Esta pesquisa visa contribuir com o planejamento do arranjo físico (leiaute) de canteiro de obras através da utilização de recursos computacionais aplicados ao processo de tomada de decisões e na visualização da distribuição dos elementos necessários às atividades de construção. O planejamento do arranjo físico de canteiros, em muitos casos, é feito por profissionais que contam essencialmente com a experiência obtida ao longo de sua vida profissional, sem o auxílio de recursos de TI, amplamente utilizados em outras indústrias. Com esta pesquisa almeja-se evidenciar que o uso de recursos computacionais para monitoramento de dados referentes aos estoques e consumo de materiais e a visualização dos espaços disponíveis ao longo do tempo para os elementos de obra, conduzirá a um processo de projeto de canteiros que exija menor grau de abstração do planejador, assim como facilitará a atualização no decorrer da execução. Dessa forma, partiu-se para a concepção de uma ferramenta buscando juntar as informações necessárias ao planejamento em um único ambiente, dispondo de suporte visual para tomada de decisões conscientes a respeito do canteiro. Ao mesmo tempo, procurou-se evitar mudanças bruscas na forma de projetar do engenheiro...

Introdução: O macrossetor da construção de edificações causa um significativo impacto sobre o ambiente natural. Tal impacto é gerado em três momentos: produção, uso e descarte das edificações. Embora exista uma crescente consciência na indústria de edificações sobre a necessidade de redução desse impacto, os esforços atuais nesse sentido são limitados devido à incompatibilidade entre o paradigma atual, no qual estão baseadas as práticas da indústria, e os princípios de sustentabilidade a serem incorporados àquela prática. Para que a indústria possa avançar, tornando suas práticas ambientalmente mais sustentáveis, um novo paradigma deve ser formulado para servir de referencia à indústria de edificações. Objetivos: O objetivo principal desta tese é demonstrar as incompatibilidades entre o paradigma atual que inspira as práticas da indústria de edificações e os princípios de sustentabilidade. Os objetivos secundários são: definir com clareza os conceitos básicos da construção de edificações; formular uma estrutura conceitual que possa incorporar os conceitos básicos de maneira consistente e integrada; compreender o paradigma atual da construção, bem como os princípios que o regem; formular e propor princípios de sustentabilidade que possam ser utilizados no desenvolvimento de soluções tecnológicas para as edificações; elaborar as características essenciais de um novo paradigma...

The last few years have confirmed what was mostly feared: Portuguese construction industry suffers from a chronic disease - the lack of competitiveness. Symptoms have long been recognised in several construction projects: frequent delays, cost overruns, deficient safety, absent quality. The authors have been carrying out several studies whose aiming at are clarify reasons for the lack of competitiveness of national construction industry on the four items mentioned above. This paper occurs mainly about the aims of PhD` survey about construction delays. It has the following mains components: (1) to research and analysis bibliography and establish a common set of causes and background reasons for the problem; (2) to inquire to Portuguese construction stakeholders on the causes and background reasons for project delays following from their experience in recent projects; (3) to establish possible paths to solve the problem. The survey results appear to confirm the original list of causes for delays of the study. The mains reasons are related with designer problems, poor productivity, procurement system, overly optimistic planning, and frequent change orders during construction and so on. Thereafter, the paper will seek what could possibly be done and from which parties...

Most construction projects in Portugal do not fully achieve the main management functions, namely cost and time. Accordingly, the competitiveness of the Portuguese construction industry has been ranked fairly low. A survey was conducted among the main construction stakeholders to help clarify the reasons for this problem. The inquiry used for the survey focused on the characteristics of major projects concluded in the last years and on specific data on the attainment of cost and schedule objectives. Research revealed that clients and contractors agree that major causes for cost overruns were due to design errors, direct changes ordered by the client and different site conditions due to geological and geotechnical obstacles. Client liability, design problems and the project specifics were the main causes indicated by clients and contractors for project delays. However, clients also specified main responsibilities for project delays to inadequate construction management.

