the context of preparing for the Helsinki Olympics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work is inspired by the assembly of Soma block puzzles. Soma block puzzles usually include unstable intermediate states that require additional support to maintain stability temporarily. In the puzzles’ solution manual, we can observe that designers consider the characteristics that humans have two hands and can avoid an unstable intermediate state by using one hand to support the finished component and using the other hand to assemble an upcoming workpiece. Motivated by human behavior, this paper develops a planner that automatically finds an optimal assembly sequence for a dual-arm robot to build a woodblock structure while considering various constraints and supporting grasps from a second hand. It uses the mesh model of wood blocks and the final assembly state to generate possible assembly sequences and evaluate the optimal assembly sequence by considering the stability, graspability, assemblability, and the need for a second hand. Especially, the need for a second hand is resolved when supports from worktables and other workpieces are not enough to produce a stable assembly. A second hand can hold and support the unstable components so that the robot can further assemble new workpieces until the structure state becomes stable again. The output of the planner includes the optimal assembly orders, candidate grasps, assembly directions, and the supporting grasps (if needed). The output can help guide a dual-arm robot to perform motion planning and thus generate assembly motion. Experiments using various blocks and structures show the effectiveness of the proposed planner. Note to Practitioners—The presented planner can generate an optimal assembly order for a large variety of structures like decoration accessories, furniture, home interiors, frames, etc., in the practices. They can also be used for scenarios that need stacking or piling up multiple objects. The generated optimal assembly order is more friendly to dual-arm robot systems than previous assembly planners that ignored the merits of robotic collaboration. Also, the proposed assembly planner generates the necessary information for the motion planner, such as grasp poses and optimal assembly directions. A motion planner can directly use the generated results to plan robotic assembly motion.. The proposed assembly planner is expected to significantly reduce human effort and increase the efficiency of robotic assembly lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Experimental Technology & Management is the property of Experimental Technology & Management Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Cycling as a green transportation mode has been promoted by many governments all over the world. As a result, constructing effective bike lanes has become a crucial task to promote the cycling life style, as well-planned bike lanes can reduce traffic congestions and safety risks. Unfortunately, existing trajectory mining approaches for bike lane planning do not consider one or more key realistic government constraints: 1) budget limitations, 2) construction convenience, and 3) bike lane utilization. In this paper, we propose a data-driven approach to develop bike lane construction plans based on the large-scale real world bike trajectory data collected from Mobike, a station-less bike sharing system. We enforce these constraints to formulate our problem and introduce a flexible objective function to tune the benefit between coverage of users and the length of their trajectories. We prove the NP-hardness of the problem and propose greedy-based heuristics to address it. To improve the efficiency of the bike lane planning system for the urban planner, we propose a novel trajectory indexing structure and deploy the system based on a parallel computing framework (Storm) to improve the system's efficiency. Finally, extensive experiments and case studies are provided to demonstrate the system efficiency and effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the Grenfell tower incident, fire safety is being re-examined around the world. One key area is planning and building approval. It has been suggested that expert fire authority advice is being ignored in building and planning control. In this paper, freedom of information requests were submitted to fifty local government authorities (covering approx. one quarter of the England and Wales population), and three fire authorities, to examine their consultation process. No prior study has examined this relationship in detail. This work attempts to identify who is assessing fire safety, what expertise exists in the system, and what guidance is available from central government. The impact of austerity on the ability to effectively manage fire safety is also discussed. Results show local government authorities have a large degree of discretion with no guidance from central government on fire safety expertise needed to assess non-prescriptive building standards, and only limited guidance on how fire authority advice should be used by local government. The result is a dramatically different level of engagement of fire authorities, and implementation of fire safety advice. There does not appear to be any guarantee that fire expertise is being employed for the purpose of fire safety in building/planning processes. This means the building regulatory regime may be one of the many issues contributing to fire safety issues. Stronger legislation is required to prevent a post-code lottery of fire safety implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista del CLAD Reforma y Democracia is the property of Centro Latinoamericano de Administracion para el Desarrollo (CLAD) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Bulletin