2014 - (Vol. 06, Issue 01)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.248.9.226/handle/123/18960

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Dreams Fall Apart: People’s Experience of a Development Project in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Dissanayake, P
Today, “development” has become one of the most influential and dominant concepts among global political and economic discourses. For many scholars the concept of development has become a convincing notion after the Second World War. After sixty years of development, one wonders whether developing nations were able to achieve their targets. In order to examine the link between the hegemonic development discourse and the practice, this study focuses on a particular development project carried out by the renowned NGO, World Vision, in two rural areas in Sri Lanka. I spent a month in Mahakumbukkadawala and Nawagattegama areas to collect data and stories. The study examines the notion of development as adopted by World Vision and how the project has affected the people in these areas. Further, the research demonstrates that development is unique to the place and the people; hence, it is impossible to import, but needs to grow from within the communities and individuals.
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Cost Benefits of Steel compared to In-situ Concrete in Sri Lankan Building Construction
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Chandanie, H; Kandemulla, L
Ever increasing building construction activities involve high technologies and innovations to overcome the challenges in front of the process. Among the key challenges of building construction, cost of construction is prominent. However the construction industry constantly experiment innovative solutions which may offer favorable cost benefits for building construction. Most of developed countries draw attention on materialwise solution together with better administration and co-ordination within construction environment. Concerns on steel as a cost effective material for construction is one of an ideal example which suggested having the ability to offer better answers for future construction challenges. Steel buildings are designed, fabricated and constructed to meet the needs of the customer and to be cost effective. With steel construction, delays in construction are less, and unexpected costs that often associated in traditional constructions are reduced or eliminated. Properties of steel and vantages of steel construction also have been influenced in erection of steel structures such as skyscrapers, high-rise building and other small buildings in the developed countries. Future adaptability with easy connection systems, minimum waste, long life, reduced disruption at sites, suitability for confined sites are some benefits of using of steel as the main construction material. Eventually, above-mentioned benefits of steel will be afforded indirect cost benefits of steel building construction. The aim of this research is set as to identify the cost benefits of steel building construction in terms of factors of production in Sri Lankan construction industry. In achieving the above aim the method followed comprises of a comprehensive literature survey followed by a questionnaire survey. Data collection was done through the questionnaire survey to gather expertise knowledge and experiences of professionals in the industry. Through the questionnaire, related cost influence factors of production were compared between steel and in-situ concrete construction. Questionnaires were distributed among 44 construction industry professional and received 30 responses. The collected data was analyzed using RII, binomial test and median and approach to two major outcomes. Cost factors were identified which were offered cost beneficial and not cost beneficial separately in steel building construction compared to in-situ concrete building construction. It was found out that labour, material related costs are beneficial factors of steel construction over in-situ construction. In-situ construction is ahead of steel in terms of cost benefits in the areas of land, standards and technologies related cost factors whereas maintenance cost shows no significant difference. Therefore it can be concluded that steel construction offers cost benefits over in-situ construction as labour and material contributes to a higher proportion of project cost.
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Factors of the Built Environment that Affects the Walkability in a Sri Lankan Urban Neighborhood
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Rathnasiri, GKS; Ranasinghe, TKGP; Susantha, AL
The quality of the neighboring environment plays a major role in encouraging people to walk when attending to their daily needs. Although many previous studies identified a relationship between different factors of the built environment and the level of walkability, this interdependence is poorly understood in urban planning in Sri Lanka. This Study analyses the relevance of thirty factors of the built environment, identified by previous studies as affecting the walkability, to Sri Lankan urban context, using thirty five residents within a selected neighborhood in the town of Panadura. The identified factors were examined within a 100m radius of each participant’s residence through a questionnaire survey and field observations. Chi-squared analysis and bivariate correlation analysis were carried out to identify the most decisive factors for walkability. The results show that block length, the number of street lights, vehicle ownership, having relatives in the neighborhood and unpleasant land uses are the most significant factors.
