ABSTRACT Global climate change is known to trigger local and regional hydrologic variations such as changes in precipitation patterns, increased surface temperatures, variations in the streamflow and the occurrence of frequent floods and droughts which in turn affect the built environment. Apt and efficient water management is paramount as climate change can considerably affect the water supply-demand

ABSTRACT The importance of the concept of prevention through design (PtD) to the alleviation of the problem of poor health and safety (H&S) management in the construction industry is widely acknowledged. It has been adopted in the regulatory framework for H&S in the UK construction industry through the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015) which place on the project client

ABSTRACT There is a general agreement that much of the syntax of modern architecture contributed to design buildings that were often inadequately adapted to climate conditions. However, there are some renowned examples that, while consistent with modern tenets, prove that assumption to be wrong. Amongst them the E.1027 house designed by Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici stands out. This research aims to

ABSTRACT It is recognized that as humans age, their ability to withstand high or low temperatures reduces. Temperature extremes can also worsen chronic conditions, including cardiovascular, respiratory, and other health issues. This study analyses 40 apartments in a single building in Auckland, New Zealand to determine whether the newly designed and constructed apartment, specifically for retirees

ABSTRACT Energy poverty (EP) is the product of three main factors – the cost of energy, household income and the energy efficiency of the dwelling. Climate change and rising energy costs are likely to accentuate EP. This study extends our knowledge about EP in Australia and examines its relationship to housing and health. Drawing on 23 semi-structured interviews, we map the impacts of EP on older low-income

ABSTRACT Older adults with disabilities are very dependent on the physical environment, but evidence concerning outdoor activity-friendly environments is limited. This study developed the functioning and environment model to analyse the interactions among body functions and structures (physiological or psychological functions of body systems and anatomical parts of the body), outdoor environments,

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore clinical staff and resident perceptions regarding the importance, as well as effectiveness, of environmental qualities and features in mental and behavioural health (MBH) facilities. The study evaluated inadequacies in environmental attributes, as perceived by staff and residents, in four MBH facilities in the United States. The Psychiatric Staff Environmental

ABSTRACT The energy performance of housing is a crucial element in plans for climate change mitigation, future energy supply and addressing energy poverty. The age of the UK housing stock, and its slow rate of replacement, indicate that attention needs to be focussed in particular on improving existing homes, a high proportion of which are private owner occupied. Thus, the improvements necessary to

ABSTRACT Interior design and construction (IDC) is a sophisticated and often prolonged process that delivers a building to occupation. Traditional practice is rather unproductive, involving the work of several different trades crowded in situ and delivered sequentially one after another. To enhance productivity in IDC, offsite practice is receiving increasing attention as a process innovation along

ABSTRACT In New Zealand (NZ), state school properties are owned by the Ministry of Education and operated by school managers with the assistance of external consultants. This study aims to explore relationships of key stakeholders to propose a set of improvement actions for building maintenance management (BMM) in NZ’s state schools. The research employed a sequential mixed-methods approach encompassing

ABSTRACT It is recognized that design for excellence (DfX) methods could deliver significant performance improvements in industrialized construction (IC) projects. However, DfX methods in IC projects in China have been stifled, and existing solutions have failed to deliver expected outcomes. This study investigated the significance of thirty-one challenges of implementing DfX methods in IC projects

ABSTRACT Housing is a cross-cutting issue that is crucial to achieving several of the Sustainable Development Goals. Earthen housing is found across the globe, particularly in developing countries, but there is a lack of up-to-date information about its distribution and trends. This knowledge gap is a barrier to developing more effective research and policy for earthen housing. In this study, national

ABSTRACT Facility managers can significantly benefit from operational data, such as maintenance requests, stored in computerized maintenance management systems (CMMSs). This data is a valuable means to assess building performance and gain insights for preventive maintenance actions. However, databases are not always organized in such a way that allow undertaking analytics, therefore resulting in troubles

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to estimate the environmental impacts associated with modernization measures that improve the energy efficiency of an office building listed as of cultural interest and located in northern Spain, a region with an Atlantic climate. European Climate Action for 2020-2030 sets a long-term goal of achieving neutrality of greenhouse gas emissions and towards the end of 2019

