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During the last few decades, strategic management and strategic human resource management theories have received a great deal of attention in many industrial sectors. The complex and constantly changing business environment has driven large construction companies more than ever before to reflect on the interplay between their organisational strategies and their strategic management processes, tools and techniques. This is despite the great value of human capital for an organisation’s strategic flexibility within different sets of environmental evolutions. This includes people in various positions, administrative, professional, managerial and unskilled, as well as numerous project stakeholders. Several researchers are increasingly interested in applying strategies and human-related studies within the construction industry; however, an integrated study of these two factors has been notably lacking, particularly in an airport context where the challenges and difficulties of managing construction projects are high. This doctoral thesis contributes to the existing literature by exploring the unique characteristics of an airport construction environment, along with reporting the findings of the impact that different airport ownership forms have on construction management efficiency. Through integrating numerous theories and concepts associated with project strategies, strategic human resource management and various efficiency management attributes, this research project presents a unique strategic framework that offers a structured approach to support airport holding bodies. Research primary data were collected following semi-structured interviews with senior construction project managers of airport operators within three distinct airport organisations in terms of their ownership structures. The resultant findings provide insight into the many differences between the case studies in term of project management practices. Furthermore, an explanation of the key practices that influence the occurrence of project success were identified. This doctoral investigation identified there is a need for flexibility and scalability aligned with adopting the strategic framework and engaging its conceptual application with actual management and controlling practices. In essence, the research framework was developed for each category of airport organisation, where an airport organisation is encouraged to focus its efforts on managing the most important framework components which are needed for effective improvement of management practices and, accordingly, to achieve expectations. The resulting theoretical framework provides a unique tool for airport operators to apply their project management knowledge effectively in order to realize complex projects and to secure potential efficiency gains. This study therefore provides a novel theoretical insight into the strategic management of human resources during airport construction projects. The primary application of the strategic framework is concerned with managing and controlling existing airport construction projects, particularly refurbishment or extension projects, however this could be also applied to new airport construction projects where the factors affecting strategic management and strategic human resource management anticipated to be different to those studied during this investigation. This has paved the way for future investigations to be conducted to tackle this dichotomy and further understand the intriguing aspects of airport construction business.

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The central argument in this thesis is that the workplace environment has an impact upon users and that perceptions of the environment are related to overall satisfaction with the workplace, stimulation and perceived productivity. In addition, it is proposed that changing the environment can influence users’ perceptions and stimulation levels. To test this argument a methodology was developed to allow the collection of both objective and subjective data relating to a range of aspects of the workplace environment. A questionnaire was developed to test users’ attitudes towards aspects of the workplace environment including the internal climate, spatial layout, interior design and workplace features. These user perceptions were analysed in relation to corresponding objective measures of these workplace aspects. Data was collected in 16 workplaces and analysed to determine the relationship between user perceptions and objective measurements of the workplace and establish how these were related to overall satisfaction, stimulation and perceived productivity. The results revealed that users were satisfied with the more quantitative aspects of the workplace: internal climate and spatial layout, but were not satisfied with the qualitative aspects of the workplace: decoration, furniture, personal control and choice, window provision and break areas. All aspects of the workplace were significantly correlated with satisfaction with the workplace and stimulation. There was also an effect on perceived productivity. The findings of the workplace evaluations were tested to determine whether changing the environment in the afternoon could affect stimulation. The results revealed some evidence of a positive impact upon stimulation levels through variation of the workplace environment. Implications for the design of future workplaces and further research in light of the findings are discussed.