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A study on the relationships among Natami, city functions and built environment with special reference to Pettah, Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Nayomi, HHKR; Mahanama, PKS
Wholesale and retail trades play a vital role in a city’s economy. From the early days of the evolution of cities, a group of labor specialized in loading, unloading and carrying goods emerged to cater to the need of moving goods within the city. During the Colonial era, in order to cater to the demand for economic means of delivering goods within the city in increasing wholesale and retail businesses, the British rulers brought in Indian Coolies to Sri Lanka and to many of their colonies to provide manual labor. Today, they are identified as Natamis and work in wholesale trading areas such as Pettah in Colombo and many other urban areas in Sri Lanka. With the advancement of technology many of the tasks of these goods carriers got replaced by motorized modes such as forklifts, trucks, lorries, cranes etc, but this occupation is not totally disappeared from the wholesale trading areas in Asian cities. It is observed that the character of the built environment and the prevailing city functions, especially the mode of local transactions of goods between traders, support the extended existence of Natami in Pettah; City of Colombo. This research explores the relationships between the Natami community, the city functions and the built environment of the City of Colombo using network analysis. Through the understanding derived from the analysis, this paper calls for the due attention of the policy makers and planners in planning and designing the city environments to identify the hidden but vital role played by these communities in making cities more effective and vibrant.
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A Study on the Potenil of Rainwater Harvesting Practices to Mitigate Urban Floods
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Lanka, WMJ; Ranasinghe, TKGP; Herath, M
Floods are a prominent issue and the challenge of urban flooding can be turned into an opportunity by adopting rainwater harvesting practices. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) works asa more reliable, cost effective and sustainable way. It is a mean of public contribution to mitigate urban floods rather than provide a supplementary source of water. The catchment area, maximum rainfall intensity, extent of building roofs, potential runoff, and outflowof water and estimated capacity of rainwater system are the highlighted six important factors through the literature. Arc GIS hydrology tools, IDF curves, rational method, the Manning formula and water balance equation were adopted to calculate the above factors. The relationship between capacity of a rainwater harvesting system (y) and the extent of roof area (x) has been derived by an equation of y=0.024x. This proposed rainwater harvesting system is potentially applied either in the form of individual building units or as a common water detention pond. This study has focused on identifying an appropriate mechanism to practice rainwater harvesting to mitigate urban floods in Colombo.
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Application of ArcGIS Model Builder and Python Scripting for urban Flood Modeling
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Bandara, DMPD; Mahanama, PKS; Warusavitharana, EJ
Accurate projection of flood extents in urban catchments has become a challenging task. Accurate data on inundation is useful for identifying flood risk areas and developing flood management strategies to mitigate the negative consequences. Owing to high costs of sophisticated flood simulation modeling software, currently, the required flood data for different studies and projects in Sri Lanka is collected through gauging stations, GPS devices and participatory based mapping approaches. However, these methods are highly time consuming and limited in accuracy. Hence, this paper presents an integrated model that simulates flood prone areas, flood levels and flood water accumulation time in urban areas using ArcGIS model builder and Python scripting. The model was calibrated and validated considering part of the urbanized area beside Kelani River. The results indicated that there is a high level of consistency between the observed and simulated results. Accordingly, the model presented in this paper can be used to simulate the flood inundation information in urban areas in a relatively fast, inexpensive and accurate manner
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Modeling Colombo's land uses with Metronamica: a demonstrative approach
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Wimaladasa, GJ; De Silva, MCK; Jayasinghe, AB; Munasinghe, JN
The enormous complexity built into cities makes them difficult to understand for any purpose. The ever changing land uses in any city is not an exemption, despite its importance for planners to know at some level of certainty. In order to overcome this difficulty Cellular Automata (CA) models are widely used in the field of urban planning as means of simulating land use changes with adequate bearing on the complexities associated with urban systems. This paper is a demonstrative attempt to model the land use changes in Colombo Metropolitan area in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 2010, within a modeling framework developed with CA based simulation application: Metronamica. Simulation results are assessed and validated using visual comparison and statistical methods. This study is placed in a context where the current planning practices in Sri Lanka are in need of robust methods and versatile techniques to comprehend land uses in rapidly growing urban areas.
