WCS - 2018

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.248.9.226/handle/123/16968

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item: Conference-Full-text
A swot analysis for sri lankan construction smes
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Ranadewa, KATO; Sandanayake, YG; Siriwardena, M; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
The significant benefits that Small & Medium Enterprise (SME)s provide to the national economy, including their contributions to the economic development, industrial output, employment creation, and tax revenue marked as the reasons for examining the various aspects of SMEs around the world. The construction industry is usually described as being one of the riskiest business arenas and hence, SMEs needs to improve their capacities by analysing the possible opportunities as well as the threats in the market to sustain in the construction industry. Hence, this paper explored the SWOT analysis for SME contractors in Sri Lanka. A literature review followed by five case studies were carried out to collect data. The collected data were analysed and presented in a SWOT matrix to identify the advantage of positive facts over negative facts for construction SMEs. As per the research findings, the explored external and internal factors can be categorised under five main themes as financial, technical, managerial, legal and political and other. Findings of the case studies identified 21 internal factors as the strengths of construction SMEs and 48 internal factors as weaknesses of construction SMEs. Yet, the study further revealed 22 factors under opportunities for construction SMEs and identified 46 external factors as threats to their organisation. This study further proves that a detailed understanding of the processes and extensive explorations of all possible causes, reasons using the SWOT analysis will help overcoming the number of challenges faced by construction SMEs. In addition, it was evident that inexpensive or zero cost solutions could be implemented by identifying the strengths and opportunities of their organisations. This will mark for further researches to study the possible strategies for construction SMEs using SWOT analysis matrix.
item: Conference-Full-text
Accessibility of emergency evacuation for differentlyabled people in public hospital buildings in Sri Lanka: the national policy enhancements
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Manoj, S; Mallawaarachchi, H; Soorige, SDA; Jayasena, N; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
It is very difficult task in nature and a prevailing issue in the world today to provide a reasonable access for differently abled people within any building. Specially, giving fair and impartial accessibility has become very complex and an ongoing global issue. However, various policies and guidelines have been developed in countries enabling buildings to be used by the differently abled people by building them in terms of ease of access for emergency evacuation. Among the other buildings, healthcare facility has obtained the first concern when considering its’ heavy use by differently abled people. Thus, this research was conducted with the purpose of studying on the accessibility procedures of emergency evacuation for the differently abled people in public buildings with special emphasis to public hospitals since the current evacuation means in healthcare sector are not adequately developed based on the needs of differently abled people. The research was conducted using case study method under qualitative phenomenon. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among building professionals who had more than five years of experience in the field of accessibility to collect the data. Hence, three public hospital buildings in Sri Lanka were selected. Accessibility procedures of emergency evacuation and issues in existing practice were investigated related to safety and security, access to built environment and access to communication in line with the National Policy on Disability for Sri Lanka. Case study data revealed that not having predetermined procedure for evacuating differently abled people and less awareness on existing safety and security procedures thus need special attention. Accordingly, a framework was developed to propose the probable enhancements for the national policy. The enhanced policy can be used as a national strategy to assure the ease of accessibility of emergency evacuation for differently abled people in public hospital buildings in Sri Lanka.
item: Conference-Full-text
Adaptability of shared workspace concept in office buildings in Sri Lanka
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Perera, WY; Perera, BAKS; Jayawickrama, TS; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
A well-organised, well-designed workspace in an organization will help it to fully achieve its goals. Although visiting staff are also considered as staff of an organisation, they often face difficulties in finding space within the organization for working as they are not generally assigned specific workspace to work from. In Sri Lanka, many office buildings have unutilised floor space. These unutilised spaces are quite costly to maintain. Moreover, an unutilized space will have an adverse impact on the sustainability of the organisation. This study addresses these issues by investigating the adaptability of shared workspace concept in office buildings in Sri Lanka. To achieve this aim, a literature review, 14 expert interviews and two case studies were conducted. Content analysis was used to analyse the findings. The study identifies the type of office spaces that can be used as shared workspaces. It is found that not all offices with unutilised space will be able to decide to adopt the shared workspace concept as that decision has to be based on the type and operating hours of the office, core business of the organisation, organisational culture and the support structure and the accessibility of the building in which the office is housed.
