Browsing by Author "Fernando, NG"

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Ability of bim to satisfy cafm information requirements
(Ceylon Institute of Builders - Sri Lanka, 2013-06) Gnanarednam, M; Jayasena, HS; Sandayake, YG; Fernando, NG
Facilities Management (FM) and Building Information Modelling (BIM) are contemporary day concepts that have modernised the way built environment behave. In modern day, FM concepts are moving towards to sustainable FM (SFM). Incidentally, Facilities Managers (FMs) become responsible for assuring the sustainability of facilities of the business. Modern day buildings are increasingly sophisticated and the need for information to operate and maintain them in sustainable manner is vital. Currently FMs rely on the information of the facility retrieved from conventional Computer Aided FM (CAFM). However, FM professionals face challenges from existing information inefficiencies resulting in unnecessary costs, productivity, efficiency and effectiveness losses where these leads to failure of SFM. Considering its favourable features, BIM had been identified as promising solution to effectively reach SFM goals. BIM conceptually has been developed to overcome the inefficiencies in conventional building information systems and recording methods. Combined data would enable the art of making any building more intelligent and sustainable. Significant efforts were found which had focused on getting the benefit of BIM for FM. However, there was no certain answer to “how far could BIM satisfy the information needs of CAFM?'' This paper proposes a methodology to theoretically answer this question, which had been proposed for the next step of the study being conducted in Sri Lanka
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Academic research in emerging knowledge-based economies: The case of Sri Lankan construction industry
(Emerald Publishing Limited, 2018) Hadiwattege, C.; Senaratne, S; Sandanayake, Y; Fernando, NG
Purpose – Knowledge-based economies are popular in the present world. Simultaneously, universities are becoming more responsible for leading economic development through research. As a key contributor to the national economy, it is vital for the construction industry to move beyond outdated practices, and hence, reviewing the role of academic research in empowering the construction industry with knowledge is essential. The purpose of this paper is to focus on how relevant theories conceptualise the expected role of academic research in the innovative development of an industry and the specific location in the Sri Lankan construction industry. Design/methodology/approach – Following a comprehensive literature review, empirical data were collected from the Sri Lankan context with a mixed approach informed by a pragmatist philosophical stance. The perspective of academia and industry practitioners were deductively obtained through surveys and inductively explored through qualitative interviews. Findings – This study provides evidence that academic research in Sri Lanka does not contribute effectively to innovative construction management. Due to the absence of industry-focussed knowledge dissemination strategies, the academic–industry relationships are mostly non-research based. The industry lacks in research-informed-decision making, leading to lesser innovations. Research limitations/implications – The research conclusions are more applicable to the developing country construction industry contexts. Practical implications – The research urges the need for improved academic–industry research collaborations and strategic knowledge dissemination movements. Originality/value – The research confirms that academic research is a major integral part of the developing construction industry in a knowledge-based economy. In establishing the expected role of academic research, the research revealed the current practice to be under-located. Hence, the research prescribes the necessary actions; research collaborations in major and subsequent requirements.
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Analysis of the anti-corruption strategies in the construction sector of China
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2014-06) Shan, M; Chan, APC; Le, Y; Hu, Y; Sandanayake, YG; Karunasena, GI; Fernando, NG
While various anti-corruption strategies (ACSs) have been developed to curb the widespread corruption in the construction sector, effectiveness of these ACSs has seldom been investigated. This study, therefore, aims to identify and evaluate the ACSs being implemented in China. To achieve these objectives, a comprehensive literature review and a two-round Delphi survey of 14 experienced industry experts and academics were conducted. Survey results reveal that the most effective ACS is legal framework, followed by penal sanction, regulations, positive leadership, adequate institutions, transparency, economic sanction, administrative sanction, and education and training. Also, the results show that the effectiveness of raising the wage level as an anti-corruption strategy did not receive a high evaluation by the Delphi panel. Findings of this study can help enhance a better understanding of anticorruption strategies and thus improve a corruption-free environment.