Deconstructing a building is the careful dismantling of that building so as to make possible the recovery of construction materiais and components, promoting reuse and recycling. The concept arose as a consequence of the rapid increase in the number of demolished buildings and the evolution of environmental concerns within society at large. The deconstruction is a process unusual in Portugal; traditional demolition is yet the preferred method when it is necessary to dismantling a building. However there are studies under away whose purpose is to lessen the quantity of debris that are by-products of the construction processo The aim of this document is to present the current state of national research, implementation and viability of deconstruction as an innovative technique in the process of rehabilitation, thereby contributing towards the economic sustainability of said processo The research projects which authors are involved are also discussed.

Tese de Doutoramento em Engenharia Civil; A temática dos acidentes de trabalho na Construção tem sido alvo de investigação frequente, através da publicação de diversos estudos centrados nas causas e circunstâncias destes acidentes. Estes estudos são unânimes em considerar este sector como aquele que regista o maior número de acidentes mortais, estando o fenómeno mais comum associado a quedas em altura. Pese embora a importância dos acidentes por quedas em altura, quer pela sua incidência, quer pela magnitude das suas consequências, não deve ser desprezada a importância dos acidentes gerados por quedas ao mesmo nível, que embora menos frequentes podem, em obra, trazer danos significativos para os trabalhadores. Estes acidentes estão, de acordo com a literatura, associados a escorregamentos ou tropeçamentos em obstáculos ou estruturas presentes em obra, sendo potenciados pela desorganização típica de um estaleiro de Construção. A movimentação manual de cargas é, ainda, uma tarefa bastante frequente em inúmeras actividades associadas ao processo construtivo e envolve a manipulação de objectos de dimensões e pesos consideráveis, que para além de dificultarem a sua manipulação, perturbam o equilíbrio postural do trabalhador e a percepção de factores de risco...

La collusion est une pratique anticoncurrentielle qui a pour but la coopération de personnes morales afin d’atteindre un but commun tel que le profit. Cette méthode se retrouve dans le milieu de la construction notamment par la rotation de contrat, par la fixation de prix ou le débalancement de bordereaux. Bien que la collusion dans la construction soit souvent associée au crime organisé, cette étude propose l’hypothèse d’un contrôle du marché par le crime organisant et non le crime organisé. Ainsi, l’industrie de la construction serait influencée par une organisation en mouvance et en développement constant pouvant s’organiser tout en organisant d’autres noyaux. En analysant le marché de l’industrie de la construction, cette étude a pu relever qu’il était possible à l’aide d’outils quantitatifs tels que l’analyse de classification d’identifier des irrégularités au sein du marché, au fil des années. Des entrevues passées auprès d’acteurs du domaine de la construction sont venues confirmer l’hypothèse d’un contrôle du marché par le crime organisant et non le crime organisé. L’analyse qualitative se penchait ainsi sur les motivations des acteurs à entreprendre des pratiques anticoncurrentielles et sur la compréhension de l’émergence de la collusion dans la construction. La discussion identifie les opportunités criminelles...

peer-reviewed; This thesis studies the consideration requirement for verbally-made contract variations in Irish construction contracts, and proposes how this specific circumstance can be best served by the law of contract. Construction is a complex and uncertain industry; and an effective construction industry is important and necessary for Ireland: it is a key driver of a functioning, developed economy, and it requires a sustainable level of activity to maintain infrastructure and develop new assets, consistent with what is expected of a developed nation. Yet it often involves projects of financial and technical vastness; and operates in an environment of risk, contractual risk allocation and residual uncertainty. The law of contract is essentially applied in the same way by the courts, regardless of whether the transaction is one of a major or minor nature. This contract paradigm is a straightforward and rigid system, which is designed for simple contracts involving equally-met parties, conducting non-complex transactions. Construction is an industry which operates within this contract paradigm, even though construction contracts are rarely as straightforward as those envisaged by the contract paradigm. When agreeing a construction contract...

