the regulations of the University Library. Details of these regulations may be obtained from the ... more the regulations of the University Library. Details of these regulations may be obtained from the Librarian. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of any patents, designs, trademarks and any and all other intellectual property rights except for the Copyright (the "Intellectual Property Rights") and any reproductions of copyright works, for example graphs and tables ("Reproductions"), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property Rights and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property Rights and/or Reproductions 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I extend my utmost acknowledgements firstly to my supervisory team Prof. Mike Kagioglou and Prof. Patricia Tzortzopoulos. Without Mike's unwavering support right from the start, this thesis would not be what it is now. Mike and Patricia's support were also critical in my oneyear-long Erasmus+ study at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul amd the subsequent bursary support. Thank you so much to you both. To this end, I extend my thanks to Prof. Carlos Formoso for his support in my time at NORIE in Porto Alegre and all the team at the NORIE research centre. Thank you all for your guidance, encouragement, and unwavering support. I also extend my sincere thanks first to the two examinars for this research who were gracious in their assessments and offered their kindest support during the viva; and second to the experts and all respondent that contributed to the data collection process particularly the team at St Basils including Jean and Steve for supporting me and providing an avenue to data for this research. Lastly, my thanks go to my Family, Lucy, Sean, and Emma, for their support and understanding for the duration of this research, particularly when I was away in Brazil. Your motivation has been essential in seeing me through to the end of this.
The design of social housing is a multi-faceted endeavour like in many social projects such as me... more The design of social housing is a multi-faceted endeavour like in many social projects such as megaprojects whose expected benefits reach beyond a handful of stakeholders. Understanding the requirements of such projects can be a painstaking endeavour and without a structured process to guide decision making, such projects often fail to deliver on their intended benefits. This paper examines how the use of Utility Theory and Quality function deployment (QFD) can serve as a useful basis to support the delivery of such benefits. The research examines a social housing project in Brazil to draw focus on contextual influences on understanding, structuring and delivery of benefits. The approach adopts QFD for requirements management while Utility Theory (UT) assesses utility decision making in raking the housing models on the basis established user requirements and derived design requirements (DRs). While a medium low-income model is preferred best, the next preferred models are very-low, medium-low, medium-high in the order. The analysis indicates no transitivity in preference from an end-user perspective. The novelty of the paper is representing, quantitatively, a process of requirements management that supports the delivery of project benefits on a Utilitarian basis in social housing design. The method is able to account for interdependencies between design and user attributes in supporting social housing design decision making in an integrated process. This understanding can be key to the delivery of the right social projects that reflect context-specific end-2 user needs.
Engineering and construction design practice is faced with uncertainty that bears on the design p... more Engineering and construction design practice is faced with uncertainty that bears on the design processes often contributing negatively to value delivery of projects. Emergent needs at the same time bring about uncertainty in the knowledge and evidence base thatβs a key element of front end design processes. This is in part due to changing needs and expectations of end-users and of other stakeholders during the realization of projects benefits. In view of this, traditional approaches to Front End Design processes have been called into question not only because of their unstructured approaches leading to information loss but also their limited focus on value generation through efficient and effective decision making processes. This Paper proposes a Design Quality Function Deployment Model to support decision making on the basis of Utility Theory. A social housing case study in the Brazilian Minha Casa Minha Vida program is used to illustrate the model approach in facilitating decision making. Itβs demonstrates that the approach promises more robustness in decision making using the structured approach with the benefit of focusing decision making on the utility of decisions. The model also introduces a cost/benefit analysis for requirements forecasting to account for emergent requirements. This paperβs main contribution is the introduction of a quantitative basis for decision making in front end design processes using utility theory and quality function deployment. The paper also contributes to knowledge of requirements forecasting in design of social housing thatβs continually faced with emergent needs borne out of contextual factors
Proc. 28th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC), 2020
There is an increasing interest in the role of Front-end Design (FED) as one of the vital stages ... more There is an increasing interest in the role of Front-end Design (FED) as one of the vital stages of design processes. It is the stage in which project purposes and goals are defined, requirements captured, refined, and managed and trade-offs are made considering each consequence. It is also the stage where project requirements are transformed into design requirements for implementation by professional teams. FED sets the earliest opportunities for project collaboration to facilitate value generation and delivery. Decision making in this stage often affects most of the later processes in a project. Yet, little evidence and literature exist to support FED design process. This paper examines the role of FED in housing projects, and more specifically investigating one contemporary housing development case study in Porto Alegre-Brazil, exploring how FED facilitated value generation. The research found some evidence of value management in FED processes in the case study. It is also found that more research into user requirements capture and how these facilitate value generation is still required. This paper adds to the growing body of literature in this vital area stage of the design process.
