Constructing Building Integrity examines how ethical and professional standards can be raised in the residential apartment sector. Recent incidents in a number of countries, culminating in London’s Grenfell Tower inferno that claimed 72 lives, have highlighted systemic failures in the building industry’s professional and regulatory standards frameworks. These disasters raise serious questions over how consumer confidence and public trust can be improved when outcomes for multi-lev...

In an increasingly globalised built environment industry, achieving higher levels of integration across organisational and software boundaries can lead to improved economic, social and environmental outcomes. This book is the direct result of a collaborative global network of industry and academic researchers spread across nine countries as part of CIB’s (International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction) Task Group 90 (TG90) Information Integration in Construc...

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a global phenomenon which is gaining significant momentum across the world. Currently there is little information on how to realise and monitor benefits from implementing BIM across the life-cycle of a built environment asset. This book provides a practical and strategic framework to realise value from implementing BIM by adapting Benefit Realisation Management theory. It presents an approach for practitioners aiming to implement BIM across the life-...

R&D Investment and Impact in the Global Construction Industry brings together contributions from leading industry researchers in a diverse group of countries to investigate the role of research and development (R&D) in the construction industry. Investment in R&D is a proven factor in economic growth, and helps develop a more productive and innovative industry. This book explores how policy makers and industry leaders can better target future investment; and how industry and resea...

Buildings and infrastructure represent principal assets of any national economy as well as prime sources of environmental degradation. Making them more sustainable represents a key challenge for the construction, planning and design industries and governments at all levels; and the rapid urbanisation of the 21st century has turned this into a global challenge.This book embodies the results of a major research programme by members of the Australia Co-operative Research Centre for Co...

In the past decades asset intensive companies have witnessed a number of regulatory changes and especially industry is facing ever increasing competitiveness. To overcome these challenges different asset management methods have been developed aimed to improve the asset life cycle. Especially the design phase and operation and maintenance phase have seen a rise in tools and methods. Smarter design can lead to improved operation. Likewise, improved operation and maintenance leads to lower re...

A nation's economic success depends on the capacity of its companies and trading organizations to develop business relationships, trade and do business in the international arena. Doing business across borders subtly changes the processes and skills the successful manager needs. Cultural, social, geographic and legal factors serve to complicate the picture. The mantra for managers today is think global, act local. In this handbook the authors concentrate on the big developments that curren...

In an increasingly interconnected environment, shocks, crises, cascading failures, and surprising breakthroughs are features of our age. The ability to anticipate, intervene, innovate, and adapt is now seen as essential for governments. Public officials serve in an expanded public space that is being reshaped by the rise of social networking and modern information and communication technologies. The desired results on many public issues exceed the reach and resources of government....

New legislation, rising energy costs and increasing demand for green credentials have moved sustainable IT up the business agenda. Yet the term ‘green IT’ still means a variety of things to a variety of people – whether that’s sustainably managing and procuring IT assets, ethically recycling hardware or using IT to enable carbon footprint reduction. This ebook looks at these different aspects and offers advice on how to incorporate sustainable practices in business strategy.

Managing Cooperation in Supply Network Structures and Small- or Medium-sized Enterprises outlines different approaches to the analysis of the organisation of small- or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Owing to the increased competition in the worldwide market, several SMEs operating in the same industrial sectors have agreed collaborative market strategies, both for raw material procurement and for final product delivery. The resulting networks, however, have a tendency to suffer ...

This book establishes and explores existing and emerging theories on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and the adoption of IT/IS. It presents the latest empirical research findings in that area of IS research and explores new technologies and practices. The book is written for researchers and professionals working in the field of IS research or the research of SMEs. Moreover, the book will be a reference for researchers, professionals and students in management information systems ...

Whether you are about to embark on a major business transformation or you simply want to be better prepared for the next challenging period in your business organization, this book is designed to help you. The author makes no apology for keeping this book easy to understand, targeting the book at everyone from the CEO to front line operatives and taking each of them on a journey from complexity to simplicity. The business architecture referred to here is not the traditional element of the ...