Anthony Higham, Catherine Barlow, Erik Bichard and Adam Richards
The paper aims to assess the strengths and weaknesses of sustainable return on investment (SuROI) to determine it suitability as a means through which social value can be…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to assess the strengths and weaknesses of sustainable return on investment (SuROI) to determine it suitability as a means through which social value can be predicted in line with public procurement directives and the Social Value Act, whilst at the same time as fitting the developer’s business model and CSR commitments.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a multi-case design, findings from a comprehensive evaluation of three major housing-led mixed-use regeneration developments are presented. The three case study locations were selected on the basis of the developer’s strong commitment to place-making and social sustainability. Together with a strong strategic desire to reposition their organisation away from the traditional business as usual profit-led model.
Findings
Whilst the social return on investment methodology is applicable to the charity sector, its use in the built environment is highly questionable. When applying the model to the mixed-use housing projects, the authors identified a number of technical limitations to the model, inter alia a lack of suitable proxies and especially proxies relating to the built environment for the valuation of identified outcomes; the use of monetisation as a evaluating measure which did not support some of the more abstract or softer benefits identified; problems collecting, identifying and evaluating data to inform the model given the complexity and scale of the project; and significant time and expense associated with the valuation and finally the inability to benchmark the report on completion. These findings have implications for the social housing providers and local authorities looking to use SuROI to evaluate potential built environment projects.
Originality/value
The paper offers unique insights into the viability of using existing social value measurement methodologies. The paper identifies the significant limitations associated with the SuROI methodology.
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Alolote Amadi and Anthony Paul Higham
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the ongoing discourse centred on enhancing building performance to provide an interpretation of life cycle cost (LCC) analysis, directly…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the ongoing discourse centred on enhancing building performance to provide an interpretation of life cycle cost (LCC) analysis, directly applicable to building construction in coastal areas located in tropical wet–humid settings.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 50 buildings based on physical observation is carried out to identify typical failure patterns in wet‒humid environment. Further, a comparative initial construction cost and LCC analysis is computed for two alternative building schemes with identical floor plans: Scheme A using sound construction and detailing to guard against future maintenance problems and Scheme B adopting the typical designs evident in the study area.
Findings
The result of the analysis shows that in the long-run scheme, A is an economically more viable option than B, as the increased initial costs are entirely offset by the reduced running cost.
Research limitations/implications
The contextual nature of LCC analysis poses difficulties in applying the evidence provided in this study to provide a generalisable financial justification to buildings clients.
Practical implications
The outcome of the study provides analytical validation to overcome resistances and enables informed decision making by clients, which is necessary to promote transition from conventional to environmentally responsive design choices suitable to wet–humid conditions.
Originality/value
The study provides an interpretation of LCC analysis, directly applicable to building construction in the tropical wet–humid setting of coastal areas against the backdrop of inconsistencies in the practical application of the theory of LCC.
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Alolote Ibim Amadi and Anthony Higham
This paper aims to investigate the statistical validity of geotechnical risk factors in accounting for cost overruns in highway projects. The study hypothesises that “latent…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the statistical validity of geotechnical risk factors in accounting for cost overruns in highway projects. The study hypothesises that “latent pathogens” because of mismanaged geotechnical risk, which lay dormant in organisational practices of highway agencies, trigger cost overruns.
Design/methodology/approach
To test this hypothesis, cost and geotechnical data gathered for 61 completed highway projects, executed in the Niger Delta, recording unusually high cost overruns, along with qualitative data from 16 interviews with the project commissioners, were comprehensively analysed via regression modelling, to statistically explain recorded cost variance.
Findings
The results provide empirical evidence supporting a cause–effect relationship between the extent of cost overrun and key geotechnical factors. It is suggested that positive changes made in the geotechnical practices of the highway agencies will produce an expected exponential decrease in the level of cost overruns recorded in highway projects.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to explaining the propagation of unusually high cost overruns in the geologic setting of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. As such there is a need to test the generalisability of the theory presented.