The recent notable emergence of a body of research in requirements management on one hand and ben... more The recent notable emergence of a body of research in requirements management on one hand and benefits realisation has contributed to addressing a growing need for improved performance in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects. However, front end design (FED) as one of the vital processes in the project life cycle and delivery has attracted limited research to date within this understanding. This paper aims to map current evidence on requirements management in facilitating benefits realisation from an FED perspective. This is to bring about an updated and unified position on requirements management for its impact on design decision making. A systematic review of the literature covering the last ten years (2008β2018) aims first to build understanding and support identification of these emergent conceptual positions and secondly underscore essential requirements and their categorisations that impact on design discourse in FED. One hundred sixty-one peer-reviewed jou...
The complexity of construction processes often means interaction between various stakeholders, ac... more The complexity of construction processes often means interaction between various stakeholders, activities and tasks in order to deliver the expected outcomes. The intensity and dynamics of front-end design (FED) mean decision techniques and methods are important in supporting projects benefits delivery more importantly those based on utility of decision making. This paper explores a new utilitarian decision-making approach based on a systematic literature review of FED decision making. It presents the state of the art in design decision making concepts and analysis of tools over the last 10 years (2009β2019). From a total of 111 peer-reviewed journal papers, fifteen decision-making techniques are identified as dominant in design decision making, broadly grouped in four major categories as explanatory/rational, Multi Criteria Decision Making techniques (MCDM), Hybrid and Visual methods. The review finds that the most applied of the MCDM is Quality Function Deployment (QFD); while amo...
Purpose The utilisation of emerging technologies for the inspection of bridges has remarkably inc... more Purpose The utilisation of emerging technologies for the inspection of bridges has remarkably increased. In particular, non-destructive testing (NDT) technologies are deemed a potential alternative for costly, labour-intensive, subjective and unsafe conventional bridge inspection regimes. This paper aims to develop a framework to overcome conventional inspection regimes' limitations by deploying multiple NDT technologies to carry out digital visual inspections of masonry railway bridges. Design/methodology/approach This research adopts an exploratory case study approach, and the empirical data is collected through exploratory workshops, interviews and document reviews. The framework is implemented and refined in five masonry bridges as part of the UK railway infrastructure. Four NDT technologies, namely, terrestrial laser scanner, infrared thermography, 360-degree imaging and unmanned aerial vehicles, are used in this study. Findings A digitally enhanced visual inspection framew...
AbstractThis paper proposes a new conceptual approach to address the gap in the understanding of ... more AbstractThis paper proposes a new conceptual approach to address the gap in the understanding of benefits realization, which is an increasingly central element in the delivery of successful project...
Proceedings of International Structural Engineering and Construction
Social Housing is increasingly a focus of debate in many countries because of the escalating need... more Social Housing is increasingly a focus of debate in many countries because of the escalating need for affordable housing that has become intertwined with the needs of society both emergent and traditional. The delivery of social housing, however, is often complex from the many stakeholders involved resulting in design challenges on account of conflicting needs. This paper presents a conceptual model for Design Decision Support in the face of emergent needs from multi-use scenarios defined by the multiple stakeholders. The Brazilian governmentβs Minha Casa Minha Vida social housing program is the basis for the frameworkβs conceptualization. The model allows for analysis of emergent user and design needs during design using probabilistic Hidden Markov Modeling of requirements changes. This paperβs novel contribution is to present a theoretical conception of HMM in the analysis of changes in social housing requirements and modeling their interdependencies in front-end design decision m...
Proceedings of International Structural Engineering and Construction
This paper introduces a conceptual framework that captures the key processes in early stage desig... more This paper introduces a conceptual framework that captures the key processes in early stage design (ESD) processes mapping out Decision Making (DM) to support value delivery using utility theory. A lot of construction waste in downstream processes can be traced back to the design stage according to research. Yet there's currently little research into interdependences key to value generation in this most dynamic of construction processes. This research identifies the role of the end-user as a key element in the process of value generation in ESD. Understanding the user requirements is just as important a step as it is for the design process to engage in requirement forecasting. This paper explores new ground in understanding of DM processes in ESD in defining and understanding value. The research first explores the theoretical concepts in multi-criteria DM, UT and value generation in ESD. Design science research methodology is used to review literature to inform the framework tha...