of the Polytechnic Institute of Iasi - Construction & Architecture Section is the property of Sciendo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examines the available documents relating to the ancient mosque in Fallujah and considers what they can reveal about the important historical status of the building. In particlar, these archival documents provide details about the planning and architectural construction of the mosque, and considers its claims to being one of the most important mosques in the Islamic world. Our limited understanding about the cultural importance of these documents and the architectural heritage they pertain to, coupled with the lack of formal organisations to protect and preserve them, puts them at risk, along with the buildings themselves many of which were damaged during the period of American occupation and are in need of restoration. The construction and design of the Fallujah mosque displays a number of similar principles to the main mosques in Bagdhad, Mosul and the largest mosque in Anna, including the external uncovered praying house and the internal praying house divided into two galleries. This paper provides details of the architectural details and discuses the ways in which the mosque's construction and design were influenced by economic and social circumstances at the time of construction as well as the surrounding inheritance of ancient architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrated energy systems (IESs) are composed of multiple heterogeneous subsystems, i.e., electrical power system, natural gas system, and district heating system (DHS), which endow the whole system with excellent performance in overall efficiency and renewable energy utilization. The paper aims to offer a concise and analytical model for the thermal dynamic characteristics (i.e., thermal inertia) of the district heating network (DHN) and buildings to facilitate the analysis, planning, and operation of IESs. Firstly, an equivalent start network is introduced for modeling the radial DHN, and a synchronous response model is proposed for buildings to approximate the optimal response of heat load. Secondly, the thermal inertia aggregation model (TIAM) is proposed, which offers an accurate DHN and buildings model for the planning and operation of IESs. Finally, some properties of the TIAM are derived to reveal its potential in general applications such as analysis and evaluation. Simulation results of different scale systems demonstrate the performance of the proposed model and reveal its advantages in the computational efficiency and sensitive information protection of DHN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research shows the developments that have occurred in high-rise building building planning worldwide by presenting bibliometric analysis data. The database that appears from Publish or Perish can be converted into mapping with the help of VosViewer software. In this analysis, it can be seen how relevant this research is globally. The results of data processing show that the majority of research comes from journal articles, with a total of 774 studies (85.33%), and the peak of research occurred in 2022 with 114 studies. Elsevier BV is a publisher that has a high interest in the development of high-rise building planning, with a total of 432 studies (65.90%). Evaluation is the most dense visualization, followed by buildings and high-rise buildings. This shows that high-level building planning using the CPM and PERT methods can still develop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper focuses on developing a strategy to control the indoor temperature in slum dwellings under redevelopment. The proposed framework aims at improving the building planning and appropriate selection of construction materials along with controlled cost with respect to currently adopted practices. The proposed strategy is elaborated with a case study in Nagpur, India. A single storey, four-room model was planned as per the National Building Code of India. The performance of the model building was evaluated by using energy simulation software TRNSYS. The cellular light-weight bricks used in the construction were made with bio briquette ash (BBA), which is a locally available waste material. Instead of using the conventional reinforced cement concrete (RCC) roof, aluminium and sawdust were suggested as a reflecting-cum-insulating material. To improve the temperature control in model homes, installation of a reflecting-cum-insulating material was conducted, consisting of aluminium and sawdust, over the conventional RCC roof. The model building constructed with these new materials was compared with that built with conventional fly ash bricks and RCC roof. Results show that the proposed model building improved the efficiency of indoor temperature control by 23% and, at the same time, reduced the cost by 13%. The present concept will contribute to the redevelopment of slum dwellings to deliver cost-effective dwelling units that provide occupants with acceptable thermal comfort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is about the history of Norfolk & Prior, a firm of architects & surveyors based in Lewisham 1893-1923, and their role in that area’s house building boom of the time. The case study helps to shed more light on a crossover occupation that played a key role in the planning and design of London's speculative housing in this period. The first section touches on the business history and biography of the two main partners, Stanley Prior and Edward Stone. Stone was responsible for the architectural work of the firm, so his education is then discussed in more detail. Subsequent sections examine Norfolk & Prior’s work for several local house builders. The paper concludes