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Lean construction (LC) and building information modeling (BIM) are two of the prominent concepts challenging the traditional practices in construction management. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often constitute the largest group in construction supply chains. Increasing BIM and LC adoption amongst SMEs is a key condition for achieving the transformation of the construction industry through BIM and LC. The paper presents a systematic literature review of the adoption of (i) LC, (ii) BIM, and (iii) both LC and BIM in SMEs to evaluate the current literature, and 114 papers were included in the review. The bibliographic and content characteristics of the literature were discussed in detail. It was found that despite the importance of SMEs, the current LC and BIM literature falls short in terms of both number of publications and content of publications. The paper concludes with some generic suggestions for future research and action.

The construction industry is estimated to account for 40% of annual global energy use and 30% of annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has suggested the construction sector as best placed to improve its energy performance in order to help Ireland to meet the European Union (EU) GHG reduction target of 20% by 2020. An action research (AR) approach was used to explore the construction phase energy reduction opportunities on a selected case study in the West of Ireland. The participating contractor’s current onsite energy management practices were benchmarked to inform the implementation of a series of quick-win measures at a cost of €706.04. The resultant savings of €19 853.03 represented 17.5% of the total expenditure on energy usage on site (€113 397) and resulted in an estimated saving of 5.5% of the assumed project profit (€358 800). A set of key performance indicators (KPIs) were calculated for both phases of the project with a 75% reduction in the ...