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Applicability of earned value management as a performance measurement tool for Sri Lankan construction industry
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2014-06) Hettipathirana, HDAP; Karunasena, G; Sandanayake, YG; Fernando, NG; Karunasena, GI
This study is based on the Earned Value Management (EVM) performance measurement technique and its practice in Sri Lankan construction industry. Since the project success clearly depend on accuracy on evaluated performance measurement, EVM have emerged through various techniques, due to its higher degree of reliability, effectiveness, accuracy, and efficiency. Data collection was done through the case study research approach and cross case analysis was used for data analysis. Four cases were selected to extract the current practice of EVM and its suitability as a performance measurement for the industry. In traditional methods, physical progress is not taken into account when analysing cost performance. Instead, actual cost of a project up to date is simply compared to planned costs, often with misleading results. Therefore, as a mitigating measure, EVM can be applied for measuring a project's performance forecasting future trends and analysing variances in the schedule and budget as the project proceeds. EVM as a standard method can be considered more successful with better results in projects simple and direct with a detailed scope. As evidenced in the case study, projects with complex and incomplete final products show higher deviations in the use of the technique. The EVM suggests a cultural change in the process of projects control; therefore people who have experience in dealing with the tool are really necessary in this process. The way an organisation implements the tool, influences directly to the results. If it had an organisational support, provided by specialised resources, will have better results in terms of application.
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Applicability of ICTAD price fluctuation formula for government funded intelligent building projects
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2015-06) Jayaweera, SC; Perera, BAKS; Jayasinghe, SJARS; Sandanayake, YG; Fernando, NG; Karunasena, GI
In high inflationary situations, government fiscal policies etc., have an effect on price fluctuations in Intelligent Building (IB) projects which are funded by the Government. It can increase the cost of material, plant and labour, while increasing the risks that both the contractors and the clients have to face. The use of the ICTAD price fluctuation formula in construction projects of more than three months duration, especially those of the Government, will help to recover these unforeseen costs at least to a certain extent. The formula however has its own inherent constraints. The objective of this research is to identify these constraints and suggest solutions to overcome them. An expert survey and a case study were done towards achieving the main objective. The case studies comprised a document review and semi structured interviews. Code-based content analysis was used to identify the significant conclusions that could be made from the semi-structured interviews. The QSR. NVivo computer software was used to simplify the content analysis. The results emphasised that in the case of IB projects of the Government, there is a difference between the actual price fluctuations and the corresponding figures obtained using Institute of Training and Development (ICTAD) price fluctuation formula as the formula had its own limitations. Therefore there is a need to modify the way the ‘cost adjustment’ factor is determined in IB projects of the Government. By using reliable price indices while taking steps to improve the currently available norms, it will be possible to make available to future IB projects a better operating framework.
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Applicability of reliability centered maintenance approach for thermal power plants in Sri Lanka
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2014-06) Kalpage, GK; Konara, KMGK; Sandanayake, YG; Fernando, NG; Karunasena, GI
More than 70% of entire power demand in Sri Lanka mainly caters through thermal power and oil base thermal power plants contributes to cater more than 55% of demand in the country. Even though plant reliability and efficiency should be maintained at higher value to cater this demand, sudden island wide power cuts and Ceylon electricity board (CEB) statistics has been revealed the prevailing plant performance issues of thermal power plants. Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) approach has been adopted successfully for wide range of industries including thermal power industry in considerable number of countries to overcome plant performance issues while reducing maintenance cost. Therefore the focus of this research is to study applicability of RCM approach for maintenance planning of thermal power plants in Sri Lanka to overcome current issues relating to maintenance operation. Comprehensive literature review was conducted to explore RCM concept. Through the preliminary survey current maintenance practices, issues that directly related with maintenance practice, currently available resources that necessary for RCM base analysis and attitude of industry practitioner towards RCM implementation were identified. Streamline Reliability Centered Maintenance (SRCM) was identified as ideal type of RCM analysis method for thermal power plants in Sri Lanka through findings of literature review and preliminary survey. Findings of single case study revealed criticality evaluation criteria and applicable maintenance strategies for critical and non-critical components of typical thermal power plants. A comprehensive maintenance plan was developed for fuel pre pressure system using currently available physical and human resources. Considering findings, the research suggests that thermal power industry in Sri Lanka should initiate SRCM base maintenance program to overcome existing performance issues using existing resources.
