Dr Ping Yung

Most of the literature on the rapid changes in institutional arrangements in China’s construction industry have either limited themselves to a description of these changes or relied on opinion surveys to draw conclusions. Few researchers have conducted serious empirical examinations, especially regarding the ownership of developers or contractors. To fill this gap, we empirically examined the effectiveness of compulsory construction supervision arrangements on the quality of construction projects in mainland China, explained the seemingly inexplicable phenomenon that projects undertaken by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are of better quality than those undertaken by non-SOEs, explored the law of tort in relation to construction supervision firms, tested the published official data from 1991 to 2001 on construction ’good quality rates’ with regression against per capita values and powers of machinery as well as the capital-output ratios of both SOEs and non-SOEs, identified the determining factors affecting construction quality, and demonstrated the limitations of using the principal-agent theory in analysing the construction industry. The results supported the corollary of the Coase Theorem that resource allocation in terms of output quality will be affected by changes in the institutional arrangements.

As a contribution to the wider theoretical discussion on quality assurance in team production, this case study describes, using the capital - output ratio as a measure of efficiency performance, the quality control problems of Chinese construction state-owned enterprises and explains, with reference to relevant scholarly opinions, why the outcome of legislative requirements for experts falls short of expectations in terms of neo-institutional economic reasoning. This is so, even though the law apparently addresses the principal-agent problem in teamwork by strengthening monitoring. © 2009 Pion Ltd and its Licensors.

Construction productivity issues in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) construction industry can lead to project cost blowouts. Time wasted by construction personnel getting the right information on megaprojects can be a substantial contributing factor. It appears that the communication on site is not cost effective, judging by the number of large project that have experienced budget overruns in the past. More importantly, as-built design documentation often fails the quality test, resulting in operational inefficiencies once the plant has been handed over from Construction to Operation Phase. Common errors during the static prefabrication, dispatch and installation processes can result in serious rework as a significant amount of construction time and budget is wasted. To minimise these problems, this paper recommends to better control the dynamic natures of construction. This study propagates a conceptual framework for assuring quality of modular construction in LNG plants by introducing a Situation Awareness construction environment with well-defined sensing and tracking technologies. While encountering situations inconsistent with plans during construction, such as time delay, fabrication errors, conflicts in terms of accessibility and constructability issues and so forth, sensors mounted in situ can discover such situations and recursively fed back to field personnel. Automation and robotics technologies, such as real-time path planning, collision detection and deviation examination utilizing as-planned building information model, can assist engineers to rapidly react with inconsistent situations and make acceptable decisions instead of partially or entirely suspending the workforce through massive reworks. In this study, we conduct a preliminary study in demonstrating the feasibility of utilizing sensory devices and automatic planning technologies. The expected results of adopting the framework are the quality-assured modular construction and execution plans during construction stages to save rework construction time and budget. © 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) related activities in small to medium sized construction enterprises within Australia. Reasons behind the implementation level are also evaluated. Design/methodology/approach - Quantitative and qualitative company level data from 28 Australian small to medium sized construction enterprises were collected using an in-depth questionnaire. Levels of CSR implementation in three aspects, namely, environmental, social and ethical, were measured. Each aspect was broken down into sub-areas and implementation scores were aggregated and normalised. Awareness level and concern for economic aspect, the two hypothesised reasons for level of implementation, were also measured. Non-parametric correlation analyses were used to examine the hypotheses. Findings - The findings suggest small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) incorporate some aspects of CSR into their business activities even though they do not refer to the practices as CSR, as none of them have a formal CSR policy in place. Most SMEs in the construction industry implement ethical and economic aspect of CSR; however implementation across environmental and social issues is limited. Non-parametric correlation analyses show that higher awareness of CSR issues leads to higher levels of implementation and that concern about economic aspect is not a reason why CSR is not implemented into business practices. Research limitations/implications - Everett Rogers’ diffusion paradigm can also be applied to CSR implementation, but more research works are required to theoretically and empirically examine the relationships between CSR implementation and economic aspect. Originality/value - It is apparent that there is a significant gap in the research regarding Australian SMEs and sustainability issues as the majority of the literature is focused upon large organisations even though the approaches taken by SMEs towards CSR are very different to those of large corporations. The SME business sector is a significant sector in terms of its environmental, economic and social impacts. Hence recognition of this sector is growing and is now becoming the focus of an agenda to promote the implementation of CSR practices in SMEs. This paper aims to provide useful and detailed information to add to what is currently an underdeveloped body of knowledge in this area. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) coordination is an important part of constructability review process. The rapid development of Building Information Modelling (BIM) could substantially facilitate this process by affording a visual and collaborative manner. However, BIM adoption in China has been hindered by the low management commitment and knowledge level. There is a need to develop a model to utilize BIM in China taking into consideration this current situation. This paper reports how design institutes without 3D modelling capabilities can work with modellers to perform MEP coordination with BIM. A BIM-enabled MEP coordination process for use in China is documented and further developed as one of the primary findings. IDEF0 language is used to illustrate the process in detail. It is found in the case study analysis that the use of BIM may not save overall design time as traditional 2D design was still used. However, it can reduce the costs of manual MEP coordination, the expected number of change orders, chance that significant number of change orders may occur, as well as MEP coordination related change orders as a percentage of total change orders. © 2014 The authors.

