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The purpose of this paper is to model the critical success factors of construction project management (CPM). Despite the emergence of construction project management as an academic discipline, existing instrument found in literature were for measuring the importance of Construction Managers and Project Managers skills or attributes yet the combined dual role of Construction Project Management as a discipline or profession remains under researched. After collecting 58 empirical observations from within the South African construction related organisations, the paper tests the theoretical relationships by using the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique. The research identifies six factors which are critical for the effectiveness of CPM. The study also highlights the benefits of modelling the factors using tradition methods such as bivariate correlation and multiple regression analysis techniques to extract factors of CPM. The results indicate that correlation between the “hard” and “soft” skills is necessary for the effective implementation of Construction Project Management. The proposed theoretical model not only has the potential to enhance competitive success but can act as a valuable diagnostic tool in addressing the effectiveness of construction project management.

The cooperative education model adopted by Universities of Technology in South Africa embodies the notion that both education and training are equally essential. It incorporates productive work into the curriculum as a regular and integral element of a higher education course. The present model involves three cooperative partners namely, the university, student and employer. It should, therefore, be evident that cooperative education has two main components, namely an academic component and an experiential learning component, both of which are integral to its success. To enable students to understand the relationship between academic subjects and the world of work, cooperative education involves restructuring the educational experience. For some time, industry employer representatives have suggested that education and training offered at Universities of Technology do not always address the needs of industry. They argue that graduates lack the necessary theoretical skills, training and managerial understanding to ensure immediate meaningful employment. These inadequacies contribute to unemployment and the lack of advancement opportunity within their chosen careers. In addition, there is a need to examine the perceptions of students regarding course content before they go into industry. This was the motivation for this research. The aims of the research project are twofold. Firstly, to examine the course content offered within the civil engineering diploma programme, and secondly to measure the levels of subject satisfaction. Using an exploratory approach through a survey of 123 students, this study explores the course content and satisfaction levels based on study areas in the first year program. The results indicate that students generally perceive the subject Communication Skills to be least satisfying whereas Mathematics is considered to be the most satisfying subject. This paper concludes by presenting the subject satisfaction index tool which contributes to the range of intervention strategies as envisaged by the CIDB. This further contributes towards the improvement of the overall quality of University of Technology civil engineering academic programs and also the subsequent productive employability of its graduates.

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) (2001) urges African leaders to take responsibility for revitalizing and extending the provision of education, technical training and health services with high priority given to tackling HIV/AIDS, TB and other communicable diseases. The International Labor Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) both agree that occupational health and safety in Africa needs strengthening. In support of this realization are the need to maintain and promote workers' health and working capacity. The fight against HIV/AIDS in the workplace is a continental priority. In the absence of any other definitive or similar study, this study aims to establish a valid baseline assessment of the levels of knowledge, types of attitudes, perceptions and beliefs of older construction workers in South Africa regarding HIV infection and AIDS. This paper reports only on findings concerning the level of knowledge and awareness of HIV/AIDS among older construction workers as determined during the first phase of an exploratory study commenced in August 2002. Older construction workers generally had acceptable levels of correct knowledge, perceptions and attitudes on most issues relative to the disease. However, their employers had not played a major contributory role. The study highlighted several areas where older workers either had incorrect and deficient knowledge and attitudes or demonstrated high levels of uncertainty.

The built-transfer and operate (BOT) toll model has been a common approach for highway construction in India. Due to large amount of investment, many stakeholders and long concession period, Indian BOT toll roads become susceptible to different risks. Risk assessment is one of the essential and difficult steps of risk management that enables professionals to quantify and analyze the risks that may hamper the BOT toll project performance in terms of cost, quality, safety and time. The purpose of this study is to identify and assess the risk factors by the fuzzy probabilistic model.

The comprehensive literature review has been carried out for identification of Indian BOT toll roads projects' risk factors. A structured questionnaire was prepared which was then filled by contractors, government officers, academicians, project managers and consultants. For risk assessment, a systematic quantitative-based fuzzy probabilistic model is proposed with the help of lab-view, as a risk assessment technique to simulate the impreciseness of human judgment and to improve the assessment accuracy.

The risk assessment is one of the difficult tasks because BOT toll roads have complex structure. In this study, total 71 risks have been identified and categorized under 14 risk factors on a basis of case studies of Indian toll roads and literature review. All risks have been assessed by the fuzzy probabilistic model by lab-view. The land acquisition is the most crucial risk of BOT toll roads project which is subsequently followed by construction time and cost over-run. Also, Indian BOT toll roads are facing the traffic shortfalls critically, which became a reason toward declination trend for investment in BOT toll projects by the private players. Other risks like political risks, contractual and social risk badly are affecting the project performance. Early risk identification and assessment can be beneficial for the project, which is required to prepare the risk response strategy before the project commencement.

This study throws light on comprehensive risk assessment and framework modeling of the risk assessment for the BOT toll roads project in India. This comprehensive risk assessor model can be used for BOT toll roads in Indian scenario for prioritization of the critical risk. It is important for the public and private sectors to establish an effective risk assessor model for public–private partnership (PPP) projects to achieve win-win condition for both.

The construction industry contributes significantly to national economic growth and offers substantial opportunities for job creation; however, the industry has continually been plagued by workplace accidents. Moreover, employers may not realize the economic magnitude of workplace injury and ill health arising from construction activities. These accidents represent a considerable economic and social burden to employers, employees and to the society as a whole. Despite governments and organisations worldwide maintaining an ongoing commitment towards establishing a working environment free of injury and disease, a great deal of construction accidents continues to frequent our society. The purpose of this study is to conduct an analysis of a sample of 100 construction accident reports to establish, as far as practically reasonable, the total costs of limited types of construction accidents. Costs attributable to each of these accidents were classified either as direct or indirect costs. Through an exhaustive and time-consuming investigation of all available records from various sources and/or kept in various departments, the individual costs were correlated to the various direct and indirect categories.