Practical implications
The emergent view of geotechnical practice calls for further research, necessary to align geotechnical best practice into highway project delivery in the Niger Delta region.
Originality/value
The study used a robust methodological approach to understanding the propagation of cost overruns in highway projects, based on a characterisation of geotechnical intricacies, which is unprecedented in cost overrun research.
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Alolote Ibim Amadi and Anthony Higham
This study aims to proffer a theoretical narrative explaining the poor financial performance of public highway agencies in Nigeria. This study critically spotlights seminal works…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to proffer a theoretical narrative explaining the poor financial performance of public highway agencies in Nigeria. This study critically spotlights seminal works in the literature offering theoretical narratives on the poor financial performance of public infrastructure projects, to discuss whether they adequately capture the relationship between psychological factors, project governance/leadership issues and knowledge/skill deficiencies related to the cost performance of infrastructure projects in the developing world. The evaluation reveals the predominant contextual exclusivity of these theoretical narratives to the developed world, which tend to under-represent developing countries, such as those on the African continent.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a case study research strategy, longitudinal documentary/archival data for 61 highway projects were analyzed. In total, 16 interviews were also conducted with highway officials from the three highway agencies responsible for the execution of the projects. A two-stage deductive-inductive thematic analysis of the collated data was carried out to identify barriers to the financial management of public highway projects, the result of which is cognitively mapped out.
Findings
The study showcases empirical insight on cost overruns experienced in Nigerian public projects, because of the trickle-down effect of human and organizational environment, as well as because of workers’ knowledge/skill deficiencies.
Research limitations/implications
The developed theory is contextual to Nigeria, and there is scope for testing its generalisability to other developing nations.
Originality/value
The in-depth trajectory provided uncovers an intricate web of technical and psycho-social, organizational and institutional issues, which have not been identified and explained by previous theoretical narratives.
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Anthony Paul Higham, Chris Fortune and J.C. Boothman
The purpose of this paper is to assess the selection and use, in practice, of appraisal frameworks regarding sustainability evaluation in UK social housing sector projects, which…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the selection and use, in practice, of appraisal frameworks regarding sustainability evaluation in UK social housing sector projects, which have been advocated by academics as a means of ensuring that business decisions related to potential built environment projects are driven by best value rather than lowest cost. It also seeks to identity the key features of sustainability as assessed at the project feasibility stage. The research context is housing regeneration projects undertaken by UK social housing providers.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a quantitative approach, a survey was conducted of 481 built environment professionals working within the UK social housing sector, which generated an overall response rate of 24 per cent.
Findings
The survey results revealed that few toolkits and models developed by academe to facilitate the development and evaluation of sustainability-led building projects have so far been adopted. The impact of organisational factors such as size, denomination, and maturity on the frameworks was analysed and, in general, no statistically significant relationship was found between organisational features and the models in use. The principal features of sustainability were found to be related to energy efficiency and asset life expectancy. These findings have implications for the UK construction industry’s commitment to enhancing the built environment’s sustainability and thereby stakeholder prosperity.
Research limitations/implications
The methodological approach adopted failed to uncover fully the reasons why practitioners selected particular types of sustainability appraisal toolkits.
Practical implications
This paper focuses on the current use of sustainability-led project appraisal models and the key features of sustainability whilst also providing directions for further research. It explores the adoption of sustainability-focused project evaluation practices in the UK social housing sector and outlines potential areas for further research, focused on developing a usable, holistic framework for evaluating sustainability during the early stages of project development to help to create a more sustainable built environment.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the body of knowledge available on the adoption of sustainability-focused project evaluation practice in the UK social housing sector, outlining potential areas for further research, focused on developing a usable, holistic framework for evaluating sustainability during the early stages of project development to help to create a more sustainable built environment.