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Applicability of socio-economic factors in sustainable construction for sri lankan context
(Ceylon Institute of Builders - Sri Lanka, 2013-06) Amarakoon, AMDC; Chandrathilake, SR; Nawarathna, RAG; Sandayake, YG; Fernando, NG
“Sustainability” has emerged as a vibrant field of research and innovation over last few decades. The concept is based on three basic factors; environment, social and economic, namely the Triple Bottom Line. Frequently, the environmental aspect, despite the social and economic aspects, is given a major emphasis in the global arena of sustainable construction. The World Green Building Council (WGBC), being the leading institute in sustainability, has initiated the first step towards assessing the socio economic factors in the field of sustainable construction, which are being neglected in rating green buildings due to its immeasurability as a tool, by developing a framework for assessing the concerns addressed in the Triple Bottom Line. The WGBC criteria presented in seven sections hold concepts developed by the expert panel representing 14 countries, for assessing the social and economic factors. Since the concepts are in contrast with Sri Lankan context, they seek readjustment in order to match Sri Lankan context. Research agenda hascommenced with a comprehensive literature survey, followed by expert interviews and a questionnaire survey. The process of developing the theoretical framework to determine the appropriate weightages between each rating has proceeded using the indicators and benchmarks of the available frameworks. Adjusted criteria of the social and economic factors would be able to improve the applicability of GreenSL to assess the green buildings in Sri Lanka. Developed framework through the evaluation process in the research would be capable of assessing the Sri Lankan sustainable constructions in a more appropriate manner, with proper compositional integration of socio-economic and environment factors. A comprehensive assessment of sustainable construction could be achieved through the developedtheoretical framework that is fitted in to the Sri Lankan context with due consideration on aspects addressed in Triple Bottom Line; economic, social and environment.
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Application of green building concept to enhance indoor environmental quality in hospital buildings in Sri Lanka.
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2014-06) Dilrukshi, H; Mallawarachchi, H; Karunasena, G; Sandanayake, YG; Fernando, NG; Karunasena, GI
Through the number of factors, which can attract the occupants to the building, “quality” gets a predominant situate. Among the other buildings, hospitals are most important place which has to maintain quality in high standard. Hence, most of the countries are initiating various strategies to improve quality of hospitals because, it directly affects to the occupant satisfaction of the hospital. Further, hospital is mostly a public place which is extremely noisy, crowded and less indoor environment quality. It causes serious impacts on patient and staff outcomes ranging from sleep loss and elevates blood pressure among patients to emotional exhaustion and burnout among staff. Henceforth, poorly designed hospital environments pose a serious threat on building occupants. Literature findings further said that in current scenario, the majority of occupants are not satisfied with their indoor environment quality in a hospital. Nowadays, most of hospitals are following various strategies to improve quality of indoor environment. Among those strategies, green building concept becomes most prominent which is easy to adapt to improve the indoor environment quality. Moreover, green hospital design has been linked to better patient outcomes and staff retention. Even though, in past few years many newly constructed and renovated buildings moved towards green, buildings in hospital sector in Sri Lanka has not much familiar with the green building concept. Therefore, this study is mainly focused on presenting the importance of applying green building concept in hospital buildings to improve indoor environmental quality. Two case studies consisting private and public hospitals were conducted to collect the data. Six semi-structured interviews were conducted who have caught up in operational and maintenance management process of selected hospitals. As revealed by research findings, there was no special attention to enhance indoor environment quality in Sri Lankan hospitals especially in public sector. Therefore, several issues were identified comply with the indoor air quality, thermal comfort, acoustic comfort, visual comfort and spatial comfort. Indoor Air quality is one of the major challenges faced by many hospital buildings as it creates several issues within hospital environment. Accordingly, probable green strategies were proposed to overcome identified indoor environment quality issues in hospital buildings to facilitate high quality indoor environment for building occupants in hospital buildings in Sri Lanka.