Environmentally conscious construction has received a significant amount of research attention during the last decades. Even though construction literature is rich in studies that emphasize the importance of environmental impact during the construction phase, most of the previous studies failed to combine environmental analysis with other project performance criteria in construction. This is mainly because most of the studies have overlooked the multi-objective nature of construction projects. In order to achieve environmentally conscious construction, multi-objectives and their relationships need to be successfully analyzed in the complex construction environment. The complex construction system is composed of changing project conditions that have an impact on the relationship between time, cost and environmental impact (TCEI) of construction operations. Yet, this impact is still unknown by construction professionals. Studying this impact is vital to fulfill multiple project objectives and achieve environmentally conscious construction. This research proposes an analytical framework to analyze the impact of changing project conditions on the relationship of TCEI. This study includes green house gas (GHG) emissions as an environmental impact category. The methodology utilizes multi-agent systems...

This paper examines the regulation of safe design and planning of construction works. Eliminating and controlling risks to health and safety "at the source", as early as possible in the life cycle of work and workplaces, is a well recognised strategy for preventing or minimising occupational fatalities, injuries and disease. A commitment to "eliminate hazards at the design stage" is one of five priorities expressed in The National OHS Strategy 2002–2012, endorsed by the Australian Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council in May 2002 ..... As well as designers, those initiating or procuring construction works also influence OHS outcomes through the design features, timeframes, financial aspects and other requirements they specify or impose. This can be a positive influence, encouraging those responsible for design and construction to address OHS matters. Conversely, tight schedules or budgetary constraints may make it impossible to address OHS effectively. Other upstream factors impacting on OHS include poorly considered architectural options, poor organisation and planning, poor selection and coordination of the multiple contractors engaged, and poor coordination and cooperation between the different parties involved in the respective phases of design and planning...

The risk of losing ancient construction systems is highly relevant in the whole Mediterranean region, but also in many other countries worldwide. The earthen heritage and the mixed construction systems with timber are decreasing very fast and being identified in lists of risk by UNESCO, ICOMOS and by many researchers all over the world. They represent a cultural value of the societies that is being neglected due to unbalanced development, demolitions, lack of knowledge, and guidelines for conservation, instead of the expected unique reason of decay due to natural agents or ageing. Although some conservation approaches have been successful, the results are still scarce and the mistakes continuously repeated imposing irreversible gaps in reading this relevant heritage, mainly in urban areas. This entails questions about the approach to protection, conservation, and the reasons behind such disseminated failure in these objectives. The earthen architecture shows precisely the difficulties in the establishment of a strategy able to successfully achieve the goal of preserving its cultural value. This needs continuous research and ability to communicate the best conservation strategy as just one of the steps of a balanced framework. This investigation aims to discover reasons for failure of conservation strategies involving the traditional construction systems...

The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) was established by the former Howard government to regulate the building and construction sector. The establishment of the regulatory body followed damning reports by a Royal commission which alleged that building and construction workplaces were characterized by a widespread disregard for the law. An Interim Building Industry Taskforce was established subsequent to the release of the findings. The Royal commission's recommendations were then put before the federal parliament which led to the passage of the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 (BCII Act 2005). The office of the Australian Building and Construction Commission first began operations in October 2005. The Howard government had hoped the BCII Act (2005) would vastly improve the workplace relations framework for building and construction operations and ensure that all building work was carried out in a fair, efficient and productive manner. The Howard government had long been an advocate of industrial reform in the building and construction sector. It believed that the crucial economic role played by the building and construction industry in Australia was being undermined and had been hindered by a perceived trade union dominance of the workplace. The government also alleged that inefficient workplace production was occurring as a result of direct interference by unions in the workplace. Therefore...