by summarizing the role of Norfolk & Prior as designers of speculative housing and placing it in the wider context of a process of professionalization in architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a model designed to integrate the planning and scheduling phases of highway construction projects, focusing primarily on the planning aspects. The model automatically generates the work breakdown structure (WBS) and precedence network respecting job logic and stores a list of construction operations typically encountered in highway projects. The generated network can subsequently be modified to suit the unique requirements of the project being considered. An object-oriented model is developed for planning highway construction operations. The model employs resource-driven scheduling in order to suit the repetitive nature of this class of projects. It accounts for (1) resource availability; (2) multiple preceding and succeeding activities; (3) transverse obstructions; (4) activities with varying quantities of work along the highway length; (5) the impact of inclement weather on crew productivity; and (6) the beneficial effect of the learning curve. At the core of the model is a relational database designed to store available resources and their respective unavailability periods. The model enables both: (1) activities executed by own force; and (2) activities subcontracted out. The model is incorporated in a prototype software that operates in the Microsoft Windows environment and generates schedules in both graphical and tabular formats. An example project is analyzed to demonstrate the features of the developed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Lean construction philosophy has been welcomed by numerous companies in Colombia for a little more than a decade. The Last Planner System (LPS) is among the implemented tools found, a planning and control system that seeks to accomplish a continuous workflow. The system implementation results vary from one company to another, and there is no investigation to date that shows the diagnosis of the adoption of this tool in the country. This paper aims to illustrate the degree of implementation and functioning of the LPS from different perspectives found in sixteen Colombian construction companies. Data collection was carried out through non-participant observation during the weekly planning meetings, surveys conducted to construction professionals, supervisors, subcontractors and labor, and a semi-structured direct interview with the managers of the Lean area in the companies. Analysis of compiled information shows multiple ways of applying this tool, conceptual and practical failures, and a lack of training and permanent feedback that does not allow to be a part of the corporate culture were all identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decision-making in construction planning and scheduling is complex because of budget and resource constraints, uncertainty, and the dynamic nature of construction environments. A knowledge gap in the construction literature exists regarding decision-making frameworks with the ability to learn and propose an optimal set of solutions for construction scheduling problems, such as activity sequencing and work breakdown structure formulations under uncertainty. The objective of this paper is to propose a hybrid reinforcement learning–graph embedding network model that 1) simulates complex construction planning environments using agent-based modeling and 2) minimizes computational burdens in establishing activity sequences and work breakdown formations. Three case studies with practical construction scheduling problems were used to demonstrate applicability of the developed model. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge by proposing the hybridization of reinforcement learning and simulation approaches to optimize project durations with resource constraints and support construction practitioners in making project planning decision-making. • Implementation of agent-based simulation in construction processes • Optimization of construction project scheduling • Hybridization between reinforcement learning, agent-based simulation modeling and graph embedding methods • Practical solutions to aid decision-making processes in construction project activity sequencing and work-breakdown formation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the advances of modular construction, the comprehensive understanding of its technical aspects in buildings is still limited, especially during the implementation process. This paper reviews the technical aspects of planning and coordination of modular construction in the building industry. The unclear onsite and practical knowledge need to be clarified for the implementation process. It then leads to the questions on the status of research development and gaps of the technical aspects. One hundred and thirty papers were filtered and analyzed through a systematic review. Four technical aspects of modular construction were found, namely (a) feasibility aspects of modular construction, (b) types of construction or materials, (c) design and structural analyses, and (d) construction planning. The findings render insightful references for the successful delivery of modular construction including its lifecycle analysis and sustainability needs. A research framework is also developed to highlight the gaps and measures for future practice. • Technical developments of modular construction are reviewed. • Four technical aspects of its overall planning and coordination are found. • The gaps and their proposed measures are articulated in a research framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La Prospective is an appropriate approach for contexts distinguished by high