item: Conference-Full-text
Addressing risks in green residential building construction projects: the case of Singapore
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Hwang, BG; Shan, M; Phua, H; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
Over the past decade, an increasing number of green residential buildings have been developed worldwide owing to active promotion from the authorities and the increasing interest from customers. However, in the same way as traditional residential buildings, the construction of green residential buildings has been facing various risks. The aims of this study are to identify and assess the diverse risks in green residential building construction projects, compare their risk criticalities with those in traditional counterparts, and propose helpful risk mitigation measures. To achieve these goals, a comprehensive literature review was conducted first, and then a questionnaire was administered to 30 construction companies in Singapore. The analysis results showed that “complex procedures to obtain approvals”, “overlooked high initial cost”, “unclear requirements of owners”, “employment constraint”, and “lack of availability of green materials and equipment” were the top five critical risks in green residential building construction projects. It also reported that green residential building projects were facing risks at a more critical level than those traditional residential building projects. Furthermore, this study proposed fourteen risk mitigation measures that can effectively tackle the risks in green residential building construction projects. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by identifying and evaluating the critical risks and the responding mitigation measures in green residential building construction projects. The findings from this study can also provide practitioners with an in-depth understanding of risk management in green residential building construction projects, and thereby benefiting the industry.
item: Conference-Full-text
Analysing complexities and uncertainties in indian megaprojects
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Mevada, J; Devkar, G; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
In India, the demand of infrastructure has been burgeoning rapidly owing to economic development and rapid pace of urbanization. Increasingly, the infrastructure planning and implementation strategy indicates the policy makers are leaning towards fulfilling this demand with megaprojects, having large scope and size, in terms of cost and resource requirements. The performance of these megaprojects has been dismissal with substantial time and cost overruns. The uncertainties and complexities associated with megaprojects is recognized as a major hurdle in effective implementation of megaprojects. There has been diversity of mechanisms adopted for managing complexities in Indian megaprojects. This paper analyses the case studies of Indian megaprojects to determine the types of mechanisms followed managing complexities as well as their effectiveness. Based on this analysis, the areas of improvement in existing mechanisms have been suggested, which would be help to the policy makers and ensure smoother implementation of megaprojects.
item: Conference-Full-text
Analysis of construction delays in mini hydropower projects in Sri Lanka
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Abeygunawardana, IK; Dissanayake, TL; Swarnachandra, NI; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
The share of mini hydropower plants in electricity generation is becoming more important in modern power generation due to the national policy targets to move from the fossil fuel brown energy to sustainable green energy. Therefore, the demand for construction of the mini hydropower plants has become higher but these projects show a significant rate of delays in project delivery. This research was carried out to identify the project delay phases and the main delay factors in mini hydropower projects. Furthermore, it was expected to derive mitigating measures for mini hydropower project delay based on the findings. The data collection process was based on multiple case studies where the project planning documents of three mini hydropower projects were reviewed to extract delay information. Here, projects managers validated the information in the documents to be correct and gave an overview of what has happened during the project. Here all information extracted was discussed under the headings of the case studies (P1, P2 and P3). With information extracted, delays in ten significant phases of the mini hydropower projects were identified with its delay percentages. The most delaying phase of the mini hydro project was the weir construction while least being the fore-bay construction. Delays in hydropower projects occur mainly due to the natural consequences such as adverse weather conditions and environmental conditions such as an earth slip. Protests by the interested parties were the next major concern when it comes to delays in mini hydropower projects. Proper management of the identified delay factors and awareness of delays in relevant phases is required. Nevertheless, it was found to be essential to make the interested parties fully aware about the environmental impact even before the initiation of the project in order to successfully mitigate the significance of delays.
item: Conference-Full-text
Applicability of green roofs in Sri Lankan high-rise buildings: drivers and barriers
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Subaskar, C; Vidyaratne, H; Melagoda, DG; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
Sri Lanka is experiencing a construction boom and there are many high-rise building constructions coming up. Thus, many adverse effects are associated with high rise buildings. Greenery provides several benefits to the environment and reduces these effects. However due to limited space in urban areas it is impossible to plant new plants, trees and vegetation around the buildings. As a solution green roofs can be adopted as they provide many environmental and sustainable benefits from rooftops. Though this concept is more popular across many countries over the past few decades, still implementation of this technology in Sri Lanka is new and scant. Due to the lack of past researches, awareness on green roofs is very low for professionals, developers, government authorities, building owners and general public. The aim of this research is to identify and analyse the potential of green roofs in high rise buildings in Sri Lanka. A comprehensive literature review was carried out on popularity of green roof in global context, types of green roofs, components of green roofs, barriers and drivers in implementing green roofs. The data collection was conducted through expert interviews and questionnaire survey. Expert interviews were carried out to validate the barriers and drivers identified through literature review in Sri Lankan context and questionnaire survey was used to identify the most significant barriers and drivers. Purposive sampling techniques was used for selection of the respondents. The data collected from expert interviews were analysed through manual content analysis and the data collected by questionnaire were analysed using RII method. The final outcome of this study finds that green roof is an applicable concept for Sri Lankan high rise buildings.
