The construction industry (CI) has a significant impact on the environment and on climate change due to the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Globally accepted Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), specifically SDG 7 (Access to Affordable, Reliable, Sustainable and Modern Energy for All), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) stress the responsible utilization of energy in various industries, including construction. The CI uses almost half of the world’s produced energy. Therefore, this research presents insights into the efficient use of energy in the building sector and shows how energy efficiency can be achieved by altering different parameters and components like orientation, materials, glazing, and HVAC systems through a case study of a hospital building in Green Building Studio (GBS). This paper also aims to use the Building Information Modelling (BIM) approach to make environmentally sustainable decisions to reduce energy waste in projects. Initially, beneficial factors of BIM on green buildings were identified in the literature and later ranked, based on expert opinions collected using a set of questionnaires. Average Index was used for data analysis. The identified benefits were validated by conducting energy analyses on a hospital model through 3D BIM. It was concluded that a substantial share of energy cost, carbon dioxide (CO₂), and electricity can be saved using this approach. It was determined that a quick and sustainable design process, improved energy efficiency, enhanced building performance, and provision of better design alternatives are the key benefits of the adoption of BIM by such projects. A Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.822 was obtained, which further validates the results. The proposed approach may lead future structures to be sustainable and enriches the culture of energy-efficient green buildings.

The construction industry is slowly embracing digitalisation in line with the Industry 4.0 revolution and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, progress has been sluggish due to stakeholders’ limited awareness of digital skills. This study addresses this issue by developing a comprehensive taxonomy of digital skills required to successfully implement the Industry 4.0 principles of digitalisation in the construction industry. A systematic literature review was conducted by mining the Scopus and Web of Science databases to identify relevant literature and map the skills currently used or needed for digitalisation. The study also examined publication trends and outlets to gain insight into developments. Additionally, VOSviewer was used to conduct a scientometric analysis of the shortlisted articles to identify important keywords and authorship collaboration networks within this research domain. A total of thirty-five digital skills were identified from the literature. These skills were organised into a taxonomy with categories named automation and robotics, coding and programming, design, drafting and engineering, digital data acquisition and integration, digital literacy, digitisation and virtualisation, modelling and simulation, and planning and estimation. The developed taxonomy will help stakeholders plan strategically to provide digital skills to the new graduates joining the workforce, enabling a more comprehensive approach to the digitalisation of the construction industry.

Time overrun is a major issue in construction projects. Its causes vary, depending upon the nature and size of the project. Developing countries are more susceptible to this problem due to limited resources and lack of managerial skills. This paper focuses on the identification and classification of time overrun factors in public sector projects in Pakistan. Data was collected by the use of a questionnaire given to different professionals in the construction field. Average index (AI) was used to determine each factor’s relative importance. Results indicate that financial difficulties faced by constructor, inadequate planning and scheduling, financial difficulties faced by client, delays in payment by the client, delays in decision making by the client, design mistakes, frequent design changes, material shortage, incompetent sub-constructor assigned by the constructor, poor site management and supervision and inadequate constructor’s experience are the most significant factors of time overrun in public sector construction projects in Pakistan. This study aims to be useful in addressing the issue of time overrun in the construction industry.

Labor’s health and safety (H&S) is a matter of concern for all industries. Occurrence of accidents in industries is becoming a common issue. Both white collar and blue-collar workers are not shielded from materials that damage their health. This study identifies the critical factors affecting labor’s H&S in Hyderabad, Pakistan industries. The awareness of labor regarding prevention and consequences that affect workers’ H&S is also a matter of interest of this research. The severity of factors was determined through questionnaire survey from experts, H&S supervisors and managerial staff of industries. For the descriptive analysis the software SPPS 24.0 was used. This research also includes interviews form industry laborers about awareness regarding H&S critical factors. The results show that, Improper PPE use, operating machines that are poorly maintained, long term exposure to high intensity noise, working extended and irregular hours and lack of knowledge of working instruments are the critical causes of accidents. Also 60.9%, 73.9%, 69.6%, 78.3% and 89% of workers are not aware about these causes and their consequences. Thus, this research is a road map for industrial employers, law makers, local, provisional and federal Government of Pakistan in order to help minimizing the workplace accidents and the providing of safe and secure working environment for laborers.

Motivating public and private construction firms to implement various management systems in their firms is not a simple job. Especially in Pakistan, management system is a new practice, most of the construction firms are not aware about the benefits of management system and what will be achieved after the implementation of management system. The implementation of ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS) in the construction industry is a continuing development method, particularly in small construction firms. On the other hand, the awareness level and readiness level of construction industry firms in Pakistan is yet very low as associated to other countries of Asia and Europe where ISO 9001 initiated. The purpose current study is to determine most responsible factors which will motivate the public and private construction firms of Pakistan to adopt the QMS (ISO 9001). A questionnaire survey was conducted and a total of 337 out of 553 questionnaires were received from public and private construction firms of AZBAGIKHPUSI areas. The analysis results depict 3 significant factors, which will motivate construction firms of Pakistan to implement ISO 9001 are (1) to qualify for bidding (2) to improve quality management system of company (3) to reduce wastage. Hence, based on these results and findings, the construction companies require ISO 9001 certification system and registration with Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) as a constitution passed for the construction firms then to qualify for the bidding.

Concrete is a very common construction material. As time prevails, cracks often appear in structures that pose a threat to strength and durability, which ultimately affect the structural integrity of concrete. Extensive work has been carried out in past on utilization of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) as a repair material. But, this research particularly focuses on: multiple fiber layers i.e. single and double, traditional concrete mix ratio with locally available materials and varying flexural reinforcement. Furthermore, this work presents an experimental analysis to strengthen the Reinforced Concrete (RC) beams using SikaWrap- 230 C as a CFRP wrap, and Sikadur-330 as a bonding material. The comparison between single and double layers of CFRP is of major interest in this research. Six reinforced concrete beams were repaired with CFRP and tested under three-point bending test. For these specimens, load deflection behavior along with crack propagation and failure of beams were studied. Experimental results show that beams repaired using CFRP wrapping achieved higher flexural capacity and ductility as compared with reference beam. Moreover, results reveal that introduction of second layer of fiber caused around 4-5.2% increment in flexural strength and resulted in higher ductility of RCC beam.