The design-build construction industry has recognized the advantages of a collaborative contracting method; however it has yet to create information systems that can truly support the industry. Many software applications have been created to assist the Design-Builder; however no software provider has created an application that can completely manage the design-build process from beginning to end. Although some software providers have attempted to integrate data between various project management activity modules (estimating, scheduling, accounting, etc), no software provider has resolved the need to integrate data between both project management activity modules and the various phases of the design-build life cycle. The advancements of the design-build industry method of contracting will never be fully achieved until an information system is designed to specifically support the industry. This paper details the conceptual development of a management control system designed to not only integrate data among various project management activities modules but also to integrate data between all phases of the design-build project life cycle.

¡§Zhou-Zai Wetland Park¡¨ is a specific prototype of created wetland ecosystems constructed in urban areas, This park represents integration between development and preservation of a wetland habitat through ecotechnology. It is a created wetland designed to conserve the endangered species of Jacanas in Taiwan, which were suffered from the destruction of habitat in the past. The wetland comprises pool and marsh types of wetland systems, and the inflow of the systems is pumped from the Lian-Chih Lake. Several problems were found when we operated and managed the park including eutrophication, low water exchange rate, and hypoxia in some water areas, emergence, and invasive alien species. The current management strategies are difficult to improve the status. Therefore some suggestions are given to solve such problems including constructing a treatment wetland in injection area in order to improve the water quality of influent and then provide a better water environment of habitat for water fowls as well as to prevent the intrusion of invasive alien species.

Due to its complex nature, risk and uncertainty are more widespread in construction industry than many other industries. Aiming to ensure that all project objectives are met, risk management is considered as a critical success factor for construction projects. The core elements of risk management are now known and used by many organizations. On the other hand, as declared by Project Management Institute (PMI), the ability to measure the effectiveness in managing risk is one of the most important areas that risk management needs to be developed in. Designed to assess the capability of a project or an organization in a particular area, a maturity model aids in determining strengths and weaknesses, and to target improvement strategies accordingly. Several maturity models have been developed for the area of risk management and furthermore, an attempt to adapt a generic risk management maturity model to the construction industry was specified from the literature. All in all, when examined, it was seen that most of these models outline the topics to be investigated in a maturity assessment and provide guidance in terms of content. It was believed that a practical approach was needed and the diagnostic characteristics of these models should be enhanced. Therefore, the aim of this study was to propose a construction risk management maturity framework, together with an easily applicable and effective questionnaire. To achieve this aim, six outstanding risk management maturity models were examined, and the proposed model was further supported with construction-specific attributes such as construction supply chain issues. The applicability of the model was tested through case studies conducted with five large scale Turkish construction companies. The results were evaluated and interpreted for each company and the gathered data were further investigated through statistical tests for certain comparisons. Finally, the questionnaire was revised with respect to the feedback received from the case studies.

Research collaboration between academia and industry is a form of knowledge creation in construction industry project management. This research collaboration is motivated by the intent to provide solutions to issues and problems that industry faces through research expertise and a scientific approach. Notwithstanding the potential benefits acknowledged by researchers, collaborative academia-industry research has not been sufficiently explored and there only exist a few studies addressing research success and success factors. Several main reasons for this include; 1) the success of collaborative academia-industry research has not been well defined, 2) there exist limited empirical studies, and 3) the research process of collaborative academia-industry research has not been systematically investigated. The primary purpose of this study is to improve the process of the collaborative academia-industry research for construction industry project management by identifying key process attributes and success factors. First, this study suggests a definition of the success and success criteria of collaborative academia-industry research based on literature review. Then this study evaluated more than 150 research efforts of the Construction Industry Institute (CII), a non-profit research organization sponsoring academia-industry collaborative research for more than 30 years, against the established success criteria to identify successful and less than successful research efforts. Multiple methods were adopted for the evaluation including web-based surveys, research product dissemination data, journal citation counts, and expert group assessment. By analysis and triangulation of the data collected from those multiple sources, this study identified 11 research efforts for further analyses. In-depth cases studies on the 11 research efforts were conducted focusing on the research process through interviews with a total of 39 academics and industry practitioners who participated in those research efforts. Information from interviews and other relevant data were analyzed for each case as well as across the 11 cases to identify key process attributes and factors contributing to research success. Consolidated findings from the cross-case analyses generated 9 key process attributes and associated success factors with significant potential to improve the research process of collaborative academia-industry research. / text

published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Not available / text

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published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

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

Abstract not available. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of Natal, 2004.