A study by the Supreme Planning Council called the attention of problems during the procurement of Senior Staff Housing projects leading to less effective project outcomes. The SPC report put the blame on the current regulations of the scheme. This research evaluated SSH projects in comparison with Private Housing (PH) projects, which were not affected by SSH regulations. A model was developed as part of this research study. The model sets out to embrace the relationships between the variables in the building process. The model takes six main groups of independent variables, namely those that affect the client, the land acquisition, the design phase, the construction phase, disputes and SSH regulations. The effectiveness of the housing projects was measured against quantitative and qualitative performance indicators. The performance variables tested were unit cost; percentage of cost overrun; speed of construction; percentage of time overrun; client's satisfaction with cost and time; client's overall satisfaction; client's rating on quality; aesthetic quality and technical quality. As this study is the first of its kind, exploratory interviews with industry participants were conducted to gain a better understanding of construction practice in Qatar as well as to firm up the design of the client's questionnaire, aesthetic and technical quality evaluation techniques. The main field study resulted in 61 SSH projects and 34 PH projects. The research revealed that PH projects are more effective than SSH projects. It was found that SSH regulations are not the main reason for a less effective outcome. The main reasons were the unclear objectives and bad decisions made by the SSH clients. The research also revealed poor quality workmanship, old construction techniques and the use of inadequate construction materials. Also, a lack of, proper contract forms and means of dispute resolution. There are no institutions for consultants or contractors and a lack of training and development. Together, these factors contribute to the client's poor image of the industry. The research provides recommendations for reorganising the industry to improve its output. These include establishing Construction Industry Council, forming institutions for consultants and contractors, and establishing Housing Council.

M.Ing. (Engineering Management) / The triple constraint considerations in construction projects determine failure or success of projects. The key reasons of a winning project comprise of identification, monitoring, control and management of projects risks. Projects, over the years, failed to be completed within the contracted triple constraints. The persistent failure of construction projects in South Africa contributes to lack of development in skills and infrastructure. It is hypothesized that a deeper comprehension of the triple constraint and strategic management may supplement success of construction projects. It is difficult to complete projects within the stipulated triple constraint elements due to the high degree of unforeseen circumstances. Although the success of construction projects is confined to the triple constraint, the projects successes can also be influenced by other external factors and intra-management of the triple constraint including trade-offs. The ever escalating societal demand makes it a necessity to keep up through intensive investigation into construction projects. Communication breakdown is one of the sources of errors and is therefore essential for practicality of the survey in the investigation. A questionnaire was chosen for the survey. The collected data was organised into qualifications and experience and was presented in a tabular and graphical formats. Due to the anticipated reluctance to participation, a larger number of people were engaged. Contrary to the contextual information, the fieldwork survey indicates that projects are successful relative to the triple constraint elements. The success or failure of projects is largely founded on the triple constraint elements except for contractors who in addition to the triple constraint cite other factors. The scarcity of engineering and construction skills in South African government is hurting success of construction projects and therefore infrastructure and skills development and sustainability. In conclusion, both the contextual and fieldwork survey attribute failure of construction projects to lack of understanding and poor management of the triple constraint elements and trade-offs. These conclusions are however limited to failure to survey all project management data, sample size, ability to address questions and honesty of participants. A further study into a bigger sample of this specific study is proposed.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Civil Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

