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Purpose-This paper attempts to study the principal factors that are critical to the success of a construction project in Malaysia, and determine their relative importance as perceived by different respondents. The findings of this study will provide the researcher upto-date information in formulating appropriate strategies to address the challenges brought about by human-related issue. This paper will only discuss the first part of the ongoing research based on the pilot survey carried out. Design/methodology/approach-Following a thorough literature search, a total of thirty-seven factors were consolidated and grouped into seven major categories. These factors were assembled into a questionnaire survey and distributed to clients, consultants and contractors. The respondents represent a wide range of profession which includes those who are involved in design, construction, engineering, project management and quantity surveying. An analysis of the responses identified 15 factors to be accepted as critical to the success of construction projects. Findings-The results suggest a strong consistency in perception between respondents in recognising the significance of humanrelated factors such as competence, commitment, communication and cooperation towards the success of a construction project. These factors being the core element in relationship-based procurement reinforced the need and viability of such procurement method to the Malaysian construction industry. Practical implications-The findings can be used to facilitate the analysis of performance of various procurement systems as well as identifying critical elements crucial to the development of a relationship-based procurement in Malaysia. Originality/value-This paper captures the perception of construction participants regarding the CSFs of construction projects in Malaysia. It fulfils an identified need to study the critical elements vital to the development of a new procurement approach in Malaysia. Type footer information here Type header information here

Construction projects play an important role in the advancement of a nation through infrastructure development that leads to economic growth. They are planned carefully to accomplish certain goals. However, not all the projects achieved the goals as per planned. Many factors contribute to the successes and failures, and it becomes an interesting arena for research. The primary objective of this paper is to outline the development trend of project success measurement globally and locally. The research method employed was to make selected reviews on critical success factors' (CSFs) literature and to compare international standards and progress in incorporating human behavioural aspects of project management to the situation in Malaysia. A somewhat similar pattern can be observed in Malaysia where the studies have departed from the usual criteria of time, cost and quality, to define project success in a more holistic way. However, the domestic industry has failed to respond to the emerging trend globally as there has yet been any widely published research on the importance of human-related factors towards project success. A consolidated framework of CSFs has therefore, been proposed in responding to the findings. This paper fulfils an identified need as there has been a dearth of research on the subject matter locally.

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Malaysia is making an aggressive effort of transformation to become a fully developed country.  As one of the pillars for transformation, the construction industry has been undergoing a major reform with regard to the traditional method of construction. In recent years, the Industrialised Building System (IBS) has been promoted extensively with the government taking a lead with the practice.  Studies showed that IBS has been able to expedite construction process, improve the time taken to accomplish a project, improve building quality, able to control cost and human resources, which in overall, raise occupational health and safety standard of construction.  Despite, as most IBS projects were carried out under the traditional procurement method, the full benefits of IBS are somehow obscured. Several issues such as work delay, lack of communication and integration, lack of knowledge and an increase in cost, which are synonymous to the traditional procurement method appear to outweigh the benefit of IBS. Hence, this research aims to suggest an alternative to the traditional procurement method with regard to IBS project implementation. The focus of this research has been on the challenges and innovative procurement methods most suited for IBS project. Two objectives were outlined: (1) to identify issues faced by the client on current procurement method in IBS project; and (2) to identify the client’s perspective on innovative procurement method most suited for IBS project. Data for this research was collected through semi-structured interviews with five respondents from five major developers having experience in IBS project implementation. The results from the thematic analysis revealed that apart from the common issues which ascend from the sequential nature of the traditional procurement method, design integration issue was opined to aggravate the situation. Unanimously, respondents agreed that partnering is the way forward for IBS project implementation in the Malaysian construction industry. This research contributes by providing important pointers for the local construction industry to move forward with IBS project implementation.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an emerging technological process which highly promotes a better collaborative working environment in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. It is essential that the Higher Education (HE) sector innovates its education system to integrate between different disciplines in the AEC industry to encourage the adoption of BIM. In conjunction with this, BIM Intensive Training was conducted for a selected number of final year undergraduate students at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. They were assigned a real time construction project, utilizing BIM software applications for model authoring, model review, 4D modelling and project coordination. It was observed that the participants were able to overcome various challenges through information sharing and team collaboration. A BIM coordination workflow was produced during the training to assist them in organizing their work. Although their existing knowledge of BIM and their skills using the software applications were quite limited, they were capable in learning expeditiously as the assignment provided them with real-world problems. A year after the training, more than half of the participants agreed that the training had helped them to secure their employment and excel in their current involvements in BIM-based projects. However, due to the current scenario many firms are yet to embrace BIM, there are participants who could not utilize the training. Hence, the establishment of a dynamic and continuous collaboration between professionals and HE sector is the way forward in transforming the traditional structure of AEC industry into a more collaborative and technological approach.

The Building Information Modelling (BIM) implementation is to create a centralised knowledge sharing resource that contains all the necessary design and operational information about the project. BIM is a collaborative approach and integrated project delivery to design and delivery embraced by various construction teams in the construction projects. In the context of the most suitable project delivery to be used, with regards to the use of BIM, the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) approach is highlighted as the best method which correlates building procurement of the design-to-construction business process through literature review analysis. IPD is developed as project delivery system that integrates people in effective collaborative approach between the key players in the project. IPD is going to be particularly beneficial for BIM because the contracts relation between the contractor, designers, consultants, constructors, sub-contractors and suppliers were binded and expressly determined at earlier stage. This relationship between these two subjects will helped the project team to achieve the project goals in terms of timely schedule, life cycle costs, quality and sustainability in construction project. Therefore, this study investigates on the propensity of the best methodology of project delivery system which can correlate with procurement adoption for projects adapt BIM concept. This is a descriptive study and the method used is based on review of the literature in relation to BIM and IPD. The analysis revealed that propensity of adopting IPD project delivery and the adoption of BIM are based on these factors: improve the communication, closer collaboration; liability and legal relationships are specifically determined, the best quality outcome; and lastly with reductions in design and construction period, it provides a cost effectiveness and a saving in overall construction period.

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