This thesis examines the evidence of long swings in British house-building from 1860 to 1914. The central issue of the present inquiry concerns the existence of cyclical fluctuations in residential construction and the nature of the causal mechanisms by which these phenomena might be explained. A general analysis of the structure of the housing market and the institutional peculiarities which give rise to the lagged adjustment process by which changes in demand are translated into changes in the supply of housing accommodation suggests that the appropriate level at which to analyze the behavior of house-building is the regional or local level. The importance of specifying relationships whose underlying behavioral implications are consistent with the level of aggregation, is stressed. With this in mind, a general regional model of housebuilding activity is developed and its theoretical solutions explored. This provides a conceptual analytical framework used subsequently to study the regional (and local) housebuilding experience of South Wales and South-east Lancashire. These disaggregated regional studies show local patterns of residential construction to exhibit a wide range of variation. Operative causal mechanisms found to exist at this level of analysis disclose significant regional differences which seriously question the validity of the macro-causal relationships which have been offered to explain fluctuations in British house-building. The limits of the present analysis and the tentative nature of our conclusions are emphasized. With this in mind, there are suggested a number of areas which require far more intensive study than they have received in the past. Only when we learn more about the inter-relationships in the pattern of regional development will we be able to more fully understand the mechanisms of the long swings. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis is to propose a consistent theory and a model based on it to estimate the uncertainty of project duration, cost, revenue, and net present value probabilistically. The model can be used to assist decision making on such strategic, feasibility analysis issues as contingency provision, reliability of an estimate for the "go-no go" decision, adopting phased or fast-track construction, etc. Project cost and revenue are evaluated in terms of current and discounted dollars, thereby emphasising the economic effect of time and inflation on net present value which is considered as the decision criterion. The model is derived mathematically by treating all the issues which effect the estimation of project cost, duration and revenue through the mechanism of linked work packages. Issues found to be significant in the evaluation of work package duration are: the scope of work, the productivity, and the labour usage. For work package cost they are: the duration and the starting time, unit rates for labour, equipment, and materials, labour and equipment usage, sub-contractor and indirect cost, inflation and interest rates. For revenue the issues are: the gross revenue, operating & maintenance cost, inflation rates, duration, and the starting time. Moments of work package cost, duration and revenue streams are first evaluated using subjective estimates of percentiles for the independent variables, deriving moment information from these estimates, and then processing this information using the expectation operator on the Taylor series expansion of the performance measure about the mean. These moments along with the Pearson family of distributions are used to quantify the uncertainty of project duration, cost, revenue, and net present value. The decision maker is provided with probabilistic estimates, of duration, cost and revenue at both the work package/revenue stream and project levels and of the net present value. A computer program is developed to implement the proposed theory and to organise and simplify the calculation process. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Civil Engineering, Department of / Graduate

The construction sector of the South African economy consists of a variety of types of enterprises. These enterprises engage in 'formal' and 'informal' construction and building activities. The distinction between these types of activities is that the latter are not recorded in official returns (Krafchik, 1990:5). Within both the formal and informal groups large-scale enterprises (LSEs), medium-scale enterprises (MSEs) and smallscale enterprises (SSEs) are found. These enterprises are owned by individuals from various race groups.

Yes / The construction industry has high energy demand and emissions, and its devasting impact negatively contributes to climate emergency and climate change. A review of government, professional and scientific literature has recommended multiple strategies, including renewable energy adoptions, alternative non-carbon energy sources, circular economy, net zero carbon policies and calculators. The use of carbon calculators as a tool to estimate carbon emissions has become instrumental in guiding construction professionals in selecting appropriate ‘low carbon’ materials for projects. However, the influx of carbon calculators is very important but creates problems for professionals regarding their effectiveness. Therefore, this study compares two popular carbon calculators (One Click LCA Planetary and IStructE) on a building design to ascertain their efficacy. The criteria for the comparison included formats of calculators, commercialisation of calculators, customisation of data, sustainability certifications, data sources, data entry parameters and results/outputs. The findings show a ‘mixed’ outcome regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the calculators. These criteria are key for becoming the basis of selecting an appropriate carbon calculator for analysis. The discussion shows that data for the carbon calculators from countries considered upper-middle-income and/or below are lacking; carbon calculators should be easier to use; the interoperability of carbon calculators with other digital tools is key for not just making the use of the tools attractive but makes it easier to reduce non-value activities in the construction project.

published_or_final_version / Surveying / Master / Master of Science in Construction Project Management

published_or_final_version / Management Studies / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

Over the last fourteen years the construction industry in Uganda has experienced an annual average growth rate of 7.8%, markedly higher than the national GDP of 5.5%. However, the disparity bet construction information and the lack of an organised system of sharing it betwweeneen industry partners has resulted in the poor performance of construction projects. This is due to the fact that it is inadequate, inaccurate and inconsistently disseminated. This research project investigated the effectiveness of using a web portal to enhance information sharing in the Ugandan construction industry. The work is meant as a step towards the establishment of a web portal for the industry. It is envisaged that the web portal will improve construction project planning and management through the provision of basic construction information. The study population consisted of 233 construction and consulting firms. A multi-method approach was employed in the research. This included the conducting of a questionnaire survey of 80 (Le. sample size) firms, and an interview survey of 9 representatives of key stakeholders in the industry. A systemic approach was used to elicit the perspectives of stakeholders in the industry and to develop a holistic view of the research problem. The results of the research have shown that the Ugandan construction industry participants have adequate IT infrastructure and Internet access capacity to benefit from the web portal. 97% of t~e participants have computers and 77% are connected to the Internet. 83% consider the web portal to be an effective means of sharing information and 93% are willing to share the information produced by their organisations. During the study, two conceptual models (a user's information needs model and a data flow model for stages of a construction cycle) were developed and validated by six experts in construction industry practices and communication. The research underscores the fact that the successful implementation of the web portal will not only depend on the "hard" (or technical) factors but also on the "soft" (or people) factors, such as changing the users' thinking and methods of work, developing trust and building partnerships amongst participants. In essence, the project proposes the establishment of a building information centre to house and coordinate the web portal and,its related activities. / Thesis (M.Sc.ConstrMgt.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.