This book discusses offshore platform integration technology, focusing on the floatover methodology and its applications. It also addresses topics related to safety and cost-effectiveness, as well as ensuring the success of a project through careful planning and established detailed operation procedure/working manuals, which are rarely found in the published literature. Unlike other publications in this area, the book not only includes details of technology development, but also presents real project cases in the discussion to make it more comprehensible. Each topic is illustrated with carefully created sketches to show the complex operation procedures.

This book discusses environmental management and construction management approaches to the environmental problems that can emerge in construction projects. It sets a brand new standard for environmental management in mega construction projects in China and helps all construction project stakeholders establish a more compliant and efficient environmental management system. The authors systematically explore management systems and team management, offering managerial methods and tips based on international and Chinese practices. Outlining all the environmental challenges that can arise during construction, it is a valuable resource for company owners, construction contractors, and construction management consultants and companies. It also offers useful insights for engineers, project managers and project executives.

The book presents recently developed efficient metaheuristic optimization algorithms and their applications for solving various optimization problems in civil engineering. The concepts can also be used for optimizing problems in mechanical and electrical engineering.

This book documents the state of the art and the emerging operational perspectives in the field of the appraisal discipline. It covers a wide range of topics, including energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, socio-economic evaluation of regional and urban transformations, real estate and facility management, risk management. It also discusses the potential role of appraisal in minimising unexpected consequences; the role of evaluators in urban development projects as well as the contribution of several methodologies with respect to the overall planning and design processes; the need to manage the complexity of the current decision contexts, while at the same time promoting efficient and effective evaluation processes; improving the quality of discussion and communication of the outcomes of evaluation processes; as well as the appropriateness of current regulation and policy regimes (EU, national, regional etc.). It comprises a selection of the best papers presented at the SIEV 2015 conference "Appraisal: Current Issues and Problems", which was held in Bari, Italy, in July 2015, and brought together architects, engineers, urban planners, decision-makers and government representatives.

This book provides a unique guide to value management and sustainability in construction to researchers and professional. The book provides a better understanding of the concept of value management, the basis of sustainable construction and thereafter, demonstrates how using the principles of value management can help to achieve successful construction projects that are financially viable, socially beneficial and do not damage the environment. The book serves as an introduction to value management for scholars and researchers at all levels; and also as a practical guide for construction professionals, employers and other stakeholders in the construction industry.

Bungalow Bliss, first published in 1971, was a book of house designs that buyers could use to build a home for themselves affordably. It first appeared two years before Ireland was to join the EEC as a self-published catalogue by Jack Fitzsimons from his Kells Art Studios in County Meath. He and his wife designed and collated it and printed it locally. Fitzsimons sold these books out of his car to newsagents, petrol garages and bookshops. Over the course of thirty years, Fitzsimons sold over a quarter of a million copies of his catalogue. The first edition contained twenty designs – the final edition contained two hundred and sixty. This guidebook of how to build your own home radically transformed housing in Ireland. Now, for the first time, author and structural engineer Adrian Duncan looks at the cultural impact that Bungalow Bliss and the accessible bungalow design had on the housing market, the Irish landscape, and on the individual families who made these bungalows their homes.

This book provides readers an understanding of the implementation of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) for international construction operations. In an extended case study, it primarily focuses on Chinese construction firms (CCFs) based in Singapore. In this regard, the book explains the differences and similarities between Risk Management (RM), Project Risk Management (PRM) and ERM in the construction industry, and examines their linkages for international construction operations in a broader context. The explanation elaborates on how companies may adopt and implement RM, PRM and ERM as appropriate in their various operations, both in their home market as well as in overseas host markets. The book also reviews the whole spectrum of work relating to organizational behavior (OB) as one of the key underpinnings for companies to evaluate and implement ERM. It will benefit practitioners from the industry as well as academics interested in the implementation of ERM practices in international construction operations.