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Application of lean construction principles and practices to enhance the construction performance and flow
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2015-06) Madanayake, UH; Sandanayake, YG; Fernando, NG; Karunasena, GI
Lean thinking has now become a radical philosophy that has permeated and expanded in to several sectors other than just manufacturing. The concept of Lean thinking evolves the optimization of work flow related functions and the possible outcomes with its contribution to sustainable construction. Correspondingly, application of lean theories and principles in to construction sector has the potential to improve the quality of work, aggravate the function related effectiveness, minimize the cost components/ waste and increase the overall profit in both strategic and operational levels. Apparently, it appears that the lean techniques have immensely contributed for many possible cost reductions compared with the traditional project management techniques. However, few barriers for the implementation of lean principles are also on the contrary. The research aims to investigate the effects of Lean Construction applications while identifying the prevailing barriers related to the same. The research has exploited qualitative methods to explore the aforementioned research question. This paper presents an exploratory study from extent literature, predominantly based on a case study of a project management organisation whereas the arguments were strengthened and underpinned by the formation of a conceptual framework to explore the contribution of implementing lean construction techniques in sustainable construction. The research findings would ultimately help different stakeholders on applying lean theories in to practice.
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Application of the safe working cycle (swc) in hong kong construction industry: literature review and future research agenda
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2013-06) Chan, DWM; Hung, HTW; Sandanayake, YG; Fernando, NG
The accident rate of the Hong Kong construction industry is very high when compared with other developed countries. Since 1990, the industry has introduced different safety initiatives to minimize the occurrence of site accidents, and there has exhibited a significant decrease in accident rate over the years. The Safe Working Cycle (SWC) is one of the effective safety measures aiming to ensure a tidy working site and raise the safety awareness of construction workers everyday. It comprises the Daily Cycle, Weekly Cycle and Monthly Cycle, and it focuses on the causes of construction accidents and improves the overall safety performance on construction sites. This paper will provide a concise introduction of a research project in relation to SWC in the Hong Kong construction industry. It aims to scrutinize the overall research paradigm of a holistic study on the historical development, underlying concepts and applications of SWC in Hong Kong. The investigation will be accomplished by a combination of data collection methods comprised of archival desktop study, in-depth interviews, detailed case studies and an empirical questionnaire survey. Relevant attributes of SWC including the perceived benefits, potential difficulties and effective recommendations for future implementation will be explored and discussed herein. The research findings are expected to help the decision-makers to generate clearer insights into the effectiveness of SWC in improving site safety, and to allow industrial practitioners to explore whether and how the site accidents can be mitigated via SWC.
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Approach to sustainable development through architectural education: insight to the perceptions of sri lankan students
(Ceylon Institute of Builders - Sri Lanka, 2013-06) Samaratunga, M; Sandayake, YG; Fernando, NG
Sustainable development is considered as a multi-dimensional problem for integration of economic, environmental, institutional, political, social and personal human problems. Therefore, interdisciplinary interaction will be essential to reach the ultimate goals of sustainability. Architecture, as a key profession in the construction sector, plays a significant role in promoting the interdisciplinary interaction and a holistic approach to sustainable development. This approach requires a high amount of knowledge, skills and attitude which could be obtained through architectural education. The need of approaching sustainable development through education was accepted by the United Nations and has declared 2005 to 2014 as the decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Therefore, this paper intends to explore the relationship between the architectural education and sustainable design practice in the Sri Lankan context. Architectural educational content on sustainable development has two folds, such as, the technical component and non-technical component. The technical components mainly focus on providing knowledge and skills, which are more applicable towards the latter parts of the design process (design detailing). Non-technical components not only provide knowledge and skills but also attitude and could be applied from the early stages of the design process (Concept development, brief interpretation, etc). The methodology adopted is a survey (structured) research approach where data generated through a social survey and a literature survey would be analysed to reflect some thoughts. Social survey would be conducted through a structured questionnaire given to undergraduates and young practitioners of architecture from the two main schools of Architecture in Sri Lanka (City School of Architecture, Colombo and Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa). Student perception on Sustainability would be explored through the parameters of personal interpretations, application frequency and satisfaction to non-satisfaction ratio. Reflections would include that the technical knowledge and skills need to be in equilibrium with the non-technical knowledge and attitudes given in architectural education to obtain a more holistic sustainable design approach.