With a desire to increase the chance of success of major infrastructure and construction (MIC) projects, it is increasingly common to invite the public participating in the planning and design processes. Public participation requires the involvement of individuals and groups who are positively or negatively affected by a proposed intervention (e.g. a project, a program, a plan, a policy). An effective public participation program can be beneficial to the parties involved (i.e. the decision makers and general public) in many ways. As a result, a number of participatory approaches have been developed by various sectors to drive the process of agenda-setting, decision-making, and policy-forming. Many research studies focusing on various aspects of participation in policy-making in general have been conducted, but few have looked into its application in the construction and infrastructure industry in particular. On the other hand, the decision making process of contemporary MIC projects is becoming ever more complicated especially with the increasing number of stakeholders involved and their growing tendency to defend their own interests. Failing to address and meet the concerns and expectations of stakeholders may result in project failures. To avoid this necessitates a systematic participatory approach to facilitate the decision making and evaluation. This research, therefore, aims to develop a multi-stakeholder multi-objective decision making and evaluation model to help resulting in consensus and increasing the satisfaction among various stakeholders (or stakeholder groups) in MIC projects. In this research, an extensive literature review was first carried out to examine the salient elements of public participation in MIC projects and to identify the barriers to effective public participation in project decision making in different countries (e.g. Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, etc.). China being a developing country was selected for in-depth case study analysis. Through a series of interviews, the underlying reasons for ineffective participatory practice in China were revealed. A questionnaire survey was then conducted to unveil those stakeholder concerns pertinent to MIC projects at the conceptual stages through the degree of consensus and/or conflict involved. Finally, a multi-stakeholder multi-objective decision model and a multi-factor hierarchical comprehensive evaluation model were developed. These two models were founded on the decision rule approach and the fuzzy techniques respectively. Another round of interview was conducted to investigate the (i) influence of different stakeholder groups in making decisions related to MIC projects during their conceptual stages; and (ii) relationship between the satisfaction of a single stakeholder group and that of the stakeholders overall. The application of the two models was demonstrated by two cases in Hong Kong and their validity was confirmed through validation interviews. The results indicated that the two models are objective, reliable and practical enough to cope with real world problems. The research findings are therefore valuable to the government and construction industry at large for successful implementation of public participation in MIC schemes locally and internationally in future, especially when the construction industry is becoming increasingly globalized and the trend of cultural integration between the East and West is ever growing. / published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This thesis investigates the social forces that shape and sustain community-based protest against proposed projects in the construction industry. It builds on current research which highlights the tendency for community concerns about proposed developments to escalate into long-term protests that have far-reaching implications for both the construction industry and the local community. A theoretical framework merges the facilitative role of movement networks, contagion theory and the cultural experience of activism to investigate their relationship with protest movement continuity. Three research propositions emerged from the model and are investigated within a grounded theory framework. The research method adopts a single case study of a mature protest movement and utilises a triangulation of methods that integrates qualitative and ethnographic approaches across two interrelated phases of data collection that continues to the point of theoretical saturation. The data is analysed in three ways: A thematic story telling approach is used to ground the data derived so as to identify patterns of influences on protest participation and their effect on movement continuity. Concept maps and network diagrams are also used to connect the themes and guide the use of stories to reveal influences on movement continuity. The research concludes by proposing a refined theoretical model of protest movement continuity against construction projects. The model also forms the basis for a grounded theory which consisted of three interrelated parts. The first part concludes that protest networks are deliberately complex and dynamic to cope with the transient nature of protest participation and promote movement continuity. The second part points to the contagious influence of network to generate two opposing network conditions that are both conducive and detrimental to movement continuity. The last part points to the importance of social relationships as shaping the context in which cultural meanings of activism are understood and have a direct effect on sustaining movement continuity.

This thesis investigates the social forces that shape and sustain community-based protest against proposed projects in the construction industry. It builds on current research which highlights the tendency for community concerns about proposed developments to escalate into long-term protests that have far-reaching implications for both the construction industry and the local community. A theoretical framework merges the facilitative role of movement networks, contagion theory and the cultural experience of activism to investigate their relationship with protest movement continuity. Three research propositions emerged from the model and are investigated within a grounded theory framework. The research method adopts a single case study of a mature protest movement and utilises a triangulation of methods that integrates qualitative and ethnographic approaches across two interrelated phases of data collection that continues to the point of theoretical saturation. The data is analysed in three ways: A thematic story telling approach is used to ground the data derived so as to identify patterns of influences on protest participation and their effect on movement continuity. Concept maps and network diagrams are also used to connect the themes and guide the use of stories to reveal influences on movement continuity. The research concludes by proposing a refined theoretical model of protest movement continuity against construction projects. The model also forms the basis for a grounded theory which consisted of three interrelated parts. The first part concludes that protest networks are deliberately complex and dynamic to cope with the transient nature of protest participation and promote movement continuity. The second part points to the contagious influence of network to generate two opposing network conditions that are both conducive and detrimental to movement continuity. The last part points to the importance of social relationships as shaping the context in which cultural meanings of activism are understood and have a direct effect on sustaining movement continuity.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 351-400) Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 351-400) Also available online.

Assignment (MIng)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.