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The deployment of digital systems has facilitated process improvement in building construction, including for green practices implementation. However, it has encountered several challenges that have limited its use and hindered the diffusion of sustainable practices. Hence, this study aims to identify and assess the major barriers to smart-sustainable practices (SSP) adoption and evaluate its likely impact. A quantitative research method using empirical questionnaire surveys to solicit stakeholders' perceptions in Hong Kong and Nigeria to understand whether there is a commonality in the identified barriers between the two contexts. The collated data were analysed using descriptive statistics such as mean and inferential statistics (factor analysis), while fuzzy synthetic evaluation was used to develop the predictive models. Using non-probability sampling techniques, 97 and 69 responses were gotten from respondents in Hong Kong and Nigeria, respectively. The results revealed that workforce expertise, hesitancy to change from working practices, technical know-how, and inadequate understanding of the SSP process as the most critical barriers to SSP diffusion in Hong Kong and Nigeria. Also, impact evaluation models were developed as a predictive tool to evaluate and respond to the impact of these barriers. It is recommended for industry practitioners and policymakers to collaborate to create local context-based guidelines for facilitating SSP diffusion and monitor its implementation.

When a building design fails to meet the end-users' requirements after construction, it is regarded as a faulty design. Faulty designs often lead to renovation, demolition, and material waste. The need to implement innovative tools and systems that continuously provide designers with the end-users' design requirements and feedback in the built environment cannot be ignored. This study explores the potentiality of implementing a Lean Premise Design (LPD) scheme in Hong Kong to facilitate sustainability practices, ensure energy conservation, promote innovative green technologies and water efficiency, and reduce abortive works in high- rise residential (HRR) buildings. A comprehensive review of literature on concepts similar to the LPD scheme and sustainability practices in the design and development of high-rise buildings was undertaken. In addition, interviews were adopted to validate the identified barriers and drivers to the LPD scheme. These facilitated the identification of perceived barriers to the LPD scheme adoption in the local context. Furthermore, the relevant drivers that can promote its implementation were examined. The study focused on sustainable building design relating to users' behaviour patterns and expectations, social needs, green maintenance technologies, and government initiatives. About 77% of the experts affirmed the availability of comprehensive building codes and guidelines. Nevertheless, 62% of the experts confirmed the insufficiency of the current regulations to promote sustainable building design. Similarly, the literature review revealed that while there are many sustainable concepts in the development of high-rise buildings, little or none of these concepts focused on LPD.

The role of the quantity surveyor is one that is often unclear amongst the general public. This study discussed the competencies of the quantity surveyor in measuring and managing civil engineering works and also carrying out the financial management for civil engineering construction projects; also outlined the various competencies and skills required of quantity surveyors in discharging and managing their professional duties. The core activities of quantity surveyors include determining project budgets, measuring project quantities, preparing contract documentation (such as Bills of Quantities and cost control documents), administering contracts, and preparing final accounts. The study also examines recent developments in the profession, which have led to the quantity surveyor delivering a number of management related consultancy services, in response to rising client expectations and demands. The militating factors to QS participation in the Nigeria AEC industry were identified as skills and knowledge, competencies, identity or branding issues, fewer QS in public service among others. The study advocated a change in culture and the inclusion of quantity surveyors on civil engineering projects in order for the industry to leverage on the dynamism of the quantity surveying profession.

Over the years, Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been transforming the development of the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry across the globe. Many perceived benefits have been reported by the early adopters of BIM from inception to decommissioning stage of the project lifecycle. Despite these benefits, many countries are still lagging behind in the adoption and implementation in their construction industries. The Nigerian construction industry which is bedevilled by myriads of profound challenges such as cost overrun, time overrun, project abandonment and contractual disputes among others, stands to gain a lot with BIM. However, there is a slow BIM intake and there is a dearth of research studies on BIM in the Nigerian construction Industry. The BIM research in Nigeria is in its nascent stage of development and there is an urgent need to understand the current situation and application of BIM in Nigeria. Extant studies have embarked on various research to study the awareness, adoption, implementation, and challenges both from the industry perspective and academic perspective. Hitherto, there has been no systematic literature review of the adoption and implementation of BIM in the Nigerian construction industry. This research study adopted an interpretivist epistemology approach with a light touch of metanalysis to conduct a systematic desktop review of the BIM research studies based in Nigeria. A total of 46 published papers were used for the analysis, and the status of BIM adoption and implementation, challenges, benefits and drivers in the AEC industry of Nigeria were presented and conceptualized using the theoretical lens of innovation diffusion. This study has provided its readers with the status quo of BIM and set the scene for further studies on BIM in the Nigerian AEC industry.

