Globally, only 2% of existing building stock is built yearly; the remaining 98% already exist. Energy consumption and indoor thermal comfort of the existing building stock are not encouraging. This is due to many challenges associated with existing buildings; the challenges range from cracks, leakages, poor insulation, heat losses and high rate of unsustainable technologies. This paper investigates possible barriers facing the adoption and application of sustainable technologies (STs) for sustainable or energy-efficient upgrade of existing buildings. New STs are manufactured on a regular basis to meet improved energy efficiency standards, yet there are minimal actions/attempts to adopt and apply improved technologies in existing buildings for energy efficiency. Indeed, there are limited studies focused on the use of qualitative approaches to identify barriers to adoption and use of STs. Thus, a semi-structured interview approach was adopted and applied using sustainability/energy efficiency professionals, building services engineers, project managers, architects, and facility managers in Australia. The results indicate that barriers to the adoption and application of sustainable technologies are perceived benefits in demolish-and-build, age of building, cost of STs, perceived poor payback time, unreliable energy-savings projections, existing design, hidden and overall cost of renovation, and cost of STs.

Energy-efficient retrofitting has emerged as a primary strategy for reducing the energy consumption of buildings. Buildings in China account for about 40% of total national energy consumption. Large office buildings account for the most. Less than 5% of the building area of existing office buildings is energy efficient. Energy-efficient retrofitting for sustainable buildings is a complicated system that involves various sustainable dimensions and operational technical schemes. Making multi-criteria decisions becomes a challenging problem for stakeholders. Based on the theory of sustainability, this paper establishes a sustainable analysis framework to guide stakeholders to select an optimal technical combination of energy-efficient retrofit measures for large office buildings. Based on empirical data collected in Beijing, a number of energy efficiency measures are selected, tailored and applied to a virtual model of a typical large office building. Technical features and the energy performance are simulated accordingly. The energy consumption, energy-saving ratio and lifecycle costs are derived to identify the optimal configuration. The outcome of this research offers a feasible technical plan for stakeholders relating to technical design and design making. The study finds that an LED lighting system and frequency conversion device for the cooling water chiller cannot only sufficiently reduce the building’s energy consumption but also perform economically. Different thermal insulation materials for reconstructing the building envelope have no obvious effect on the thermal performance in comprehensive simulations of technology combinations. The sustainable analysis framework offers theoretical and practical support and can be used as a reference for the other types of buildings in future research.

The extant literature in urban climate studies suggests that the urban poor are the most vulnerable to climate change. Local perceptions and knowledge of climate change are also generally viewed as crucial for sustainable adaptation planning in developing countries. Yet the extent to which perceptions of climate change are influenced by the context of informal urbanisation in the Global South remains unexamined. This paper aimed to examine the extent to which the context of residents of informal settlements influences their perceptions and the congruence of these perceptions with scientific knowledge of climate change in an African city. Using Accra, Ghana as a case, 582 household surveys, 25 institutional key informant interviews and 14 focus group discussions were conducted and analysed. Results show two main findings: (1) respondents mainly perceived changes in climate change related-phenomena which were in synergy with scientific sources but their claims of increases in flooding were not supported by scientific data; and (2) while the literacy levels of the respondents were unrelated to their perception about climate change, heir perceptions were also discordant with city authorities’ perceptions on the causes of flooding as a hazard. The study suggests the integration of local perceptions and knowledge of climate change in adaptation planning in Accra and similar contexts.

Given that project selection is a vital and recurring strategic decision for construction firms, there is a sizeable collection of studies that examine the factors affecting contractors’ decision to bid (d2b). With the aim to provide a global perspective of factors affecting contractors’ d2b, this study meta-analytically reviews 24 relevant studies published between 1988 and 2021. The results show that that there are 28 critical factors, and the top five factors are (i) project payment terms, (ii) financial capacity of client, (iii) client’s reputation in the industry, (iv) the history of client’s payments in the past projects, and (v) project size. The heterogeneity test results, which show no statistically significant heterogeneity across the included studies, reinforce the generalisability of the findings to a global context. The research findings have practical implications for construction clients in their procurement of construction services, highlighting the importance of good reputation and payment history. For contractors, they now have access to a list of critical factors from a global perspective in facilitating their d2b decision. There are methodological implications for the research community in guiding future efforts in replicating studies.

One of the problems in construction management research is how to harvest the living experience of people working in the profession. Surveys and interviews are the common methods, but they have obvious problems, not only with defining terminology and targeting the appropriate populations but also with the knowledge of the respondents and their willingness to reflect. Autoethnography, in its conventional form, overcomes most of these problems, but creates a new set of problems, particularly in terms of our ability to generalise and verify the results. What is argued here is that autoethnography can be applied analytically and rigorously so that it can be used for theory testing and theory building. The approach is illustrated by a case study, in which professional experience in the construction industry is integrated into the conventional scientific method.

There have been growing concerns regarding increased social isolation in Australia, many of which are currently being exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Feelings of social isolation may increase the risk of mental issues in people. New Urbanism hypothesizes that neighborhood communal spaces can influence social interaction between residents and, in turn, can promote community sustainability. This study investigated the associations between community parks and social interactions in master-planned estates (MPEs) in Sydney, Australia. Data were obtained from a resident survey conducted in two MPEs in the inner west area of Sydney: Breakfast Point and Liberty Grove (n = 192). Hierarchical multiple regression (HMR) models were used to analyze the relationship between community park use and social interaction. This study found that the factors ‘frequency of community park use’, ‘rest spaces satisfaction’, and ‘pedestrian connectivity with surroundings’ are significantly and positively associated with social interaction between residents in the MPE context. The findings of this study highlight the importance of the community parks in creating social sustainability in MPEs, particularly in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.