Advanced Technologies for Successful and Sustainable Construction and Maintenance Projects—2nd Edition

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction Management, and Computers & Digitization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 July 2025 | Viewed by 4614

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Engineering, International Hellenic University, Alexander Campus, Sindos, 57 400 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: public works contract procurement; contract management and claims management; multi-criteria decision making; project planning; construction cost estimation; project procurement systems; construction supply chain management; safety and risk management in construction
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

What constitutes a successful project? The recent debate on this question refutes the well-known “iron triangle” to include factors other than cost, time, and quality, such as safety, environmental impact, and client and user satisfaction. Similarly, the environmental concerns of recent decades have asked the question, what is a sustainable project? It is well known that factors significantly contributing to climate change and global warming during construction include increased levels of carbon emissions and other atmospheric pollutants, waste generation, and natural resource consumption. Therefore, construction projects that have the least detrimental effect on the environment can be considered sustainable. These can be projects that encompass environmentally friendly construction materials and techniques during their initial construction, as well as ecological retrofitting methods and materials during operation. Environmental protection issues augment the complexity of construction and maintenance projects, thus resulting in a greater need for new advanced management and decision-making tools and techniques.

This Special Issue aims at showcasing recent academic and industrial developments for successful and sustainable project management through the whole life cycle of construction projects. Specific topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Project success prediction and project failure analysis;
  • Green construction methods and materials;
  • Circular economy in construction;
  • Lean construction techniques;
  • Applications of robotics and automation in construction;
  • New approaches to project planning, budget estimating, cost control, quality control and construction safety assurance;
  • Risk management;
  • Multicriteria decision making in urban planning, construction, and maintenance projects;
  • Sustainable procurement and contract management;
  • Supply chain management in construction and maintenance;
  • Successful claim management;
  • New skills and leadership qualities for successful construction projects;
  • Digital transformations of construction processes and organizations.

Dr. Fani Antoniou
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • construction management
  • project success
  • sustainable construction
  • decision making
  • procurement
  • contracts
  • claim management