The Public Procurement Act 2007 brought a sense of regulation or framework to the procurement process in Nigeria. Preceding this law, Nigerian public procurement was not formally regulated in the sense that there was no law, which governed procurement at the federal or State level. This paper examined the various parts and sections of the PPA Act 2007 towards identifying major loopholes of the Act, as it may allow one party to circumvent the Act's intention without actually breaking that law. Some identified loopholes included ambiguity in the qualification criteria of a procurement manager, non-inclusion of the AEC professional on the National Council on Public Procurement, its failure to provide methods for dispute resolution etc. Meanwhile, some challenges militating against the implantation of the PPA Act 2007 identified were the absence of strong and compelling institutions, pervading corruption that has become Nigeria socio-cultural value, citizen’s refusal to demand accountability etc. Although some provisions of the PPA Act were amended in 2009 by the Nigerian Senate, some other vital amendments were proposed to the relevant authorities for evaluation and legislation. The findings of this research provide instrument and ideas that can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Nigeria’s procurement process.

Active learning has played an important role in recent years as it carries a highly positive effect of improving students' learning attitude and successiveness. Indeed, classroom design is a determinative factor in the performance of learning and teaching. Continuous assessment of learning performance is crucial that could indicate the direction of future classroom renovation to provide an advanced learning and teaching environment for students and teachers. Hence, this paper aims to provide a better understanding of the latest trend in learning mode preference. The characteristics and reasons for choosing active and traditional learning were examined from the students' perspectives using questionnaire surveys. Moreover, this paper focus on the effects of pedagogical transition on design factors and design criteria for a flexible classroom. The analysis of the responses collected from the students' perspectives shows interesting findings useful for adopting the active learning approach and for classroom design. Most of the factors were rated very important by the students, which shows the various factors should be considered by teachers and administrators in the delivery of teaching instructions and the classroom design, respectively. A different mix of traditional and active learning approaches might be suitable, depending on the subject's intended learning outcomes. A traditional approach will facilitate learning more orderly, although most of the instructions are from the teacher, while active learning is more collaborative and engaging for the students. Practical implications of the study were also discussed.

