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Natural disasters may have a catastrophic impact on the lives of people, company operations and property. The impacts of these disasters fall into the category of natural hazards and belong to standard insurance policies; however, they are problematic from the point of view of the varying degree of risk facing the insured objects in different locations. The objective of this paper is to discuss and assess the potential of applying risks zoning to the Czech Republic on the examples of the selected natural hazards of floods, snow load, windstorm and hailstorm. The assessment is conducted using available statistical data and a severity index. It is concluded that after the flood hazard, it is the combined risk of windstorm and hailstorm which has the biggest potential for the introduction of risk zoning for insurance purposes.

The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and PROMETHEE have gained increasing attention in the field of construction management as techniques for the analysis of complex situations and as decision support for decision makers. However, these two methods in themselves or their potential applications to problems of construction management are not sufficiently defined in the existing literature. The environment of group decision-making bring even more challenges. This paper consolidates and critically discusses the current knowledge on the application of AHP and PROMETHEE methods in the light of the specifics of the construction industry. A systematic literature review was used to select the contributions indexed in the databases Scopus and Web of Science. The findings indicate that the studies deal with broad topics and different aspects in different phases of civil engineering projects. This paper provides a useful reference work for researchers and practitioners interested in the application of AHP and PROMEETHEE as tools for group decision-making in civil engineering.

It is essential to create a comfortable and healthy indoor microclimate in order to assure proper conditions for work or recreation as people are spending 80-90% of their life in buildings. Therefore the building performance can help in achieving such sustainable living area, but also one should look into at other sources of temperature and humidity generators such as occupants’ habits. Based on gathered data from observed apartments an insight into preliminary analysis of indoor temperatures and humidity in urban social housing is given. The analysis of the results confirm the set hypotheses that the occupants’ habit significantly influence the indoor temperatures and humidity in urban social housing.

Cost prediction in early stages of construction projects is one of the crucial problems of project planning. Previous research has been directed to process based and data driven model development by using various techniques, e.g. regression analysis, support vector machine (SVM), neural networks etc. According to the research results, neither one of the techniques could be considered the best for all circumstances. Therefore, the research has been redirected towards the hybrid modelling, i.e. combination of different techniques. In this research, for prediction of the target variable – real construction cost of road structures, using available variables: contracted construction cost, contracted construction time and real construction time and cost, hybrid model – combination of SVM technique (data- driven model) and Bromilow time-cost model (TCM) (process-based model) has been used. Five hybrid models have been built for comparison purposes: SVM-Bromilow TCM, LR-Bromilow TCM, RBFNN-Bromilow TCM, MLP-Bromilow TCM and GRNN- Bromilow TCM, combining Bromilow TCM with SVM, LR (linear regression), RBFNN (radial basis neural network), MLP (Multilayer perceptron) and GRNN (general regression neural network), respectively. The best accuracy has been obtained with SVM-Bromilow TCM with mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) 1.01% and coefficient of determination (R2) 97.61%.

The paper presents the relation between the planned duration and costs for a project of reconstructing an overage public structure to become a public facility with social purpose. The aim of the paper was development of a management model for such projects so that they could be successfully carried out in terms of cost and time. The selected example presents the methodology of time and cost relation in the project. The selected tool for connecting the mentioned project parameters is the S- curve. The S-curve is obtained through the planning process in several steps which include creation of project WBS (work breakdown structure), cost estimate and progress chart (Gantt chart). The obtained S- curve is the basis which later serves as the indicator for project performance success. Aberrations from the planned values can be detected by comparisons, monitoring and control which enables duly reaction and undertaking specific correction measures. A quick information about key trends of the project and effects of specific decisions and measures on project cost and duration is obtained. The developed model can be applied to projects of reconstructing and reallocating public structures into public facilities with social purpose with similar technical and functional characteristics such as: size of the surface, number of floors, construction type, purpose and other.

Recent development of the University of Rijeka campus area affects the quality of life (QoL) of the entire city of Rijeka population, especially student population, which comprises 13% of the city’s total population. During Campus First Development Phase (2008-2011), four faculties found their place in the campus area with no student accommodation nearby. However, in the fall of 2016, during the Second Development Phase, which began in 2015, the first on-campus-accommodations will be provided to students. Technical and economic aspects are the core during investment planning and decision-making processes, while the user requirements are rarely taken into consideration from the actual end-user, resulting in superficial implementation in developing processes. The aim of this paper is to identify the most important indicators influencing the students' QoL in the city of Rijeka and to give an insight of student needs as an input for better investment planning and modelling of urban areas according to their needs. Using a web-based questionnaire as well as personal questioning, the data were collected, analyzed, and compared across four groups of variables (accommodation, faculty location, food and beverages, and out-of- curriculum activities). The conducted research gives a preliminary insight into the students' points of view, thus giving the decision-makers a necessary tool for making more student- oriented decisions in the future campus development phases as a long-term developing processes in the urban area management.

