Purpose: Industry 4.0 is predicted to be a game-changer, revolutionizing commercial and manufacturing practices through improved knowledge utilization and efficiencies. The barriers however, are significant, and the construction industry remains notoriously slow to take up innovations. This study reviews the research work in Industry 4.0 as it relates to construction, and examines a leading UK-based construction firm to ascertain the prognosis for Industry 4.0 roll-out in terms of the impediments and opportunities.Design/methodology/approach: A multistage mixed philosophies and methods approach was adopted for this study. First, an interpretivist epistemological lens was used to synthesise extant literature as a means of contextualizing the present study. Second, an empirical case study using a post-positivist stance and inductive reasoning was conducted to explore practitioner acceptance of Industry 4.0 in the UK construction context.Findings: Findings from the literature review indicate studies in Industry 4.0 to be a relatively new phenomenon, with developed countries and Germany in particular leading in the field. The range of opportunities are many, but so too are the barriers to enablement. Findings from the case study provide real-world corroboration of the review; practitioners are sanguine about Industry 4.0's potential to reinvigorate the construction industry, but also note that implementation remains curtailed by residual managerial practices dependent on ‘human interaction’. At present, much of the focus of industry practitioners is on the implementation of building information modelling (BIM), often at the expense of other more advanced technologies within Industry 4.0.Originality/value: Research in Industry 4.0 is limited, with the emphasis being on technology application. This paper, by contrast, maps the totality of work carried out so far and presents an assessment of Industry 4.0's progression, potential and degree of uptake within the UK construction industry.

Purpose: The adoption of robotics and automation (R&A) within the construction industry has been adjudged as slow, despite the possibility of it reducing the high risk posed on health and safety of humans by the activities of the industry. The call for research and development in this area of technology to improve its adoption in the delivery of construction projects is evident in past studies. Thus, this paper aims to conduct a review of R&A in construction-related fields with a view to revealing the area of focus of past studies.Design/methodology/approach: A bibliometric approach was adopted for this study, and data used were gathered from the Scopus database. Keywords such as “robotics”, “automation” and “construction” were used to extract papers from the database. VOSviewer was used to prepare a co-authorship and co-occurrence map based on the bibliographic data gathered.Findings: The findings revealed that focus is placed on construction automation, industrial robots and application, robots’ systems and designs, robotics in earthworks, and robots’ control and information system. Furthermore, currently, research focus in this area is tending towards a more digitalised application of R&A especially in the areas of 3D manufacturing.Research limitations/implications: The findings of this study are limited due to the use of a single database.Practical implications: Despite its limitations, the findings open a knowledge gap that can be explored in developing countries particularly in Africa to improve construction delivery in the continent through R&A.Originality/value: The study adopted the bibliometric approach in mapping out research focus in R&A – an aspect of digital technology that has not been given considerable attention in recent bibliometric and scientometric studies.

Research into the application of sustainable procurement in construction projects is nascent with the few prominent studies carried out in the developed nations. Of particular interest is how developing nations are rising to the challenge of development and using their procurements strategically. One way the construction industry helps to achieve sustainable development is through its procurement activities. Previous studies show that Nigeria is embracing sustainable procurement however the uptake is slow. Therefore, this research sets out to evaluate the factors that constitute barriers to sustainable procurement of publicly funded construction projects in Nigeria. A questionnaire survey was used to evaluate construction industry professionals' perspective on the barriers to sustainable procurement in Nigeria. Three hundred and twenty questionnaires were returned and used for analysis. Out of the nineteen variables tested, factor analysis reveals four clusters named in other of significance as sustainability knowledge level, transparency and governance, mismatch of procurement strategy and national policy challenges, and construction industry related factors. This study recommends that mitigating these challenges will require improving sustainability knowledge among project stakeholders, ensuring transparency and good governance, adapting procurement laws with sustainability clauses and construction industry development.

Transportation infrastructure projects are prone to cost and schedule overruns. At the time of contract award, a construction contingency budget is often used to accommodate for unplanned events such as scope changes. Recent empirical research has shown that rework during construction as a result of design changes, errors and omission are the major contributors of overruns in projects. The statistical characteristics of rework, and cost and schedule overruns that are experienced from a project's contract award for 58 Australian transportation infrastructure projects are analysed. Theoretical probability distributions are fitted to the rework, cost and schedule overrun data. Goodness of fit tests are used in conjunction with probability-probability (P-P) plots to compare the sample distribution from the known theoretical distribution. A Generalised Logistic probability density function is found to describe the behaviour of cost-overruns and provides the best overall distribution fit. The best fitting distribution for schedule overruns and rework data were the Four Parameter Burr and a Johnson SB distribution, respectively. The distributions are used to calculate the probability of rework, cost and schedule overruns being experienced. A case illustration is presented and discussed to demonstrate how the derived probabilities may be utilised in practice.

Purpose: This paper aims to present the result of an assessment of the challenges of sustainable construction (SC) in two developing countries (Nigeria and South Africa). This was done with a view to improving sustainable project delivery, which is a problem among most developing countries. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted a quantitative survey approach with questionnaire used as the instrument for data collection from quantity surveyors, construction and project managers from both countries. Data analysis was done using a four-step analysis approach and relevant descriptive and inferential statistics were adopted. Findings: The study revealed a considerable level of awareness of SC and involvement in the use of the same among the assessed professionals. Also, it was discovered that SC materials are mostly used in the aspect of surface finishing and masonry construction. Further findings revealed that resistance to change, client’s preference, fear of the increased cost of investment and inadequate knowledge and understanding of the concept of sustainability are some of the major challenges of SC in these countries. Originality/value: The strength of this study lies in the assessment of happenings from two developing countries and its recommendation can to a large extent promote improved SC in developing countries particularly in Africa were construction activities are similar.

The digitalization of construction organizations is deemed essential with the advent of the fourth industrial revolution. To achieve this, there is a need for construction organizations to partner with other organizations with complementary digital capabilities. This study, therefore, makes a case for digital partnering in the South African construction industry through a survey of construction professionals actively involved in a construction project in the country. Analysis of data gathered was done using a 5-step analysis approach and relevant descriptive and inferential statistics were adopted. Findings revealed that digital partnering is not being adopted among construction organizations in the country. However, if adopted correctly, construction organizations can have a better competitive advantage, improved project performance, and risk reduction through shared digital resources. Furthermore, the barriers to the proper adoption of digital partnering are the poor definition of partnering goal, getting the right digital partner, trust issue, partnering risk issue and investment cost. The study contributes to the body of knowledge as is reveals that construction organizations, particularly in a developing country like South Africa, stands a better chance of surviving the dynamic construction and digital environment by partnering with other organizations within and outside the industry rather than embarking on the digitalization journey alone.