item: Conference-Full-text
Applicability of tqm for construction contracting organisations in Sri Lanka
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Fernando, WDA; Seneviratne, LDIP; Francis, M; Dilakshan, R; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
The construction industry in any country is a dominant, huge, complex and highly risky industry. In the Sri Lankan context, the construction industry has become a major component of rapid economic development over the past years. However, the industry itself suffers from many problems, such as defects in workmanship, defects in quality and overflow of time and cost. Thus, these industry problems have challenged the successful project performance and total quality of the output. Nevertheless, these problems will persist until every organization in the industry begins to take responsibility for developing new changes within its own organization. Such changes can be initiated via effectively implementing the philosophy of Total Quality Management (TQM). However, globally, the usage of TQM in the construction industry is not so popular than in the manufacturing industry. Therefore, the research aims to identify the applicability of TQM in Sri Lankan construction contracting organizations. A qualitative research approach was followed in order to achieve the aim of the study. Thus, semi-structured interviews were conducted among a total of ten top management professionals are associated with contracting organisations and had in-depth knowledge in TQM and its practice. A content analysis using NVivo 11 software was adopted to summarise and analyse the collected data. The findings revealed that TQM can be followed by the construction contracting organizations in Sri Lanka. However, it is not that much easy, because the TQM implementation process encompasses a series of barriers. Thus, the research found financial barrier, insufficient collaborative work, lack of skill, resistant to change, time barrier and less involvement of top management are such barriers in adopting TQM in Sri Lanka. Further the study suggest that barriers must be mitigated cautiously for a better consequence.
item: Conference-Full-text
Assessment of green retrofit of existing mature residential estates in Singapore
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Hwang, BG; Shan, M; Xie, S; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
While the authorities in many countries around the world launched green retrofit programs to upgrade the existing mature buildings during the past decade, limited was known about the residents' perceptions of those programs. As a result, this study aimed to investigate the residents' perceptions of the green retrofit programs in Singapore, which is one of the leading countries for green development, and to explore their willingness in extending green retrofit into their individual houses. A questionnaire was administered to 90 residents from a mature public residential estate in Singapore that just underwent a pilot green retrofit program. The results reported that 86 percent of the respondents were satisfied with the green retrofit program, and their most favourite green feature installed was the outdoor light emitting diode lighting. In addition, over 50 percent of the respondents were supportive of having their individual houses undergo green retrofit and were willing to bear an upfront cost up to SGD 5,000 (approximately USD 3,540). This study also found that achieving cost savings from lower utility bills in the long run was the top motivation that drives the residents to retrofit their houses. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by conducting a thorough investigation of residents’ perceptions of green retrofit programs. Furthermore, the findings from this study provide the industry and the authorities running green retrofit programs with the opportunities to reveal respondents’ preferences on different green features, and to upgrade their green retrofit programs accordingly, creating more sustainable benefits for the residents.
item: Conference-Full-text
Basic assumptions of contractor’s sub culture in public sector building construction projects in Sri Lanka
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
Contractor is considered as a dominant construction project participant, contributing to the construction project culture. Identifying the basic assumptions of contractor’s professional sub-culture at project level could be worthwhile for better management of construction projects since, cultural differences among project participants could create risks of conflicts and dissatisfactions owing to underperformance of construction projects. Thus, this research aims to derive basic assumptions of contractor’s sub culture in public sector building construction projects in Sri Lanka. The aim was approached through an exploratory case study research design. Three public sector building construction projects were selected as the cases using construction project culture as the unit of analysis. Cases were restricted to traditional method contracts and team setting to public sector clients and consultants and private sector contractors. Nine semi-structured interviews, observation of two progress review meetings and documentation review per case were used as the data collection techniques. Solutions for internal integration and external adaptation problems of each project team was questioned during data collection. Code based content analysis was used in data analysis. Findings revealed the existence of dominant professional sub-cultural groups of client, contractor and consultant within construction projects. Group boundaries were indicated by each party trying to defend themselves as a group and having matters which they thought not suitable disclosing to other parties. The basic assumptions of the contractor’s sub culture were identified with regard to the eleven cultural dimensions of; nature of human relationships, nature of human nature, nature of reality and truth, nature of human activity, nature of time, acceptance on homogeneity or diversity, unknowable and uncontrollable, gender, motive for behaving, state-individual relationship and, organization's relationship to its environment. These findings are important for project managers for better understanding of the unique cultural behaviours of contractors to avoid any interpersonal conflicts among contractor’s personnel and other team members.
