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To examine the development of a viable framework for the enhancement of construction site management practices through an integration of knowledge management (KM) processes ‐ underpinned by case study findings from construction organizations that have implemented knowledge management. A multiple case study approach (that incorporates qualitative comparators with observations made within five construction sites) was adopted. The main aims were to investigate the key problems of site management practices, to observe existing practice in managing knowledge on the construction site, and to present opportunities for improvement. The case study findings revealed that services obstruction, poor site communication and information, incomplete design, local residents, and cooperation and motivation issues are major problems inhibiting construction site performance. They also identified that the site management team used conventional approaches (meeting and observation) to resolve management and technical problems onthe construction site. The site management teams should be prepared to deal with on‐site problems and risks in a systematic and efficient way.KM can help to prevent the site management team from repeating past errors; by capturing best practices, lessons learned,and especially, the solutions to problems that arise on site, similar situations in the future can be dealt with efficiently and effectively.There is little written on how to improve site management practices through knowledge management.This paper focuses on a KM deployment at site management level and demonstrates that site management teams still do not have any systematic methods for the creation, capture, storage, sharing and reuse of knowledge.

The realization that concurrent engineering can be adopted in construction has led to various efforts to develop appropriate tools and techniques for its implementation in the industry. This paper discusses the role of client requirements processing in implementing concurrent engineering in construction. Client requirements processing refers to the definition, analysis, and translation of client requirements into solution‐neutral specifications for design. It is essential in maintaining focus on the client, and provides for the effective consideration, resolution and prioritization of the various perspectives within the client body. It also facilitates collaborative teamwork, compliance checking at every stage of the design and construction process, and the traceability of design decisions to explicit and implicit client requirements. The paper concludes with a description of a model for processing clients' requirements in construction, and an example of its practical application.

Electronic product catalogues and brochures are gaining popularity, but there is little agreement on content, format, and searching methods. This limits their usability and integration with existing construction software tools. This paper examines a product‐modelling approach to delivering building product information and describes a proposed multi‐tier client‐server environment. ISO/STEP and IAI/IFC building product models are considered to facilitate representation, exchange, and sharing of product information. The proposed architecture incorporates scalability with middleware components that would provide single or few points of entry to integrated product information. This paper is part of a research project that builds on the results of related projects including Construct IT Strategy, PROCAT‐GEN, Active Catalog, COMBINE, and ARROW, towards implementing the required software components.

Knowledge management (KM) is now recognized as a core business concern and intellectual assets play a vital role in gaining competitive advantage. Within the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, where the need for innovation and improved business performance requires the effective deployment and utilization of project knowledge, the need for strategic knowledge management is also being acknowledged. This paper reviews various initiatives for KM in order to assess the extent to which it is being implemented in the AEC sector. Contextual issues are identi. ed, and the findings from two research projects are used to assess current strategies for KM in AEC firms. These studies show that effective knowledge management requires a combination of both mechanistic and organic approaches in an integrated approach that incorporates both technological and organizational/cultural issues. The paper concludes with recommendations on how this could be achieved in practice.

The engineering management of housing subsidence cases is an important field of work for many UK engineers, and remains of enduring interest to householders, insurers and other parties involved in the construction and maintenance of residential buildings. There are often difficulties in the diagnosis and repair of buildings subject to subsidence damage due to several factors, including the complex interaction between the various causative agents, the lack of a systematic investigation procedure, and the large number of available courses of remedial action. In many cases, inaccurate diagnosis of the subsidence problem has resulted in expensive remedial measures which are either unnecessary or inappropriate (and fail to arrest the movement). This paper reviews the management of subsidence cases and describes the development of a knowledge‐based system intended to improve existing procedures by ensuring greater accuracy, consistency and effectiveness of the management regime adopted by engineers. The system addresses three key aspects of the management procedure: initial diagnosis, choice of an appropriate course of investigations, and the specification of effective remedial measures. The benefits of the knowledge‐based system are contained in the concluding section of the paper.

Domain ontologies facilitate sharing and re‐use of data and knowledge between distributed collaborating systems. A major problem in the design and application of intelligent systems is to capture and understand: the data and information model that describes the domain; the various levels of knowledge associated with problem solving; and the patterns of interaction, information and data flow in the problem solving space. This paper reports the development of an ontology for agent‐based collaborative design of portal structures, using knowledge acquisition techniques and tools. It illustrates the application of the ontology in the development of a prototype multi‐agent systems. The study shows that a common ontology facilitates interaction and negotiation between agents and other distributed systems. The paper discusses the findings from the knowledge acquisition, their implications in the design and implementation of multi‐agent systems, and gives recommendations on developing agent‐based systems for collaborative design and decision‐support in the construction sector.

