PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand what factors best promote or prevent sustainable construction practices and establish the consistency of how sustainability is measured.Design/methodology/approachA literature review considered the impact of the industry to sustainability and identified what action and initiatives are already in place. Through this, the main drivers, barriers, measures and benchmarks were identified. The opinions of building surveying professionals were sought and analysed.FindingsThe paper suggested that fiscal incentives/penalties and regulations help to drive sustainable construction. Such financial implications are consistent with “affordability” being the biggest barrier highlighted. The majority of respondents believed the industry is taking some account of sustainability issues, but identified that more needs to be done.Originality/valueSustainable development is an integral part of the lives and affects all aspects of business operations. This paper provides an in‐depth insight into the level of sustainable development within the construction industry, identifying implications for both the demand and supply side.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to summarise the main post occupancy evaluation (POE) techniques currently available and illustrate which method would be the most appropriate as a performance enhancement tool within higher education (HE) facilities. Design/methodology/approach -The history of, and barriers to using POE as a performance enhancement tool are analysed through an extensive literature review. Findings -Despite a historic resistance to POE by construction professionals, interest has emerged in recent years, particularly with government clients and public funded projects, with a focus on the outputs of a project as opposed to the inputs. While plenty of methods exist, only a few are specifically suited to evaluate the building performance of educational facilities to maximise student success and productivity.Research limitations/implications -Practitioners and academics who are interested in the various POE methods will find this review relevant in order to choose which method is most appropriate for the assessment needs of HE facilities. Originality/value -Research on POE has been emerging in the field of facilities management for commercial and domestic buildings, but little attention has been drawn to HE buildings; although they are a great contributor to individual success and society. This paper provides an historic overview of POE while also assessing its scope, identifying drivers and barriers to it, and outlining the various methods by which it can be conducted.

Population ageing presents significant challenges for many countries, one of which is the provision of adequate housing. Developing understanding of the needs and preferences of ageing societies will be crucial in order to assist in the provision of suitable housing and communities that are sustainable in the long term. While a preference to ‘age in place’ is clear in the literature, comparatively less academic research is available on older people’s preferences for more specific housing and environment attributes. The aim of this study is to identify the main housing and environment characteristics that are linked to the health and wellbeing of the elderly and determine the preferences for such characteristics via a survey with UK residents aged 55+. The results indicate a strong preference for independent living and an increasing desire for bungalows in later life. Housing conditions, energy efficiency, thermal comfort, and home adaptions to facilitate ageing in place are particularly important housing characteristics to older people. The location and environment are also key drivers of housing preferences; a safe neighbourhood, accessibility to amenities, public transport, and a clean and walkable environment are particularly important. Preferences varied with age, but gender has a less significant impact on the preferences expressed. The findings of this study will be valuable for stakeholders engaged in housing policy and provision for older people.

An examination was made of 19 different geometric shapes of warning labels, using the method of paired comparisons. Sixty-six college students viewed slides of all pairs of the shapes and each time selected the shape that was the preferred indicator of warning. An ordinal scaling method was used to evaluate the differences among the shapes. Results show that the triangle on its vertex was the preferred warning indicator among the shapes tested.

This research empirically evaluated the effects of handle shape and size on the hand's ability to resist or exert force in six directions. Thirty-six handles of four sizes and nine shapes were tested for maximum force exertion by male and female subjects. The results show that subjects were able to generate higher forces with different sizes and shapes of handles, depending upon the direction of force exertion. This suggests that handles that are associated with high forces on particular directional tests are probably suited for tasks that incorporate that particular type of force or movement; they may not be appropriate for other tasks that do not incorporate such movement.

This study examined the dexterity performance of 35 male and 35 female subjects at ambient temperatures of 1.7°C, 12.8°C, and 23.9°C. Subjects wore typical industrial worker apparel without gloves. The Purdue Pegboard, two pencil-point tapping tasks, an assembly task, and a fine manipulative task were used to measure the dexterity performance. Results indicate that after approximately 15 min of exposure there was no difference between performance at 12.8°C and 23.9°C, but there was a difference between performance at 1.7°C and 12.8°C as well as between performance at 1.7°C and 23.9°C. The decrement in performance at 1.7°C ranged from 0.3 to 15.7% when compared with performance at 23.9°C . In five of the 11 performance scores used, a difference due to gender was seen, with the males performing better on an assembly task and the females performing better on single-activity, repetitive tasks. At the higher ambient temperatures (12.8°C and 23.9°C), the average of the minimum finger skin temperature for males was from 0.57°C to 1.2°C higher than for females, whereas at 1.7°C there was no significant difference between the groups for minimum finger skin temperature.

13 14Roof leakages of high-rise buildings involving concrete flat roof design in tropical countries 15 continue to be a serious problem. Currently, exiting methods of detecting potential leaks are 16 mostly destructive to the building material. Although the method of detecting a defect using 17 non-destructive measurement exists, current methods such as infrared thermography, 18 metal detector and humidity meter have varying constraints in their application. This paper 19 describes the potential use of microwave technology as an effective non-destructive tool to 20 monitor and investigate leakage of concrete flat roof due to failure of membrane layer. This 21 study was performed experimentally on flat room structures built for laboratory use and 22 according to Malaysian flat roof concrete proportions standards. Experiments performed 23 2 utilized a sensor equipped with essential parameters that enable control to sensor angle, 24 temperature and distance between object and sensor structure and designed to enable 25 numerous measurements in real time. The study determined that microwave technology 26 can be used to identify moisture content in concrete flat roof by analyzing properties of the 27 concrete roof and water. This proves to be an effective non-destructive method of 28 determining leakage problems in concrete flat roof in real time before the defects become 29 until the building leaks occur. Thus, a method of effective monitoring is needed to address 41 the issue. Non-destructive testing method is seen to have a potential to detect leakage 42 problem at an early stage and other hidden defects before becoming critical. This paper 43 describes the potential use of the microwave as a tool to monitor and investigate leakage of 44 flatroof concrete due failure of membrane layer installed on the roof. 45 46Many building defects reported involves the quality of building materials as well as 47 3 materials that are embedded (Chong and Low, 2006). Although the method of detecting a 48 defect using non-destructive popularity this time, existing methods is rather limited. Of 49 those approach adopted are infrared thermography, metal detector and humidity meter, 50 which, have certain constraints. Because of the limit, some destructive test methods had 51 been used to detect any anomalies involving the hidden flaw. This destructive approach will 52 damage the other components of the building. Hence, there is a pressing need to enrich the 53 method and use of non-destructive testing more effective and not damaging part of the 54 building to another. Inline with that, microwave applications in detection of different 55 materials properties are seen as having great potential to meet these needs. 56 57 Flat Roof for Malaysia Building 58Building materials identified as one of the factors that contribute to the defects in buildings. 59Interestingly, the building materials for a building consisted of a several of basic materials 60 such as plastic, metal, stone, glass and composite materials. The materials chosen...

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