ABSTRACT This work aims to explore the perceived accessibility of adapted toilets according to the user’s perspective, indicating the relevance of their attributes and features for persons with reduced mobility. There are recent studies addressing accessibility, but few focus on adapted toilets, making this study of adapted toilets in Brazil unique. A total of 98 disabled users with restricted mobility

ABSTRACT The housing sector has faced significant attention in global and national policy efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Existing studies reveal green housing development to be a complex, transitionary process, with many diverse factors – financial, market, policy and technological – shaping development outcomes. However, these dynamics remain empirically and conceptually understudied within the

ABSTRACT This paper reports the results of a comprehensive indoor environmental quality (IEQ) evaluation conducted in seven office buildings at an Australian university. A mix of objective and subjective assessments was carried out and a total of 519 staff participated in the survey from various non-academic departments. Three types of buildings were included in this study: ‘Heritage listed’ (c.1880–1890s)

ABSTRACT Controlled non-uniform indoor thermal environments have the potential to evoke thermal pleasure in occupants as explained by the psychophysiological framework of alliesthesia. In this study, the authors aimed to explore thermal pleasure inside solar screen shaded, single-occupancy, perimeter office set-ups that are within a 4.5 m distance from a building facade. Two solar screens, static (stationary)

ABSTRACT International migrant and refugee numbers are at record levels and continue to grow. The construction industry is a major source of potential employment for migrants and refugees and emerging social and sustainable procurement policies in many parts of the world are also requiring construction supply chains to employ refugees and migrants as a condition of public sector contracts. However

ABSTRACT Over half of all residential buildings in the Netherlands are owner-occupied. In this study, the influence of behavioural factors on individual decisions toward energy efficiency renovations (EERs) was investigated. This study focused on contextual (e.g. building characteristics), personal (e.g. awareness of energy consumption), and motivational factors (e.g. improving comfort). Logistic regression

ABSTRACT The emerging trend dynamic work approaches is resulting in more open space designs at workplaces – a trend that is now being accelerated by the pandemic. This requires an objective understanding of how shared spaces are actually used, both in normal times and in response to a public health situation such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this research was therefore to collect and analyse

ABSTRACT The outbreak of COVID-19 has introduced critical challenges in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry; to address these challenges, building information modelling (BIM) can be applied as a project management tool to help enhance collaboration among stakeholders and improve business performance. Amidst the COVID-19 crisis, there is a greater need to explore and implement

ABSTRACT Regenerative approaches to the built environment represent a conceptual departure from reductionist sustainability fields. By utilizing the inherent interconnections between social-ecological systems as an informing foundation, regenerative fields have the potential to facilitate transformation towards sustainable cities. This paper provides a systematic review of publications on urban regenerative

ABSTRACT In order to reduce energy use and improve indoor environmental quality (IEQ), new and retrofitted dwellings are increasingly equipped with complex heating and mechanical ventilation solutions, which occupants have to learn to use and live with. This work investigates the different ways in which occupants integrate these technologies into daily domestic practices, the associated difficulties

ABSTRACT Classroom design influences the cognitive processes that determine learning. However, the effects of classroom geometry have been little studied, in part due to the difficulty of modifying physical spaces for experimental purposes. Today, virtual reality allows researchers to very closely control many environmental conditions while collecting psychological and neurophysiological metrics of

ABSTRACT This paper examines strategic motivations, processes and expectations for institutional real estate owners around sustainable improvements and eco-labelling in office buildings. A series of 33 industry interviews with senior representatives of institutional real estate owners (e.g. REITs, Pension Funds, Opportunity Funds, and Investment Managers) were conducted to explore three key research

ABSTRACT In a context of environmental concern and limited urban land, the construction industry faces the challenge of providing solutions for the increasing urban population both efficiently and sustainably. Numerous innovations on engineered wood products for multistorey buildings arise as one of the most promising solutions. In this context, various policies have facilitated the development of

ABSTRACT The analysis of occupants’ perception can improve building indoor environmental quality (IEQ). Going beyond conventional surveys, this study presents an innovative analysis of occupants’ feedback about the IEQ of different workplaces based on web-scraping and text-mining of online job reviews. A total of 1,158,706 job reviews posted on Glassdoor about 257 large organizations (with more than