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Emergence and Amelioration of Students' Creativity through Practice Based Learning in Relation to Design Education
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Liyanage, PP; Jayasekara, RB
Practice-based education (PBE) offers the students an invaluable experience to gain knowledge and improve their skills towards diverse fields which prove the realities in the social and physical context.’ (Clifford, Macy, Albi, Bricker & Rahn, 2005). This method becomes more significant when it comes to Design education in university teaching. To provide an effective Practice-based education, university education system undergoes a complex and time-intensive process. The main objective of this research is to explore the possibility and suitability of practice based educational system in nurturing the students to build up a design rational and to find out the essential factors to be considered while at teaching and designing projects. This was experimented through a design project carried out for the Level I students of Department of Integrated Design. The study describes how student capabilities were gradually developed in forming a design rational by using the Human body as a design context. Here the form of education becomes more unique and significant, that their approaches became successful more than to the expected level. It was through practice and experience that the students achieve expected targets in the design project. The final outcome of the project is a result of different activities followed with workshops and immense experiments. A solitary observation was followed throughout the project as to understand how beneficial is practice based education in improving student skills and how the projects must be designed setting out certain goals and objectives with special reference to Design education. The results of the research analysis concluded that practice or activity based learning system becomes more effective for design education, when students’ physiological and psychological abilities are evaluated and gradually expanded by offering them the understanding about the context, method of integration, theoretical knowledge while developing an own sense for design.
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Issues in small sector housing construction in Sri Lanka: case of services installation
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Roshan, AGJ; Waidyasekara, KGAS
Building a house is a life time venture and a dream of many individuals. However, constructing a house is a complicated process which involves interpreting various ideas and collection of number of people’s effort. In such away, building services carry a significant role and efficient services installation leads to a long life of any building types. Moreover, cost of services installation represents considerable amount from the total project cost. It is notable, improper installation of services lead to an increased cost of maintenance and repair cost while dissatisfying the user. This is the common issue seen in the small sector housing construction.Therefore, the aim of this paper is to address “ common issues in small sector housing construction in case of services installation”. Apart from that the study analyses the informal and formal sector involvement in the housing construction. The structured questionnaire survey was carried out with house owners. The survey results analyzed using SPSS software. Electrical and plumbing are more demanding services and mechanical systems were received less demand in the small sector houses. The survey results show electrical problems are being the worst followed by plumbing and mechanical problems. Trip switch failure, power leakage and damages to equipment due to excessive power are some common dilemmas faced by the house owners regarding the electrical system. Water leakage and water seepage through walls are common issues with in the plumbing system. The study was enable to identify informal sector and formal sector involvement in installation of services in small sector housing construction as 87.64% and 12.36% respectively. Further, the suggestions and recommendations were made in order to overcome the identified issuses in case of services insatalltion in small sector housing construction in Sri Lanka addresses in the paper.
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Managing Facilities Manager’s Knowledge through Knowledge Capture, Knowledge Store and Knowledge Reuse
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Abeysinghe, NSD; Senaratne, S
The profession of facilities management (FM) is becoming knowledge driven. In this regard, managing facilities managers’ knowledge helps for a better output through the creation of supportive and cost effective physical environment that strongly supports the primary objectives of office buildings sector. This study attempts to bring in knowledge management insights into facilities management and explores strategies of managing facilities manger’s knowledge. Case studies of three in-house FM teams occupied in three leading office buildings in Sri Lanka were used to approach the research problem. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews with three individuals from each case. As the study reveals knowledge capture, store and reuse process could be effectively used to manage facilities manager’s knowledge, hence the effort of the study was to introduce standardized way to manage facilities manager’s knowledge and it has been achieved through the literature and empirical findings. Performing complex facilities management tasks requires facilities management experts, unfortunately, there is usually a shortage of such people and their knowledge is almost always locked away in their heads. So, the challenge is to capture and automate their knowledge to make it available to others. As per case study reveals it is critical for organizations to store the knowledge, and provide access for achieving sustainable competitiveness and to move forward and deliver a better service day by day. It is critical to have a knowledge base for the further development of the FM profession. Reusing knowledge is crucial for the organization in achieving FM duties. As per the FM professionals facilities managers should use the stored knowledge in order to come up with new ideas and expertise in order to face new and challenging situations. This research is of exploratory nature which explored an emerging FM profession in Sri Lanka. Further research is required to fully understand how knowledge management concepts could be incorporated within FM professions world-wide.
