Following its success in other sectors, the importance of supply chain management (SCM) has increasingly been recognized in the construction industry. A literature review reveals that most studies in this field have been carried out in manufacturing, retailing, or purchasing and supply; research on the construction supply chain is relatively limited. This study explores the special characteristics of the construction industry and develops a maturity model for measuring and improving the relationships between the key partners of a construction supply chain. The model follows the capability maturity principle and defines four maturity levels of construction supply chain relationships. It is in a matrix format, which provides detailed descriptions for 24 assessment criteria in eight categories at each of the four maturity levels. It also provides three assessment procedures of varied depths, which outline different ways of using the model. The model is evaluated through a series of expert interviews. It can ...

Decision making is a key to business or project success in any sectors, especially in construction that requires handling numerous information and knowledge. Multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) is an important tool for decision problem solving due to simultaneous consideration of multiple criteria and objectives. Various MCDM methods are continually emerging and tend to be increasingly adopted to address the real-world construction problems. Therefore, it is urged to systematically review the existing body of literature to demonstrate the evolution of the mainstream MCDM methods in general and their application status in construction. A total of 530 construction articles published from 2000 to 2019 are selected in this study and then categorized into seven major application areas using a novel systematic literature review (SLR) methodology. The bibliometric analysis is then used to describe the research trend. Subsequently, the qualitative discussion by themes is conducted to analyze the application of MCDM methods in construction. A further discussion makes it possible to identify the potential challenges (e.g. applicability, robustness, postpone effect, dynamic and prospective challenges and scale problem) to existing research. It also contributes to the recommendation of future directions for the development of MCDM methods that would benefit construction research and practice.

Over the years, build-operate-transfer (BOT) has continuously attracted research interests. Many studies on BOT have been carried out. Variations of BOT such as build-own-operate-transfer and build-own-operate have also been reported in some relevant publications. However, few investigations thus far have been conducted for transfer-operate-transfer (TOT). Therefore, there is a knowledge gap in this particular field. TOT is a new model that is suitable for existing infrastructure and public utility projects formerly funded by the governments and currently operated by state-owned enterprises. It refers to the transfer of a running public project to a foreign business or domestic private entity. Based on four case studies carried out in the Chinese water supply industry, this paper examines why there is an increasing need for TOT projects and identifies the distinctive features of TOT practice in China. This is followed by an introduction of a framework of critical success factors (CSFs) for TOT projects. The most important factors include project profitability, asset quality, fair risk allocation, competitive tendering, internal coordination within government, employment of professional advisors, corporate governance, and government supervision. The identification of CSFs provides a useful guidance to project parties planning to participate in TOT practice.

Construction started its lean journey with learning from manufacturing. Unlike lean manufacturing, few studies to date have investigated lean construction in both breadth and depth, especially from the perspective of construction supply chains. The limited understanding of lean construction results in a research problem. This research aims to explore the implementation of lean principles in the context of project-based construction supply chains. It achieves its aim through an empirical investigation in the UK. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies provides this research with validity and reliability. Lean principles are found applicable to both residential building projects and many other types of construction projects. It is also found that lean construction can be enhanced if it synergizes with supply chain collaboration. Another finding is that lean management has a significant impact on project performance. Nowadays, construction pursues best lean practices through both learning from manufacturing and developing its own paths. Similar to manufacturing, more and more construction projects adopt industrialised and standardised production and lean management with supply chain collaboration to become leaner. On the other hand, construction-specific management approaches and information technology (IT) tools are increasingly used in lean construction practices to maximise value and minimise waste.

A brisk building boom of megaprojects leads to a wide range of environmental problems, particularly in developing countries such as China. To prevent environmental problems effectively, megaprojects require proactive environmental initiatives based on individual, voluntary, and discretionary behaviors, which are also known as organizational citizenship behaviors for the environment (OCBEs). The OCBEs (e.g., sharing knowledge to prevent pollution, making suggestions to minimize waste) play an important role in improving megaproject environmental performance. However, this line of research is still in its infancy and the institutional-psychological mechanism leading megaproject practitioners to engage in OCBEs is largely unexplored. To fill this gap, this paper presents an individual-level analysis that investigates how institutional pressures impact project practitioners’ OCBEs according to the survey data collected from China’s megaprojects. The results obtained by partial least-squares analysis indicate that both mimetic and normative pressures have a significant impact on OCBEs, and such relationships are partially mediated by organizational support. Nevertheless, this paper did not find evidence for a significant impact from coercive pressures. These findings provide a new insight into making use of institutional forces to stimulate the emergence of OCBEs, improving the environmental performance in megaprojects.

As a major industry sector, construction is gradually transitioning from the linear economy to the circular economy. Due to various barriers or challenges, the circular economy within construction progresses at a slow pace. Digital technologies can help construction address these barriers or challenges. As a new generation of digital technologies, the digital twin is still seldom used in construction for the circular economy at the current stage. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the implementation of the circular economy, as well as the integration of a digital twin and the circular economy, in construction. Based on a review of the relevant literature, this study adopts a combination of expert interviews as a qualitative research method and questionnaire surveys as a quantitative research method. The findings of this study suggest that design and demolition, which are closely linked to each other with regard to circular economy strategies, are more important than other project phases. The digital twin has great potential to improve circular economy practice. It can play some important roles in different project phases throughout the life cycle of a construction project, to achieve the circular economy. Digital twin–circular economy integration makes it effective for construction to overcome circular economy barriers or challenges, reduce waste, and increase salvage value.