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In the construction industry, time overrun in construction projects has become a global phenomenon. In Iraq, this problem is very considerable where a high percentage of projects are completed behind schedule, causing a large negative impact on society on the one side and the economic impact on the other side of the country. This study aims to define the major factors that cause construction project’s time overrun by studying delay causes of projects and performing a number of interviews with a group of specialists in project construction. Next, a questionnaire is used to obtain responses from 115 participants in the city of Najaf. In addition, agreement analysis is performed to ensure that the arranged rankings by all involved respondents’ categories are not ordered by coincidence, and the Chi-squared test is put to use as well to mark the agreement or disagreement context among the respondent category rankings. The target respondents of the study included: clients, consultants, project managers, contractors, and engineers who have an experience in project management and construction. The findings of the study revealed that the top five most essential factors causing delay in public construction projects are global and local economic crises, bureaucracy and corruption, public holidays, delay in getting governmental permits, and issuing numerous change orders by owners. Moreover, eight components are extracted from the 45 questionnaire items put to use for factor analysis. Among the extracted factors are the inaccuracy of tendering process, technical performance management, and government interferences.

Even though concrete structures are safer than steel structures in terms of fire resistance, the risk exists in concrete structures by spalling or exploding, especially in high-strength concrete. This study aims to produce a particular type of concrete using waste ceramics as fine aggregate and waste glass as coarse aggregate and compare data with normal aggregate concrete. Studies show that using waste ceramic and glass increases the fire resistance of concrete. After fire exposure in the control mix, the residual compressive strength was 10 MPa. The waste aggregate concrete was found to be 26.9 MPa after 800 centigrade exposures, which was an excellent result. Waste materials decreased construction costs and led to a clean environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]