This article investigates the factors and corresponding subfactors affecting the length of the concession period for a build-operate-transfer (BOT) tunnel project. It includes five steps, namely, identifying the influential factors of concession period length determination, identifying the subinfluential factors, quantification of the factors, variable ranking, and variable testing. The influential factors and subfactors were identified through an extensive review of literature and a questionnaire survey. Qualitative factors were then quantified and all the factors were scaled and ranked by the entropy method, and finally tested by a support vector machine-based prediction model. In the end, a set of key influential factors of concession period length was developed. It is expected that the developed factors can improve the accuracy and effectiveness of concession period length determination. © 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Life Cycle Energy Analyses of buildings provide useful information for achieving sustainability. However, care must be taken when interpreting previous studies because of different life cycle stages included. Other problems found include the use of different types of areas and quality of data. This paper presents an audited database of Life Cycle Energy Analyses of buildings. A Literature Based Discovery method has been adopted to analyze 38 research works consisting of 206 cases. The average initial embodied energy for offices is found to be 10.47 GJ/m2 and that of residential property is 4.10 GJ/m2. When the initial embodied energy is expressed as number of years of heating and cooling energy, the range is very wide. However, when it is expressed as number of years of operational energy, the results are consistent (7.8 years for offices and 7.5 years for residential buildings). It is expected that the audited information on the energy requirement of buildings will provide valuable information for designers and decision makers. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

Purpose - This paper aims to examine the extent of productivity losses in smoking breaks on construction sites. Design/methodology/approach - The smoking behaviours of workers in a small/medium-sized construction company were examined for a period of four months. Construction workers were targeted due to their higher prevalence in smoking. The exact time losses through smoking breaks were measured and calculated. The productivity losses were then evaluated and compared with the estimates of productivity losses and wage penalties found in the literature. Findings - It is found that a smoker on average smokes 5.6 cigarettes, which takes a total of 73 minutes, representing 15.2 per cent of productivity loss in an eight-hour shift. This productivity loss is much higher than productivity losses through increased sick leaves or the wage penalties for smokers found in the literature. Research limitations/implications - Variations of smoking behaviours throughout the year have not been considered. The study has focused on a renovation and rehabilitation project, it has not considered the workers from other trades who might have different smoking behaviours. Originality/value - This paper is a contribution to the limited literature on the productive time losses through smoking breaks. Most studies on productive time loss attributable to smoking focused on the additional sick leaves taken by the smokers, without realizing that productive time losses through smoking breaks far exceeds those additional sick leaves. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

This chapter documents the institutional arrangements in China’s construction industry. It concentrates on the three major differences between China and the UK system, namely, the mandatory tender evaluation by an Independent Specialist Committee (ISC), the mandatory construction supervision system, as well as the mandatory use of bills of quantities procurement method for government funded projects. It is hoped that this will provide some insights for international construction professionals seeking to work in China. The effects of the former two arrangements on the efficiency of property developers, and the quality and safety performance of construction projects will be evaluated. The study indicates that the ISC tender evaluation system has actually reduced the efficiency of property developers in terms of capital-output ratio. However, the mandatory construction supervising system has improved both the safety during construction and the quality of finished projects. The reasons why the old Quota procurement system is still widely used is also discussed. © 2011 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