Proc. 27th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC)
Many projects continue to fail to deliver intended benefits amid uncertainty in benefits realisat... more Many projects continue to fail to deliver intended benefits amid uncertainty in benefits realisation (BR) programs. This is more so in Front End Design (FED) where processes remain not only understudied but also informal yet reliant on knowledge sharing. As a result, there is an emergent need for new decision support tools to support benefits delivery processes. The paper addresses uncertainty with FED processes as a way of facilitating decision making as an enabler to benefits delivery of construction projects using uncertainty modelling. The paper adopts a Dempster-Shafer approach using probability theory. This is combined with Quality Function Deployment for user and design requirements capture and management. A conceptual model is suggested that forms a basis for future validation and evaluations in action research in various contexts. The Paper introduces a novel approach to uncertainty modelling in FED to support decision making. The Dempster-Shafer Bayesian based approach also contributes to new ways for capturing contextual influences to benefits realisation.
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
The design of social housing is a multi-faceted endeavour like in many social projects such as me... more The design of social housing is a multi-faceted endeavour like in many social projects such as megaprojects whose expected benefits reach beyond a handful of stakeholders. Understanding the requirements of such projects can be a painstaking endeavour and without a structured process to guide decision making, such projects often fail to deliver on their intended benefits. This paper examines how the use of Utility Theory and Quality function deployment (QFD) can serve as a useful basis to support the delivery of such benefits. The research examines a social housing project in Brazil to draw focus on contextual influences on understanding, structuring and delivery of benefits. The approach adopts QFD for requirements management while Utility Theory (UT) assesses utility decision making in raking the housing models on the basis established user requirements and derived design requirements (DRs). While a medium low-income model is preferred best, the next preferred models are very-low, medium-low, medium-high in the order. The analysis indicates no transitivity in preference from an end-user perspective. The novelty of the paper is representing, quantitatively, a process of requirements management that supports the delivery of project benefits on a Utilitarian basis in social housing design. The method is able to account for interdependencies between design and user attributes in supporting social housing design decision making in an integrated process. This understanding can be key to the delivery of the right social projects that reflect context-specific end-2 user needs.
The recent notable emergence of a body of research in requirements management on one hand and ben... more The recent notable emergence of a body of research in requirements management on one hand and benefits realisation has contributed to addressing a growing need for improved performance in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects. However, front end design (FED) as one of the vital processes in the project life cycle and delivery has attracted limited research to date within this understanding. This paper aims to map current evidence on requirements management in facilitating benefits realisation from an FED perspective. This is to bring about an updated and unified position on requirements management for its impact on design decision making. A systematic review of the literature covering the last ten years (2008-2018) aims first to build understanding and support identification of these emergent conceptual positions and secondly underscore essential requirements and their categorisations that impact on design discourse in FED. One hundred sixty-one peer-reviewed journal papers in the areas of benefits realisation and/or requirements management and/or FED based are identified on a predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thirty-six requirements are identified as important in influencing use case changes important in design decision making broadly grouped into nine major categories. Following analysis, this research finds little evidence supporting an integrated requirements management practice and understanding to support design decision making. The research further finds bias in current research discourse towards four requirements categories (technical, economics, governance and environment); and 14 requirements, dominated by three strategic values, collaboration and project governance, with over 80% share of literature. The least 14 requirements such as "flow of spaces, social status/aspiration, mobility and integrated design" among others only account for less than 10% of literature. The authors argue for new research to bridge this gap, highlight the essential role of requirements management and broaden understanding to improve benefits realisation, particularly for FED processes.
The complexity of construction processes often means interaction between various stakeholders, ac... more The complexity of construction processes often means interaction between various stakeholders, activities and tasks in order to deliver the expected outcomes. The intensity and dynamics of front-end design (FED) mean decision techniques and methods are important in supporting projects benefits delivery more importantly those based on utility of decision making. This paper explores a new utilitarian decision-making approach based on a systematic literature review of FED decision making. It presents the state of the art in design decision making concepts and analysis of tools over the last 10 years (2009-2019). From a total of 111 peer-reviewed journal papers, fifteen decision-making techniques are identified as dominant in design decision making, broadly grouped in four major categories as explanatory/rational, Multi Criteria Decision Making techniques (MCDM), Hybrid and Visual methods. The review finds that the most applied of the MCDM is Quality Function Deployment (QFD); while among the rational/explanatory techniques is set-based design (SBD). While there is limited application of Multi Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) in decision making, the paper finds that the robust consistency and structured approach better captures the intricate dynamics of FED; including modelling of the subjectivity, interdependences and uncertainty in design discourse.