As the effects of global warming and the exhaustion of natural resources become more and more evident, the importance of low-impact construction alternatives is becoming increasingly apparent. Conventional construction not only irreversibly drains natural resources; it is also responsible for the great amount of energy consumed in the production of building materials. Natural renewable materials that offer low-impact, low-embodied energy construction alternatives have promising potential for the construction industry. This thesis provides an insight into construction with natural materials, with particular emphasis on straw bale construction, by undertaking an embodied energy analysis. Firstly, the existing published sources were studied to obtain the embodied energy values of various construction materials relevant to conventional residential and straw bale construction. The embodied energy values for straw bales were found to have great variation from source to source. To obtain the value appropriate for the Canadian situation, the analysis completed in this thesis utilizes published material on straw and biomass. Secondly, a comparative analysis of embodied energy for various wall systems was completed. This analysis proves that straw bale construction is an effective low impact alternative to conventional residential construction styles. In particular...

L’introduction du développement durable apporte de nouvelles préoccupations environnementales au niveau de la construction et de la rénovation résidentielles, une industrie qui représente un marché économique important au Canada. En plus d’engendrer plusieurs impacts sur l’environnement, la conception actuelle ne permet pas d’accommoder le changement initié par l’évolution des pratiques, les avancées technologiques, mais également par l’évolution des patrons de vie des occupants. Dans un premier temps, la revue de littérature dresse le portrait de l’industrie de la construction, rénovation et démolition (CRD) au Canada, ainsi que le profil de gestion des débris de CRD. Ensuite, une analyse documentaire traite de différents outils de conception développés pour améliorer la performance du secteur : 3RV-E, écoconception, écoconstruction et LEED®. De plus, la recension des écrits permet également de cerner les concepts d’adaptabilité et de flexibilité au niveau du bâtiment et dans les approches et mouvements émergents en architecture. Cette démarche nous amène à établir l’hypothèse que l’intégration des critères d’adaptabilité et de flexibilité au niveau du logement aurait pour effet d’améliorer l’adéquation entre les besoins évolutifs des occupants et les nouvelles considérations environnementales. Au niveau méthodologique...

During the last twenty years the construction field in Brazil has evolved significantly in response to its market growing and competitiveness. However this evolving path has faced many obstacles such as cultural barriers and the lack of efforts to achieve quality at the Brazilian construction site. As one of the causes of this facts the lack of integration between construction and the designing process generates waste, pathologies, work redone and improvised changes originated by incompatible projects which were taken by incapacitated personnel at an inconvenient moment. At the same time, the great amount of information generated on the designing or construction phases is lost due to the lack of an effective coordination of these activities. From this scenario Souza (2001), has developed two management methods in her doctorate thesis named Preparation for the Execution of Buildings (known as PEO) and the Pro-active Coordination (known as CPA), these methods are based on the application of the processes adopted by the French construction industry on Brazilian construction sites. These methodologies aim to establish the integration of the project phases by a set of actions and activities implemented by a system of meetings where the main objective is to discuss the projects and the planning of the construction site seeking to obtain a better quality and better outcome on the productive process. These methodologies aim to bring expressive improvements on the productivity...

Trabalho de Projeto Mestrado em Engenharia e Gestão Industrial; O setor da construção civil é frequentemente criticado quer pelos seus atrasos, quer pelas suas derrapagens orçamentais. Com a crescente competitividade dos mercados atuais, tornou-se fundamental a aquisição de conhecimento de novas técnicas de gestão que garantam a utilização de ferramentas que permitam produzir melhores resultados. Neste contexto, as práticas de gestão revelam ter um papel cada vez mais importante nas empresas, particularmente a gestão de projetos. Devido ao aumento da complexidade, incerteza e necessidade de uma produção mais rápida e económica, o dinamismo dos projetos de construção tem sido crescente. A difusão do pensamento Lean por diversas indústrias como forma de minimizar o desperdício durante o processo de produção, tornaram-no atrativo para os investigadores da construção. Surgiu assim a filosofia Lean Construction, que tem vindo a melhorar o desempenho dos projetos de construção, sendo o Last Planner System a técnica mais popular e bem sucedida. A Lean Construction encontra-se em crescimento em todo o mundo, sendo que em Portugal esta filosofia ainda não é utilizada com regularidade. Existe cada vez mais empresas em Portugal a querer adotar esta filosofia...