ABSTRACT Ambitious and innovative refurbishment measures will be required to meet the European Union’s goals for limiting building energy consumption. Envelope efficiency can be enhanced, for instance, with new materials and improved passive techniques. Trombe walls (TWs), one such technique, reduce heating demand in winter, although they cause overheating in warm climates. That drawback may be corrected

ABSTRACT The preservation of historic churches and their most precious artefacts usually includes a monitoring campaign of the indoor microclimate conditions. This research presents the information that can be obtained through the application of a novel set of risk indices to the monitored data acquired in a Baroque church of the 18th century in Italy. The main risks found with this comprehensive methodology

ABSTRACT Construction practitioners have adopted the green building (GB) concept to restore environmental damage caused by the built environment over the last decade. However, there is inconclusive debate regarding GB savings’ potential to recover the cost of construction, maintenance, and renewals. This paper evaluates the feasibility of green-certified office buildings in Indonesia by comparing the

ABSTRACT This study examines the perceived productivity of office occupants in moderate thermal environments in Chile. Specifically, it analyses environmental parameters and contrasts participants’ self-reported answers to cross-sectional and retrospective questionnaires. To this end, data were collected for one day in winter and one day in summer, in eighteen office buildings in the cities of Concepción

ABSTRACT In the protection of heritage buildings, computational models are an innovative technology for the implementation of effective preservation strategies. These models can manage both data obtained from the buildings and data from the knowledge base of professional experts. The preventive conservation of heritage buildings requires cooperative efforts, where the professional experts’ opinions

ABSTRACT This research aims to estimate the operational energy (OE) savings of a full-scale building, made of lime hemp concrete (LHC) with alternative binders partly replacing lime, compared to buildings made of conventional materials, e.g. Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC), Hollow Concrete Blocks (HCB), and Expanded Polystyrene (ESP). The thermal performance of small size (1 m × 1 m) different materials

ABSTRACT Although several field studies have indicated that water penetration can be expected through face-sealed joints over the lifespan of buildings, in particular, when sealed by means of construction sealant, face-sealed systems are still being applied by industry, e.g. precast concrete panels. Laboratory studies evaluating the concept of face-sealed joints are, however, limited. This study assesses

ABSTRACT Smart cities are spurred by rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Cost justification has been a challenging but essential decision-making aspect for smart city projects. Whilst market costs are measurable, non-market costs are often obscure and even intangible. The adverse effects on individuals arising from ICT services are usually underestimated due to the

ABSTRACT This study simulates various residential housing construction scenarios, including improved and standard fibro, brick veneer, double brick and fibro with improved flooring. The total heating and cooling energy requirements for each scenario are simulated with a computer program to determine which one is most energy efficient. In the simulation models, construction types and passive solar and

ABSTRACT This study simulates various residential housing construction scenarios, including improved and standard fibro, brick veneer, double brick and fibro with improved flooring. The total heating and cooling energy requirements for each scenario are simulated with a computer program to determine which one is most energy efficient. In the simulation models, construction types and passive solar and

ABSTRACT Buildings are considered major drivers of resource use and climate change. This has initiated the development of design tools that could better reflect the environmental performance of buildings. This article describes the extension of building information modelling (BIM) through the development of the sustainable resource application (SURAP) that can be used to determine the material, water

ABSTRACT Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a process of detecting damages to engineering structures. The goal of SHM is to improve both the safety and reliability of infrastructures such as buildings, bridges, and highways. Several efforts have been made to develop improved SHM systems. However, most of these studies only considered vibration as a monitoring parameter without incorporating expert

This research proposes the use of membrane-assisted radiant panels to improve the thermal comfort of naturally ventilated spaces in hot and humid climates. These radiant panels are capable of condi...

ABSTRACT As one of the representative parameters for human energy metabolism, the metabolic rate has been considered as the significant factor for occupants’ thermal comfort analyses. Despite the importance of metabolic rate as a predictor of thermal comfort modelling, prior works rely on uncertain metabolic rate estimation without considering actual activity variations while occupying a building.