Completed Station REDEVELOPMENT OF VICTORIA TRAIN STATION LEVEL 0 PROCESS MODEL Platform for Futu... more Completed Station REDEVELOPMENT OF VICTORIA TRAIN STATION LEVEL 0 PROCESS MODEL Platform for Future developments Redevelopment of Victoria Train Station
In the Traditional Procurement Contract - Tendering comes only after detailed project information... more In the Traditional Procurement Contract - Tendering comes only after detailed project information is on hand including detail plans Unilike Design and Build and Management Contracts- The Tender Flow Chart comparing the Design & Build, Traditional and Management Contracts Stages - the RIBA Plan of Work- Adapted (Joas Serugga - http:www.3dforms.co.uk)
In this report, we will draw understanding to fatigue in materials, with specific emphasis on Cer... more In this report, we will draw understanding to fatigue in materials, with specific emphasis on Ceramics, what mechanisms and changes to material microstructure can occur to improve resistance to fatigue. We will also look at what tests that can be carried out to obtain data and how this data could be used for lifetime prediction. Finally we will examine how ceramic components can be monitored in service for the failure mechanism to help determine the remainder of the components life time.
the regulations of the University Library. Details of these regulations may be obtained from the ... more the regulations of the University Library. Details of these regulations may be obtained from the Librarian. This page must form part of any such copies made. iii. The ownership of any patents, designs, trademarks and any and all other intellectual property rights except for the Copyright (the "Intellectual Property Rights") and any reproductions of copyright works, for example graphs and tables ("Reproductions"), which may be described in this thesis, may not be owned by the author and may be owned by third parties. Such Intellectual Property Rights and Reproductions cannot and must not be made available for use without the prior written permission of the owner(s) of the relevant Intellectual Property Rights and/or Reproductions 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I extend my utmost acknowledgements firstly to my supervisory team Prof. Mike Kagioglou and Prof. Patricia Tzortzopoulos. Without Mike's unwavering support right from the start, this thesis would not be what it is now. Mike and Patricia's support were also critical in my oneyear-long Erasmus+ study at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul amd the subsequent bursary support. Thank you so much to you both. To this end, I extend my thanks to Prof. Carlos Formoso for his support in my time at NORIE in Porto Alegre and all the team at the NORIE research centre. Thank you all for your guidance, encouragement, and unwavering support. I also extend my sincere thanks first to the two examinars for this research who were gracious in their assessments and offered their kindest support during the viva; and second to the experts and all respondent that contributed to the data collection process particularly the team at St Basils including Jean and Steve for supporting me and providing an avenue to data for this research. Lastly, my thanks go to my Family, Lucy, Sean, and Emma, for their support and understanding for the duration of this research, particularly when I was away in Brazil. Your motivation has been essential in seeing me through to the end of this.
The design of social housing is a multi-faceted endeavour like in many social projects such as me... more The design of social housing is a multi-faceted endeavour like in many social projects such as megaprojects whose expected benefits reach beyond a handful of stakeholders. Understanding the requirements of such projects can be a painstaking endeavour and without a structured process to guide decision making, such projects often fail to deliver on their intended benefits. This paper examines how the use of Utility Theory and Quality function deployment (QFD) can serve as a useful basis to support the delivery of such benefits. The research examines a social housing project in Brazil to draw focus on contextual influences on understanding, structuring and delivery of benefits. The approach adopts QFD for requirements management while Utility Theory (UT) assesses utility decision making in raking the housing models on the basis established user requirements and derived design requirements (DRs). While a medium low-income model is preferred best, the next preferred models are very-low, medium-low, medium-high in the order. The analysis indicates no transitivity in preference from an end-user perspective. The novelty of the paper is representing, quantitatively, a process of requirements management that supports the delivery of project benefits on a Utilitarian basis in social housing design. The method is able to account for interdependencies between design and user attributes in supporting social housing design decision making in an integrated process. This understanding can be key to the delivery of the right social projects that reflect context-specific end-2 user needs.