Construction time is an element of every construction contract. Thus, its prediction is of particular interest. This paper presents a construction time prediction model by using General Regression Neural Network. Key data on a total of 70 constructed buildings have been collected through field studies. Chief engineers of construction companies have been interviewed on contractual and actually incurred construction times, contractual and actual construction costs, type of facilities and construction year. General Regression Neural Network (GRNN) from predictive modelling software named DTREG, as new approach in forecasting, was used for building the predictive model to predict the real construction time. Prediction was very accurate with mean absolute percentage error, MAPE, around 2.19 which means that the error of the model is around 2.19%, the coefficient of correlation between the actual and the predicted values is very high, r = 0.99 (rounded) and the coefficient of determination which measures the global fit of the model R2 is 0.97875 (or 97.88%). This paper contributes to and can be useful for the decision process on planning the construction time in construction companies and in the construction industry in general.

Planiranje građenja infrastrukturnih projekata zahtjeva veliku pozornost zbog nepostojanja adekvatne primjene metoda planiranja pri planiranju ove vrste projekata. Važnost planiranja građenja utvrđena je još u davnim vremenima a danas planiranje predstavlja najviše pažnje od svih faza građenja kako bi sam projekt na kraju bio uspješan. Poznato je ipak da većina infrastrukturnih projekata prekorači ili vremenski rok građenja ili planirana sredstva za građenje što znači da se planiranju ovih projekata ne posvećuje dovoljna pažnja. Rad prikazuje kratak povijesni razvoj metoda planiranja, osnovne karakteristike metode te mogućnost njene primjene pri planiranju građenja infrastrukturnih projekata.Cilj rada je na osnovu karakteristika pojedine metode planiranja približiti svaku od njih pojedinoj skupini infrastrukturnih projekata. Kvalitetno planiranje građenja jedan je od glavnih uvjeta uspješnosti cijeloga projekta, a kvalitetno planiranje moguće je ostvariti jedino pomoću adekvatne metode planiranja.

Buildings are the biggest energy consumers ; this energy is partly wasted because buildings constructed several decades ago do not meet the energy efficiency requirements of current legislation. Many of these exiting buildings will continue to be used for many more years and therefore they will continue to needlessly consume massive amounts of energy for heating unless their energy performance is improved. Stated issue with exiting buildings is partly solved by implementing energy certification of buildings procedure. According to Ordinance on energy audits of construction works and energy certification of buildings energy performance certificate must provide information on the energy efficiency of building and cost- effective recommendations on how to improve building energy efficiency. However those recommendations do not address problem of changing fuel rates when calculating simple payback period of proposed recommendations. This research clarifies how various fuel rates can affect the simple payback period of proposed construction measures for improving energy efficiency of building. This case study is done by using sensitivity analysis on data obtained from several buildings which have undergone a process of energy certification and for which recommendations for improving building energy efficiency and simple payback period already exits.

Project Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method that has re-emerged in recent years as an alternative to traditional education. The demands of the work market have grown in such a way that certain skills are required of young engineers, which cannot be acquired through traditional education. Literature research suggest that PBL is better suited for today’s engineering education, but PBL itself has a few shortcomings compared to the traditional education. This paper details the implementation and the implications of project based learning on an interdisciplinary and a technologically complicated project. The project in the focus is the MemBrain project, a student application to the international competition where the goal was to design and build a passive smart house in which the participants were students and mentors from 13 faculties of the University of Zagreb. The paper gives an introduction into what PBL is and a literature review with a focus on the advantages and disadvantages of PBL. A survey was then carried out among the students of Faculty of Civil Engineering University of Zagreb who participated in the MemBrain project with the goal to examine their opinions on PBL in general and their experience on the project. Those findings were compared to the findings in the literature review and conclusions were made.

One of the major challenges in their management is the involvement of a lot of stakeholders leading to complex stakeholder interrelationships and conflicting interests. The aim of this paper is to portray the stakeholder analysis on Sava River megaproject case study using the sustainability impact. The paper begins by reviewing the literature concerning stakeholder analysis in projects. It then explains the methodology for stakeholder analysis within COST Action: Megaproject, Working group Managing External Stakeholders aiming to provide the mechanism how stakeholders influence impact megaproject performance. In order to succeed, the framework goes beyond the “iron-triangle” treating it as “side effect”, introducing sustainability issues as important aspects of megaproject impact. The paper concludes with presenting results of stakeholder analysis using the proposed framework. The new analysis is proposed based on stakeholder efficiency using difference between interest and impact.