This particular study is a combination of explanatory and collective case study approaches, whereby causal effects are determined or a course of events is examined from multiple cases. The preferred form of data collection is left to the researcher to decide (Yin, 2003). When a researcher is considering “how” or “why” questions, a contemporary set of events using primary and secondary documents, over which the researcher has little or no control, the case study approach is feasible (Yin, 2009).

The costs of construction accidents for the same sample of 100 construction analysed in this study has been estimated at a staggering R32,981,200. Of this total, R10,087,350 has been attributed to direct costs and R22,893,850 has been attributed to indirect costs. The costs of construction accidents are based on four cost components: sick pay, administrative costs, recruitment costs and compensation and insurance costs. It should be noted that the estimates of the costs to employers presented in this study are reflective of the activities and incidents of the reviewed organisation and may not necessarily represent another organisation. The costs of construction accidents values presented in this study reveal that construction accidents present a substantial cost to employers and to the society at large, inclusive of both the direct and indirect costs. It is therefore in the best interest of the employer to identify progressive and advanced approaches to more effectively manage construction health and safety, consequently society at large will benefit tremendously.

Given the high rate of construction accidents experienced, employers are not entirely mindful of the actual costs of construction accidents, especially when considering the hidden or indirect costs of accidents. Various safety research efforts have attempted to quantify the true costs of worker injuries; however, localised systematic information on cost of construction accidents at work is not readily available from administrative statistical data sources; therefore, this study was carried out to estimate the costs, like lost workdays or lost income, are clearly visible and can readily be expressed in monetary value; for a large part,0 however, economic consequences of accidents are somewhat hidden.

This paper aims to provide a bibliometric analysis of advances in building information modeling (BIM) research globally. It provides a recent state-of-the-art assessment on trends as it relates to the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. Being a vastly emerging research area, there is a need for the appraisal of research trends.

A comprehensive bibliometric analysis was conducted using a dual step filtering system on an initial volume of 2347 documents in the first stage between 2010 and 2020, and of 311 publications in the final stage of the analyses which emphasized more on 2015–2020 from the WoS database. Frequency analyses on the sources, affiliations, authors and country/ region of publication were assessed in the first stage of the analyses. Co-authorship and evidence of author collaboration were also examined. The second stage included a co-occurrence keyword network analysis. Further, text mining/mapping of the abstract of the documents was performed.

Emerging trends in the field of BIM research include but are not limited to historical building information modeling (h-BIM) applications, the use of blockchain technology, digital twin, Construction Operations Building information exchange (COBiE), Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), dynamo-bim, energy plus software and BIM laser scanning innovations. The possibility of these innovations solving some current BIM challenges were also discussed.

The study provides an insight into the BIM research trends globally while identifying existing challenges. The study uses text mining of unstructured abstracts, which has not been reported in BIM research.

This paper aims to present a meta-analysis and scientometric review to explore the intellectual evolution of research on the health and safety of women in construction, identify trends and research patterns and workplace stressors and hazards encountered by women in the construction industry.

A combination of scientometric analysis and meta-analysis was adopted to systematically review 32 relevant studies from 1984 to 2020, to provide a holistic review of research on women’s health and safety in construction aimed to identify the trend of research development. Techniques such as co-authorship, keyword co-occurring and cluster analysis were adopted.

Five main themes summarized by clustering focusing on Workplace Psychological Health, HIV/AIDS and Construction Work, Occupational Health and Safety Injuries, Gender Inclusivity and Sexism in Construction and Gender-specific Health and Safety Analysis. Findings revealed a slow growth in women’s health and safety research with the USA, South Africa, Australia and Japan leading research development. Additionally, the major stressors or hazards faced by women in construction were found to be biological related hazards.

The findings of the study are limited, resulting from the use of one abstract and citation database.

Findings from the study provide insights to the health and safety challenges of women in construction and identifies of knowledge gaps in the existing literature could provide researchers and industry practitioners with a comprehensive insight into intellectual landscapes, potential research frontiers on technologies for women’s construction health and safety.

While numerous studies have focused on the health and safety of workers in the construction industry, research on women’s health and safety is lacking. The study adopted a scientometric and meta-analysis approach to explore the intellectual evolution and reflect the research status on the subject.

An increase in outsourcing of consultancy services has been observed during procurement and delivery of public-sector infrastructure projects. However, the incidence of project failure has continued unabated despite this shift by public-sector entities. Also, there appears to be limited literature focussed on seeking to provide the rationale governing the decision to outsource or insource consultancy services by public-sector organisations. The purpose of this study was to appraise the performance of public-sector projects in which consultancy services have been outsourced or insourced. These are the gaps which this study was undertaken to fill.

A grounded theory methodology (GTM) research design was adopted based on the nature of evidence sought and gathered from a Provincial Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (PDPWI) in South Africa. Data was obtained from a mixture of semi-structured interviews and project-specific documents spanning a five-year period and was analysed according to the procedures associated with GTM. Accordingly, open coding, axial coding and pattern matching were carried out at several intervals to develop categories and themes.

The findings of the study showed the absence of a structured approach within the PDPWI for facilitating decisions pertaining to outsourcing or insourcing consultancy services within construction projects. Furthermore, the study established that both approaches yielded similar results across all performance facets of cost, time and quality. In addition, a detailed insight into the steps required for the successful application of GTM in built environment research has been provided in the study.

Limited studies have been undertaken to compare the impact of either outsourced or insourced services on the organisational and project performance. This was the gap to which the study reported in this paper was undertaken to contribute.