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Assessing the bim maturity in a bim infant industry
(Ceylon Institute of Builders - Sri Lanka, 2013-06) Jayasena, HS; Weddikkara, C; Sandayake, YG; Fernando, NG
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is rapidly gaining acceptance of building industries internationally, and is likely to become the primary industry standard for AEC information exchange in near future. The built-in intelligence of BIM offers the highest potentials for adopting lean approaches for project delivery, and minimizing of risks and uncertainties; enabling highly sustainable procurement systems for the building industry. While it is accepted that BIM is in its infant stage in Sri Lanka and BIM technologies are rarely present, adoption of BIM has been identified to be timely. Use of inappropriate BIM adoption strategies would waste valuable resources and time. This will also hinder the industry acceptance of BIM. Development of reliable strategies requires information on current BIM maturity in order to identify the gaps. Wider gaps in a BIM infant industry give rise to the number of potential alternative BIM adoption strategies. Thus, a coherent assessment of current context is crucial to chose most suitable strategies. Bew- Richards BIM Maturity Model and Succar's BIM Maturity Stages were the widely referred models used to ascertain the BIM maturity of an industry or an organization. However, these were found to be less useful to assess a BIM infant industry. The study proposes framework comprising four components, viz. collaborative processes, enhanced skill, integrated information and automated systems, and knowledge management.
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Assessing the impact of experienced project team members in green building projects
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2015-06) Venkataraman, V; Cheng, JCP; Sandanayake, YG; Fernando, NG; Karunasena, GI
Project experience is generally regarded as highly valuable in the architecture, engineering and construction industry. This is also true for green building projects, which often need to deal with new building technologies and processes. This paper attempts to study the importance of experienced project team members for successful planning and executing of green building projects. Certified LEED green building projects in Canada were studied in this research. Project information, project team information, green building certification grade, and certification year were collected and analyzed using a link analysis technique. Organisations that have been involved in multiple green building projects and their inter-organisational interactions were identified. The results show that projects certified with higher green building certification grades often involve more experienced project team members, and that working with experienced team members can reinforce mutual experience as compared with working with less experienced member.
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Automation of bim quantity take-off to suit qs’s requirements
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2013-06) Wijayakumar, M; Jayasena, HS; Sandanayake, YG; Fernando, NG
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a thriving technology which laid potential to address problems in conventional practices based on Computer-Aided Design (CAD) drawings. Sustainability and complexity of today's buildings are insist BIM technology and associated processes to develop for project delivery through sustainable procurement systems. Quantity Take- Off (QTO) is vitally important task in any building project since measurement practice applied to buildings has to be both accurate and consistent for auditing a building project from many different perspectives. However conventional QTO methods are tedious and error-prone. Major portion of Quantity Surveyor's time is spent for QTO. BIM QTO tools are task specific software applications delivering great promise to automate the extraction of quantities from BIM models. Visual building QTO improves productivity and accuracy that leads to sustainable QS practices. The time saving offered by these technologies will allow the Quantity Surveyor to focus more on other value adding services. However the automated outputs must suit the Quantity Surveyors' requirements in order to be effectively useful. Otherwise, the reliance on such technologies could result in such consequences, deviate from sustainability. This research is focused on “How far BIM QTO tools can automate QTO to suit QS's requirements?” The findings will contribute to the knowledge by establishing the status contribution of BIM for QTO being a primary function of Quantity Surveying within the overall sustainable procurement systems anticipated for the building industry.