This paper presents the results of a research project carried out in Spain that aims to develop a method that let employers to assess, during the design phase, the occupational health and safety costs of a specific construction project. This method classifies costs in four categories: insurance costs, prevention costs, accident costs, and recovery of costs. Labor accident data were obtained from 1990 to 2007 for the entire Spanish construction industry, and these data were subsequently homogenized and exploited. A mathematical model was created for computing each cost category. This method allows employers and project managers to estimate aprioristically the cost incurred as a result of occupational health and safety during the project, based on tangible values such as the construction project budget or the work schedule, as well as statistical data. An application to this method in a case study illustrated that the occupational health and safety costs for that construction project came to approximately 5% of the total cost of the budget. © 2014, Korean Society of Civil Engineers and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Through the analysis of the exceptional accounting documents of 1517 related to the construction of the Monastery of Jerónimos (Lisbon), this paper discusses the main characteristics of a new model of construction site organization. In the later Middle Ages we can find, among others, two main models of constructing site organization. One, older and more widespread, consisted in a centralized and pyramidal management model. The other, apparently more recent, was based in the existence of several autonomous teams working simultaneously, each one responsible for building a specific part or section of the building. This paper describes and discusses this new organizational model as it was adopted and implemented by João de Castilho (1470–1552) for the construction of the Monastery of Jerónimos in 1517, probably for the first time in Portugal, but with some parallels in other places in Europe.

peer-reviewed; This thesis studies the consideration requirement for verbally-made contract variations in Irish construction contracts, and proposes how this specific circumstance can be best served by the law of contract. Construction is a complex and uncertain industry; and an effective construction industry is important and necessary for Ireland: it is a key driver of a functioning, developed economy, and it requires a sustainable level of activity to maintain infrastructure and develop new assets, consistent with what is expected of a developed nation. Yet it often involves projects of financial and technical vastness; and operates in an environment of risk, contractual risk allocation and residual uncertainty. The law of contract is essentially applied in the same way by the courts, regardless of whether the transaction is one of a major or minor nature. This contract paradigm is a straightforward and rigid system, which is designed for simple contracts involving equally-met parties, conducting non-complex transactions. Construction is an industry which operates within this contract paradigm, even though construction contracts are rarely as straightforward as those envisaged by the contract paradigm. When agreeing a construction contract...

Este artigo propõe um Sistema de Indicadores que avalie o Desempenho em Ergonomia das Empresas de Construção de Edifícios. O sistema foi construído baseado, principalmente em estudos relacionados à avaliação de desempenho da indústria da coonstrução civil. Também houve a contribuição de indicadores relativos à qualidade, à sustentabilidade, à qualidade de vida no trabalhado, ao comportamento organizacional e à Segurança do Trabalho. Para a construção dos indicadores foram utilizadas pesquisas bibliográficas e estudos sobre indicadores pré-existentes relacionados à construção civil, à ergonomia e à segurança do trabalho, juntamente com as normas brasileiras relevantes, a fim de complementar os indicadores construídos. Os indicadores foram devidamente classificados, nomeados e tiveram seus componentes atribuídos, para compor, por fim, o Sistema de Indicadores de Desempenho em Ergonomia da Construção de Edifícios - SIDECE. Todos os estudos foram baseados nos principais objetivos da ergonomia: saúde, segurança, satisfação e eficiência. Este artigo mostra que o sistema, de acordo com a metodologia e os estudos realizados, pode ser amplamente aplicado em empresas construtoras de edifícios.; This article proposes a system of indicators to assess the performance of companies in ErgonomicsBuilding Construction. The system was built based mainly on studies related to the performance evaluation ofconstruction industry. There was also the contribution of indicators of quality...