Exploring complex and intelligent analytical and mathematical methods, this book examines how different approaches can be used to optimize program management in the construction industry. It presents an in-depth study of the different program management methods, ranging from simple decision-making techniques and statistics analysis to the more complex linear programming and demonstrates how knowledge-base systems and genetic algorithms can be used to optimize resources and meet time, budget and quality criteria. It addresses topics including decision-making principles, planning and scheduling, mathematical forecasting models, optimization techniques programming and artificial intelligence techniques. Providing a valuable resource for anyone managing multiple projects in the construction industry, this book is intended for civil and construction engineering students, project managers, construction managers and senior engineers.

This book focuses on the implementation of Quality Function Deployment (QFD) in the construction industry as a tool to help building designers arrive at optimal decisions for external envelope systems with sustainable and buildable design goals. In particular, the book integrates special features into the conventional QFD tool to enhance its performance. These features include a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making method, fuzzy consensus scheme, and Knowledge Management System (KMS). This integration results in a more robust decision support tool, known as the Knowledge-based Decision Support System QFD (KBDSS-QFD) tool. As an example, the KBDSS-QFD tool is used for the assessment of building envelope materials and designs for high-rise residential buildings in Singapore in the early design stage. The book provides the reader with a conceptual framework for understanding the development of the KBDSS-QFD tool. The framework is presented in a generalized form in order to benefit building professionals, decision makers, analysts, academics and researchers, who can use the findings as guiding principles to achieve optimal solutions and boost efficiency.

Covers the entire process of risk management by providing methodologies for determining the sources of engineering project risk, and once threats have been identified, managing them through: identification and assessment (probability, relative importance, variables, risk breakdown structure, etc.); implementation of measures for their prevention, reduction or mitigation; evaluation of impacts and quantification of risks and establishment of control measures. It also considers sensitivity analysis to determine the influence of uncertain parameters values on different project results, such as completion time, total costs, etc. Case studies and examples across a wide spectrum of engineering projects discuss such diverse factors as: safety; environmental impacts; societal reactions; time and cost overruns; quality control; legal issues; financial considerations; and political risk, making this suitable for undergraduates and graduates in grasping the fundamentals of risk management.

Designing an eco home is much more about working with your house's place and situation than relying on intrusive technology and hi-tech materials. In this book, Christopher Day draws on his extensive experience to explain the key principles of eco-home design, using common-sense methods to create a pleasant, comfortable and healthy home. With beautifully simple hand-drawn illustrations, Christopher takes you through: - Using the local topography, combined with landscaping, to improve your home's microclimate - Designing to keep your home dry and warm in the winter, and cool in the summer - Minimizing hidden environmental impacts - Making the house safe and healthy, both emotionally and physically The book includes several case studies of eco hoomes, reviewing (with hindsight) what worked well and what could have been better.

Maths for the Building Trades provides students of all ages with an easy-to-understand guide to the fundamental mathematics that is required in their area of study and beyond. It can be used as a learning programme on its own or in conjunction with the textbooks associated with their chosen trade. The book assumes only a minimum level of mathematical knowledge and thoroughly covers the basic rules. It then goes on to fully explain some of the more complex areas in which the student will be required to demonstrate competence.

This study presents exploratory work and seeks to identify and evaluate the success and failure factors that could form a guideline for further study and to some extent help professionals to understand some critical aspects that impact project performance concerning construction in India. A total of 55 attributes affecting the performance of construction projects are analysed in terms of their level of influence on four key performance criteria - schedule, cost, quality, and no disputes - using a two-stage questionnaire survey. These attributes are then further analysed, interpreted and evaluated. Based on the critical success factors obtained from the study, a neural network model-based predictive model for project performance has been developed. The performance prediction models have been derived for all four project performance criteria. Further, a hypothesis that 'project success' is influenced by 'success traits' has also been formulated. The hypothesized positive inter-relationships between success traits and project success have been tested using the structural equation modelling technique. Besides supporting the intuition of past researchers in recognizing 'coordination' as a key success factor, this study has revealed that coordination is not an isolated and independent activity, but is a typical management function with an inherent role in all major management activities. Key elements affecting coordination have also been identified and their influence on coordination effort has been studied. Furthermore, the present study has also identified three broad skill groups required of effective project coordinators. The results are validated through case studies of live projects and structured interviews with experts in the field of construction management.