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Potential Brokerages in Relationally Integrated Value Networks (RIVANS) for Total Facilities Management: Literature Findings
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Weerasinghe, RPNP; De Silva, N
The collaborative supply chain networks in relational contracting modes have gained considerable attentions in recent decades as an essential prerequisite for enhancing business performance. Accordingly, integration of Project Management (PM) and Facilities Management (FM) phases of facility lifecycle through a collaborative network of stakeholders has been recommended as value additional strategy for the built environment professionals. Such value networks are called relationally integrated value networks (RIVANS) that operate extending PM and FM towards Total Facilities Management (TFM). TFM involves effective transferring of information, material, and services between PM and FM phases while sharing common goals among all stakeholders in entire life cycle of a facility. However, weak integrations among stakeholders have identified as one of the greatest barriers to form RIVANS between stakeholders in both phases and hence poor performances during FM phase are experienced. TFM provides a holistic approach through RIVANS to bridge the PM phase and the FM phase in the lifecycle of facilities as a favourable approach. Therefore, this paper aims to integrate these two phases through RIVANS by linking stakeholder of both phases. Study found that there are problematic “structural holes” that exist in these networks, which impeded the flow of information, material, and services and are short term oriented. Long term oriented value network appears to be favorable in facilities lifecycle to bridge the two phases through a common set of goals. Hence, the paper concluded that there is a brokerage potential of client’s facilities manager and project manager to bridge two network structures while strengthening structural holes. The brokers help to transfer material, information, and service between different stakeholders while enhancing better value through common goals.
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Identification of body adornment concepts in Sinhalese jewellery
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Pathirana, H
Adornment is a beautification and embellishment, and an addition to the pleasantness and attractiveness, a decoration that is added to relieve plainness. The human form has been subjected to adornment from the past to the present and towards the future in many different methods and techniques making it the foreground for jewellery. The jewellery industry today has developed so much internationally that the trends and fashion of body adornment are shared beyond the cultures and the traditions. Certain practices of adornment have found places internationally so that present practices of adornment have become timeless concepts merging with the trends of the world. The art of jewellery, in the tradition seem to interestingly combine with principles of design that showcases the skill of material handling, relationship made with human form, from the view point of the aesthetics. The inspiration that has been derived for such creations from various sources and the unique originality that has marked in the Sinhalese jewellery will be identified, based on the principles of art and design.In the method of study, the relationships jewellery has made with human body form, and the aesthetical patterns that have created along the traditions had made, visible connections with the cultural patterns will be brought into topical discussions. In the conclusion it has been found out that ancient concepts that were deeply rooted in the traditional practices consists of ultra modern techniques that can be renewed for the use of the present day practices that they are concepts of timelessness.
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A Study of Payment Issues to Constructors in the Sri Lankan Construction Industry
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Francis, M; Ramachandra, T
Payment issues to main contractors and the subcontractors have been a major concern in the construction industry. This research therefore, investigates the payment issues to constructors in the Sri Lankan construction industry. A survey approach using semi structured interviews was adopted. The research found delayed payments are mostly experienced than incomplete or non-payments. Government funded projects are highly exposed to delayed payments. Final payments are always delayed compared to retention and interim payments. Subcontractors are critically affected than main contractors. The findings indicated that the top three causes of delayed payments are paymaster’s poor financial management, delays in certification by consultants and improper bills from the contractors. The research therefore, recommended that parties need to procure appropriate security measures in the form of having a payment bond from the upper tier, separate form of contract to subcontractors and construction contract act. This would ensure that contractors get paid on time and thereby contribute to the success of the project.
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Selection of Sustainable Composite Partition Material for Sri Lankan context
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Athambawa, SH; Ramachandra, T; Sabrina, NF
Building materials are deemed to play a vital role in increasing buildings sustainability while contributing to the economic prosperity. Usage of large quantity of non-renewable resources in the building materials has a major impact on the environment, depriving future generations of its usage. These building materials are used to construct diferent types of building element. Thus, it is believed that the appropriate selection of building materials for different purposes is one of several factors that contribute to sustainability within the built environment. However, traditionally the selection of such materials depends on consensus-based understanding of environmental issues in designing and construction of facilities. On this note, this study investigates the most suitable composite material that can be used for partition wall construction in Sri Lanka with respect to sustainable parameters. The research is quantitative in nature where a preliminary market survey and a subsequent questionnaire survey were conducted to identify the available materials used in partition wall and evaluate the materials' performance, in terms of embodied energy, toxicity, locally produced material, price, maintainability, aesthetics, resistance and durability respectively. The questionnaire survey was administered to 35 professionals (Architects, Engineers, Quantity Surveyors and Facility Managers) practicing in the construction industry. In order to compare the materials pair wise, an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) based on was employed. Research findings show that Medium Density Fibre (MDF) board, Gypsum Board (GB) and paddy straw composite board (DURA) are alternatives of composite partitioning materials. In terms of embodied energy (EE), Cost (C), toxity (T), natural and local available materials (N&L) and maintainability (M) with recieving a relative weight (RW) of 0.471, 0.487, 0.420, 0.398, 0.339 Dura board is preferred over the other materials. However, in terms of aesthetic (A) and resistance (R) criterions with obtaining a RW of 0.414, 0.421 GPD board serves better than other materials. MDF board is at the top in terms of durability with a RW of 0.351. When the overall performance is focused, DURA offers the best value while MDF and GPD board occupy the next places respectively. This study, therefore identifies the most suitable composite alternatives to assist professionals in the selection of most suitable materials for partition walls in Sri Lanka.