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Barriers to the implementation of concurrent engineering practices within the UK construction industry
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2015-06) Manewa, A; Siriwardena, M; Ross, A; Sandanayake, YG; Fernando, NG; Karunasena, GI
Concurrent Engineering (CE) is considered as one of the emerging methods in the UK construction industry. The product and process optimisation through ‘integration’ is a key concern of CE. The integrative aspect is tri-fold, which comprises an integration of product(s), integration of process and most importantly the integration of supply chain. A correct adoption of the concepts and principles of CE into construction practice provides significant benefits to project stakeholders, such as reduced time and costs while improving the quality of products and process efficiency. However, its implementation is not optimised to its full potential within the construction industry. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the key factors that hinder the implementation of CE practices within the UK construction industry. Data were collected from an extensive literature review, observations and semistructured interviews and thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the collected data. The findings indicate that the inability of parties within the construction project settings to communicate effectively is the most significant high level barrier for achieving a wider application of CE practices within the UK construction industry. In total 4 high level barriers, 13 medium level barriers and 38 low level barriers to the implementation of CE with the UK construction practices were identified. The findings of this study will benefit construction organisations, who wish to implement CE practices within their practice.
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Better values and characteristics in relationally integrated value networks to enhance total asset management
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2014-06) De Silva, N; Ranadewa, KATO; Kumaraswamy, M; Ranasinghe, M; Sandanayake, YG; Fernando, NG; Karunasena, GI
Construction contract types span a wide spectrum ranging from traditional contracting to relational contracting modes. Although weak collaborative supply chain networks exist even in widely practiced traditional contract modes, the potentially beneficial strong relational forces remain untapped and/or fragmented, lacking well-defined common goals among stakeholders. Apart from addressing this shortfall in the built asset planning, design and construction (project management) phase, relational contracts (RC) can also be extended to total asset management (TAM) by aiming at the relational integration of all stakeholders throughout the built asset lifecycle, by engaging them in cross linked value networks’. Such integrated networks were called ‘relationally integrated value networks’ (RIVANS) when initially proposed for the project management phase. ‘RIVANS for TAM’ were next proposed to provide a holistic approach to bridge the project management phase and the asset management phase in the lifecycle of assets. The study reported in this paper, contributes to knowledge by identifying better values through adapting RIVANS as a holistic beneficial approach to the whole built environment. A questionnaire survey was conducted to identify common better values in RIVANS. These identified better values were then clustered to form similar groups using factor analysis to establish synergetic characteristics of RIVANS. Four characteristics were extracted to identify and target embedded synergies in RIVANS, for enhanced total asset management.
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BIM as an effective information management tool for achieving key performance indicators in construction projects
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2015-06) Wijekoon, KADNC; Manewa, A; Ross, A; Marsh, D; Sandanayake, YG; Fernando, NG; Karunasena, GI
The UK Government mandates the implementation of Building Information Modelling (BIM) for all centrally procured Government contracts from 2016. This of course challenged the industry to shift away from the traditional ‘silo’ practices to ‘collaborative’ working environments. BIM provides a collaborative platform to share information between project stakeholders and also guides to deliver products/processes effectively and efficiently. However, what strikes for the practitioners to move for a BIM platform is how it will support the achievement of project specific Key Performance Indicators (KPI). There are massive information generation and heterogeneous flows can be identified throughout a project lifecycle and the value of that information is enormous. From the definition itself, BIM has the capability of absorbing every benefit which can be obtained through information management. This paper explains the use of BIM as an effective information management tool for achieving the KPIs in construction projects. Initially, an extensive literature review was conducted to identify the application of BIM in construction project lifecycle and its role as an effective information management tool. In addition to six (6) numbers of interviews were conducted among the construction industry professionals to identify the practical use of BIM in construction projects and its effectiveness in achieving project KPIs. The findings of the study illustrate the BIM driven construction project KPIs and their importance in achieving project goals.