The decision of whether fitting-out shall be provided in residential units in China is an interesting area never explored. This paper proposes that the provision of fitting-out is a response to the presence of heterogeneous homebuyers who have different preferences for uniform fitting-out. A simple model has been developed to illustrate the economics underlying the decision whether fitting-out will be provided. The consumer and supplier welfare are also analyzed. Hypotheses were formulated and evaluated with a probit model. The data included 162 residential developments that were sold in Beijing in 2007. The results showed that the provision of fitting-outs does have a pattern, thereby confirming the existence of heterogeneity in consumer preferences. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Previous studies merely attempted to identify factors affecting safety performance from the micro perspective of project management, while they never questioned why those factors, such as lack of the top-management support and training, existed. A macro perspective, informed by the corollary of the Coase Theorem, was adopted here to show that suitable institutional arrangements are essential for better safety performance in a construction industry. Province-level construction safety records in China from 1994 to 2000 were used to test the effects of institutional arrangements on construction safety in China. Major factors affecting construction safety were found to be the implementation of construction safety laws, the rate of subcontracting, while neither the extent of using temporary workers, nor the availability of resources, nor the level of per capita GDP have any effects.

Purpose - This paper aims to provide an initial determination of the date of construction, locations and a typology of design of the pill-boxes of the Gin Drinker’s Line constructed by the colonial Hong Kong Government. Design/methodology/approach - Post-war aerial photos taken by the Royal Air Force and R.C. Huntings were examined and site visits made to locate and measure the pill-boxes. Relevant archive materials were consulted to help interpret findings. Findings - A total of 76 pill-boxes, most in ruins due to post-war destruction for obtaining their steel bars, were mapped on a 1:25,000 scale to give a good idea of the nature of the Gin Drinker’s Line. The study finds that, of these, 50 have survived. The pill-boxes predated those built in the UK to anticipate of German landing. Research limitations/implications - The paper demonstrates how aerial photos can be used for historical research and conservation planning. Though the locations of the pill-boxes identified are subject to detailed site surveying, the basic pattern of pill-box distribution has been identified. Originality/value - This is the first attempt to map the Gin Drinker’s Line and classify its pill-boxes. The findings are useful references for the actual conservation of colonial heritage in Hong Kong as part of China, as well as for further inquiry into the military history of the Second World War. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

This paper seeks to construct an empirical research agenda based on transaction cost reasoning informed by the Coase Theorem. It explains why the Coase Theorem has not been well received in the area of construction economics and management, as revealed by the relevant bibliometrics; develops a transaction cost-based research agenda for this arena based on the corollaries of the invariant version and optimality version of the Coase Theorem; and maps the current research endeavours that fall into that agenda. It has been explained that the Coase Theorem was based on Coase’s 1960 article, ’The problem of social cost’, and is not only compatible with, but also more general than, Coase’s theory of the firm offered in his 1937 paper, ’The nature of the firm’. Hence, the ’two Coases’ characterization, which suggests a dichotomy pro-organization/regulation stance versus a pro-free market stance, is fallacious.

Current studies on 5D CAD have been limited to either description of concept or automatic generation of quantities. Few have attempted to explore the other capabilities of 5D CAD. Project cost control and schedule control are very important for successful project delivery, while existing studies on computer based project control tools have largely focused only on schedule control. This paper fills the gap by investigating the possibility of using 5D CAD for project cost and schedule control. Initiated by Woodside Energy Ltd, a prototype of a 5D CAD system has been developed specifically for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) industry. The system was tested with the project data of an example module from an LNG plant provided by Woodside Energy Ltd. The functions of the system include: visualization of schedule data and verification of cost in real time and facilitation of periodic planning and progress reporting. It is concluded that 5D CAD could be a very powerful project cost and progress control tool. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

Most studies on the relationship between design fees and construction costs suggested that the higher the fees, the lower the construction costs. Such conclusions have been based on the underlying assumption that the grade of project is given. However, normally, this assumption does not hold, a conceptual decision-making model in property development is developed to illustrate the management choice of projects types and grades. The hypothesised result would be that the higher the grade of project, the higher the design fees, and hence, the higher the construction costs. This is tested with real project data from BCIS database compiled by the RICS. The results of multiple regressions confirm our hypothesis. © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Proper management processes were often regarded as the most important factors affecting construction quality, while the availability of capital, plant, and labour were taken for granted and the demands of property users were always ignored. The phenomenon that the construction quality of projects undertaken by State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) was better than that of non-SOEs revealed that in developing countries such as China during transition, the availability of resources could be very important to construction quality. By utilizing regression models to evaluate 550 robust province level data from 1993 to 2001, this paper will offer an insight into the hard factors affecting construction quality. It is found that higher power of machinery per labourer, the use of more plants or machinery per m2 of floor space, properties with larger unit areas, the growth of GDP, the higher labour productivity tender to be associated with higher quality. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd and IPMA.