uncertainty and social conflict. This French scenario building method has received limited attention in the field of energy resources planning, especially beyond approaches focused on technological issues. The paper utilized the La Prospective method to generate strategic 2050 visions, integrating energy resources and spatial development. The Araucania region in Chile served as a case study, engaging 52 stakeholders, both experts and members of the public. The method was implemented in three stages: (a) system assessment; (b) understanding the dynamics of the system; and (c) obtaining strategic future visions. The results show a regional vision based on key concepts: (i) affordable electric power that protects the environment and clean air; (ii) preference for individual self-generation and/or collective systems (iii) digitally connected and available to everyone. The paper closes with a discussion on how participatory processes enable the elaboration of strategic futures based on high levels of consensus among stakeholders with different interests and professional backgrounds and provides a few recommendations for future research. • It generates long-term strategic visions on energy resources and spatial development. • It uses a participatory approach involving a total of 52 stakeholders during the process. • Water resources, the native population´s worldview, and landscape quality are seen as crucial for future scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work provides an analysis of the applicability of two image-based three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction techniques-(1) four-dimensional augmented reality () 3D reconstruction software and (2) phototourism applications-for remote site construction project planning. Remote sites present uncertainty to construction project planning through access, material and resource availability, potential lack of technical expertise on site, and environmental considerations. Both and phototourism have the potential to minimize remote site uncertainty by using available camera technology to digitally capture existing site conditions for the development of accurate 3D modeling for construction project planning. For this study, the researchers (1) analyzed the applicability of 3D reconstruction and phototourism software applications to remote construction planning; (2) determined the appropriateness and robustness of various levels of camera technology for capturing existing conditions on remote sites; and (3) evaluated the impact of image resolution and the method of capture on 3D image-based software-all key facets to usability and access. The researchers used three cameras of various performance capabilities, i.e., a 35-mm disposable box camera, a 5.7-17.1-mm (35 mm equivalent: 37-111 mm) low-level digital camera, and a high-level digital single-lens reflex camera. The following paper outlines a methodology for testing these camera technologies and discusses their appropriateness for reducing barriers to the application of image-based reconstruction techniques for remote site construction planning. This work offers the conclusion that ordinary camera technology is an appropriate option for capturing existing conditions in remote sites (usability), while more advanced camera technology offers better total system benefits (access) of the image-based 3D reconstruction platform. offers a more robust system for modeling remote sites; however, both and phototourism have the potential to generate useful computer models using catalogs of digital images to enable better planning and execution of construction projects in remote areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities put considerable resources into developing learning and teaching plans. In this paper, we examine the purpose of these plans in the context of legislative requirements, public accountability and the quality agenda. We analyse a sample of Australian university learning and teaching plans using a framework we have developed based on theory and research on strategic planning and core themes in learning and teaching. Analysis reveals considerable variation in plans' form and format, planning characteristics and learning and teaching themes addressed and omissions of key characteristics and themes. We consider the ability of such plans to meet the needs of internal and external readers, we discuss implications for their capacity to direct and motivate changes aimed at improving learning and teaching and we challenge the higher education sector to determine more clearly the role of learning and teaching plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper develops a descriptive model of different aspects of involvement by academic staff in social planning; for example, involvement in different stages of planning, level of influencing decision-making processes, and involvement in development and action roles for promoting change. Using a structured questionnaire, research conducted in Israel compared the attitudes of 178 university academic staff members and 128 staff members of community organisations towards each aspect of planning. Significant differences were found between the groups - in most respects the community staff members take a more positive stand toward the involvement of academic staff members than the academics themselves do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Journal for Academic Development is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Construction projects continue to suffer delays. Things go wrong and the project's completion date gets pushed back, with someone to be blamed for it. In practice, attempts are made to identify the causes of delays and schedules are modified to incorporate revised duration and new project time. The analysis