Fragmentation of the construction project’s life cycle, as well as the fragmentation of stakeholder responsibilities, is known global problem of the construction industry. In business of production, transportation and paving of great quantities of asphalt mixture, solving this problem has been emphasized by previous researchers as high priority. Detached process modeling and optimization without taking into account constraints of interrelations among sub-processes cannot offer the optimal or quality solution. Thus, it is necessary to structure a developing and easily adjustable model which will be able to integrate all sub-processes with their interrelations. In this paper authors have structured a developing simulation model for planning and optimization “just in time” chain of processes of production, transportation and paving of great quantities of asphalt mixture. Model has been proved, by scenario simulations of generated events, to be dynamic and adjustable for input parameter changes and updates. Authors also discuss the possibilities and constraints of applicability and interoperability of the structured model with the building information modeling concept (BIM).

U radu je predstavljena tradicijska arhitektura dalmatinskog zaleđa i mogućnosti njene interpretacije obzirom na konstitutivne građevne dijelove obiteljske kuće. BIM koncept novi je izazov u graditeljstvu čiji se značaj prati i procjenjuje te se razvijaju metode kojima se mjeri učinkovitost novog koncepta izrade projekta i projektne dokumentacije. Kroz pregled literature razmatrani su mogući odnosi prema tradicijskoj gradnji te su definirane razine promjene i načini sagledavanja tradicijskog. Ključno pitanje ovog rada je kakav doprinos informacijskog modeliranja možemo traži ti u interpretaciji tradicijskih oblika. U praktičnom dijelu su izrađeni BIM modeli na temelju postojeće građevine koja je ogledni primjer regionalne arhitekture dalmatinskog zaleđa, a izrađeni modeli predstavljaju pojedine razine interpretacije tradicijske arhitekture promatranog prostora. U radu su prikazani rezultati troškova i vremena izvođenja radova za različite razine interpretacije tradicijske arhitekture te su modeli uspoređeni. Procjena primjene BIM koncepta u varijaciji tradicijskih oblika, tehnologije i materijala dana je na temelju rezultata primjene softwarea Arup BIM Maturity Measure za dimenziju oblikovanja arhitekture s naglaskom na pročelje. Rad rezultatima ukazuje na slabost eksterne podrške za cjelovitije korištenje i iskorištavanje BIM koncepta u promatranom primjeru.

The focus in performance concept of all decisions is on the required performance-in- use, and on the evaluations and testing of building asset. Particular application in building consists of translating human needs to user requirements, transforming them into technical performance requirements and quantitative criteria that do not dictate a prescribed solution, but rather compose a means for the investigation of various alternatives. Responding to these requirements during the various stages of conceptual, preliminary and detailed design could enable cost-effective construction of buildings that provide long- term satisfactory performance. Public facilities building projects bring a wealth of social and economic benefits to our communities. Results of literature and case studies review showed the establishment of standardized ‘whole building’ performance goals and indicators has proved to be a difficult and complex task for the building industry, especially in terms of energy and environmental performance. This is due to the fact that building energy and environmental performance varies significantly based on climate, building type, operational use profiles, and other variables. The main goal of this paper is to present a database of qualitative and quantitative indicators for construction, maintenance and utilization of educational system facilities as well as their possible implementation in performance based building that would lead to more rational solutions and improved management of government budget.

In the context of business management, the research of organizational culture has been actualized in the last decade because it promotes internal sources of competitive advantage, and that corresponds to the attitude of modern organizational theories. At the university level, previous studies have shown that organizational culture is a reflection of the values and beliefs of all university stakeholders and that it greatly affects the decision-making processes as well as forms of individual and organizational behavior. Culture of each organization is unique. Therefore, beside the theoretical background, also specific beliefs, attitudes, assumptions, values, norms and expectations of different stakeholders of the observed organization need to be investigated. This is essential for managing the organizational culture in a way that it teaches appropriate behavior, motivates individuals and directs them toward the desired organizational goals. Basing on the above, this paper presents the case study of the Faculty of Civil Engineering Osijek. The study has been conducted by using the methodology of Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument, a many times validated questionnaire. Survey results identified the dominant cultural profile of the Faculty as well as the cultural profile that respondents considered desirable in the future. This created a scientific contribution to the understanding of organizational culture in higher education institutions as well as the foundation for sustainable efficiency of the operation and management of the Faculty tested.

Building information modelling has been proved as an efficient approach for solving global problems in construction projects. Researchers worldwide have pointed that the main direct benefits of BIM are for investors and final building users, while its benefits for construction companies in the construction phase are still matter of discussions. In daily work on construction site BIM is still considered as an unnecessary complication of the already established methodology. Therefore, authors in this paper have provided a literature overview and proposed a methodology for daily use of BIM in planning and monitoring on the construction site. Authors show that the weather forecast as additional dimension (as a statistical data) can be added to nD models as a platform for scenario simulation and risk evaluation. Just as well, they show that this is a valid point of intersection of the two orientations for modelling and simulation: BIM and process simulation. The results of this paper may contribute to a more realistic planning on site and thus positively influence on the projects overall performance.