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There is need for sustainable building practice in Nigeria as buildings generally show signs of poor design for ventilation, natural lighting, energy management, water management, waste management and other building services. These buildings under perform in relation to the purpose for which they have been built. Building users often complain that the buildings do not provide the required services such as functioning air-conditioning systems, effective water and energy management systems and waste management. Facilities management (FM) professionals in Nigeria have recognised the role that they can play in the practice of sustainable building as a way to proffering a solution to the above mentioned problems. Six objectives were set for the study: to identify the constituents of sustainable building with reference to literature and internationally recognised standards; to evaluate the role of FM in relation to the sustainable building at the design, the construction and operations stages of the building life-cycle; to develop a conceptual framework that shows the facilities manager’s role in sustainable buildings; to evaluate the perception of facilities managers in relation to their competence in achieving sustainable buildings; to investigate the drivers and barriers to the facilities manager’s role in achieving sustainable buildings; and finally to develop and validate a framework for sustainable building practice for FM in Nigeria. The methodology adopted for this research included a combination of extensive literature review, content analysis of relevant literature and documents, 20 interviews and a questionnaire survey of 139 members of IFMA Nigeria in order to identify sustainable building constituents and the facilities manager’s role in sustainable buildings. The findings of the research helped in developing a framework for the achievement of sustainable buildings through the facilities manager’s role at the design, construction and operations stages of the building’s life-cycle.

The objectives of this study were two-fold: firstly to add to existing knowledge about the reaction of peracid with both iodide and sulfides in the presence of micelles (anionic and non-ionic) and α-cyclodextrin. The reaction between iodide and peracid had previously been studied only at 25°C in non-ionic, anionic micellar and alpha cyclodextrin; while the reaction of sulfides and peracid had only been investigated in the presence of α-cyclodextrin at one temperature. This study has investigated the previously undetermined effect of temperature on these reactions and how changes in temperature can affect the process of reactants binding to the micelle or cyclodextrin catalyst. The second objective was to obtain quantitative information about reactivity in ordered aqueous media such as micellar systems and cyclodextrins, and find out how these media can affect and control these reactions. This might have implications for fields such as cell biology, specifically for process occurring in living cells since both cyclodextrins and micelles might be considered simple models for protein and membranes in terms of their hydrophobicity. In addition, little information is known about bimolecular reactions involving two neutral reactants in non-ionic micelles where only the hydrophobic interaction is likely to influence the reaction due to the absence of charge-charge interaction. A kinetic and thermodynamic investigation of the reactions between peracids and different reductants i.e. iodide and series of aryl alkyl sulfides in presence non-ionic micelle and a- cyclodextrin is reported in this work. The kinetics were conducted by monitoring spectrophotometrically the increase or decrease in the absorbance due to formation of triioidide or disappearance of sulfides respectively, and absorbance versus time plots were fitted to nonlinear equation in order to obtain the observed pseudo first order rate constants. For reactions carried out in micellar systems the kinetic data were treated using the multiple micellar pseudophase model developed by Davies which considers the partition of reactants between water in the bulk aqueous phase and that in the micellar pseudophases. Important parameters in this model include the binding constant of reactants to Brij (non-ionic micelle) and kn. (reaction rate in micelle). For reactions in α-cyclodextrin, data was fitted to rate equations containing first and second order dependencies on cyclodextrin using non linear regression techniques. The work was carried out in the presence of 0.003 M nitric acid as reaction medium. The effect of inorganic electrolytes (sodium nitrate, sulfate, actetate, perchlorate and chloride) on the rate of oxidation of iodide in the absence and presence of non-ionic surfactant brij-35 was also studied. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the surfactants was determined using kinetic techniques and was found to be inversely proportional to the salt concentration and also to the temperature. The CMC was also found to decrease as the length of the hydrophobic part of the Brij surfactants was increased, possibly due to the decrease of interfacial energy on micellization, which generally increases in with increasing hydrophobic chain length. It was shown from analysis of the kinetic data that all non-ionic micelles in the (absence of salts) and a-CD studied in this work enhanced the rate of the iodide oxidation by MCPBA and that the rate showed saturation type kinetics. Sulfate ions were shown to accelerate the reaction further, whereas perchlorate caused an inhibition of the iodide oxidation (compared to the reaction only in nitric acid) in presence of Brij-35, but an increase in the presence of α-cyclodextrin. For the oxidation of sulfides by MCPBA in micelles and a-CD the observed rate increases to a maximum with increasing micelle or a-CD concentration and then subsequently declines. In the case of sulfide oxidation by the anionic peracid, peroxymonosulfate (PMS), there was only inhibition in the rate, due to separation of reactants. The effect of temperature on both rate and equilibrium processes for these systems was determined over the range 15 to 35°C. The results showed a linear decrease in the binding of metachloroperbenzoic (MCPBA) acid and aryl alkyl sulfides to both micelle and a-CD with increasing the temperature. The thermodynamic and activation parameters for the reactions were determined by using Van't Hoff and Eyring plots. Comparison of the micellar association constants of MCPBA and the apparent micellar association constant of the transition state for the reaction with iodide, suggested that orientational restriction imposed on the peracid by Brij-35 are similar to that in the transition state. For the same reactions carried out in α-cyclodextrin at different temperatures it was determined that the binding constant enthalpy and entropy of substrates, (peracid and iodide) are more negative than that obtained in the presence of brij-35 which indicates that stronger interactions are involved and more restriction imposed on the reactant in presence of a-CD compared to brij-35.A similar approach was employed for the reaction of series of aryl alkyl sulfides with peracids (PMS and MCPBA) in presence of Brij-35 and a-CD. The aryl alkyl sulfides can form both 1:1 and 2:1 host: guest complexes in cyclodextrin; the 2:1 inclusion complexes for some sulfides were larger than the 1:1 complexes, indicating cooperative binding, with the driving force for this possibly being a substrate induced dipole-dipole interaction between the two cyclodextrin molecules. Linear free energy studies indicate that the catalytic species is the bound peracid reacting with the unbound sulfides; sulfide binding results in steric inhibition of the reaction. The reaction of the non-binding PMS with sulfides results only in inhibition as cyclodextrin concentration is increased. The enthalpy and entropy for sulfide oxidation by peracids was calculated by means of a Van't Hoff plot. The reaction in a-CD associated with more negative entropy and enthalpy for the inclusion 2:1 while for 1:1 some substrates associated with positive entropy and small negative enthalpy while other show the usual behaviour observed for complex formation (negative values for both enthalpy and entropy).In all studied reactions (related reactions) there were good relationships between enthalpy and entropy (isokinetic relationships or enthalpy-entropy compensation). Whilst in some cases it is difficult to explain why enthalpy-entropy compensation might be observed, we have suggested that in the case of binding of sulfides to cyclodextrin these plots can act as probes into the orientation of the substrate within the cyclodextrin cavity. The nature of the catalytic mechanism for the reactions of peracids with sulfides and iodide in the presence of micelles and α-cyclodextrin was examined by comparing the transition state stabilisation parameters, KTsi, for the same reaction in the two catalytic systems. It was found that for three out of five sulfides the degree of transition state stabilisation was almost identical in both Brij-35 and α-cyclodextrin, perhaps suggesting the same catalytic mechanism in each system; this could be via either decreased stabilisation of the peracid ground state in the absence of a protic solvent and/or the prevention of significant charge development in the transition state as a result of an intramolecular proton transfer step involving the peracid that is facilitated by the absence of water. Other possibilities exist, such as general acid catalysis, though these would be more dependent on the nature of the catalytic system. There was a less clear relationship for iodide.

