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Environmental Sciences Proceedings, Volume 12, Issue 1

2021 BERF3 2021 - 24 articles

The 3rd Built Environment Research Forum

Sydney, Australia | 1 December 2021

Volume Editors:
Philip Oldfield, University of New South Wales, Australia
Samad M. E. Sepasgozar, University of New South Wales, Australia

Cover Story: This volume of Proceedings gathers papers presented at the School of Built Environment,the 3rd University of NSW (UNSW) Built Environment Research Forum (BERF#3), which was held as an online event on 1 December 2021. Active researchers from UNSW and industry partners connected to share new technical ideas, exchange initial challenges and processes, and present project results or directions. It was also a platform to build up new contacts in the field of built environment.
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Articles (24)

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
2,113 Views
4 Pages

Bushfires are an intrinsic part of Australia, especially in the Blue Mountains (11,400 km2), New South Wales (NSW). This region is dominated by fire-prone vegetation, such as heathland. Heathlands occupy a small portion of the Blue Mountains, less th...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
2 Citations
2,339 Views
4 Pages

Multi-Scale Modelling of Particulate Composite

  • Abdalla Elbana,
  • Amar Khennane,
  • Safat Al-Deen and
  • Muhammad Talha Junaid

The proposed study aims to investigate the micromechanical behavior of a reinforced polymer matrix with fly ash cenospheres. This study involves utilizing random sequential adsorption (RSA) theory to describe the distribution of the cenosphere partic...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
2 Citations
2,677 Views
5 Pages

Evaluating the Impact of Shading Devices, Glazing Systems, and Building Orientation on the Energy Consumption in Educational Spaces

  • Cinzia Buratti,
  • Elisa Belloni,
  • Francesca Merli,
  • Mehrangiz Mastoori,
  • Seyede Najme Sharifi and
  • Gloria Pignatta

This paper focused on the impact of the external shading devices, the optimal orientation, and the installation of Low-E glazing systems on the energy requirements in a typical elementary school building for the hot–dry climate of Shiraz, a cit...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
4 Citations
4,557 Views
4 Pages

Mental Health Conditions among Young Construction Workers: A Systematic Narrative Review

  • Samuel Frimpong,
  • Riza Yosia Sunindijo and
  • Cynthia Changxin Wang

This paper presents the results of a systematic narrative review on the mental health of young construction workers. By means of a thematic analysis of fifteen studies, two themes of mental health conditions were identified: (1) behavioural and emoti...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
2 Citations
3,284 Views
4 Pages

This study investigates the feasibility of establishing an environmentally sustainable ultra-high performance concrete from seawater and sea sand (SWSS-UHPC) which utilizes industrial byproducts (i.e., ground slag and silica fume) by partially substi...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
14 Citations
4,358 Views
5 Pages

City Digital Twin Concepts: A Vision for Community Participation

  • Fathima Nishara Abdeen and
  • Samad M. E. Sepasgozar

Community participation is seen as a means of improving the effectiveness of planning to benefit the people by empowering the people. However, a novel approach to enable community participation during the planning stage of smart city infrastructure p...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
1 Citations
2,599 Views
8 Pages

Although BIM has been used for many different purposes in construction, there are still some areas that can be improved by extending the application of BIM. One of the emerging concepts in the literature is the circular economy (CE). The CE aims to m...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
3 Citations
2,901 Views
4 Pages

In recent years, the improvement of risk management and the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) training process has become a hot topic. Virtual Reality (VR) technology is an efficient method to improve training efficiency and reduce accidents. Prev...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
2,544 Views
5 Pages

Focusing on the forgotten lessons and potential legacy of the urban projects proposed by the Japanese avant-garde architectural movement of Metabolism, which emerged in the 1960s, and on the critical and comparative study of large-scale waterfront re...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
2 Citations
2,291 Views
5 Pages

Analysis of Nano Silica Aerogel Based Glazing Effect on the Solar Heat Gain and Cooling Load in a School under Different Climatic Conditions

  • Cinzia Buratti,
  • Elisa Belloni,
  • Francesca Merli,
  • Mehrangiz Mastoori,
  • Seyede Najme Sharifi and
  • Gloria Pignatta

Demand for energy-efficient school buildings, which form a major part of public buildings, is growing in Iran. Window insulation is required to reduce the amount of energy wasted through openings. This study investigates the effect of double-glazing...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
1,851 Views
4 Pages