item: Conference-Full-text
Bim and optimisation techniques to improve sustainability in green certification submission of construction projects
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Zhang, G; Sandanayake, M; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
Green Buildings are gaining popularity in the construction industry as a result of strict environment protocols and carbon neutral policies by the governments across the globe. In Australia alone, since the introduction of Green Star Certification 5.5 million square metres of buildings have been certified as green buildings. With more stakeholders involved, the green certification submission process has become more complicated with less focus on triple bottom line approach of sustainability. Research has shown that 85% of the green submissions are concentrated on environmental sustainability with less significance on economic and social aspects. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a cutting-edge technology that allows effective decision making. The proposed research aims to develop a BIM model that can improve the sustainable decision making during green certification processes. Multi-objective optimisation techniques were developed to optimise the best design solution for different design criteria. A case study is employed to verify the functions of the platform suggested in the study. The results of the case study indicated a combination of green design options provide a maximum of 4.54% GHG emission reduction per unit cost increase. The outcomes of the research will be important to organizations who are keen on improving the environmental sustainability while minimising the economic implications.
item: Conference-Full-text
Brownfield redevelopment: a dual currency analysis of soil stabilisation methods
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Brown, L; Perera, S; Rodrigo, MNN; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
Evidence of climate change, such as rising sea levels and higher average temperatures, has made society become increasingly carbon conscious in recent years. Therefore, carbon estimating is becoming prominent and this research explores methods of quantifying embodied carbon of different soil stabilisation methods. This research aims at evaluating the different methods of soil stabilisation for the remediation of previously developed, brownfield sites, using a dual currency approach of investigating both cost and carbon. Therefore, the effect of using different cementitious binders such as Pulverised Fuel Ash (PFA) and Ground Granulated Blastfurnace Slag (GGBS), in lieu of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) was investigated. Primary data, in the form of Bills of Quantities, was collected from a civil engineering contractor who has extensive experience in the land remediation sector in the UK. This enabled cost and carbon rates to be applied to the work items, to estimate in terms of cost and carbon inputs. This data was analysed using descriptive statistics to investigate if there is a correlation between cost and carbon inputs. The study revealed that to stabilise soil, soil matrix changes from one binder to another, whereas a higher content of GGBS and PFA to lime in the alternative methods than there is for OPC. In lieu of OPC and PFA, GGBS was identified as the most cost effective and lowest carbon emitting cementitious binder. However, though PFA also signified a carbon saving, PFA was comparatively costly. Further, a perfectly positive correlation lies between the mean elemental unit rates for costs and carbon.
item: Conference-Full-text
Business model concept for construction businesses: a literature synthesis
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Abeynayake, DN; Perera, BAKS; Hadiwattege, C; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
Despite the importance of a business model (BM) to an organisation’s success, clearing up the fuzziness of the concept of BM before applying it to any business or sector is worthwhile. Since definitions are expected to bring clarity, this paper attempts to analyse various definitions given to BM by different authors. Accordingly, eight notions around which 31 definitions of BM have been centred were identified. These notions are based on stakeholders, value, revenue, strategies, process, causality, elements and dynamicity of the business with which all the BM definitional views are associated. In addition to its two key roles, value creation and value capture, BM plays several other roles as well. Some of these roles relate to being an opportunity facilitator; a common language; a source of industry change; a source of competitive advantage and an exemplar. The paper also distinguishes the term BM from the other commonly used term in the business language, ‘strategy’. Once the basis on which the preliminary views expressed by past researchers on the concept of BM is understood, it will be necessary to review the literature once again to get an understanding of the BM elements, BM design, BM changes and BM innovations, so that the concept of BM in the construction business environment and culture could be fully grasped.