ABSTRACT This article analyses the integration of green building with the largest low-income housing production programme in the US and the innovativeness of state housing agencies. Drawing on policy innovation literature, panel data and regression analysis are employed to quantify associations between state-level characteristics and the adoption of green building criteria into the Low-Income Housing

ABSTRACT This study proposes a novel 10-point numerical scale to evaluate long-term thermal comfort satisfaction. The available scale that verbally evaluates the short-term thermal comfort is thermal sensation vote (TSV) and this has substituted for the long-term thermal comfort assessment. However, the TSV has been questioned by many studies due to the ambiguous, widely different interpretation of

ABSTRACT This study proposes a novel 10-point numerical scale to evaluate long-term thermal comfort satisfaction. The available scale that verbally evaluates the short-term thermal comfort is thermal sensation vote (TSV) and this has substituted for the long-term thermal comfort assessment. However, the TSV has been questioned by many studies due to the ambiguous, widely different interpretation of

The aim of this paper is to determine the socio-economic effects of investing in an energy-efficient renovation of public buildings in the Republic of Croatia. Valorization of economic effects is b...

ABSTRACT Airtightness refers to the amount of air leakage through a building’s envelope. This uncontrolled exchange of air between inside and outside, either infiltration or exfiltration, may lead to thermal discomfort. Nevertheless, little or no attention has been given to airtightness in some countries including Brazil. In Brazil, a range of different strategies are suitable to achieve thermal comfort

ABSTRACT The fast development of urban advancement in the past decade requires reasonable and realistic solutions for transport, building infrastructure, natural conditions, and personal satisfaction in smart cities. This paper presents and explores predictive energy consumption models based on data-mining techniques for a smart small-scale steel industry in South Korea. Energy consumption data is

Hospitals are highly energy-demanding buildings, where simple actuations can involve large savings. However, energy efficiency actions must comply with the high safety standards. Operating rooms de...

The popularity of Neighborhood Sustainability Assessment Tools (NSATs) has grown over the past decade, which has led to the replications of these tools in different regions but also their limitatio...

ABSTRACT Post-occupancy evaluation is a well-known research method documenting occupants’ satisfaction with indoor environmental quality (IEQ) factors. Despite potentially significant roles of gender differences in IEQ satisfaction, it has not always been acknowledged by researchers and findings are debated. Through a self-administered questionnaire over nine years, students (n = 3140) in 11 different

ABSTRACT Efforts are being directed towards the implementation of data analysis in various areas of policymaking. In many studies, data analysis has been conducted by applying scientific methods on objective data. However, very few studies have dealt with this aspect pragmatically, starting from the data collection stage. This paper presents knowledge and reasoning systems for establishing city policies

The integration of transformative pedagogies into curricula is recognized as a strategy to deal with the new demands of complexity in learning, which include equipping future professionals with the...

The development of policies promoting smart meter adoption is essential to guide the transition towards sustainable use of resources such as water, electricity and gas, as well as inform smart-city initiatives. This article explores household preferences in terms of different smart meters and identifies the amounts that households are willing to pay for different smart meter configurations to monitor

Smart buildings are complex systems, yet architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals often perform their work without considering the human factors of building occupants. Traditionally, the AEC industry has employed a linear design and delivery approach. As buildings become smarter, the AEC industry must adapt. To maximize human well-being and the operational performance of smart

ABSTRACT Smart buildings are complex systems, yet architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals often perform their work without considering the human factors of building occupants. Traditionally, the AEC industry has employed a linear design and delivery approach. As buildings become smarter, the AEC industry must adapt. To maximize human well-being and the operational performance

ABSTRACT The development of policies promoting smart meter adoption is essential to guide the transition towards sustainable use of resources such as water, electricity and gas, as well as inform smart-city initiatives. This article explores household preferences in terms of different smart meters and identifies the amounts that households are willing to pay for different smart meter configurations

This paper aims to understand and characterize occupant behaviour from a perspective of air conditioner (AC) usage. Therefore, it analyses data collected via a questionnaire applied throughout the Brazilian territory, which resulted in 3,259 valid answers explored by non-parametric statistical methods. The main results obtained were: (i) 89% of interviewed occupants prefer naturally ventilated environments

This paper aims to understand and characterize occupant behaviour from a perspective of air conditioner (AC) usage. Therefore, it analyses data collected via a questionnaire applied throughout the ...

This study focused on ambient temperature and investigated how it affects architectural liking. In total, 180 volunteers participated in the study. Participants travelled in a virtual reality envir...