Extant theories on the application of the Coase Theorem to the development market have focused on the effects of zoning on the environment or upon property prices. As an original contribution to the Coasian research on the interface between the development market and the statutory planning machinery, this article seeks to develop a Coasian proposition informed by what has been called the corollary of the Coase Theorem, which allows for an empirical examination of the impact of property prices on decisions to use resources under different institutional arrangements. Our proposition is that the procedural steps taken to consume resources are not contingent on property prices unless the associated transaction costs are positive or property rights ambiguous. © The Applied Regional Science Conference (ARSC)/Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd. 2007.

The theories of project management are not well developed despite the existence of extensive literature on the topic. This paper derives a New Institutional Economic theory of project management. It is suggested that project management encompasses both the discipline of operational management and that of economics. The operational management part deals with optimization of project processes. The basic postulation of the economic part is that human beings will maximize their benefits under constraints. Constraints are converted to either price or cost to facilitate the application of the law of demand. Three examples are used to demonstrate how refutable hypotheses can be derived when changes in constraints lead to changes in behaviours. The functions of project management are discussed in the contexts of this theoretical framework. A synthesis with existing theories is also given.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the statutory adjudication legislation in Western Australia against its stated aims. Design/methodology/approach - The four objectives of the Western Australia Construction Contracts Act 2004 were identified. For each objective a number of criteria has been devised. In total, 22 registered adjudicators were interviewed, representing 28 per cent of all adjudicators in Western Australia. The interviewees were divided into two groups, one with legal background (being both lawyer and adjudicator), the other without (construction professionals). They were asked to evaluate the criteria against a five-point Likert scale in addition to open ended comments. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to examine whether there were significant differences between the two groups. Annual reports of Building Commissioner, database of the WA State Administrative Tribunal and some law cases were also referred to. Findings - It is found that the West Coast Model is fair to both parties, the adjudications are generally completed speedily according to the prescribed timeframe, and they have been conducted in various levels of formalities. Adjudications are very cost effective for larger claims. However, they are not so for smaller claims. The increasing uptake rate shows that adjudication is getting more popular, while the low appeal rate shows that decisions on dismissal are fair. Research limitations/implications - The adjudicators’ opinions are only part of the overall picture and that more research on this topic needs to be done. Originality/value - There have been two distinct legislative models in Australia, commonly known as East Coast Model and West Coast Model. A number of authors have called for a national dual model incorporating both current models. However, it might be too early to discuss the national dual model when there have been very few evaluations on the West Coast Model and among the few there have been problems in the research design. This paper seeks to bridge the gap by evaluating the West Coast Model against its stated aims. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Current building assessment methods limit themselves in their environmental impact by failing to consider the other two aspects of sustainability: the economic and the social. They tend to be complex and costly to run, and therefore are of limited value in comparing design options. This paper proposes and develops a model for the automatic assessment of a building’s sustainability life cycle with the building information modelling (BIM) approach and its enabling technologies. A 6D CAD model is developed which could be used as a design aid instead of as a post-construction evaluation tool. 6D CAD includes 3D design as well as a fourth dimension (schedule), a fifth dimension (cost) and a sixth dimension (sustainability). The model can automatically derive quantities (5D), calculate economic (5D and 6D), environmental and social impacts (6D), and evaluate the sustainability performance of alternative design options. The sustainability assessment covers the life cycle stages of a building, namely material production, construction, operation, maintenance, demolition and disposal. © 2014 The Author(s).