itself is usually complex and can be aided by a computerized approach. This paper discusses different delay analysis techniques that are currently used by practitioners in the construction industry. It also discusses a proposed new delay analysis technique called the Isolated Delay Type (IDT). these techniques were tested against a case example and their strengths and weaknesses highlighted, The new technique can be used as a stand- alone module for delay analysis or could be incorporated within a computer system for construction delay analysis and claims preparation called Computerized Delay Claims Analysis (CDCA) that integrates different software including an expert system and management software such as scheduling and a database or spread- sheet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why plan? Who should plan? What and when should one plan? These fundamental issues of construction planning raised by the authors 5 years ago, are revisited in this paper in the light of studies conducted recently within the construction industry. In the focus of this research program stood mature companies, advanced projects and competent and experienced practitioners of construction planning and management. The findings show that there is no one single answer to any of these basic questions and that in fact a state of multiplicity - of roles and users, plans and formats, timings and time horizons, planning parties and modes of preparation - prevail, calling upon the willing practitioner to resort systematically to situational analysis if effective planning is to be accomplished.
Thus, we purport in this paper to revisit these problems, to present the major relevant findings of our recent studies, and to introduce the concept emerging from them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Xu, B., 2020. Opinions on organic renewal and construction south of the Yangtze River guided by water resources and elements. In: Hu, C. and Cai, M. (eds.), Geo-informatics and Oceanography. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 105, pp. 199–203. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Key issues in the development of waterfront space south of the Yangtze River are analyzed based on the identification and analysis of traditional elements of regions in southern China, and a concept for renewal and development of regions in southern China is proposed that uses water elements as factors to activate the traditional village–town space. Based on full respect and utilization of the river network, this paper excavates important design elements, builds a planning and construction model for organic renewal of villages and towns south of the Yangtze River, constructs a target frame system from a new perspective that features organic renewal of the countryside guided by water resources and elements, and puts forward a development strategy, implementation approach, and institutional innovation under this integrated target system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chen, L. and Wang, Y., 2020. Study on plant configuration and planning of landscape architecture in coastal cities. In: Bai, X. and Zhou, H. (eds.), Advances in Water Resources, Environmental Protection, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 115, pp. 17-20. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The development and progress of society put forward higher requirements for the development of coastal cities. Strengthening the planning and construction of coastal cities has become an important task and work at present. Plant landscape is the most direct and only landscape that can make people feel the changes of life. Its richness and diversity will have a profound impact on people's life and spirit. It can directly show the beauty of plants, give people a feeling of being close to nature, and can coordinate with the surrounding coastal city environment to change the ecological environment. In this paper, the classification and characteristics of seasonal plants are summarized, and the design principles, common plant configuration forms and plant selection of coastal city landscape gardens are systematically discussed. On this basis, the design points of coastal city planning are put forward in order to promote the continuous improvement of ecological planning and design level of coastal cities in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This papa; by introducing the conception of planning scheme of Zijingang West Campus of Zhejiang University, expounds how to integrate the traditional "human landscape" spirit into the planning and design of the modern campus, so as to create a personalized campus where cultural traditions are complementary to natural atmosphere. In this paper, with the campus planning and design as an extension as well as the blending and symbiosis between urban historical culture and natural scenery as the focus of attention, the Chinese thinking pattern stressing prefect harmony and in-depth dialogue between culture and nature is expected to be applied to the construction of modern cities to build and improve the "Shanshui city" planning system so that the planning concept that Chinese thought, "unity of man and nature", is used to build modern cities is carried forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of System Research & Information Technologies / Sistemnì Doslìdžennâ ta Ìnformacìjnì Tehnologìï is the property of Institute for the Applied System Analysis at the NTUU KPI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Generation planning has been extensively investigated and applied to practical power industry. This paper presents the generation planning model of Jiaotong Automatic System Planning Package (JASP) of Xi''an Jiaotong University, China. JASP decomposes the generation planning problem into a high-level power plant investment decision problem and a low-level operation planning problem and solves them by a decomposition-coordination method. Lagrangian Relaxation is used to solve the power plant investment decision problem and probabilistic production simulation is used to solve the operation planning problem. The generation planning model of JASP can be easily extended to the context of market liberalization. Simulation results show that JASP can not only overcome the ‘curse of dimensionality’ but also find economical and technically sound generation planning scheme. