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The construction industry plays a major role in the economy of a country. Therefore, the development of the construction industry mainly depends on the effect of the legal system of the country as well. The Environmental and Physical Planning Laws are the main two types of legal areas that affect the construction industry. Further, the problems or conflicts in the aforementioned law areas had become a reason to create disputes in the construction industry. Accordingly, the main aim of this research is to evaluate the applicability of the specific Laws and Regulations which are considered under Environmental Law and Physical Planning Law relating to the Construction Industry of Sri Lanka. To attain the aim, an extensive literature synthesis was conducted to identify the problematic and conflicting areas in the existing Environmental and Physical Planning Law. Moreover, literature sources related to the international Environmental and Physical Planning Law context were brought into the picture to recognize the potential solutions and the recommendations for the proper implementation of said Laws. Accordingly, problematic areas in the construction project licensing process, review of the power factor of the UDA regulations were identified as critical factors for a successful legal implementation. Conclusions had presented the impression that how the existing said law areas would affect the construction issues related to the Sri Lankan context.

The successful completion of a construction project involves the collaboration of various stakeholders which generates extremely exhaustive and varied information. Consequently, the effectiveness of the information flows ominously impact the strong work relationships between project stakeholders. Even though various adversarial effects to the construction project management threshold; cost, quality and time, are triggered by disordered information trails, numerous barriers for the effective information transfusion stay as a grey area. As an innovative tide towards overpowering the information management barriers in a conventional construction project, execution of Augmented Reality (AR) has been highlighted by scholars. Even though AR is already being incorporated in industries like automobile and aviation, it has not yet been considerably executed in the construction industry. Therefore, to exploit the potential of AR to improve information management, a qualitative research approach was incorporated. The extensive literature synthesis revealed the sustainability to adopt AR in the construction industry while highlighting the associated barriers in its pathway. In conclusion, the AR implementation for mitigating the barriers was evaluated and it indicated on AR’s promising nature for such mitigation. This study will be an initiative to integrate the conventional construction environment with AR to enrich the efficiency of project information management.

The proactive management of a design can prevent design errors. Design changes can be mitigated by using Augmented Reality (AR) prototype digital models. However, the use of these models in construction is still in its infancy. Thus, this study assessed how AR could be used to overcome traditional pre-contract design communication related issues in construction. The study used a qualitative approach. The data required were collected through interviews conducted with experts in the fields of construction and information technology. Manual content analysis was used to analyse the collected empirical data. The study revealed that design communication issues could be related to architectural design, structural design, service design, and design collaboration. AR toolkit models, 360-degree model visualisation, walkthroughs, model registration, clash detection, and digital information overlays would minimise design communication issues, while AR features would enable design knowledge acquisition and negotiation. However, in construction, technical and social challenges are found to hinder AR implementation. Refereed/Peer-reviewed