item: Conference-Full-text
Can leadership styles inform safety outcomes in safetycritical organisations? a review of literature
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Ojuola, J; Mohamed, S; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
Safety-critical organisations (SCOs), such as the military, fire service, aviation, emergency services, and construction, are characterised by being organisations with high potential for stress, accidents, and injuries. Environments where safety is highly critical (i.e., high exposure to risk and likelihood of an accident) - poses particular challenges for leaders. Thus, such environments call for specific leadership/ leadership style, which differ from those most effective in less safety-critical environments. Most research literature seems to associate leadership with traditional, linear models, which are incongruent with the behaviour of a complex system, such as the construction industry. Thus, the objective of this paper is to fill this research gap by: (1) critically reviewing relevant literature; (2) investigating the effect of leadership styles (LS) on safety outcomes, with emphasis on SCOs; and (3) developing a conceptual framework for empirical testing. A survey design will be applied to collect data from project managers in the construction industry within the Australian context. This paper presents a brief description of the effect of various LS on safety outcomes, using the principles of complexity science. The results of this study will present the effect of riding on the principles of complexity science to provide the premise for flexible responses to emerging patterns and opportunities in the construction industry.
item: Conference-Full-text
Challenges in hotel building refurbishment projects in Sri Lanka
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Ekanayake, BJ; Sandanayake, YG; Ramachandra, T; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
Amongst the contemporary issues encountered by the buildings, deterioration and obsolescence are in the forefront. The refurbishment has been acknowledged as an avenue to deliver profound solutions to overcome these issues by upgrading, altering, extending, renovating and improving facilities and prolonging building lifespan. Nevertheless, refurbishment projects are uncertain and sophisticated with many challenges. Refurbishment projects in Sri Lanka are dominated in hotel buildings compared to other types of buildings because hotel buildings needed to be upgraded and modified frequently to maintain the tourist attraction intact. Nevertheless, the challenges in these projects remain unprecedented due to lack of in depth investigation. This research therefore, set out to explore the challenges in hotel building refurbishment projects in Sri Lanka. A qualitative approach was applied by focusing on three recently completed hotel building refurbishment projects. Subsequently, data collected through unstructured interviews with the participants involved in the refurbishment projects, document reviewing and observations were analysed using content analysis. The findings revealed topmost challenges as the budget overruns due to superficial designs and construction activities, time overruns due to refining designs to cater unanticipated building conditions, limitations to introduce changes to the existing building structures and the interruptions to building occupants due to simultaneous operations. The budget overruns for Cases A, B and C were reported as 13.64%, 1.38% and 0.95% respectively. The time overruns were calculated as 55.56%, 25% and 50% respectively. These challenges adversely affected in achieving value for money in terms of cost, time, quality, customer satisfaction and sustainability.
item: Conference-Full-text
Challenges in hotel building refurbishment projects in Sri Lanka
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Ekanayake, BJ; Sandanayake, YG; Ramachandra, T; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
Amongst the contemporary issues encountered by the buildings, deterioration and obsolescence are in the forefront. The refurbishment has been acknowledged as an avenue to deliver profound solutions to overcome these issues by upgrading, altering, extending, renovating and improving facilities and prolonging building lifespan. Nevertheless, refurbishment projects are uncertain and sophisticated with many challenges. Refurbishment projects in Sri Lanka are dominated in hotel buildings compared to other types of buildings because hotel buildings needed to be upgraded and modified frequently to maintain the tourist attraction intact. Nevertheless, the challenges in these projects remain unprecedented due to lack of in depth investigation. This research therefore, set out to explore the challenges in hotel building refurbishment projects in Sri Lanka. A qualitative approach was applied by focusing on three recently completed hotel building refurbishment projects. Subsequently, data collected through unstructured interviews with the participants involved in the refurbishment projects, document reviewing and observations were analysed using content analysis. The findings revealed topmost challenges as the budget overruns due to superficial designs and construction activities, time overruns due to refining designs to cater unanticipated building conditions, limitations to introduce changes to the existing building structures and the interruptions to building occupants due to simultaneous operations. The budget overruns for Cases A, B and C were reported as 13.64%, 1.38% and 0.95% respectively. The time overruns were calculated as 55.56%, 25% and 50% respectively. These challenges adversely affected in achieving value for money in terms of cost, time, quality, customer satisfaction and sustainability.
item: Conference-Full-text
Collaboration in the construction industry: a view from the rail sector
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Dowd, T; Siriwardena, M; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
Need for collaboration in the construction industry has been emphasized constantly in research literature. Several forms of procurement and other approaches were introduced towards promoting collaboration in the past two decades. This paper reports on an investigation into the nature and extent of collaboration within the rail sector in the UK. Rail sector which is a growth area in the UK’s construction industry, and several more projects planned for the near future. A literature review, a questionnaire survey and data analysis were conducted. Literature review identified key elements and dimensions of collaboration. Data analysis conducted following the receipt of the questionnaires revealed varying views between the client and the other parties in terms of the extent and the success of collaboration within the rail sector. The findings have also identified several areas that require further research and development.
