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This study aims to investigate the physical environmental problems of two Thai community hospitals’ outpatient departments (OPDs) during the COVID-19 outbreak and to provide design guidelines for respiratory disease prevention.

A three-step method was used. The first step involved walk-through observations at Mae Wang Hospital and Doi Saket Hospital to assess the physical environment. The second step consisted of interviews with 22 medical staff working in the two hospitals. Third, the observation and interview data were used to develop a preliminary design guideline, which was evaluated by two focus groups comprising the same interview participants.

The observational findings showed that the two hospitals had difficulties following the COVID-19 prevention protocol due to physical environmental problems. Four different themes emerged from the analysis of the medical staff interviews. The preliminary design guidelines that were evaluated through two focus group discussions resulted in design recommendations for four areas (the overall building, clinical, support and staff areas) in the Mae Wang and Doi Saket OPD buildings. Three topics of design recommendations were provided to reduce the spread of COVID-19: improving hospital management, space design and air quality.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to provide design guidelines for COVID-19 and respiratory disease prevention in Thai community hospital OPD buildings.

International technology transfer (TT) initiatives are essential for developing the necessary infrastructure which underpins the sustainable development of economics and living standards in newly industrialised and developing countries. However, these initiatives have rarely translated into enhanced capabilities and competitiveness within host country firms, resulting in a sustained reliance on foreign firms. With few clues as to how to effectively manage the TT process, many stakeholders from the construction sectors of developing countries lack direction on how to more rapidly diffuse best‐practice technology. This paper aims to address the issues.

In an attempt to better understand, the international TT process on Thai construction projects a path model was developed and later implemented. The path model development stage utilised the questionnaire survey response of 162 Thai construction and engineering professionals that had exposure to construction projects which incorporated international TT initiatives. A rigorous statistical analysis process which employed ANOVA, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling was followed to formulate the robust path model. The path model implementation stage utilised a series of case studies to validate the significant path equations in the developed model. This stage solicited questionnaire survey responses from 47 Thai construction and engineering professionals working for five domestic firms which were contractually involved with foreign partners on four large construction projects.

The findings provide evidence that transferors must have appropriate characteristics (i.e. willingness, knowledge base, experience, management, etc.) for establishing solid relationships with the transferee. Moreover, relationship building (RB) between the transferor and transferee (i.e. trust, understanding, communication, etc.) is the key enabler to TT induced value creation for the host construction sector.

The developed model empirically explains interactions between TT process enablers and outcome factors in the construction context. The model can assist government and private sector organisations from developing and newly industrialised countries to better evaluate the TT induced value creation process for the host construction sector. In this context, improved TT evaluation can help such organisations to devise targeted strategies for accelerating rates of TT, which will ultimately decrease their reliance on foreign firms when procuring large‐scale infrastructure projects.

In an attempt to better diagnose the health of international construction technology transfer (TT) ventures and ultimately improve rates of TT, this paper promotes benchmarking as a tool for measuring baseline and future performance across a wide range of TT perspectives.

Utilizing the results from a questionnaire survey of 162 construction industry professionals from Thailand, a TT performance measurement framework, consisting of eight diverse perspectives was formulated through exploratory factor analysis.

The developed framework included eight perspectives which represent the enablers and outcomes of the TT process, namely: technology characteristics; government influence; relationship building; transferor characteristics; transferee characteristics; economic advancement; knowledge advancement; and project performance. This framework was utilized to provide a baseline benchmark index of TT performance in Thailand. A benchmark score of 70 per cent was determined, implying that up to 2005, construction TT ventures in Thailand have been operating moderately to highly effectively/successfully. Moreover, the TT performance of individual transferor nationalities operating in Thailand was compared. The study provides some evidence that Japanese construction firms are not only the leading exporter of construction services to Thailand but also perform slightly higher across TT performance perspectives influenced by the transferor.

Questionnaire items which attempted to explain the impact of cultural differences between the transferor and transferee were statistically problematic and subsequently removed from the conceptual framework. Cultural factors undoubtedly play a part in the international TT process on construction projects.

The developed TT benchmarking method could be used by international funding agencies, governments of developing and newly industrialized countries and construction firms to more effectively evaluate the TT process and the outcomes it derives for the host construction sector.

The paper provides a robust method for benchmarking the TT process and its derived outcomes in a construction context.