Zbornik sadrži objavljene radove s 12. međunarode konferencije "Organizacija, tehnologija i menadžment u građevinarstvu 2015".

The paper describes approaches to conducting fieldwork education in construction management and transportation engineering at the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Osijek and at the Polytechnic of Zagreb. Fieldwork is an important part of civil engineering study programs in the field of construction management and transportation engineering, both in university studies and in professional studies. The main purpose of fieldwork is to complement the students’ theoretical knowledge and to provide a complete insight into the issues of construction management and technology by strengthening the teaching process in which one creates a clear picture of the students’ future work and provides them with knowledge and skills through direct contact with the profession. This paper presents and describes the process of conducting fieldwork in several course subjects during the academic year 2014/2015. The paper also points out the need for evaluation of educational achievements in fieldwork through a series of elements and emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach aimed at ensuring maximum performance of fieldwork for students as well as successful results in teaching.

Problems related to the management of projects, specifically priority ranking problems, can be found in all stages of projects’ life cycles, mostly as the result of inadequate decision making. Such place where engineering students can be challenged both creatively and by knowledge in a complex project environment can be found in the graduate study programme under the course of Project Management at the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Rijeka. Priority ranking of student papers in faculty environment deals with complex decision making problems which is characterized by lots of participants, multidisciplinarity, huge quantities of information, different opinions as well as conflicting goals and criteria. In order to cope with such complexity and to help professors during evaluation process of student papers, the use of concept based on multi- criteria analysis for solving priority setting problem is proposed. The starting point of proposed concept is goal analysis and development of adequate criteria set. Evaluation of criteria importance is based on a set of experts’ opinions processed by AHP method, while all data processing is done by PROMETHEE multi- criteria methods. The main outcome of proposed concept is a rank list of student papers. Structuring such complex problems and considering multiple-criteria explicitly leads to more informed and better decisions, at the same time involving students in the process of setting up the concept making them active subjects nor end objects. Integration of multi-criteria analysis into evaluation process of student papers contributes to higher consistency in their priority ranking, and at the same time innovating curriculum of the course as it is introduced into education process of construction management.

ESCO (Energy Service Company) describes the companies that deliver the energy service or more specifically, develop, implement and provide or arrange financing for upfront energy efficiency (EE) investments for its clients. The fundamental concept of the ESCO business model is that the client does not have to come up with any upfront capital investment and is only responsible for repaying the investment made or arranged by the ESCO. Repayments are made from the energy savings. Issues related to energy efficiency are known for a long time and solving the problems of high energy demands, high and growing energy price is a global priority. This article aims to investigate and demonstrate how ESCO models can help in improving energy efficiency and achieving energy savings. Available literature regarding ESCO models, legal and strategic documents about energy efficiency and ESCO market reports were used as resources. It was shown that ESCO projects can achieve significant energy savings, are a great quality solution for improving energy efficiency and that the ESCO market in Europe, including Croatia, is constantly growing and has a big potential for further development.

Despite the growing awareness of the benefits of using Building Information Modelling (BIM) throughout the life of a construction project, and even though the acceptance of BIM by organizations in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industries has rapidly increased in recent years in fifteen of the world's leading economies, the general impression is that BIM is not being adopted as promptly as expected. Obstacles in adopting BIM are the topic of various studies, the latest of which indicate that this problem should be approached as an innovation management problem. This paper goes further in this approach by firstly defining BIM as innovation in construction, and then, on theoretical basis of the diffusion of innovation, provides a conceptual model of BIM diffusion as innovation at the level of AEC organization. The aim is to (1) identify the basic elements of the process of diffusion of that innovation and (2) specify the main groups of influential factors for the diffusion of BIM in the AEC organizations. According to the conceptual model proposed in this Paper, the initial phase of the BIM diffusion process preceding the decision on adopting the BIM, consists of „Awareness of the need of BIM adoption“ and „Feasibility study and proposal to adopt“, and its implementation phase consists of „Adapting the organization to BIM“, „Training and user support for wider use“, „Sustainability of the continuous application“ and „Evaluation and improvements“. The critical factors of success need to be defined within the following groups of factors: social and business environmental factors, internal organizational factors, previous related knowledge, perceived properties of BIM, and communication channels. The proposed research framework could lead further research in the direction of understanding the cause and effect relationships of diffusion elements for a successful implementation of BIM in the AEC organizations.