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BIM software environment for projects in Sri Lanka
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2014-06) Jayasena, HS; Weddikkara, C; Sandanayake, YG; Fernando, NG; Karunasena, GI
The term Building Information Modelling, or BIM, is not alien to Sri Lanka anymore; yet BIM has not become a reality in its construction industry. Being a BIM infant industry, Sri Lanka may wait a long time to adopt BIM by its own initiative. But the scenario will be different if a client demands for BIM. This creates the need that industry is aware of the best strategies suite them to effectively implement a project based on BIM. One of the key questions being asked is; what software should we use? In absence of empirical local knowledge, the only option is to device a solution from published knowledge. In order to achieve this, this paper presents a literature synthesis aimed to identify a suitable BIM software environment for Sri Lanka. By reviewing various aspects such as capabilities of applications, accuracy and sharing of data, information documenting, popularity of software and affordability against the technological aspects, a Plural Software Environment based on IFC data exchange was found to be the preferred solution for Sri Lankan context.
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Building demolition waste management practices – an Indian case study
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2015-06) Ram, VG; Satyanarayana, K.; Sandanayake, YG; Fernando, NG; Karunasena, GI
Sustainable development has become an increasing concern throughout the world in the last two decades. Construction industry generates a huge quantity of waste, which is termed as construction and demolition (C&D) waste. C&D waste constitutes a major portion of the total solid waste generated in a society. Therefore, adoption of sustainable practices in C&D activities is vital for a society to move towards sustainable development. Moreover, demolition is a phase of construction that produces a large quantity of waste and hence requires explicit attention. During the past few decades, considerable amount of C&D waste is recycled in the developed countries. However, there are very few actively functioning C&D waste recycling facilities available in India. This signals the magnitude of the problem that needs to be addressed with respect to C&D waste management in India. In this paper, a case study research methodology is adopted to study the demolition waste management practices being adopted in Chennai city and the barriers that prevent the recycling of C&D debris have been discussed. The practices were found to be driven purely by economic incentives and unauthorized disposal of C&D waste is prevalent. There is a lack of awareness regarding the recycling possibilities among the stakeholders. Moreover, there are no records containing details on the quantity of C&D waste getting generated. Lack of appropriate policies, rules and strategies to address the C&D waste management have also been found to be some of the major barriers for the lack of C&D waste recycling initiatives in India.
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Building information modelling and future quantity surveyor's practice in sri lankan construction industry
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2013-06) Nagalingam, G; Jayasena, HS; Ranadewa, KATO; Sandanayake, YG; Fernando, NG
Sustainability has been an often mentioned goal of businesses, non-profit organizations and governments in the past decade, yet measuring the degree to which an organization is being sustainable or pursuing sustainable growth can be difficult. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a new paradigm in the thriving Sustainable construction industry, from which the triple bottom line of the Sustainability can be greatly achieved. As the significance of BIM has become increasingly appreciated, most of the activities in the building industry have focused on BIM with sustainable design strategies. BIM has a great potential for integration into construction projects life cycle which will lead to pave the way towards becoming the industry standards for construction projects. Hence BIM would be a key tool in the project procurement in the future. However, BIM is not yet implemented in Sri Lankan construction industry where incorporation of BIM into construction projects life cycle would create differentiation in traditional procurement systems. Consequently, the role of Quantity Surveyors whose building procurement is based on BIM would be revolutionized drastically from the existing role where BIM permits to analyse the building, the structure, materials and performance in real time as it is being designed. Hence, a research is conducted with broader aim of exploring the potential expansions of QS roles, changing key roles and responsibilities offuture Quantity Surveyors in a sustainable BIM based project delivery in Sri Lanka, which will lend a hand in training Quantity Surveyors to face future challenges. This paper contains the preliminary findings of a literature review conducted on the current key roles and responsibilities of Quantity Surveyors in local building procurement andfuture expectations in a BIM based project delivery.