Engineering and construction design practice is faced with uncertainty that bears on the design p... more Engineering and construction design practice is faced with uncertainty that bears on the design processes often contributing negatively to value delivery of projects. Emergent needs at the same time bring about uncertainty in the knowledge and evidence base thatβs a key element of front end design processes. This is in part due to changing needs and expectations of end-users and of other stakeholders during the realization of projects benefits. In view of this, traditional approaches to Front End Design processes have been called into question not only because of their unstructured approaches leading to information loss but also their limited focus on value generation through efficient and effective decision making processes. This Paper proposes a Design Quality Function Deployment Model to support decision making on the basis of Utility Theory. A social housing case study in the Brazilian Minha Casa Minha Vida program is used to illustrate the model approach in facilitating decision making. Itβs demonstrates that the approach promises more robustness in decision making using the structured approach with the benefit of focusing decision making on the utility of decisions. The model also introduces a cost/benefit analysis for requirements forecasting to account for emergent requirements. This paperβs main contribution is the introduction of a quantitative basis for decision making in front end design processes using utility theory and quality function deployment. The paper also contributes to knowledge of requirements forecasting in design of social housing thatβs continually faced with emergent needs borne out of contextual factors
Proc. 28th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC), 2020
There is an increasing interest in the role of Front-end Design (FED) as one of the vital stages ... more There is an increasing interest in the role of Front-end Design (FED) as one of the vital stages of design processes. It is the stage in which project purposes and goals are defined, requirements captured, refined, and managed and trade-offs are made considering each consequence. It is also the stage where project requirements are transformed into design requirements for implementation by professional teams. FED sets the earliest opportunities for project collaboration to facilitate value generation and delivery. Decision making in this stage often affects most of the later processes in a project. Yet, little evidence and literature exist to support FED design process. This paper examines the role of FED in housing projects, and more specifically investigating one contemporary housing development case study in Porto Alegre-Brazil, exploring how FED facilitated value generation. The research found some evidence of value management in FED processes in the case study. It is also found that more research into user requirements capture and how these facilitate value generation is still required. This paper adds to the growing body of literature in this vital area stage of the design process.
The recent notable emergence of a body of research in requirements management on one hand and ben... more The recent notable emergence of a body of research in requirements management on one hand and benefits realisation has contributed to addressing a growing need for improved performance in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects. However, front end design (FED) as one of the vital processes in the project life cycle and delivery has attracted limited research to date within this understanding. This paper aims to map current evidence on requirements management in facilitating benefits realisation from an FED perspective. This is to bring about an updated and unified position on requirements management for its impact on design decision making. A systematic review of the literature covering the last ten years (2008β2018) aims first to build understanding and support identification of these emergent conceptual positions and secondly underscore essential requirements and their categorisations that impact on design discourse in FED. One hundred sixty-one peer-reviewed jou...
The complexity of construction processes often means interaction between various stakeholders, ac... more The complexity of construction processes often means interaction between various stakeholders, activities and tasks in order to deliver the expected outcomes. The intensity and dynamics of front-end design (FED) mean decision techniques and methods are important in supporting projects benefits delivery more importantly those based on utility of decision making. This paper explores a new utilitarian decision-making approach based on a systematic literature review of FED decision making. It presents the state of the art in design decision making concepts and analysis of tools over the last 10 years (2009β2019). From a total of 111 peer-reviewed journal papers, fifteen decision-making techniques are identified as dominant in design decision making, broadly grouped in four major categories as explanatory/rational, Multi Criteria Decision Making techniques (MCDM), Hybrid and Visual methods. The review finds that the most applied of the MCDM is Quality Function Deployment (QFD); while amo...
Purpose The utilisation of emerging technologies for the inspection of bridges has remarkably inc... more Purpose The utilisation of emerging technologies for the inspection of bridges has remarkably increased. In particular, non-destructive testing (NDT) technologies are deemed a potential alternative for costly, labour-intensive, subjective and unsafe conventional bridge inspection regimes. This paper aims to develop a framework to overcome conventional inspection regimes' limitations by deploying multiple NDT technologies to carry out digital visual inspections of masonry railway bridges. Design/methodology/approach This research adopts an exploratory case study approach, and the empirical data is collected through exploratory workshops, interviews and document reviews. The framework is implemented and refined in five masonry bridges as part of the UK railway infrastructure. Four NDT technologies, namely, terrestrial laser scanner, infrared thermography, 360-degree imaging and unmanned aerial vehicles, are used in this study. Findings A digitally enhanced visual inspection framew...
AbstractThis paper proposes a new conceptual approach to address the gap in the understanding of ... more AbstractThis paper proposes a new conceptual approach to address the gap in the understanding of benefits realization, which is an increasingly central element in the delivery of successful project...
Proceedings of International Structural Engineering and Construction
Social Housing is increasingly a focus of debate in many countries because of the escalating need... more Social Housing is increasingly a focus of debate in many countries because of the escalating need for affordable housing that has become intertwined with the needs of society both emergent and traditional. The delivery of social housing, however, is often complex from the many stakeholders involved resulting in design challenges on account of conflicting needs. This paper presents a conceptual model for Design Decision Support in the face of emergent needs from multi-use scenarios defined by the multiple stakeholders. The Brazilian governmentβs Minha Casa Minha Vida social housing program is the basis for the frameworkβs conceptualization. The model allows for analysis of emergent user and design needs during design using probabilistic Hidden Markov Modeling of requirements changes. This paperβs novel contribution is to present a theoretical conception of HMM in the analysis of changes in social housing requirements and modeling their interdependencies in front-end design decision m...