This chapter highlights the importance of strategically managing knowledge networks. Strategic management is defined as being aware of current knowledge networks, understanding current knowledge stocks, and identifying gaps. It also involves assessing the knowledge needs of business units and ensuring that those needs are addressed. The chapter also highlights the importance of having a vision of a healthy knowledge network.

The purpose of this study was to explore and identify factors affecting adoption and implementation of information and communication technology (ICT) in large ICT‐experienced Australian construction organizations. During 2002 the researchers undertook an online survey, supplemented by a hardcopy collection option, to gather data from three major construction organizations with many years experience with implementing and adopting IT. The analysis concentrated on a common class of ICT adopted across the three organizations so that factor analysis could be validly undertaken. Results identified 11 factors that were found to influence ICT diffusion and adoption by the organizations that were grouped into management, individual, technology and workplace environment categories. These concurred with theory from the change management, innovation diffusion and organizational learning literature. Further, in‐depth qualitative analysis through case studies (beyond the scope of this paper) also helped to explain and make sense of the results. The results help to better explain human related factors in particular in terms of the broader and emerging literature of organizational learning and innovation adoption with a clear focus on how the people‐side of ICT diffusion and adoption is undertaken. This ICT diffusion and adoption study is undertaken at the firm‐level (micro analysis) as opposed to the industry level (macro analysis) and so provides insights into the interplay between diffusion and adoption concepts.

Disputes are now considered endemic in the construction industry. They often arise from the poor resolution of claims in the course of construction projects. Efforts have been geared towards reducing the incidence of claims. These efforts are of two kinds: those that seek answers from basic principles and legal issues at the pre‐construction phase and those that attempt to solve the problems through claims management procedures at the construction phase. This paper reviews the developments in claims management and highlights the deficiencies in current claims management approaches. It focuses on the need for improvement of the efficiency of claims negotiation and suggests the use of multiagent systems as an approach to achieve it. The potential benefits of the suggested approach are discussed in the concluding section of the paper.

This paper aims to focus on identifying key health-care issues amenable to digital twin (DT) approach. It starts with a description of the concept and enabling technologies of a DT and then discusses potential applications of DT solutions in healthcare facilities management (FM) using four different scenarios. The scenario planning focused on monitoring and controlling the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system in real-time; monitoring indoor air quality (IAQ) to monitor the performance of medical equipment; monitoring and tracking pulsed light for SARS-Cov-2; and monitoring the performance of medical equipment affected by radio frequency interference (RFI).

The importance of a healthcare facility, its systems and equipment necessitates an effective FM practice. However, the FM practices adopted have several areas for improvement, including the lack of effective real-time updates on performance status, asset tracking, bi-directional coordination of changes in the physical facilities and the computational resources that support and monitor them. Consequently, there is a need for more intelligent and holistic FM systems. We propose a DT which possesses the key features, such as real-time updates and bi-directional coordination, which can address the shortcomings in healthcare FM. DT represents a virtual model of a physical component and replicates the physical data and behavior in all instances. The replication is attained using sensors to obtain data from the physical component and replicating the physical component's behavior through data analysis and simulation. This paper focused on identifying key healthcare issues amenable to DT approach. It starts with a description of the concept and enabling technologies of a DT and then discusses potential applications of DT solutions in healthcare FM using four different scenarios.

The scenarios were validated by industry experts and concluded that the scenarios offer significant potential benefits for the deployment of DT in healthcare FM such as monitoring facilities’ performance in real-time and improving visualization by integrating the 3D model.

In addition to inadequate literature addressing healthcare FM, the study was also limited to one of the healthcare facilities of a large public university, and the scope of the study was limited to IAQ including pressure, relative humidity, carbon dioxide and temperature. Additionally, the study showed the potential benefits of DT application in healthcare FM using various scenarios that DT experts validated.

The study shows the practical implication using the various validated scenarios and identified enabling technologies. The combination and implementation of those mentioned above would create a system that can effectively help manage facilities and improve facilities' performances.

The only identifiable social solution is that the proposed system in this study can manually be overridden to prevent absolute autonomous control of the smart system in cases when needed.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the only study that has addressed healthcare FM using the DT approach. This research is an excerpt from an ongoing dissertation.