Facility Management

"Managing capital oil and gas and civil engineering facilities requires a large amount of heterogeneous information that is generated by different project stakeholders across the facility lifecycle phases and is stored in various databases and technical documents. The amount of information reaches its peak during the commissioning and handover phases when the project is handed over to the operator. The operational phase of facilities spans multiple decades and the way facilities are used and maintained have a huge impact on costs, environment, productivity, and health and safety. Thus, the client and the operator bear most of the additional costs associated with incomplete, incorrect or not immediately usable information.
Web applications can provide quick and convenient access to information regardless of user location. However, the integration and delivery of engineering information, including 3D content, over the Web is still at its infancy and is affected by numerous technical (i.e. data and tools) and procedural (i.e. process and people) challenges. This paper addresses the technical issues and proposes a Web3D enabled information integration framework that delivers engineering information together with 3D content without any plug-ins. In the proposed framework, a class library defines the engineering data requirements and a semi-structured database provides means to integrate heterogeneous technical asset information. This framework also enables separating the 3D model content into fragments, storing them together with the digital assets and delivering to the client browser on demand. Such framework partially alleviates the current limitations of the JavaScript based 3D content delivery such as application speed and latency. Hence, the proposed framework is particularly valuable to petroleum and civil engineering companies working with large amounts of data."

"We are honored to welcome you to the 13th International Conference on Construction applications of Virtual Reality (CONVR 2013) organized by Teesside University. CONVR is one of the world-leading conferences in the areas of virtual reality, augmented reality and building information modeling. This year we are welcoming more than 110 participants from 23 countries to discuss and exchange the latest developments and applications of virtual technologies in the Architectural, Engineering, Construction and Operation industry. We have a group of leading keynote speakers from industry and academia who are covering up-to-date hot topics and are enthusiastic to share their knowledge with you. We received 120 papers and after a rigorous review and editing process, we selected 63 excellent papers to be presented in the parallel sessions, covering five thematic research topics: building information modeling, augmented reality and sensing, real-time visualization, simulation and planning. We are very grateful to our generous sponsors. Our golden sponsors are Autodesk; HOCHTIEF-ViCon; KBR,and Teesside University. Our silver sponsors are: Datum360; Makemedia; Niven Architects; Synchro Software, and the Journal of Engineering. You will have the opportunity to tour sponsor stands and interact with the companies. Traditionally CONVR participants have been very loyal to the conference over the past 13 editions. This year we are welcoming numerous first timers and we aim to help them make the most of the conference by introducing them to other participants. Finally our role on the committee is to identify and discuss with you the innovation, best practices, opportunities and challenges experienced by AECO practitioners and ensure that you leave the conference feeling knowledgeable, inspired and full of new ideas and with many new friends. We are confident that you will enjoy both the conference and the elegant and charming environment of London’s city center.
Prof Nashwan Dawood, Chair
Dr Mohamad Kassem, Coordinator Technology Futures Institute, Teesside University

download link: http://hdl.handle.net/10149/305360 "

"This paper focuses on the question whether business goals and greening are irreconcilable concepts within the hotel industry. First of all, lessons that can be learned from other industries are discussed, followed by an analysis of the current state of affairs in the hotel industry. By combining these elements, it is concluded that businesses in the hotel industry can contribute to a sustainable future by applying environmentally conscious practices, while ensuring corporate profitability. Therefore, incorporating environmental requirements into the overall business goals is probably the right thing to do, both from a business economic and sustainability perspective.

Key Words: hotel industry, sustainability, environmental requirements, profitability, research and practice."

Collection of accurate, complete and reliable field data is not only essential for active management of construction projects involving many tasks, such as material tracking, progress monitoring and quality assurance tasks; but also for facility/infrastructure management during the service life of facilities and infrastructure systems. Limitations of current manual data collection approaches in terms of speed, completeness and accuracy, and implications of these limitations for construction management practice are discussed by many researchers. Advancements in field data capture technologies (such as smart tags, laser scanners, and embedded sensors) enable collecting, storing and reusing field data accurately, completely and reliably. We show that while these technologies are capable of streamlining the associated processes, their performances differ from the manufacturers’ specifications when utilized on construction sites due to issues, such as interference, data reading range, data accuracy, interoperability of hardware and software, and memory limitations. In addition, while these technologies eliminate some non-value adding tasks associated with corresponding project management processes, they can also add new tasks that need to be performed prior to, during, or after the utilization of a technology at the field. Hence, a thorough understanding of both the technological capabilities and process implications of these technologies is needed to be able to utilize them effectively during construction and service life of facilities.

"Purpose – This conceptual paper explores the problems associated with trying to address culture as one of the key aspects in effective workplace strategies.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper critically addresses the relationship between workplace strategies and the behavioural components of locality. It reviews the role that the
concept of culture has, so far, played in trying to predict these behavioural consequences as part of (literature discussing) efforts to design appropriate workplace strategies.

Findings – The discussion reveals the need to further address this relation through dedicated research. What’s more, it is argued that there is a clear need to explicitly focus on work
patterns, and how these can be accounted for in workplace strategies, instead of continuing to focus on the concept of culture as a predictor for successfulness. It is argued that the latter does not allow for practical application, whereas the former could help us to better understand and predict the effectiveness of specific workplace strategies in specific (local) circumstances.

Practical implications – The outcome of the discussion suggests that organisations consisting of multiple locations could benefit from explicitly accounting for (local) work patterns in setting up workplace strategies for the organisation as a whole.

Originality/value – This paper reveals a relevant research gap in current literature on workplace strategies and suggests a shift in focus from culture to work patterns as one of the key aspects to address."

"Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate office users’ perceptions of their working environment in relation to the addition of plants.

Design/methodology/approach - Office users’ perceptions were examined using a survey, administered to an experimental group and a control group before and after the installation of plants. The results were analysed to determine any statistically significant differences between the two groups and between the pre-test and post-test surveys for the experimental group. Absence data was analysed to establish any changes in absence rates.

Findings - Significant differences were found between the experimental and control groups for the work environment contributing to pressure, health concerns, morale and preference for plants. There were also perceived improvements in productivity, pressure, privacy and comfort although these were non-significant. Sickness absence reduced substantially in the area with plants and increased slightly in the control area.

Research limitations/implications - It would be useful to extend this research over a longer time frame and in a greater range of buildings to validate the results.

Practical implications - By providing well designed workplaces, including living plants, organisations can potentially improve employee perceptions, leading to performance gains and reduced absence. This paper suggests that significant savings can be achieved in comparison to the cost of plants.

Originality/value - The role of indoor nature has received relatively little attention compared to the number of studies on outdoor nature. Additionally, this paper applies the research to a real working environment as opposed to experimental designs, which have formed the majority of previous studies.

Paper type: Research paper"

Megaproject Planning and Management: Essential Readings contains the seminal articles from the growing body of research on megaproject planning and management along with an original introduction by the editor, Bent Flyvbjerg. The leading and most cited authority in the field, Flyvbjerg has used crowdsourcing and 25 years of experience to cherry-pick from several hundred articles and books the writings that define the field. This volume will be an indispensable source for those wishing to speak with authority about how megaprojects are prepared, delivered, and fought over. The target audience is students, academics, practitioners, and media pundits alike, as well as communities affected by megaprojects.