Proceedings of International Structural Engineering and Construction
This paper introduces a conceptual framework that captures the key processes in early stage desig... more This paper introduces a conceptual framework that captures the key processes in early stage design (ESD) processes mapping out Decision Making (DM) to support value delivery using utility theory. A lot of construction waste in downstream processes can be traced back to the design stage according to research. Yet there's currently little research into interdependences key to value generation in this most dynamic of construction processes. This research identifies the role of the end-user as a key element in the process of value generation in ESD. Understanding the user requirements is just as important a step as it is for the design process to engage in requirement forecasting. This paper explores new ground in understanding of DM processes in ESD in defining and understanding value. The research first explores the theoretical concepts in multi-criteria DM, UT and value generation in ESD. Design science research methodology is used to review literature to inform the framework tha...
Proc. 27th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC)
Many projects continue to fail to deliver intended benefits amid uncertainty in benefits realisat... more Many projects continue to fail to deliver intended benefits amid uncertainty in benefits realisation (BR) programs. This is more so in Front End Design (FED) where processes remain not only understudied but also informal yet reliant on knowledge sharing. As a result, there is an emergent need for new decision support tools to support benefits delivery processes. The paper addresses uncertainty with FED processes as a way of facilitating decision making as an enabler to benefits delivery of construction projects using uncertainty modelling. The paper adopts a Dempster-Shafer approach using probability theory. This is combined with Quality Function Deployment for user and design requirements capture and management. A conceptual model is suggested that forms a basis for future validation and evaluations in action research in various contexts. The Paper introduces a novel approach to uncertainty modelling in FED to support decision making. The Dempster-Shafer Bayesian based approach also contributes to new ways for capturing contextual influences to benefits realisation.
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
The design of social housing is a multi-faceted endeavour like in many social projects such as me... more The design of social housing is a multi-faceted endeavour like in many social projects such as megaprojects whose expected benefits reach beyond a handful of stakeholders. Understanding the requirements of such projects can be a painstaking endeavour and without a structured process to guide decision making, such projects often fail to deliver on their intended benefits. This paper examines how the use of Utility Theory and Quality function deployment (QFD) can serve as a useful basis to support the delivery of such benefits. The research examines a social housing project in Brazil to draw focus on contextual influences on understanding, structuring and delivery of benefits. The approach adopts QFD for requirements management while Utility Theory (UT) assesses utility decision making in raking the housing models on the basis established user requirements and derived design requirements (DRs). While a medium low-income model is preferred best, the next preferred models are very-low, medium-low, medium-high in the order. The analysis indicates no transitivity in preference from an end-user perspective. The novelty of the paper is representing, quantitatively, a process of requirements management that supports the delivery of project benefits on a Utilitarian basis in social housing design. The method is able to account for interdependencies between design and user attributes in supporting social housing design decision making in an integrated process. This understanding can be key to the delivery of the right social projects that reflect context-specific end-2 user needs.
The recent notable emergence of a body of research in requirements management on one hand and ben... more The recent notable emergence of a body of research in requirements management on one hand and benefits realisation has contributed to addressing a growing need for improved performance in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) projects. However, front end design (FED) as one of the vital processes in the project life cycle and delivery has attracted limited research to date within this understanding. This paper aims to map current evidence on requirements management in facilitating benefits realisation from an FED perspective. This is to bring about an updated and unified position on requirements management for its impact on design decision making. A systematic review of the literature covering the last ten years (2008-2018) aims first to build understanding and support identification of these emergent conceptual positions and secondly underscore essential requirements and their categorisations that impact on design discourse in FED. One hundred sixty-one peer-reviewed journal papers in the areas of benefits realisation and/or requirements management and/or FED based are identified on a predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thirty-six requirements are identified as important in influencing use case changes important in design decision making broadly grouped into nine major categories. Following analysis, this research finds little evidence supporting an integrated requirements management practice and understanding to support design decision making. The research further finds bias in current research discourse towards four requirements categories (technical, economics, governance and environment); and 14 requirements, dominated by three strategic values, collaboration and project governance, with over 80% share of literature. The least 14 requirements such as "flow of spaces, social status/aspiration, mobility and integrated design" among others only account for less than 10% of literature. The authors argue for new research to bridge this gap, highlight the essential role of requirements management and broaden understanding to improve benefits realisation, particularly for FED processes.