The increasing urbanization of the built environment has bolstered the need of promoting sustainable practices and Building Information Modelling (BIM) initiative in building and construction projects. However, there has not been a unified adoption and implementation of BIM initiative and sustainability in most countries and the built environment as a whole – most notably within the sub-Saharan region of Africa due to several factors. Moreover, based on the extant literature, the existing green rating tools have been found to be inadequate to fully address the greenness and evaluate the sustainability performance of buildings. Hence, these generate several hindrances to the current drive for a holistic implementation of sustainability practices and innovative technologies such as BIM in the construction industry. Therefore, this research study aims to develop a green-BIM assessment model and cloud-based sustainability decision support system for evaluating buildings' compliance to sustainability principles with a view to integrating smart sustainable practices in building construction and management, improving operational efficiency, and enhancing the overall implementation of sustainable development in the built environment. The scope of study mainly focuses on developing countries located in the sub-Saharan region of Africa – using Nigeria, the largest economy in the region as a case study – with practical applications to other regions. The following research objectives was set out in fulfilling the study’s aim: (1) To identify and assess the inherent benefits, barriers, and critical success factors (drivers) associated with integrating BIM and sustainability principles in building projects. (2) To establish the relative weightings of the key sustainability indicators, sustainability attributes, and sub-attributes for buildings. (3) To develop a sustainability evaluation index for buildings using the Generalized Choquet Fuzzy Integral method. (4) To develop a cloud-based sustainability decision support system (C-SDSS) for buildings. (5) To develop a conceptual Green-BIM assessment framework as a tool for the evaluation of sustainability performance of buildings. Objective #1 was achieved via an in-depth desktop review of extant literature, pilot and Delphi surveys, empirical questionnaire surveys, as well as the use of several statistical analysis tools such as descriptive and inferential statistical tools, factor analysis, and fuzzy synthesis evaluation method. According to the desktop literature review, a total of 36 benefits, 38 barriers and 30 critical success factors were identified. Fourteen (14) experts from eight countries participated in the Delphi survey while 220 respondents from 21 countries were involved in the international questionnaire survey. Meanwhile, the base inputs for the data to achieve Objectives (#2 - #4) consisted of 189 diversified sets of experts in Nigeria with requisite experience in the built environment. A holistic review of green building technical notes and guidelines, existing green building rating systems, and relevant journal articles was undertaken to fulfil Objectives (#2 - #4); and augmented by industry experts’ inputs which facilitated the development of the Building Sustainability Assessment Method (BSAM) scheme. The BSAM scheme green rating system has been designed for developing countries in the sub-Saharan region of Africa. The proposed BSAM scheme is a more unified green rating tool that adequately considers the environmental, economic, and social pillars of sustainable development unlike the existing green rating tools such as LEED, BREEAM, BEAM Plus, Green Mark, etc. which focus solely on the environmental sustainability with little or no consideration of the other two sustainability pillars. Objective #3 was actualized by employing the Generalized Choquet Fuzzy Integral (GCFI) method to establish the weightings of the 8 key sustainability indicators, 32 sustainability attributes, and 136 sustainability sub-attributes of the BSAM scheme. Data collected from industry experts form the base inputs for the impacts of various sustainability criteria based on the local variations. The GCFI approach is regarded as a more practical and robust weighting method for non-additive, dependent, and interactive criteria. Consequently, the Building Sustainability Evaluation Index (BSEI) and a six-grade certification system were developed to evaluate the sustainability performance of building projects. The key sustainability criteria with the highest weighting based on the GCFI analysis include sustainability construction practices, transportation, and energy criteria. To ease the adoption and implementation of the proposed BSAM scheme, BSEI, and the BSAM certification system for use in the built environment, a Cloud-Based Sustainability Decision Support System (C-SDSS) was established to achieve Objective #4. PHP and Jscript, being high-level programming languages, as well as the MySQL relational database along with other web-based tools and systems were used to code, design, and deploy the C-SDSS platform. BIM models, and relevant data from four real-life building projects based in Nigeria were used during the validation exercise to demonstrate the usefulness of the developed C-SDDS and the BSAM scheme in practice for the built environment. The validation exercise was augmented with validation questionnaire surveys with industry experts. Finally, a conceptual green-BIM assessment (GBA) framework was developed as an effective tool for the evaluation of the sustainability performance of buildings using a cloud-based system (Objective #5). The proposed GBA framework comprised of six main components is intended to provide comprehensive guidelines and algorithms that can facilitate the full and optimal integration of BIM and green building rating systems (e.g. the proposed BSAM scheme) in the assessment of the sustainability performance of buildings. The developed GBA framework was validated using expert questionnaire surveys as well. The findings of the study have generated salient and significant contributions both from the theoretical and practical (industry) standpoints. Moreover, they have provided valuable insights, effective strategies, and recommendations that have addressed the limitations of the integration of the concepts of BIM and sustainability practices in the built environment. Overall, the research deliverables would be crucial in implementing Green-BIM both locally (in Nigeria and other sub-Saharan countries), and internationally.

Value management is a process whereby the project is evaluated and scrutinised to obtain maximum value for money by following a prescribed methodology. It focuses on the value, rather than cost, in relation to the function of the element of the project. However, value relates to what an element does. The key benefit of VM is the financial benefits to the client; other benefits include a clearer brief, improved communication, use of local materials etc. However, there are barriers to its application such as inadequate training and education, the unwillingness to entertain new ideas, lack of regulatory framework etc. Also, the following drivers of VM approach were identified: establishment of a regulatory framework, client’s awareness, establishment of a group support system on VM etc. This paper considers value management from a functional value perspective and argues for greater recognition for it to form an integral part of projects.

