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Case-based learning (CBL) is a teaching method used in many disciplines of tertiary education. Based on a questionnaire survey and focus group discussions, the perception of the real estate and construction students on CBL in enhancing professional competencies was evaluated. A total of 278 undergraduate students at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University participated in the study. A series of 8 cases related to construction economics and finance were mounted on an electronic platform, which forms the basis of continuous assessment for two undergraduate subjects taken by year-2 and year-3 full-time and part-time students. Results revealed that students perceive CBL as effective in enhancing problem-solving skills, leading to improvement of motivation and promotion of effective group collaboration and fostering self-directed learning. A comparison was then made on the effectiveness of CBL in terms of examination and course work performance between 2013/14 (control group) and the 2014/15 (treatment group) academic years. The results clearly revealed that the introduction of CBL has improved students’ performance significantly. However, as this was their first exposure to CBL, students did experience stress and some lack of confidence, increased workload, and uncertainty. Overall, the findings encourage an active CBL pedagogical approach in construction and real estate curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the growing trend of developing and managing photovoltaic facilities owned by third parties in buildings, as a possible alternative to energy performance contracting.Design/methodology/approach Based on an established business model template, analysis is carried out on the framework of using third-party finance in the provision of photovoltaic facilities in buildings. Case studies in the USA and China enable comparison of policy tools enabling this approach.Findings While barriers exist in the common energy performance contracting approach for renewable installations owned by the building owner, vesting photovoltaic equipment with a third party for a certain period has become a viable business alternative as long as revenue is generated through a power purchase agreement or lease arrangement with the building owner.Research limitations/implications The third-party ownership business model works better if sufficient policy incentives exist alongside the revenue brought about by renewable energy. Hence, governments have to create the right environment.Originality/value Win-win situations have been identified through case studies in countries with burgeoning renewable energy use in buildings, notably the USA and China, giving new insights on facilities management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable urban development has been receiving growing concerns from both city managers and urban residents across the world. As a yardstick of sustainability, urban carrying capacity (UCC) is an important conceptual underpinning that guides local governments in promoting sustainable urban development. However, existing studies still lack consensus not only on the theoretical aspects, but also on the methodological issues for UCC monitoring and evaluation. A knowledge gap exists, which this paper fills. This study aims to develop a practical UCC assessment framework to guide urban development towards achieving sustainability. The quantitative-based assessment framework provides a set of measurable indicators and benchmarks for city managers to conduct routine monitoring on progress toward urban sustainability, and helps identify deficient areas, which urgently need resource allocation to improve UCC. Focusing on a case study of Beijing, this study demonstrates that the framework is useful in promoting urban sustainability. This framework provides rich implications for other city prototypes in China as the nation marches into the next phase of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate how unique features of built facilities would affect the application of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading, and to explore what adaptive measures may be taken for emissions trading to be applied to the built environment. Emissions trading is a financial tool to encourage GHG emissions reduction in various industries. As the building sector is responsible for a large amount of GHG emissions, it is valuable to explore the application of emissions trading in built facilities. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on a comparative study reviewing the current emissions trading schemes (ETSs) in Australia, Japan and the UK covering the building industry, and to evaluate the approaches adopted by the schemes to tackle the problems related to buildings and facilities management. Findings – The research findings reveal that the small energy savings of individual building units, the large variety of energy-saving technologies and the split incentives and diverse interests of building owners and tenants would be the barriers hindering the development of emissions trading. To overcome these barriers, an ETS should allow its participants to group individual energy savings, lower the complexity of monitoring and reporting approaches and allow owners and tenants to benefit from emissions trading. Originality/value – This article provides a comprehensive overview of the current emissions trading practices in the built environment. Besides, it raises the attention and consciousness of policymakers to the need that building characteristics and facilities management should be taken into consideration when designing an ETS for the building sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable building has become a future development trend in the building sector. Building Energy Efficiency Retrofit (BEER) provides excellent opportunities to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings, and to promote environmental protection, the rational use of resources, occupants' health, all of which helps to improve the sustainability of existing buildings. Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) provided by Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) is a market mechanism to provide financial and technological support for energy efficiency projects. This paper aims to develop a sustainability promotion framework for BEER projects under the EPC mechanism to link the sustainable performance of BEER with the success factors of this EPC mechanism. Different types of building have different energy consumption characteristics. This research focuses on hotel buildings in China. The paper develops a framework for sustainable BEER through an EPC mechanism in hotel buildings based on the EFQM Excellence Model for business quality management. Interviews were conducted with experts from the hotel industry, from energy service companies and with academics. Based on the developed framework, the study has identified 11 performance indicators for sustainable BEER and 28 success factors of an EPC mechanism. This provides significant groundwork for future study in developing an assessment model to evaluate the sustainability of BEER projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the global financial tsunami, banks were very cautious in financing business needs due to tight credit conditions. Alternative ways for financing projects were sought after by real estate developers worldwide. Within Asia, notably in Hong Kong SAR and Singapore, a number of reputable property developers have been tapping the capital debt market for funds in recent years amidst an increasingly regulated loan market and competitive pricing. In the face of a growing bond market, some corporate bond issues arranged by these property developers have been successful. Apart from investment appetite, property developers have to gauge carefully the pros and cons of raising funds through bond issues. Successful bond issues need to be structured with suitable credit enhancement features since the perception of risk and rising interest rates are major deterrents to potential investors who would otherwise face bond defaults or bear high opportunity costs with the committed funds. Through a number of case studies, the suitability of bond financing for property development is compared with loan financing. It is found that a close monitoring of market conditions and some foresight are essential ingredients for successful bond financing, for both straight bond issues and convertibles. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – This paper aims to highlight the similarities and differences in the buildability perspectives held by the client and the design team (collectively known as the design decision-making group) and the contractor (known as the execution group). Design/methodology/approach – Buildability attributes were identified through a questionnaire survey, followed by factor analysis to consolidate them into nine buildability factors. These were then presented to 31 construction experts (comprising clients, consultants and contractors), who ranked the buildability factors in association with common construction systems using the analytical hierarchy process. Findings – Whilst the consensus was on "enabling design requirements to be easily visualised and co-ordinated by site staff" to make designs buildable, clients and design teams differed from contractors in perspectives such as overcoming site restrictions, achieving standardisation and flexibility. When applied to construction systems, clients and design teams ranked precast systems higher than contractors, who favoured in situ systems. Research limitations/implications – Since the research was conducted in Hong Kong, the interpretation of the findings should be based on this contextual background as described in the paper. Originality/value – This paper highlights the common and different perspectives of the design decision-making group and the execution group in evaluating buildability and the reasons underlying their decisions. It paves the way for meaningful benchmarking of an important attribute affecting all construction stakeholders. The results form part of the development of a Buildability Assessment Model for use in Hong Kong, which is a useful tool for benchmarking buildability of designs, as in other countries (e.g. Singapore) which see the benefits of this important attribute on project performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this turbulent environment, construction companies should determine a target capital structure so that they have sufficient and affordable capital to run their projects. This involves the estimation of the cost of capital. When considering the costs and benefits of debt and equity, the selection of banks for debt financing would affect the computation of the gearing ratio. Methods that are able to compute reliable estimations should be developed. The current article therefore aims at introducing a three-phase approach to construction borrowing decisions. In the first two phases, the data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to estimate the relative efficiencies of the target banks and the available financial sources, respectively. In the last phase, a custom-made dynamic model was formulated to estimate the periodic loans required from the sources. A numerical example was used to demonstrate and justify the usefulness of the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the operational mechanism, project performance, motives behind, benefits, difficulties and success factors of adopting the guaranteed maximum price (GMP) scheme based on a real-life case study of Chater House, an international Grade A private office project in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach – The case project was analysed by means of the related project documentation and a series of face-to-face interviews with the relevant senior project representatives. Findings – All the interviewed key project stakeholders perceived that the GMP contract helped achieve competitive price, value for money and superior quality of products as well as provided stronger incentives to innovation and cost saving. The case study revealed that the overall success of this GMP project was underpinned by several key attributes. Originality/value – The paper provides solid groundwork for client bodies and contracting organisations to develop a best practice framework for implementing successful GMP schemes in future construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since information and communication technology (ICT) was introduced into the construction industry over a decade ago, the once fledging technologies have now been well developed. ICT has been commonly adopted, particularly in places where speedy construction is the norm, e.g., in Hong Kong. At the time when ICT is seemingly well developed, this paper aims at identifying the difficulties and hindrances facing the end users of such information exchange systems during design and construction and the consequential effects on project performance. Through literature review, a series of structured interviews, and a questionnaire survey, it is found that industry users welcomed the advancement of ICT, but that the necessary technical and psychological supports from their organizations were insufficiently provided. In addition, significant differences on the hindrances and their consequential effects have been identified between end users in the private sector and those in the public sector. The study findings have also highlighted factors impeding the smooth implementation of ICT systems at the end-user level, which would help organizations to formulate effective strategies to cope with ever-evolving communication technologies and changes in working style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]