The Covid-19 is a pandemic issue that is causing widespread global disruption forcing lockdowns in many countries including Malaysia as an effort in disconnecting the virus from spreading. As an initiative, the Malaysia government has call for the Movement Control Order (MCO) as one of the lockdown alternatives starting on 18 th March 2020. Due to that, the MCO has given a huge impact on Malaysia's industries including the construction industry. Hence, to successfully deliver projects, time and cost become the essential component which in this current scenario, most of the on-going projects declined to deliver the project according to the time and cost as planned. Thus, this paper intends to explore the consequences of the Movement Control Order (MCO) towards project success. In getting an authentic data and fast feedback from the respondents during this current scenario, uses alternate methods as face to face interview is not encouraged. The interview sessions were held thru telephone conversation with 8 contractors in Klang Valley and Penang which randomly selected based on contractor listing in Malaysian Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) website and content analysis are used to figure out the main consequences using Nvivo software. Results from the interviews found that the MCO has resulted in 6 main impacts consists of (1) regulation compliance; (2) safety; (3) additional time for project delivery; (4) increase in development cost; (5) limited human resources supplies; and (6) limited resource availability on-site. These shows the MCO has given the negative impact to the project success. This result is important for the government to ensure their awareness on the consequences of the MCO towards construction industry and facilitate the construction players to overcome the six factors mentioned in this paper.

Despite the various environmental regulations to address the negative effect of construction activities on the environment, compared to other industries, the construction sector is still slow in implementing green practices (GPs). To encourage construction firms to implement GPs, these firms should be convinced that GP is a financially viable endeavour. Additionally, it was argued that the effect of GPs on corporate financial performance (CFP) differs according to the size of construction firms. This paper aimed to test the arguments by analysing the influence of GPs on CFP and investigating whether firm size influences or moderates the effect. A survey was employed to gather information from Malaysian construction firms and the data were analysed using the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings indicate that green supplier management, green subcontractor management and green project management have significant and positive effects on CFP and large firms with high level of green business practice and green project management gained higher CFP than small and medium enterprises. The findings provide empirical evidence on the variance of the effects of GPs and firm size on CFP. The findings imply that there should a flexible approach to encourage GPs in construction industry. Policy makers, regulators and managers should consider firm size and focus on high level of green business practice and green project management to improve firms CFP.

The construction industry is one of the most significant sectors in Malaysia, specifically in terms of its contribution to the Malaysian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and facilitation of other industries to enhance their productivity outcome by constructing buildings and facilities for them. However, the process of constructing buildings and facilities will take a long period of time if done according to conventional practices. Due to this circumstance, the establishment of the Internet of Things (IoT) in construction development is beneficial to improve productivity levels and reduce the construction time as well as the cost. Hence, this paper intends to review the adoption of IoT in Malaysia’s construction industry towards Construction 4.0. In conjunction with that, the use of IoT in terms of construction technology such as BIM, smart communication, sensor, big data, augmented reality, location services and remote operation during the construction process has made a massive impact on the monitoring of the construction process, especially in reducing the risk of construction error, defects, and avoiding construction delay. The proper adoption of IoT in the Malaysian construction industry will give a huge positive impact to the construction industry and encourage it to grow and compete with other developing countries. This paper is noteworthy to the Malaysian construction industry, especially for the key players in the construction industry to raise their awareness regarding the benefits of adopting IoT for their future projects.

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Purpose This study aims to empirically analyze the symmetries and asymmetries among the critical factors affecting building information modeling (BIM) implementation between countries with different income levels. To achieve that aim, the study objectives are to identify: critical factors affecting BIM implementation in low-, lower-middle-, upper-middle- and high-income countries; overlapping critical factors between countries with different income levels; and agreements on the critical factors between countries with different income levels. Design/methodology/approach This study identified potential BIM implementation factors using a systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews with architectural, engineering and construction (AEC) professionals. Then, the factors were inserted into a questionnaire survey and sent to AEC professionals in Afghanistan, India, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. The collected data was analyzed using the following techniques and tests: mean, standard deviation, normalized value, Kruskal–Wallis, Dunn and Mann–Whitney. Findings Five critical factors overlap between all countries: “availability of guidelines for implementing BIM,” “cost-benefit of implementing BIM,” “stakeholders’ willingness to learn the BIM method,” “consistent views on BIM between stakeholders” and “existence of standard contracts on liability and risk allocation.” Also, the criticality of the factors often differs between income levels, especially between low- and high-income countries, suggesting a significant gap between low- and high-income countries in BIM implementation. Originality/value This study differs from prior works by empirically analyzing the symmetries and asymmetries in BIM implementation factors between countries with different income levels (i.e. low-, lower-middle-, upper-middle- and high-income countries).

While concrete recycling is crucial to protecting the environment, its implementation in practice is low in many countries. This study aims to highlight challenges to concrete recycling. To achieve that aim, the study objectives are (1) to identify the main challenges to concrete recycling in construction projects; (2) to compare the main challenges between small–medium enterprises (SMEs) and large enterprises (LEs); and (3) to determine the underlying groups among the main challenges. Potential challenges were identified through a systematic literature review of journal articles and semi-structured interviews with fifteen industry practitioners. Then, the identified challenges were inserted into a questionnaire survey and distributed to industry practitioners. Eighty-nine valid responses were collected and analyzed using the mean score ranking, normalization, agreement analysis, and factor analysis techniques. The analyses show thirteen main challenges to concrete recycling. The main challenges include increased project duration, lack of national programs, lack of comprehensive rules and regulations, increased project cost, low demand for recycled concrete, low cost-effectiveness of concrete recycling, and increased transportation cost. However, there is no consensus on the criticality between SMEs and LEs. For example, increased project cost is the main challenge for SMEs but is only middlingly ranked for LEs. Finally, the main challenges can be categorized into three interrelated groups: people and technical, legal and environmental, and economic challenges. This study contributes to the literature by analyzing challenges that hinder concrete recycling in practice. The findings allow researchers and practitioners to develop strategies to reduce concrete recycling rejection.

The preschool education is compulsory to children in Malaysia. This regulation has encouraged more premises to be refurbished as a preschool building. This paper examines the pupils’ absenteeism and the prevalence of Sick Building Symptoms (SBS) initiated in congested private preschool with different ventilation. The study analysed data from the attendance record of 10 classrooms and the questionnaire surveys administered to 151 parents about their children health symptoms once they were leaving the schools building. Indoor Carbon Dioxide (CO2) measured as indicator of the problems. Questions on SBS used 5-point likert scale with symptoms concern on nose, eye, head, throat, skin, breath and tiredness. The descriptive and chi-square test applied to obtain the association of SBS and ventilation strategies in the classrooms. With quantitative and qualitative explanation, the unhealthy environment in refurbished pre-schools explained respiratory symptoms and higher rates of absenteeism frequently reported in air-conditioning (AC) classrooms due to concentrations of CO2 exceeded 1000 ppm. These symptoms show there were weaknesses in ventilation performance and environment in the selected preschools. Further analyses on objective measurements in future research are strongly recommended.