The complexity of construction processes often means interaction between various stakeholders, ac... more The complexity of construction processes often means interaction between various stakeholders, activities and tasks in order to deliver the expected outcomes. The intensity and dynamics of front-end design (FED) mean decision techniques and methods are important in supporting projects benefits delivery more importantly those based on utility of decision making. This paper explores a new utilitarian decision-making approach based on a systematic literature review of FED decision making. It presents the state of the art in design decision making concepts and analysis of tools over the last 10 years (2009-2019). From a total of 111 peer-reviewed journal papers, fifteen decision-making techniques are identified as dominant in design decision making, broadly grouped in four major categories as explanatory/rational, Multi Criteria Decision Making techniques (MCDM), Hybrid and Visual methods. The review finds that the most applied of the MCDM is Quality Function Deployment (QFD); while among the rational/explanatory techniques is set-based design (SBD). While there is limited application of Multi Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) in decision making, the paper finds that the robust consistency and structured approach better captures the intricate dynamics of FED; including modelling of the subjectivity, interdependences and uncertainty in design discourse.
Completed Station REDEVELOPMENT OF VICTORIA TRAIN STATION LEVEL 0 PROCESS MODEL Platform for Futu... more Completed Station REDEVELOPMENT OF VICTORIA TRAIN STATION LEVEL 0 PROCESS MODEL Platform for Future developments Redevelopment of Victoria Train Station
In the Traditional Procurement Contract - Tendering comes only after detailed project information... more In the Traditional Procurement Contract - Tendering comes only after detailed project information is on hand including detail plans Unilike Design and Build and Management Contracts- The Tender Flow Chart comparing the Design & Build, Traditional and Management Contracts Stages - the RIBA Plan of Work- Adapted (Joas Serugga - http:www.3dforms.co.uk)
In this report, we will draw understanding to fatigue in materials, with specific emphasis on Cer... more In this report, we will draw understanding to fatigue in materials, with specific emphasis on Ceramics, what mechanisms and changes to material microstructure can occur to improve resistance to fatigue. We will also look at what tests that can be carried out to obtain data and how this data could be used for lifetime prediction. Finally we will examine how ceramic components can be monitored in service for the failure mechanism to help determine the remainder of the components life time.
Multiferroics (MF) materials have become recently of much interest in academia and research becau... more Multiferroics (MF) materials have become recently of much interest in academia and research because of their unique property of more than one order coupling. These ferroic order couplings include; ferroelectric, ferromagnetic, ferrotoroidic and ferroelastic orders. Their successful integration into devices will mean better performance low power devices among the many improved device properties. Common MF that have been at the center of recent interest are rare earth manganites and ferrites based transitional metals like, π΅ππΉπ2π3(π΅πΉπ),πππππ3,ππ3π2π8 and a handful others have been widely studied recently. Ferrimagnetic πΊππΉπ2π3 (GFO) is increasingly standing out as a strong candidate of these multiferroics not least because of its strong magnetoelectric coupling and possibility for tuning at near room temperature, a property that still evades many of its potential competition. The integration of multiferroics has been slow coming mainly because of limited thin film production technologies and less efficient analytical techniques available at the time. Thankfully today, there is a range of these tools available, such as X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and related refinement techniques to further understand the microstructure of these materials. XRD for example affords the ability to study and understand a materials microstructure on a nano small scale. Additionally, phases, quantitative analysis and defects in the microstructure can be identified from XRD patterns for example. The Rietveld refinement procedure on the other hand can be used to more accurately determine the crystal structure and various other properties including determining existing phases, crystallite size, atomic positions and many other properties. Together with other available techniques such X-Ray florescence and electrical tests to determine a MF dielectric properties, this research will be in position to understand and accurately determine the crystal structure of GFO and the source of its unique properties like its source of the strong magnetic coupling.
Contextualising Novation is an Essential Part
to Realisation of a Construction Project in Design ... more Contextualising Novation is an Essential Part to Realisation of a Construction Project in Design and Build (Novated) Adptaed from Cooke (2015) Joas Serugga - www.3dforms.co.uk - The construction Team including office and site operations. Will usually have over 60-70 sub contractors for a typical Hotels Project of this size. Works with the Novated Teams A parallel structure that manages the running of the Hotels upon Completion
A Contextual Framework for Tackling Waste in Concept Design Stages of Mega Projects , 2017
There is still a notable underperformance among many mega projects in East Africa. One result fro... more There is still a notable underperformance among many mega projects in East Africa. One result from this is waste thatβs often reflected in cost and time over runs, health and safety issues, poor quality projects and over all, less value to clients among others. Waste among many project processes but more particularly in the concept design stage is identified in this report as a key element of overall project underperformance. The aim of this research is to develop a new contextual model to address current gaps in value adding processes and activities in mega projects in East Africa. As a first step, a critical discussion of current literature is presented to build a basis not only of the general understanding of waste as a concept in the concept design stage but also form a foundation for a theoretical framework of waste assessment and improvement within the early design stages. The models take the form of generic IDEF0, UML and Causal Models to draw understanding to current practice in industry. The revised framework takes into account survey data in helping identify these gaps in practice. Questionnaires were developed to assess the influence of important project success factors on waste within the concept design processes. Bottom level activities were used inform the basis for higher level activities in a bottom-up approach while higher level processes in turn inform important activities and interplays between higher level processes in the resultant models. Research highlights the importance of the concept design stage in the overall project performance. The process is seen to involve a lot of dynamic information exchanges among project teams as well as potentially critical processes involving decision making activities that can influence a projectβs full life cycle. The research also finds that there is still an insufficient level of collaboration among project stakeholders and a propensity for adversarial relationships among project professional. These two alongside poor project leadership and a lack of appreciation of important contribution of all project stakeholders to the success of mega projects; such as specialist consulting/contracting teams were identified as key waste generating factors. Although many new models and frameworks are now available to help in improvement and assessment of performance of construction projects, this research has found that success in these areas still very much depends on better contextual frameworks that take into account project and area specific success factors. The revised model can be a useful tool in addressing areas of value addition in many activities in the concept design stage by crucially identifying key waste generating processes and activities.