The thesis is a study of property occupier displacement generated by the supply of new office and industrial accommodation that has been promoted or assisted by property-led regeneration policies. A review of literature revealed that there had been little in-depth investigation of the phenomenon of occupier displacement and the filtering effect associated with it. A flow model was developed to illustrate the incidence of occupier displacement and the process of property market filtering. There are two main strands to the research (see Figure 1.1), firstly an exploration of the property chains generated by the displacement of office and industrial occupiers in response the supply of new accommodation, and secondly, an investigation of the reasons why office and industrial occupiers relocate and how they determine where to move to. Three phases of research were employed to record the displacement generated by twenty public sector assisted office and industrial developments in the Tyne and Wear conurbation. Occupiers of twenty developments were identified by site inspections and a total population questionnaire survey was undertaken, complemented by a telephone survey, to record the status and origin of over 500 property occupiers and allow the property chains to be pursued. The chaining exercise revealed the scale of displacement or relocation and the outcome of the resulting chains. The origin of first move occupiers and chain-ends was plotted to reveal their spatial distribution. The research recorded that over half of all occupiers had relocated and over a third of chains generated by such moves, resulted in vacant property elsewhere in the conurbation. Structured interviews with 29 office and industrial occupiers were undertaken to investigate their locational decisions and the factors that influenced their outcome, the results of which were triangulated with the earlier research phases to reveal ten key themes that fundamentally determine such decisions. The originality of the research is the scale and rigour of the chaining survey, the mapping of the spatial distribution of the origin of occupiers and the chain-ends, and the pursuit of understanding of how occupiers respond to the availability of new accommodation. The scale occupier displacement, generated by new office and industrial accommodation, is significant, but by stimulating property market excitation and vacancy a filtering effect is set-up that can generate positive benefits to a local economy by allowing occupiers to expand.

Economic efficiency has traditionally been the major consideration while planning sites and services projects. But, in addition to economic considerations, equal stress needs to be given to social, cultural, and environmental factors. With these concerns in mind, the Centre for Minimum Cost Housing at McGill University has developed a set of planning guidelines for the design of sites and services projects in the Indian context. This thesis assesses the physical and economic implications of using this set of planning guidelines. Following these, four alternative layouts were prepared and evaluated through graphic and quantitative methods of analysis for their land-use and infrastructure efficiency. The study shows that the use of these planning guidelines can significantly improve land-use efficiency and the environmental quality of sites and services projects and still be at par with the economic performance of conventional planning.

Double skin façades (DSFs) are gaining recognition as a technology that, while giving a modern transparent appearance to buildings, have the capability to moderate the indoor thermal conditions and the potential to reduce energy demands. A typical DSF consists of an additional fully glazed external skin installed over the conventional building façade forming an air cavity in which sunshade devices are often installed to prevent overheating in the internal rooms. The majority of the existing studies on DSF are based on air-conditioned models under temperate climate conditions, where most DSFs are implemented. However, developments in warmer climate countries such as Brazil are also considering the application of this technology as a solution to improve thermal performance in buildings. Therefore, investigations to understand the DSF thermal and airflow processes and implication of its use in naturally ventilated buildings under such climates are needed. The aim of this study is to determine the thermal performance of office buildings with DSF under Brazilian climate conditions. Firstly, the key parameters affecting the thermal performance of buildings with DSF are identified through critical literature reviews. Using an office building as a reference model, computational thermal dynamic simulations are performed to demonstrate the influence of each individual key parameter on the building‘s thermal behaviour. From the findings of the parametric analysis, optimized models that utilise a combination of solutions to maximize the building thermal performance are developed and analysed. Finally, acceptable thermal comfort levels of the optimized model in different Brazilian climatic regions and periods of the year are determined. This study evaluated the key parameters affecting the thermal performance of buildings with DSF, including: the significance of material selections in design solutions to maximize airflow through the building; the prevention of unintentional reverse flow on the upper floors and maintenance of balanced airflow rates across all floors; the impact of solar incidence and wind conditions on the DSF‘s thermal performance. Results from the simulations of the optimized model under different bioclimatic zones of Brazil indicated that in most parts of the country the thermal comfort acceptance levels are as low as 60%, especially in the hotter areas of centre west regions, coastal areas and north of the country. The outcomes of this research provide insight and understanding on the functioning of the DSF in naturally ventilated buildings in warm and hot climates. DSFs in naturally ventilated buildings under Brazilian climates generally presented lower thermal acceptability when compared to single skin models due to the high outside temperatures and the airflow resistance caused by the application of the second skin. Their application will therefore not have direct benefit to the thermal performance.