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Featured Application: Building information modeling with multi-objective genetic algorithm. Renovation is known to be a complicated type of construction project and prone to errors compared to new constructions. The need to carry out renovation work while keeping normal business activities running, coupled with strict governmental building renovation regulations, presents an important challenge affecting construction performance. Given the current availability of robust hardware and software, building information modeling (BIM) and optimization tools have become essential tools in improving construction planning, scheduling, and resource management. This study explored opportunities to develop a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) on existing BIM. The data were retrieved from a renovation project over the 2018–2020 period. Direct and indirect project costs, actual schedule, and resource usage were tracked and retrieved to create a BIM-based MOGA model. After 500 generations, optimal results were provided as a Pareto front with 70 combinations among total cost, time usage, and resource allocation. The BIM-MOGA can be used as an efficient tool for construction planning and scheduling using a combination of existing BIM along with MOGA into professional practices. This approach would help improve decision-making during the construction process based on the Pareto front data provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Completing a construction project on time and within budget is of great importance in the construction industry. To achieve this goal, a construction plan satisfying the time and cost constraints is crucial. While a rich amount of literature on the time-cost trade-off scheduling and time/cost optimization scheduling has been presented, developing a construction plan for the time and cost-constrained construction project has not been fully explored. This study presented a hierarchical task network (HTN) based construction planning model to fill this gap. First of all, a knowledge formalism catering to the HTN planning was provided to accommodate the construction planning knowledge. Then, the planning process was explained in detail, including temporal reasoning used to sequence the construction activities, and backtracking evasion mechanism used to avoid the trouble of backtracking due to inappropriate selection of execution modes for construction activities. Finally, two sets of comparisons based on a fictional construction project were performed, the results of which demonstrate that the time and budget constraints have an impact on the section of execution modes for construction methods, and the proposed planning model can develop construction plan that satisfies the specified deadline and budget limitations effectively regardless of the existing of backtracking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of lookahead planning is to make a plan more realistic as construction tasks move closer to execution. To improve the reliability of lookahead planning, the construction industry has benefited from implementing the Last Planner®System (LPS) which emphasizes improved workflow during construction. Lookahead planning involves transforming work that ‘should be done’ into work that ‘can be done’. This is accomplished by breaking down activities into the level of operations, designing operations, and making tasks ready by removing task constraints. The purpose of this research is to study, through computer simulation, the relationship between improving tasks made ready (TMR) in lookahead planning and the reliability of weekly work planning expressed as percent plan complete (PPC) and their impact on project duration. Results show that a high TMR can result in a reduced project duration but the same cannot be said about PPC, making a case for TMR serving as a better indicator for project duration than PPC. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As a direct response, many governments of the most developed states within the EU, introduced a short-term goals to make all major projects designed with BIM till the end of 2016. BIM is the most advanced concept in building design modeling that combines professions such as architecture, civil engineering and others. It is widely used around the world; however, in Croatia and in Eastern Europe it is still not as popular as in the most developed countries of the world. In order to improve this described situation we developed a methodology that proved to be applicable in technology and construction management. The same methodology has been validated through the usage in education of the Civil Engineering students. The methodology includes the following steps and software: creating 3D model and quantity list using Autodesk Revit or Nemetschek Allplan software, making cost estimations and time plan using Gala software and finally 5D simulation that includes cost breakdown using Navisworks software. Through the work we had proved that with applying BIM methodology in construction projects, the participants in the preparation and execution phase can achieve higher productivity