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Anthony Higham, Chris Fortune and Howard James
The purpose of this paper is to establish the extent to which life cycle costing (LCC) is used as an early stage project evaluation tool by practitioners in the UK construction…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to establish the extent to which life cycle costing (LCC) is used as an early stage project evaluation tool by practitioners in the UK construction industry. The use of this evaluation tool has long been advocated by academics as a means of ensuring best value rather than lowest cost is a driver for business decisions related to potential built environment projects. Therefore there is a need to appraise its current uptake levels amongst built environment professionals and assess whether there are any barriers affecting its use in UK practice.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a mixed methods approach, the authors present the findings from a survey of construction professionals located in the UK and the results from a series of follow up semi-structured interviews designed to further explore the factors found to affect the use of LCC in practice.
Findings
The study shows that LCC is still not widely used by built environment professionals in the UK. The greatest inhibitor on the take up of the tool is the need of clients to budget on short-term horizons. Other factors such as a lack awareness of the tool by practitioners and clients, unreliability of data into the long term and the overriding need for commercially driven projects to achieve maximum return on investment continue to inhibit the widespread adoption of LCC as an early stage project evaluation tool. These findings have implications for the capability of the UK construction industry to deliver on its commitment to enhance the sustainability of the built environment.
Originality/value
The paper offers insights into the current use of LCC and the factors affecting its use in the UK.
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Ethnoracial categories and classifications can change over time, sometimes leading to increased social mobility for marginalized groups or nonelites. These ethnoracial changes are…
Abstract
Ethnoracial categories and classifications can change over time, sometimes leading to increased social mobility for marginalized groups or nonelites. These ethnoracial changes are often attributed to emulation, where nonelites adopt the elite's social, cultural, and political characteristics and values. In some cases, however, nonelites experience ethnoracial shifts and upward mobility without emulating elites, which events can help explain. I argue that the type of event, whether endogenous or exogenous, affects the ability of elites to enforce their preferred ethnoracial hierarchy because it will determine the strategy – either insulation or absorption – they can pursue to maintain their power. I examine this phenomenon by comparing the cases of Irish social mobility in 17th-century Barbados and Montserrat. Findings suggest that endogenous events allow elites to reinforce their preferred ethnoracial hierarchy through insulation, whereas exogenous events constrain elites to employ absorption, which maintains their power but results in hierarchical shifts. Events are thus critical factors in ethnoracial shifts.
This chapter discusses emerging issues in event management with a focus on small-scale events. The author reflects on managerial approaches to stakeholder involvement and…
Abstract
This chapter discusses emerging issues in event management with a focus on small-scale events. The author reflects on managerial approaches to stakeholder involvement and engagement, and underlines the complexity of strategy formulation for destination development planning. This contribution also provides advanced conceptual instruments for event marketing as guiding principles that permeate destination-marketing strategies. In addition, the author investigates the role and nature of sponsorship linked to enhancing the value of small-scale events and highlights fundamental issues in developing a marketing management model for place marketing and the key drivers of event management strategies involving sponsors and event participants.
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José Ramón Cardona and María Dolores Sánchez-Fernández
The seasonality in the behavior of travelers is something that goes back to the origin of the trips themselves. This seasonality is due to multiple factors, some easy to…
Abstract
The seasonality in the behavior of travelers is something that goes back to the origin of the trips themselves. This seasonality is due to multiple factors, some easy to counteract and others difficult to solve. But, regardless of the causes, it is a phenomenon that generates significant negative impacts on society and the environment in which the phenomenon of tourist seasonality occurs. All tourist destinations have seasonality, but in some cases, it is very high and in others it has a minimal incidence. The objective of this chapter is to ponder the impacts and consequences of seasonality in regions with a strong tourism development, allowing to put into context the aspects of society impacted by this phenomenon and the positive implications that the reduction of seasonality would have. For this, an analysis of a theoretical model with two regions in opposite situations is carried out, raising the possible effects of a high seasonality. The cases of the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands are also reviewed, as real examples of the regional typologies taken into consideration in the theoretical model. This seeks to ponder the problems attributable to seasonality. As a final reflection, the enormous typology of negative impacts generated and the need to continue analyzing the seasonality and its impacts are emphasized.