item: Conference-Full-text
Collecting primary data for academic research in crisisaffected- regions: challenges and recommendations
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Allali, B; Kulatunga, U; Salha, S; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
Collecting primary data for research is one of the most critical stages in the research journey; it is the practical element of the research that requires access to data embedded in fieldwork. If the primary data is collected from a crisis-affected-regions, the fieldwork can generate a high risk to the researcher. The aim of this paper is to investigate the challenges of data collection in crisis-affected-regions. The personal experience of seven different PhD researchers who collected their primary data from crisis-affected-regions are presented and analysed in the paper. The findings suggest that the risks of collecting primary data from crisis-affected-regions can involve different challenges: some of them are related to the researcher, such as a lack of awareness around the aspects of the crisis context. Some other challenges are related to the research study, such as non-clarity of aims and objectives. Also, within the context of study the main challenge of collecting data is a lack of accessibility to data sources and documents. The paper provides different suggestions to improve the practices of collecting primary data from crisis-affected-regions. These are: providing supportive training to researchers who intend to research in crisis-affected-regions, networking with other researchers with the same interests, increased regular meetings with the supervisor, adapting an appropriate approach for collecting the data, and having a risk management plan.
item: Conference-Full-text
Compatibility of bim based boq for Sri Lankan construction industry
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Sandaruwan, MWT; Jayasena, HS; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
Being a key contributor to the Sri Lankan GDP, it is paramount for the construction industry to maximize the productivity, accuracy and efficiency. In order achieve this, it should advance with adoption of modern technologies, computer software and concepts. Many construction industries around the world are getting benefits by implementing Building Information Modelling (BIM) in their projects. BIM has made significant improvement in productivity, accuracy and efficiency. BIM can significantly automate the BOQ preparation process primarily through automated Quantity Take-off from BIM models. The process can deliver accurate quantities as per the model, but these quantities may deviate from quantities measured manually following a Standard Method of Measurement (SMM). But, not implementing automated BOQ process would become wasteful in an effort to implement BIM seeking for its benefits. This research was conducted with the aim of identifying the acceptability of the BIM based BOQ for the Sri Lankan construction industry. A literature survey was first carried out to identify the features of BIM based BOQ. A desk study was followed to identify the deviations of BIM based BOQ from the Sri Lankan conventional BOQ. Based on collected details through these two methods contextualized semi structured interview sessions were conducted to identify the acceptability of deviations in BIM based BOQ for the Sri Lankan construction industry. From the findings through the analysis of collected data, it can be concluded that BIM based BOQ are acceptable to the Sri Lankan construction industry.
item: Conference-Full-text
Construction delays in Sri Lanka: perspective of major participants
(Ceylon Institute of Builders, 2018-06) Chathurangi, BNM; De Silva, L; Francis, M; Sandanayake, YG; Gunatilake, S; Waidyasekara, KGAS
Delay can be defined as a slipping over the scheduled construction duration beyond the agreed completion date. Notwithstanding the all project participants suffer from inevitable consequences originated from construction delays, they all themselves influence to engender delays in more or less portions while contractors, consultants and employers conclusively afford massive deal. Therefore, this research tends to investigate the causes of delays from the perspective of responsible parties thereby suggest solutions to avoid them. Initially the researchers conducted a comprehensive literature review to identify the causes of project delay. A total of 50 previously conducted researches were examined and 130 delay causes were found. Thereafter, 59 of the delay causes which frequently stand in Sri Lankan building construction context were filtered and responsible parties were recognised through opinions of 15 experts. Thence, the main questionnaire survey was carried out adapting 30 samples for each perspective of contractor, consultant and employer in order to identify the significance of delay causes by ranking them in each of the perspectives utilising Relative Importance Index (RII). The agreement between perspectives for the ranking was obtained from Spearman’s Rank Correlation Coefficient (rs) and Kendall’s Correlation of Concordance (W). Thereafter, the preventive measures to enrich responsibilities of major participants in order to avoid delays were explored through ten interviews. Consequently, the study revealed that the contractor is the most responsible party for construction delays. Eventually, the strategic framework was developed to enrich responsibilities of the major participants on avoiding construction delays ameliorating elicited facts from the study thereof.

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