A close-to-ideal blend of suburb and city, speedy construction of towers of Babylon, the sparkling proportion of glass and steel buildings' facade at night showcase the wisdom of humans. They also witness the footsteps, sweats and tears of architects and engineers. Unfortunately, these signatures of human civilizations are swathed in towering figures of construction accidents. Fretting about these on sites, different countries adopt different measures on sites. This book firstly sketches the construction accidents on sites, followed by a review on safety measures in some of the developing countries such as Bermuda, Egypt, Kuwait and China; as well as developed countries, for example, the United States, France and Singapore. It also highlights the enormous compensation costs with the courts' experiences in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong.

Problems with high stakes, involving human perceptions and judgements, and whose resolutions have long-term repercussions, call for a rational approach to their solution. Strategic Decision Making provides an effective, formal methodology that gives assistance to such strategic level decision making problems. Focusing on applying the AHP to decision-making problems in engineering, Strategic Decision Making explores the three main endeavours of human existence: business, defence and governance. Many years of successfully applying Strategic Decision Making in these domains have created extensive results covering many complex planning, resource, allocation and priority setting problems throughout industry and business. Case studies drawn from years of successful, practical application experience. Discusses applications of decision making for real life problems. Worked examples and solutions to problems throughout. The reader will gain comprehensive exposure to the extent of assistance that a formal methodology, such as AHP, can provide to the decision maker in evolving decisions in complex and varied domains. Decision makers, in business and industry around the world, will find this valuable for practical use as a working tool.

This book gathers the latest advances, innovations, and applications in the field of information systems and construction engineering, as presented by researchers and engineers at the International Scientific Conference Building Life-cycle Management. Information Systems and Technologies, held in Moscow, Russia on November 26, 2021. It covers highly diverse topics, including Information modeling technologies in building life-cycle management, Mathematical models and methods for building life-cycle management, Management of organizational processes in construction. The contributions, which were selected by means of a rigorous international peer-review process, highlight numerous exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster multidisciplinary collaborations in the construction industry.

This book highlights the latest technologies and applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the domain of construction engineering and management. The construction industry worldwide has been a late bloomer to adopting digital technology, where construction projects are predominantly managed with a heavy reliance on the knowledge and experience of construction professionals. AI works by combining large amounts of data with fast, iterative processing, and intelligent algorithms (e.g., neural networks, process mining, and deep learning), allowing the computer to learn automatically from patterns or features in the data. It provides a wide range of solutions to address many challenging construction problems, such as knowledge discovery, risk estimates, root cause analysis, damage assessment and prediction, and defect detection. A tremendous transformation has taken place in the past years with the emerging applications of AI. This enables industrial participants to operate projects more efficiently and safely, not only increasing the automation and productivity in construction but also enhancing the competitiveness globally.

This eighth edition of Hall and Greeno's leading textbook has been reviewed and updated in relation to the latest building and water regulations, new technology, and new legislation, and even more design calculations have been added. In addition, topics such as: alternative sources of natural energy, solar, ground source, heat pumps, renewable energy sources, geothermal methods, and wind power, are now covered. Building Services Handbook summarises the application of all common elements of building services practice, technique and procedure, to provide an essential information resource for students as well as practitioners working in building services, building management and the facilities administration and maintenance sectors of the construction industry. Information is presented in the highly illustrated and accessible style of the best-selling companion title Building Construction Handbook. THE comprehensive reference for all construction and building services students, Building Services Handbook is ideal for a wide range of courses including NVQ and BTEC National through Higher National Certificate and Diploma to Foundation and three-year Degree level. The clear illustrations and complementary references to industry Standards combine essential guidance with a resource base for further reading and development of specific topics.

Written for students taking courses in building and surveying, 'Estimating for Builders and Surveyors' describes and explains the method used by the estimator to build up prices or rates for items described in the SMM7 format. Each chapter is a self-contained unit related to a particular element in the building. Worked examples throughout reflect both traditional and up-to-date technology. Written by an author team of academics and professional surveyors, this book continues to be an invaluable introduction to the subject of estimating.

* Written in line with The Standard Method of Measurement of Building Works to provide professional relevance
* Worked examples throughout ensure the student can practice the techniques described
* Comprehensive coverage of the trades gives the reader a complete picture