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Colour as a Tool to Manipulate Indoor Thermal Perception in Tropical Upland Climate; A Field Experiment Implemented in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Welitharage, M; Hettiarachchi, A
Incorporating warm colours in the interiors of tropical uplands characterissed by a cold climatic condition, was hypothesised to help the inhabitants to perceive the indoor thermal environment as comparatively warmer, compensating the heating costs to a considerable extent. A preliminary field experiment was executed to investigate the impact of a warm colour (red - Cranberry Zing) and a cool colour (Duck egg blue) on indoor thermal perception in tropical upland climate with reference to Thalawakele, Sri Lanka. Substantiating the hypothesis, participants consistently perceived the red room to be comparatively warmer (90% - warm and 10% - slightly warm) while the blue room was perceived to be even cooler by 93.5% (64.5% - cool/ 29% - slightly cool) and neutral by 6.5%. Ability of red colour to induce a comparatively warm ‘perceived’ indoor thermal condition against the ‘real’ thermal condition in tropical upland climate could be potentially developed as an alternative hybrid remedy for energy conservation.
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A Study of Procurement Selection for Bridge Construction
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Shanmuganathan, A; Disaratna, V; Francis, M
Construction industry is pivotal part of any countries economy. Hence, the construction procurement selection is paramount important. This affects the successful and satisfactory completion and delivery of projects. In Sri Lanka, bridge construction is a key sector which contributes to the betterment of the construction industry and lends support to the growth of the economy. In addition, wrong selection of construction procurement approach usually leads to project failure, it is therefore very important to select the most suitable procurement system for bridge projects. The aim of this research is to address the selection of suitable construction procurement for bridge construction in Sri Lanka. The attempts were made through identifying and analyzing the factors which are highly influencing in the selection of a procurement system for bridge construction projects. Through the comprehensive literature review and preliminary survey, twenty six factors were identified as factors influencing the selection of procurement system for bridge construction projects. A Survey research approach was adopted to investigate the research phenomena. The first round questionnaire survey was conducted with a view to identify the most significant factors affecting the selection of procurement system. From the first round of questionnaire survey, eleven factors were identified as most significant factors influencing the selection of procurement system by ranking the factors using Relative Important Index (RII) tool. The research found that accountability and transparency were the top most important factors which influencing the selection of procurement system for bridge construction. Utility factors of available construction procurement systems for bridge sector against identified most significant factors were identified through the questionnaire survey round two by using RII tool. The importance and interrelationships of identified significant factors and utility factors provide a solid background for development of procurement selection criteria. The research recommended that the measure and pay system is the most appropriate procurement systems to procure the bridge construction projects through the developed utility model.
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An Investigation of Key Factors to Uplift Traditional Lac (Laksha) Craft in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Ranasinghe, WMND
Lac craft is a traditional craft in Sri Lanka and it has a traditional immense and endurance history. Lac is one of the decorative medium that can be applied on different types of materials, such as wood, ivory, pottery, clothes, horns, shells etc. Lac craft is an identical precious craft in Sri Lanka. But in current society it is not uplifted to cater present social needs. This can be considered as a dying industry and as a traditional craft that was continued from generation to generation, even though it is not continued as before. As the knowledge is not transferring to future generations; it will become a dilapidated craft in the craft milieu after three or four generations. It is needed to accompany for future generations to identify their tradition ethics, tools, equipment, decorations, manufacturing methods and market opportunities. This research oblige to identify the key factors that can affect endangered and upgrade to cater the present social needs which is a current need of the craft industry in Sri Lanka. It is a cast based industry and it was continued in several rural areas in Sri Lanka with a traditional identity, by the way still it continues in few areas in country. Especially craftsmen of Kandy and Matale districts still continue their practices in traditional manner. This research generally considers the craft places in central province to gather factual data. The methodology of the research was based on the Grounded theory method. The research followed the quantitative and qualitative research methods. The required data were collected through an extensive literature survey, case study use of variety of Lac crafts and structured questionnaires given to the people who are engaging in Lac work in Pallehapuvida to identify main factors that are affecting to uplift the Lac craft. The research identifies main six key factors in order of the importance as introducing new technology, new designs, new materials, introducing new colour by experiments, conducting trainee programmes, and teaching as a traditional technical subject. These are the main key factors that should be considered to uplift the dying tradition of Sri Lankan lac craft to get keen and endorsed future.