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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23 pages, 1176 KiB  
Article
Developing Proactive Compliance Mechanisms for Chinese International Construction Contractors: A PLS-SEM Analysis
by Li Feng and Zhixiu Wang
Buildings 2025, 15(9), 1478; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15091478 - 27 Apr 2025
Viewed by 325
Abstract
The international construction contracting industry is facing increasingly stringent regulations and complex compliance risks, forcing contractors to reluctantly comply with regulations to cope with external pressure, intense competition, and turbulent markets. The existing research focuses on the passive compliance of contractors and sporadically [...] Read more.
The international construction contracting industry is facing increasingly stringent regulations and complex compliance risks, forcing contractors to reluctantly comply with regulations to cope with external pressure, intense competition, and turbulent markets. The existing research focuses on the passive compliance of contractors and sporadically identifies the driving factors, and lacks a detailed exploration of proactive compliance, which has created a research gap in regard to contractor compliance management, wherein changes to internal passive control and external environmental dynamics cannot be addressed. This study aims to promote proactive compliance by contractors by establishing a theoretical framework, containing factors related to stakeholder pressures, project complexity, and compliance values. This study involves 135 samples of international construction experience, utilizing the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique for data analysis. The findings demonstrate a significant positive impact of stakeholder pressures (β = 0.328, p < 0.01) and compliance values on the promotion of proactive compliance by contractors (β = 0.246, p < 0.01). Moreover, the study reveals that project complexity further strengthens the relationship between stakeholder pressures and proactive compliance (β = 0.203, p < 0.05). By deepening the understanding of the interactions between external pressures, internal control, and proactive compliance in regard to complex project attributes, this study offers a theoretical framework that integrates project level factors and organizational level factors. This study contributes guidance for contractors facing compliance challenges in the global context, enabling them to tackle increasing compliance pressures and risks, thereby facilitating the development of proactive compliance strategies in complex project environments and enhancing their competitiveness and sustainability. Full article
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22 pages, 9435 KiB  
Article
Life-Cycle Maintenance Cost Model for Concrete Bridges Using Markovian Deterioration Curves
by Kleopatra Petroutsatou, Theodora Vagdatli, Nikolaos Louloudakis and Panagiotis Panetsos
Buildings 2025, 15(5), 807; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15050807 - 2 Mar 2025
Viewed by 933
Abstract
Long-term deterioration of concrete bridges is a natural process that requires prudent maintenance actions throughout the bridge’s life-cycle. Nowadays, there is an ongoing effort to simulate such processes into practical models. One primary element for the model’s accuracy is the datasets used for [...] Read more.
Long-term deterioration of concrete bridges is a natural process that requires prudent maintenance actions throughout the bridge’s life-cycle. Nowadays, there is an ongoing effort to simulate such processes into practical models. One primary element for the model’s accuracy is the datasets used for its development. The gap between underestimated or overestimated and actual values could be narrowed by utilizing real-world datasets on bridge deterioration and rehabilitation obtained from systematic inspections over time in similar environments. Therefore, the present study aims to develop an empirical probabilistic model for precisely predicting the bridge’s future performance and suitably implementing maintenance strategies that facilitate sustainable management during bridge service life based on real data. Actual records of 72 concrete bridges from motorways in Northern Greece were collected, documenting different detected defect types, condition states, and associated maintenance costs over time. Two discrete-time Markov-chain models for the bridge’s superstructure and substructure were produced, allowing for the prediction of maintenance costs that align with the given structural condition throughout its operational life. A Chi-square test demonstrated the model’s applicability to similar datasets. This enables bridge managers to obtain a comprehensive overview of the bridge’s longitudinal performance and maintenance expenditures and adopt economically sustainable solutions for the bridge’s management. Full article
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29 pages, 6710 KiB  
Article
Urban Polycentricity and Architectural Heritage: A PROMETHEE-Based Multicriteria Approach
by Evina Sofianou, Jason Papathanasiou and George Aretoulis
Buildings 2024, 14(9), 2659; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14092659 - 27 Aug 2024
Viewed by 1705
Abstract
Polycentricity is a multiscalar concept referring to the interconnections of neighboring spatial areas in search of synergies. More specifically, urban polycentricity has lately gained increasing momentum in academic research and strategic planning as urban polycentric structures could stimulate urban and regional performance in [...] Read more.
Polycentricity is a multiscalar concept referring to the interconnections of neighboring spatial areas in search of synergies. More specifically, urban polycentricity has lately gained increasing momentum in academic research and strategic planning as urban polycentric structures could stimulate urban and regional performance in a sustainable way. Architectural heritage, with its connotative meanings, is among the indicators of incorporation in polycentric networking. The present paper investigates the challenges of implementing urban polycentricity methodological approaches to highlight new polycentric networks based on built architectural heritage. In this study, appointed architectural assets are considered as nodes of the potential networks. As a new research strand, the MCDA PROMETHEE method is applied to compile and assemble all indicators (namely, rank size and node hierarchy, accessibility, transportation, and digital promotion). The ultimate research goal is to build a new polycentricity index as an innovative methodological tool to highlight polycentric networking synergies on interurban and intraregional scales. The region of Thrace in Northern Greece is chosen to apply the proposed methodology. Research on ways to couple polycentricity and PROMETHEE methods is limited, and thus, the proposed methodological approach is expected to contribute to the field of urban and regional strategies for researchers and practitioners. Full article
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23 pages, 1401 KiB  
Systematic Review
The Use of Digital Technologies in Construction Safety: A Systematic Review
by Emmanuel Itodo Daniel, Olalekan S. Oshodi, Nnaemeka Idawarifa Nwankwo, Fidelis A. Emuze and Ezekiel Chinyio
Buildings 2025, 15(8), 1386; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15081386 - 21 Apr 2025
Viewed by 1014
Abstract
The global construction industry faces serious safety challenges, characterised by high rates of accidents and fatalities. A systematic review that analysed 95 academic articles from the Scopus and Web of Science databases investigated the current use of digital technologies (DTs) in construction safety [...] Read more.
The global construction industry faces serious safety challenges, characterised by high rates of accidents and fatalities. A systematic review that analysed 95 academic articles from the Scopus and Web of Science databases investigated the current use of digital technologies (DTs) in construction safety management across developed and developing countries. The research discovered that digital technology applications in construction safety primarily focus on developing models and simulations. These technologies are making significant contributions by enhancing worker training, improving risk prediction capabilities, enabling real-time monitoring, facilitating better communication, and supporting more proactive safety interventions. The most frequently utilised digital technologies in this domain include virtual reality (VR), building information modelling (BIM), machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the promising potential of these technologies, their actual implementation remains somewhat limited, especially in developing countries. This study identified critical knowledge gaps, specifically the limited understanding of digital technology trends in construction safety management across different economic contexts, the insufficient research on strategies to increase digital technology adoption in the construction sector, and the need for more comprehensive investigations into how the technology adoption divide can be bridged. This research aimed to facilitate future empirical studies that can advance the understanding of digital technologies and the development of strategies to integrate them more comprehensively into construction safety practices. By providing a detailed overview of current digital technology applications, highlighting research limitations, and suggesting future research directions, this review seeks to contribute to both academic understanding and practical improvements in global construction industry safety. Full article
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