The continuous challenges that society faces, from civic inequality to intensifying ecological problems, require a responsive contextualisation of the social environment. Responding to existing issues, the Spatial Provocateur challenges evolving matt...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
1,893 Views
5 Pages

This research identifies patterns of conflicting interorganisational information exchange requirements in precinct modelling and simulation (M&S) depending on the interaction and expertise of the collaborating actors. Internationally surveying le...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
2,485 Views
5 Pages

Size Optimization of a Grid-Connected Solar–Wind Hybrid System in Net Zero Energy Buildings: A Case Study

  • Elaheh Sadeghi Bakhtiar,
  • Afshin Naeimi,
  • Ali Behbahaninia and
  • Gloria Pignatta

This study proposes a hybrid renewable energy system consisting of photovoltaic panels and a wind turbine to supply the total or part of the demand of a grid-connected residential building and presents the optimal system size using a genetic algorith...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
2 Citations
2,779 Views
5 Pages

Urban communities are complex systems. According to the holistic perspective of the systems thinking theory, the “whole is not the sum of its parts, but rather is a product of the parts’ interactions”. This systems-thinking approach...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
2,427 Views
4 Pages

Most of the southern Indian cities are in the warm and humid coastal belt where the summer and winter mean temperature varies between 25 and 35 °C and 20 and 30 °C, respectively, with mean relative humidity, responsible for mould growth in bu...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
2,181 Views
5 Pages

The materials used in the construction industry have a fundamental role in the development and achievement of low-carbon structures. This research aims to develop and characterize innovative and affordable renewable materials that can meet these low...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
1 Citations
2,339 Views
4 Pages

Theoretical Considerations about Energy Transition in Luxembourg

  • Ali Arababadi,
  • Stephan Leyer,
  • Reza Arababadi and
  • Gloria Pignatta

The energy transition is a certain phenomenon in the future which as of yet has no agreed definition. It involves a shift in the dominant ‘rules of the game’—a transformation of established technologies and societal practices and mo...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
1 Citations
2,712 Views
4 Pages

Digital technologies are supposed to be used to obtain higher efficiency and quality in off-site construction. This research is an on-going thesis project and aims to identify the challenges and expectations of digital technologies’ implementat...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
2,352 Views
4 Pages

A large number of factors affect the energy consumption of a building. These factors can be categorized into building-related and space-related factors. The purpose of this study was to use the geospatial information system (GIS) to estimate and anal...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
1 Citations
2,420 Views
4 Pages

Simulating the Impact of Solar Energy on Pyramid and Stair Urban Blocks

  • Gloria Pignatta,
  • Haniya Javed,
  • Mehrangiz Mastoori,
  • Seyede Najme Sharifi,
  • Naga Venkata Sai Kumar Manapragada and
  • Cinzia Buratti

Developing countries such as Iran are rapidly expanding, putting pressure on non-renewable energy resources. The building sector takes a major share of the total energy consumption of the country and is projected to increase further, resulting in the...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
2,109 Views
4 Pages

In conventional building integrated photovoltaic thermal (BIPV/T) systems, heat is only recovered during cold seasons. However, no recovery takes place in hot seasons. Therefore, this study comes up with an answer to the question “how much impr...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
2,415 Views
6 Pages

The built environment in Australia accounts for about 25% of total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), where only the multi-unit residential buildings account for a quarter of these emissions. Moving towards sustainable constructions and green buildings...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
4 Citations
2,752 Views
5 Pages

Cost-Saving through Pre-Cooling: A Case Study of Sydney

  • Shayan Naderi,
  • Simon Heslop,
  • Dong Chen,
  • Iain MacGill and
  • Gloria Pignatta

Air conditioning is responsible for a considerable proportion of households’ electricity bills. During summer afternoons when households usually run their air conditioners, the retail time-of-use electricity tariffs are highest, and there is a...

  • Proceeding Paper
  • Open Access
2,105 Views
2 Pages

Sri Lanka, under the British from the early 19th century to 1948, saw a rapid growth in urban areas and the emergence of metropolitan bourgeoisie. Increasing demand for housing was met through housing schemes and private houses on smaller plots. Prev...

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Environ. Sci. Proc. - ISSN 2673-4931