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Successful implementation of infrastructure projects has been a controversial issue in recent years, particularly in developing countries. This study aims to propose a decision support system (DSS) for the evaluation and prediction of project success while considering sustainability criteria.

To predict sustainable success factor, the study first developed its sustainable success factors and sustainable success criteria. These then formed a decision table. A rough set theory (RST) was then implemented for rules generation. The decision table was used as the input for the rough set, which returned a set of rules as the output. The generated rulesets were then filtered in fuzzy inference system (FIS), before serving as the basis for the DSS. The developed prediction tool was tested and validated by applying data from a real infrastructure project.

The results show that the developed rough set fuzzy method has strong ability in evaluation and prediction of the project success. Hence, the efficacy of the DSS is greatly related to the rule-based system, which applies RST to generate the rules and the result of the FIS was found to be valid via running a case study.

Use of DSS for predicting the sustainable success of the construction projects is gaining progressive interest. Integration of RST and FIS has also been advocated by the seminal literature in terms of developing robust rulesets for impeccable prediction. However, there is no preceding study adopting this integration for predicting project success from the sustainability perspective. The developed system in this study can serve as a tool to assist the decision-makers to dynamically evaluate and predict the success of their own projects based on different sustainability criteria throughout the project life cycle.

This paper aims to explore the emerging relationship between Industry 4.0 (I4.0) digital technologies (e.g. blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI)) and the construction industry’s gradual transition into a circular economy (CE) system to foster the adoption of circular economy in the construction industry.

A critical and thematic analysis conducted on 115 scientific papers reveals a noticeable growth in adopting digital technologies to leverage a CE system. Moreover, a conceptual framework is developed to show the interrelationship between different I4.0 technologies to foster the implantation of CE in the construction industry.

Most of the existing bodies of research provide conceptual solutions rather than developing workable applications and the future of smart cities. Moreover, the coalescence of different technologies is highly recommended to enable tracking of building assets’ and components’ (e.g. fixtures and fittings and structural components) performance, which enables users to optimize the salvage value of components reusing or recycling them just in time and extending assets’ operating lifetime. Finally, circular supply chain management must be adopted for both new and existing buildings to realise the industry's CE ambitions. Hence, further applied research is required to foster CE adoption for existing cities and infrastructure that connects them.

This paper investigates the interrelationships between most emerging digital technologies and circular economy and concludes with the development of a conceptual digital ecosystem to integrate IoT, blockchain and AI into the operation of assets to direct future practical research applications

This study aims to explore and analyse building energy performance (BEP) policies and regulations worldwide. It presents a perspective on the status quo of policy packages for the built environment. This study spans the six years between 2018 and 2023 to give a broad overview of the BEP policy landscape.

An exploratory search of secondary sources was conducted within a six-year timeline. The six-year period enabled the creation of a pre- and post-COVID baseline through which comparisons of policy trends could be made. The International Energy Agency (IEA) and Scopus databases were the principal sources of relevant literature. A data extraction tool and four research questions were used to ensure the relevance of the selected sources. The primary limitation of this work is that the chosen time frame limited the number of policies and regulations investigated.

At the time of writing this paper, 272 were retrieved from the IEA database, together with 65 eligible studies from the Scopus database. After data analysis, it was established that most national policies target renewable energy installations, heating and cooling of buildings, net-zero ambitions, fiscal instruments and long-term national interests. However, most studies focus on BEP policy assessment, renewable energy and the social impact of policies. Furthermore, four main findings emerged from the analysed data. These point to fragmentation of policy goals across the BEP landscape, institutional influence in energy policy formulation and little consideration of socio-economic-environmental impacts within BEP policy packages.

This research contributes to the discourse on BEP policies and regulations by bringing BEP policy to the forefront. It highlights a fragmented BEP policy landscape and advocates for improved collaboration between academia, the private sector and policymakers to encourage accountability for the life-cycle energy performance of buildings and their services within policy frameworks. Additionally, this research identifies a need for integrative and holistic policy solutions.

In recent years, deep learning and extended reality (XR) technologies have gained popularity in the built environment, especially in construction engineering and management. A significant amount of research efforts has been thus dedicated to the automation of construction-related activities and visualization of the construction process. The purpose of this study is to investigate potential research opportunities in the integration of deep learning and XR technologies in construction engineering and management.

This study presents a literature review of 164 research articles published in Scopus from 2006 to 2021, based on strict data acquisition criteria. A mixed review method, consisting of a scientometric analysis and systematic review, is conducted in this study to identify research gaps and propose future research directions.