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Construction and Demolition Waste Management Gaps in Construction Industry
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Karunasena, G; Ranjan, H; Rathnayake, U
Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste is one of the fastest growing waste stream in Sri Lanka due to the construction boom after three decade of war. Thus, C&D waste management has become an environmental problem due to the lack of treatment and uncontrolled land filling. Thus, this study is focused on identifying the gaps which need to be addressed in C&D waste management. Survey approach and interviews were used to gather information. Consequently, ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts involved in C&D waste management. The collected data was analysed using content analysis technique. The findings revealed that the major gaps exist in C&D waste management as lack of capacity to handle an enormous quantity of waste, difficulty in estimating the quantity and composition of waste, lack of dumping sites and coordination among different parties involved, financial incapability and lack of technical people. Therefore, the study proposed seven areas for improvements as institutional and legal framework, fund allocation, site waste management plan, waste management hierarchy, supportive environment and monitoring, evaluation and reporting.
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Training and Development Framework to Improve the Maintenance Workers’ Productivity in the Sri Lankan Hotel Sector
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Satharasinghe, N; Fernando, GN; Sridarran, P
The hospitality industry and hotels in particular, have witnessed increasing competition for high service quality and customer satisfaction. Sri Lankan hotel industry faces a range of difficulties due to lack of productivity of the maintenance workers. Training and Development (T&D) is one of the foremost part of human resource management which can influence to improve productivity of maintenance workers. Accordingly, the aim of this research is develop a T&D framework to improve the maintenance workers productivity in the hotel industry. Case study was selected as the most suitable research method for this study. The reasons being, the study needed to focus on in-depth decisions and behavioural attitudes of individuals and groups within and between organisations. Case study findings revealed that, organisations conceived a positive impression on the importance of systematic implementation of T&D to improve the productivity of the maintenance staff. However, the organisations found themselves confronted by some barriers on implementing such systematic processes. As a result, the importance of adapting such systematic processes and the benefits they may bring into the organisation remain unidentified by the organisations.
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Under-Reporting of Construction Accidents in Sri Lanka
(Faculty of Architecture University of Moratuwa, 2014-12) Rathnayake, U; De Silva, N; Nawarathna, A
Generally the work environment in the construction industry is more hazardous than in other industries, mainly due to the potential nature for serious accidents and health hazards by heavy use of large equipment, dangerous tools, and hazardous materials. Thus, the number of annual construction accidents are reported high and among them 50-60 are fatal. Moreover, these numbers are under reported and hence the actual number of construction accidents could be several times higher than the reported. Hence, this research attempts to investigate the most significant reasons behind underreported construction accidents and identify the loopholes of the existing reporting systems to recommend efficient mechanisms for occupational accident recording in construction industry. Accordingly, the research problem was approached through a pre study survey and an expert survey which followed by semi structured interviews. Various stakeholders including management, technical staff and workers in construction sites were interviewed. The findings revealed that safety representatives of most of the construction organizations reluctant to report to the Labour Department through the district factory inspecting engineer when incidents occur, due to unawareness of legal provisions and burden of paper work. Moreover, lack of knowledge, awareness, systems, management commitments and other facilities exaggerated the situation. Additionally, a strong leadership towards inculcating occupational safety and health was identified as a deliberating need. Therefore, the study propose to appoint qualified safety representatives for each construction site of construction organisations, continuous monitoring of following up the legal provision on notification of accidents, introduction of a prescribed information sheet for all organisations who are involved in a case of an industrial accident and after an accident or development of an online portal and increase the awareness programmes on importance of maintaining records and reporting of industrial accidents.