and quality of work, collaborate with other participants through interactive work, identify problems in the early phases and achieve higher profits. Furthermore, it has been proved that with the application of BIM methodologies, construction engineers better understand the process of preparing, monitoring and controlling of construction. Although this methodology is validated the future studies should include other BIM tools and investigate their compatibility, involve other resources in the construction simulation and expand BIM education other related technical colleges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction industry has one of the highest occupational accident incidence rates among all economic sectors. Currently, building information modelling (BIM) appears to be a valuable tool for analysing occupational safety issues throughout the construction life cycle of projects, helping to avoid hazards and risks and, consequently, increasing safety. This work investigates BIM methodology and the application of related technologies for building safety planning and demonstrates the potential of this technology for the integrated implementation of safety measures during the design phase and construction site management. The first step consisted of a literature review on applying BIM-related technologies for safety in the design and planning phases. Following this, to show the potentialities of construction simulation, a case study based on BIM 4D to prevent falls from height was developed. With BIM 4D, it is possible to follow the construction process over time, giving the construction safety technicians, designers, supervisors and managers the capability to analyse, in each phase, the potential risks and identify which safety measures should be implemented. BIM can effectively integrate safety measures from the design phase to the construction and use phase and enable integrated safety planning within construction planning, leading to reliable safety management throughout the construction process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction operations can be categorized as either routine and repetitive or unique and complex. Routine and repetitive construction operations can be improved through traditional field operations analysis techniques, while unique and complex operations can be improved through reactively analyzing and proactively planning similar operations. The intent of planning is to assemble the information and knowledge necessary to successfully execute the work. Laboratory exercises were developed as part of both undergraduate and graduate level construction engineering and management education programs to demonstrate the benefits of detailed operations pre-planning for unique and complex construction operations. The undergraduate exercise improved the understanding of the construction requirements, reduced the amount of rework required, and reduced the average construction duration by nearly 30%. The graduate exercise reduced construction duration by approximately 40% and significant improvements were reported in material handling, understanding of responsibilities, and work flow efficiency. In both exercises, the concept of pre-planning and the resulting benefits were realized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mild recession experienced in the early part of this decade forced many US electrical contractors to reduce their profit margins as a way to win jobs and survive economically. However, to make up for lower profit margins, contractors turned to 'better planning' as a method for improving their efficiency and increasing their profitability. In general, contractors believe that better planning contributes to better project performance, but the evidence has been mostly anecdotal. A study was conducted recently that transformed anecdotal evidence about the impact of pre-construction planning on performance into quantitative evidence. The research resulted in the development of a model pre-construction planning process that was based on outstanding projects that were well planned and performed well. The study quantified the relationship between pre-construction planning activities, project characteristics and performance, and a separate validation study found that those projects that performed a comprehensive planning process similar to the model planning process were more likely to achieve their estimated work hours, profit, budget and completion goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a divergence of research opinion as to the efficacy of detailed front end construction planning (first planning) and its use for strategic or tactical purposes. What really happens in planning construction projects is considered by focusing on comparing the responses of key stakeholders in the construction planning process. Contrasting perspectives of office‐ and site‐based staff upon the accuracy of project timescales are identified together with their dissimilar methods of programme development and preferred first planning detail level. Consistently divergent views are expressed by office‐based preconstruction planners and site‐based construction project managers, including a reluctance to engage others during first planning held by the former and a limited belief in completion of the project to another's timescale (without their personal input) expressed by the latter. Significant role‐based discrepancies in their approach to first planning are revealed and the potential for further research into cultural and behavioural motivators is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some conceptual frameworks guide the work of university administrators, informing effective hiring, planning, and budgeting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]