The proposed research directions can be categorized into four areas, including realism of training simulations; integration of visual and audio-based classification; automated hazard detection in head-mounted displays (HMDs); and context awareness in HMDs.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge by identifying the necessity of integrating deep learning and XR technologies in facilitating the construction engineering and management process.

The purpose of this paper is to find optimal solutions for conceptual design automation, which can be integrated with Building Information Modelling (BIM) support for construction automation. Problems relating ostensibly to failures in computational support for the conceptual design stage are well-documented in extant literature. These failures are multifarious and significant, with several deficiencies being acknowledged in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. Whilst acknowledging this, extant literature has highlighted the importance of computational design in the AEC industry; and failures in this area include the need to strengthen the congruent links and support mechanisms in order to exploit the opportunities presented by new computational design methods. Given this, it is postulated that the application of generative design could enhance the design experience by assisting designers with the iterative generation of alternatives and parameterisation (change management) processes. Moreover, as BIM applications are increasingly providing comprehensive support for modelling and management, then additional synergies could be examined for further exploitation.

This paper focusses on the potential for developing an interactive BIM environment that purposefully adopts generative design as a method of computational design for the early design stages. This research facilitates the automation of the conceptual architectural design process, using BIM as the central conduit for enhancing the integration of the whole building design process (including design interfaces). This approach is designed to improve designers’ cognition and collaboration during the conceptual architectural design process.

This paper evaluates the existing methods and decision support mechanisms, and it introduces the potential of combining different concepts into a single environment (generative design/BIM).

This research is novel, in that it critically appraises virtual generative workspaces using BIM as the central conduit. The outcome and intervention of this research forms a theoretical basis for the development of a “proof of concept” prototype, which actively engages generative design into a single dynamic BIM environment to support the early conceptual design process.

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a techno-economic feasibility study on the application of Audio Visual Enterprise Resource Planning (AV-ERP). Due to rapid urbanisation and economic growth in developing countries (DCs) like India, there has been tremendous development in infrastructural projects. To maintain the quality and competitive commercial pricing of the projects, stakeholders are working together from different geographic locations. Due to lack of culture in adopting the technological advancements, the on-site construction activities lack coordination among the stakeholders.

In the present case, it is observed that the site and various stakeholders like consultants are physically monitoring and controlling the ongoing construction activity from different geographic locations. To manage the effective communication and information exchanges, an integrated tool for surveillance and AV-ERP is proposed in the present paper. These equipment and technologies play a very vital role in the construction industry, which, in turn, significantly affects the progress, cost and time of the project. The techno-economic feasibility of proposed AV-ERP system was evaluated for the ongoing township project over the study area.

For the considered case study, 75 per cent cost of the project overhead incurred for site monitoring can be saved by implementing the proposed technology of AV-ERP system.

The proposed AV-ERP system is a techno-economically viable solution for the effective project management.

In the DCs like India, to develop the culture for adopting the technological advancements (AV-ERP system) for monitoring the on-site construction activities, the presented case becomes an innovative solution for upcoming medium as well as large-scale construction projects.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of socially inclusive Building Information Modelling (BIM) library components. BIM requires and integrates many sets of predefined blocks or collection of attributes. Any one of the individual blocks can be replicated and/or stored in a block library for later reuse. However, few if any current block libraries contain or have access to the blocks that enable social inclusion.

An action-based research methodology was used to design, develop and deploy three enabling blocks as part of a plan to develop a larger library of tools for BIM practitioners. The Enabling Block Library is an open access library of Australian code-compliant mobility elements published online. This paper discusses the design and development of the library components in detail, explaining how each of the three blocks was selected in our pilot evaluation and how each was identified; fact-checked; planned (designed); deployed (action); and then evaluated.

The process and evaluation highlights that appropriate code-compliant design tools can support greater social inclusion aspects of a built environment project. These are tools that are relevant to the full spectrum of industry users of BIM, including designers, engineers and certifiers.

Because this paper documents the project while in an early launch phase, with a small number of launch blocks, the research results were limited in their ability to thoroughly measure industry or educational impact. However, the results showed how a socially inclusive BIM block library can be developed and why this is important, with literature supporting the potential of its dissemination to the design and construction industry.

The paper applied action-based research methodology in the development, deployment and evaluation of exploratory BIM use to create more socially inclusive environments. It is of value because it facilitates designers creating the optimum of performance-based accessible environments, rather than the minimum “deemed to satisfy” Building Codes.