Construction projects are embarked upon with multiple but specific objectives to be achieved, one of which is to fulfill the client’s needs and meet their expectations. The aim of the study is to evaluate and compare the current and desired level of the satisfaction of clients with the quality of projects delivered. 115 responses were received from construction professionals working in clients’ organizations, and the data were collated and analyzed. The findings revealed that clients relate quality to compliance with specification and design standards. The results also showed that factors influencing project quality in the Nigerian construction industry are management commitment, regular inspections, and audits, skilled workforce. It is evident from the analysis that the current level of project quality delivery is quite lower than the desired level, and with wider gaps between the two factors of cost and timeliness. It is recommended that every participant in the construction project team should be conscious that projects must comply with specification and design standards which are significant to clients’

Previous researchers have developed models for determining building durations in Nigeria and Hong Kong respectively; however little forage has been made in the area of electrical services, a recent research work deals with the measurement of electrical services in buildings; but there is yet not a model to determine the probable cost of electrical services in residential buildings. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a cost model for predicting the costs of final sub-circuits in residential electrical installations using multiple regression techniques and linear regression techniques, based on data generated from 33 sets of drawings- Architectural and Electrical drawings of Bungalows (17 bungalows) and Duplexes (16 drawings) from which also, priced bill of quantities were generatedAlso the current market prices of electrical items as well as site observation of electrical technician’s productivity were also carried out with interviews which were used in calculation of unit rates. In achieving the aim of this research work, six (6) cost models were developed; of which 5 of the 6 models will fit in real life cost prediction works. The first two (2) models was developed using multiple regression analysis to determine the final sub-circuit cost of electrical installation with Coefficient of Determination, R2 of 0.968 and 0.980 respectively. The other models were developed using linear regression analysis technique. The third model assesses the influence of GFA on final circuit cost with R2 of 0.172. The fourth model uses the number of lighting points to determine the length of cable with R2 of 0.823. The fifth and sixth models use the length of cable to determine the length of conduits with R2 of 0.559 and 0.947 respectively. In assessing the predictive power of the cost models, model validation was carried out using seven (7) floors of 3 bungalows and 2 duplexes. The model validations/comparison further confirmed the validity of the models earlier generated as valid enough to be used as a basis in cost prediction of residential electrical installation.

The concepts of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and sustainability are relatively new concepts in the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. This paper aims to investigate the perceived benefits of integrating BIM and sustainable practices in construction projects. A quantitative approach was adopted, and data were collected from fourteen invited experts from both the academia and industry via a two-round Delphi survey. The data were analyzed to establish the ranking of each factor, and the Kendall’s concordance test was used to determine the level of consensus among the respondents in each round. Most of the perceived benefits were ranked significant and important. More so, of the 36 beneficial factors, four factors were rated as highly important which are related to effective sharing and exchange of project data, better design of products, accurate geometrical representations of building models with embedded sustainability data, and ease of simulating building performance and energy usage. With these key benefits in mind and collaborative working in the AEC industry, the concepts and ideas of a sustainable urban city can be achieved in the built environment.

Erratic supply of electricity to residential buildings has led many occupants/owners to source for alternative sources to complement the epileptic supply from the National Grid. The sun produces energy expense-free, which is being untapped in this part of the country and thus the energy of the sun is being wasted. This energy can easily be converted to electric power for use in both in residential areas and industrial sectors through solar photovoltaic (PV) system. This paper assessed the level of awareness, adoption and barriers as related to solar PV system in Akure by assessing one hundred and fifty (150) residential buildings randomly with a structured questionnaire administered to the occupants/owners. The findings revealed that; a large percentage of the residential buildings make use of diesel/petrol generating set as an alternative to the National grid, that the level of awareness of solar PV is significantly low, the willingness to adopt is high but it’s hindered by cost implication of the system. The study’s findings contribute to the growing literature in the adoption of renewable energy for electricity generation, highlighted the major barriers hindering this for effective solutions to be proffer. It also provides a prospective market for those interested in the solar energy market.

In recent years, there have been significant calls for a more technologically driven construction sector which would not meet the expected standards in quality, time and cost but also integrate sustainable principles in delivering its final products. This research study aims at determining and prioritizing the key drivers that can enhance the integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and sustainable practices in construction projects. A two-stage Delphi survey technique involving the collection of data based on the perceptions and experiences of fourteen invited experts from both academia and industry. Statistical analyses such as mean score ranking technique and standard deviation and the Kendall’s concordance test were applied to the data collated in each round. Altogether, 30 critical success factors (CSFs) were identified from extant literature, of which early involvement of project teams, more training programs for cross-field specialists in BIM and Sustainability, and technical competence of project staff, were ranked as the three most critical factors. Meanwhile, some recommendations were proffered to the construction project stakeholders including the government. The implementation of these key drivers would help the construction sector to implement sustainable practices and BIM while achieving the goal of sustainable urban city.