Gaps between Awareness and Activities on Green Construction in China: A Perspective of On-Site Personnel

Evaluating the Critical Barriers to Green Construction Technologies Adoption in China

Green construction technologies (GCTs) are important drivers of sustainable development in the construction industry. Despite a wide range of GCTs being available on the Chinese construction market, they are not yet widely popular. This study aims to evaluate the critical barriers hampering large-scale GCT adoption in China. Through a literature review, 21 barriers were identified and listed in the questionnaire survey, and 225 valid responses from 21 provinces in China were collected. The Mann–Whitney U test was conducted to verify whether different stakeholder groups perceive these barriers differently. Moreover, a comparative analysis of barriers to GCT, GBT (green building technologies), and GC (green construction) adoption was conducted. Results of statistical analyses showed that the top five barriers inhibiting GCT adoption are “lack of government incentives”, “extra costs associated with GCTs”, “dependence on traditional construction technology”, “a shortage of technological training for project staff”, and “conflicts of interest among stakeholders in GCT adoption”. Moreover, the top five factors preventing the adoption of GCTs differ from those of GBTs and GCs. This study not only provides valuable resources for stakeholders to better understand the critical factors preventing GCT adoption, but also could help policy makers to effectively promote GCT adoption.

Collapse of public buildings, stability checks and the roles of facility managers in Ghana

Purpose

The study investigated the perceived causes of structural failure of public buildings, frequency of stability checks, stability checking procedures, measures to enhance public building stability checks and the roles of facility managers in the Accra Metropolis of Ghana.

Design/methodology/approach

Following a comprehensive literature review, the study employed a structured questionnaire survey and gathered the opinions of sixty-seven facility managers on the facility management practices. Following statistical pretesting of the dataset for reliability, distribution and agreement among the responses, the study analysed the dataset using mean scoring and weighted analysis.

Findings

The analysis showed that external building inspectors rarely inspect stability checks of the studied public buildings in Accra. It is also found that both reactive and proactive stability checking protocols are implemented in public buildings in Accra, but inadequate knowledge of facility managers limits technical stability checks. The study further revealed that stability checks of public buildings can be enhanced through incorporating site and location conditions into the design early upfront, active engagement of facility managers in the design and construction of public buildings, adequate budgetary provisioning for planned maintenance of public buildings, and encouraging appropriate use of public buildings.

Originality/value

This paper, to the best of the authors' knowledge, represents the first attempt to comprehensively examine the causes of structural failure of public buildings, frequency of stability checks, stability checking procedures, measures to enhance public building stability checks and the roles of facility managers in Ghana, from the perspective facility management.

Investigating the Sustainability Performance of PPP-Type Infrastructure Projects: A Case of China

In China, the demand for public infrastructure projects is high due to the acceleration of urbanization and the rapid growth of the economy in recent years. Infrastructures are mainly large scale, so local governments have difficulty in independently completing financing work. In this context, public sectors often seek cooperation from private sectors, in which public–private partnership (PPP) is increasingly common. Although numerous studies have concentrated on sustainable development, the unsustainability performances of infrastructures are often reported on various media. Furthermore, studies on the sustainability performances of PPP-type infrastructure (PTI) projects are few from the perspective of private sectors’ behaviors. In this study, we adopted the modified theory of planned behavior and the structure equation model and conducted a questionnaire survey with 258 respondents for analyzing the sustainable behaviors of private sectors. Results indicated that behavioral attitude, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norm interact significantly. They have direct positive effects on behavioral intention and then indirectly influence actual behavior through this intention. Actual sustainable behaviors of private sectors have significantly positive effects on the sustainable development of cities. We offer theoretical and managerial implications for public and private sectors on the basis of the findings to ensure and promote the sustainability performances of PTI projects.