There is no direct statutory planning enforcement mechanism for land without a history of Interim Development Permission Area Plans or Development Permission Area Plans in Hong Kong. Indirect enforcement of planning conditions is largely conducted by the Buildings Department upon building approval and by the Lands Department if the conditions are incorporated into the lease. The extent to which planning conditions are incorporated into leases is largely unknown, impacting the effect of this indirect contractual enforcement. The extent and probabilities of the incorporation of planning conditions in Comprehensive Development Area zones into leases are investigated. A total of 339 planning conditions on thirty-eight sites were identified but some were excluded from the study, leaving 188 for analysis. These conditions were categorised into eight types and tested with a probit model. It was found that three categories of planning conditions (access improvement, footbridges, lay-bys, and public vehicle parks; social facilities such as open space, day nursery, or kindergarten; water supply, draining, sewage) had the highest percentages of incorporation into leases, while the percentage for a fourth category (layout, landscape, car park plan) was not very high but still significantly higher than the other four categories. © 2011 Pion Ltd and its Licensors.

As a contribution to the wider institutional analysis of China’s enterprise reform, this paper argues that the principal agent theory is not suitable for analysis of China’s public enterprises, notably state-owned enterprises, as by definition, it requires a decision-making principal and clearly defined property rights. The problems of the theory’s application include the enigmatic identity of the principals and the inability of deducing refutable hypotheses. One primary reason for the divergent views about the identity of principals is widespread misconceptions of private property rights. These misconceptions lead to divergent views about the nature of another important actor in China’s economy, the township and village enterprises. It is hoped that clarification of these concepts will improve the understanding of China’s economy. © China: An International Journal.

Considering facilities management (FM) at the early design stage could potentially reduce the efforts for maintenance during the operational phase of facilities. Few efforts in construction industry have involved facility managers into the design phase. It was suggested that early adoption of facilities management will contribute to reducing the needs for major repairs and alternations that will otherwise occur at the operational phase. There should be an integrated data source providing information support for the building lifecycle. It is envisaged that Building Information Modelling (BIM) would fill the gap by acting as a visual model and a database throughout the building lifecycle. This paper develops a framework of how FM can be considered in design stage through BIM. Based on the framework, the paper explores how BIM will beneficially support FM in the design phase, such as space planning and energy analysis. A case study of using BIM to design facility managers’ travelling path in the maintenance process is presented. The results show that early adoption of FM in design stage with BIM can significantly reduce life cycle costs. © 2013 Ying Wang et al.

Purpose This paper examines macroeconomic factors affecting insolvency level in the UK construction industry. Design/methodology/approach A lagged dependent variable (LDV) model is proposed which adequately addressed the serial correlation and endogeneity problems commonly existed in time series data. Objective macroeconomic data from Q3 1997 to Q4 2023 are used to evaluate seven refutable hypotheses. Findings It is found that higher unemployment rate or annual interest burden leads to higher number of insolvencies, while higher construction output value or interest rate leads to lower insolvencies. Domino effect in construction insolvency is also confirmed. Research limitations/implications The proposed solutions to the missing data on 3 quarters and the changes in the industry breakdown methods during the study period might have affected the accuracy and consistency of data. Practical implications The paper provides objective insights to factors affecting construction insolvency, offering tools for future policy formulation. Social implications Knowing factors affecting insolvencies helps formulating solutions. Originality/value Previous studies on insolvency in construction industry have largely focused on prediction of insolvency of individual companies using firm level financial data, which are symptoms of failure rather than root causes. Studies using questionnaires could be subjective and the limited studies using macroeconomic factors often have methodological issues. This paper bridges the gap by analysing objective macroeconomic data with a sound methodology.

This study examined the effectiveness of standard forms of contracts in managing the consequences of unexpected events in construction projects from the UK perspective. In this study, unexpected events are restricted to those that affect the whole UK construction industry, such as COVID-19 or the war in Ukraine, which have affected supply chains. No obvious clauses and provisions exist in the standard forms of construction contracts such as JCT and to date, there has been no construction-related decision from the courts. Current contractual provisions were examined to assess if they are straightforward to implement when relief from the impact of unexpected events is required. This investigation concluded that the NEC 4 provisions appear straightforward to implement and likely to apply to various unexpected events. However, the JCT 2016 force majeure provisions have led to widespread confusion. Although the current opinion is that COVID-19 is likely to fall under force majeure due to the widespread impact this event had, for other events such as war in Ukraine or supply chain difficulties, the situation remains unclear.