In order to enhance students’ individual and team competency in building information modeling (BIM) project execution, this research adopts the team-based learning (TBL) pedagogy and aligns student learning outcomes in BIM with the hierarchy defined by Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives into a Civil Engineering and Management (CEM) capstone project under the framework of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) standards. By designing a series of BIM learning modules in accordance with the different phases of a typical project lifecycle, including design, tendering and bidding, construction, closeout, and handover, this research investigates and evaluates how TBL may help students develop essential BIM knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) and achieve a higher order of learning through role play in the contexts of a real BIM project. The four learning modules address both individual and team competency with core CEM program learning outcomes and are delivered through the TBL iterative process. The assessment of student learning and their achieved BIM competency through the capstone project are conducted with both direct and indirect measures using carefully designed grading rubrics and a student feedback survey. The research findings suggest that the combination of phased BIM learning modules and the TBL pedagogy may stimulate students’ enthusiasm and foster individual and team performance at a higher level of competency in BIM project execution. The use of a real BIM project and the role play conducted by students in the TBL also enhance students’ career preparedness by bridging the gap between BIM education in CEM programs and industry expectation on BIM competency of college graduates. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by providing empirical evidence on the efficacy of the TBL pedagogy in college BIM education and may become a valuable reference as more CEM programs seek to integrate collaborative interdisciplinary team experiences in BIM education to cultivate a more competent BIM workforce.

Higher education ought to support the identification of training needs for industrial building information modelling (BIM) curriculum development and sustainability education in the fields of civil engineering and management (CEM). This paper proposes a framework based on a four-phase step-by-step quality function deployment (QFD) application for CEM curriculum planning and quality management. The framework attempts to respond to requests collected from 17 professionals and professors in order to integrate BIM into the higher education curriculum in China with a specific focus on construction management programs accredited by the American Council for Construction Education (ACCE). The entropy method and a K1–K6 scale adapted from Bloom’s revised cognitive process were employed to evaluate the CEM curriculum in QFD. The proposed framework was successfully applied to CEM curriculum planning, which included two curriculums of the four main knowledge areas provided by the Chinese CEM guidelines: construction cost and flow construction. Two curriculum areas showed that content should focus on knowledge such as (a) Program evaluation and review technique(PERT) planning; (b) construction optimization in flow construction; (c) principles of bill of quantities and (d) construction consumption in construction costs. As for teaching quality management in China, the higher education curriculum should focus on three aspects to promote curriculum integration: (a) pedagogical design; (b) teaching resource and material and (c) curriculum assessment. This research sheds light on the pedagogical shift to a similar context that has established guidelines accredited by the ACCE, with respect to reviewing curriculum planning from a knowledge system perspective in order to meet industrial demands at the operational level.

The transportation sector generates enormous amount of environmental emission. This study aims to assess the environmental impact of the environmental emissions in a transportation infrastructure project life cycle. Using the fast track transportation project in China as a case study, the materials used and the energy consumed over the life cycle were converted into environmental emissions. The life cycle of fast track transportation project was divided into three phases including construction, maintenance and repair, and demolition phases. Both qualitative and quantitative method were applied to explore the environmental impact of transportation project. The life cycle assessment (LCA) method was used for the development environmental impact assessment (EIA) model to analyze the contribution of each process in the transportation project life cycle. The empirical results show that the construction phase has the highest environmental impact (62.7%) in the fast track transportation project life cycle, followed by the demolition (35.8%) and maintenance phases (1.7%). Among the materials used in the fast track transportation project, steel has the highest proportion of environmental impact in the construction phase (55.5%). This indicates the enormous environmental impact of the construction phase in fast track transportation project life cycle results from the use of steel material. This study contributes to reducing environmental emissions by revealing the greatest phase of environmental impact and material-source of environmental impact over the life cycle in a transportation infrastructure project.

Purpose: This research aims to develop an approach to assess the reliability of integrated construction supply chainsviaan integrated model of building information modelling (BIM) and the lean supply chain (LSC). It reflects the synergistic workflow between BIM and LSC as a novel approach to improve the reliability of construction projects.Design/methodology/approach: This research evaluates the reliability of the BIM-LSC approach through a combination of entropy theory, set pair analysis (SPA), and Markov chains (EESM). An exploratory survey was conducted to collect data from 316 industry professionals experienced in BIM and LSC. Subsequently, multiple cycles of calculations were performed with indirect data inputs. Finally, a reliability evaluation index is established for the BIM-LSC approach and potential applications are identified.Findings: The results show that the EESM model of BIM-LSC developed in this study can handle not only supply chain reliability evaluation at a given state but also the prediction of reliability in supply chain state transitions due to changing project conditions. This is particularly relevant to the current environment of the construction project, which is characterised by an increasing level of complexity in terms of labour, technology, and resource interactions.Research limitations/implications: Future research could consider the accuracy and validity of the proposed model in real-life scenarios with by considering both quantitative and qualitative data across the entire lifecycle of projects.Practical implications: The research offers a model to evaluate the reliability of the BIM-LSC approach. The accuracy of BIM supply chain reliability analysis and prediction in an uncertain environment is improved.Originality/value: The BIM-LSC reliability evaluation and prediction presented in this study provides a theoretical foundation to enhance understanding of the BIM-LSC in the construction project context.

As the main driving force for the digital transformation of the construction industry, the uncertainty of digital technology in the application process has seriously hindered the high-quality development of the construction industry. In order to promote the wide application of digital technology in the construction industry and clarify the key uncertainties in its application process, this paper identifies the uncertainty index system of digital technology application based on the LDA topic model and literature analysis; the DEMATEL-ISM method is used to construct the multilevel hierarchical structure model of the uncertainty indicators in the application of digital technology to study the mutual influence among the indicators and to find the key uncertainty indicators. The research results show that the uncertainty indicators of the application of digital technology in the construction industry are divided into five levels: policy, industry, personnel, economy and law, and that the perfection of the policy guarantee system is the key uncertainty indicator for the investment return period of digital technology application. The standard contract model for digital technology is a direct uncertainty indicator for the application of digital technology in the construction industry. The results of this study help researchers and practitioners to focus on the key barriers and provide a list of key elements for construction companies to promote the application of next-generation digital technologies to improve digitalization of the construction industry. This study also provides a policy reference to further promote the digital transformation of the construction industry.

The purpose of this research is to study the vulnerability of construction enterprises’ innovation capabilities (CEIC) and their respective primary influencing factors. This paper proposed a vulnerability system framework of CEIC, designed two comprehensive assessments for analysis, namely the entropy and set pair analysis method (E-SPA) and the principle cluster analysis and SPA method (P-SPA), and compared grades to verify the vulnerability assessments. Further, the paper quantitatively assessed the major influencing factors in facilitating management, reducing vulnerability, and improving the ability of construction enterprises to respond to changes in the construction industry. The results showed that vulnerability could be effectively and systematically evaluated using E-SPA. However, managing or reducing entrepreneurial sensitivity and improving the ability to respond was critical to supporting sustainable CEIC. The case studies included in this paper suggested that in ensuring sustainable CEIC, companies should concentrate on highly educated human resources, R&D investments, intellectual property related innovations, and government support. This research provided a practical framework and established a sustainable strategy for companies to manage their vulnerability in developing innovation capability. In addition, this research presented an innovative and effective way to quantitatively analyze vulnerability which offered a foundation to signify a new paradigm shift in construction sustainable development.