As is model - current and future state in of a design office process change - Lean Thinking in co... more As is model - current and future state in of a design office process change - Lean Thinking in construction. Issues to be looking out for... a. Waiting times between processes.. b. Morale among design team c. relationship between senior designers and junior designers, d. financial performance of business profits/losses, e. How many repeat clients at present f. Relationship with Contractors and other parties in relation to clarity of drawings
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Common MF that have been at the center of recent interest are rare earth manganites and ferrites based transitional metals like, π΅ππΉπ2π3(π΅πΉπ),πππππ3,ππ3π2π8 and a handful others have been widely studied recently. Ferrimagnetic πΊππΉπ2π3 (GFO) is increasingly standing out as a strong candidate of these multiferroics not least because of its strong magnetoelectric coupling and possibility for tuning at near room temperature, a property that still evades many of its potential competition.
The integration of multiferroics has been slow coming mainly because of limited thin film production technologies and less efficient analytical techniques available at the time.
Thankfully today, there is a range of these tools available, such as X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and related refinement techniques to further understand the microstructure of these materials.
XRD for example affords the ability to study and understand a materials microstructure on a nano small scale. Additionally, phases, quantitative analysis and defects in the microstructure can be identified from XRD patterns for example.
The Rietveld refinement procedure on the other hand can be used to more accurately determine the crystal structure and various other properties including determining existing phases, crystallite size, atomic positions and many other properties. Together with other available techniques such X-Ray florescence and electrical tests to determine a MF dielectric properties, this research will be in position to understand and accurately determine the crystal structure of GFO and the source of its unique properties like its source of the strong magnetic coupling.
to Realisation of a Construction Project in Design and
Build (Novated) Adptaed from Cooke (2015)
Joas Serugga - www.3dforms.co.uk -
The construction Team including office and site operations. Will usually have over 60-70 sub contractors for a typical Hotels Project of this size.
Works with the Novated Teams
A parallel structure that manages the running of the Hotels upon Completion
As a first step, a critical discussion of current literature is presented to build a basis not only of the general understanding of waste as a concept in the concept design stage but also form a foundation for a theoretical framework of waste assessment and improvement within the early design stages. The models take the form of generic IDEF0, UML and Causal Models to draw understanding to current practice in industry. The revised framework takes into account survey data in helping identify these gaps in practice. Questionnaires were developed to assess the influence of important project success factors on waste within the concept design processes. Bottom level activities were used inform the basis for higher level activities in a bottom-up approach while higher level processes in turn inform important activities and interplays between higher level processes in the resultant models.
Research highlights the importance of the concept design stage in the overall project performance. The process is seen to involve a lot of dynamic information exchanges among project teams as well as potentially critical processes involving decision making activities that can influence a projectβs full life cycle. The research also finds that there is still an insufficient level of collaboration among project stakeholders and a propensity for adversarial relationships among project professional. These two alongside poor project leadership and a lack of appreciation of important contribution of all project stakeholders to the success of mega projects; such as specialist consulting/contracting teams were identified as key waste generating factors. Although many new models and frameworks are now available to help in improvement and assessment of performance of construction projects, this research has found that success in these areas still very much depends on better contextual frameworks that take into account project and area specific success factors. The revised model can be a useful tool in addressing areas of value addition in many activities in the concept design stage by crucially identifying key waste generating processes and activities.
a. Waiting times between processes..
b. Morale among design team
c. relationship between senior designers and junior designers,
d. financial performance of business profits/losses,
e. How many repeat clients at present
f. Relationship with Contractors and other parties in relation to clarity of drawings