Master of Science (Major Component Research)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://192.248.9.226/handle/123/13673

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item: Thesis-Abstract
Applicability of circular economy strategies to minimise the construction & demolition waste in Sri Lanka
(2023) Victar HC; Waidyasekara A
Construction and Demolition (C&D) Waste Management (WM) poses significant issues in Sri Lanka, contributing to environmental degradation and resource depletion. To address these issues, this study explores the application of Circular Economy (CE) strategies in minimising waste generation and optimising resource utilisation in Sri Lankan Construction Industry (CI). The focus is on reducing waste generation and maximising resource utilisation during the stages of the building life cycle. These stages are crucial in terms of waste generation and resource consumption. The aim of this research is to develop a framework which is to minimise C&D WM issues using CE strategies in Sri Lankan building projects. A qualitative approach was employed in this research, utilising three rounds of semi-structured expert interviews. In the first round, fifteen experts were involved, followed by twelve in the second round, and ten in the final round. The data obtained from these interviews underwent analysis using manual content analysis techniques. During the preconstruction stage, a study uncovered sixteen WM issues. To address these issues, relevant CE strategies were identified and discussed in regarding their potential impact on the project management iron triangle comprising time, cost, and scope. Similarly, during the construction and building renovation phase, the study identified fifteen C&D WM issues. Corresponding strategies were proposed to effectively tackle each issue, considering their influence on the project management iron triangle. For example, the introduction of on-site sorting and recycling processes was highlighted as a method to reduce waste disposal time and costs, while also minimising the project's environmental footprint. Moving on to the use and operate stage of the building, eight C&D WM issues were recognised. Appropriate strategies were suggested to address these issues. For instance, the promotion of sustainable procurement practices and the use of durable materials were identified as ways to decrease waste generation and longterm maintenance costs, positively affecting the project's overall success. Similarly, during the demolition and repurpose stage, fourteen C&D WM issues were identified. Strategies such as salvaging reusable materials and advocating for responsible demolition practices were outlined as solutions. In the material recovery and production stage, eight more C&D WM issues were identified. Strategies like incorporating recycled materials into the production process and optimising material usage were suggested. Implementing CE strategies in the CI to address C&D WM issues can perform a substantial role in creating a built environment that is more sustainable, resilient, and resource efficient. Further, this will help to minimise the demand for virgin materials and reduce the volume of waste generated. Using recycled materials also helps close the loop of the materials cycle, thereby contributing to the CE.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Teaching and research capacity of disaster resilience in the built environment higher education in Sri Lanka
(2023) Nanayakkara NB; Thayaparan M
Built Environment (BE) is immensely damaged due to the increased intensity of disasters. Therefore, the BE professionals are expected to react effectively and efficiently during both pre-disaster and post disaster phases. Nevertheless, the existing knowledge insufficiency on disaster resilience (DR) acts as a barrier for the professionals to deliver an effective service. Thus, incorporating DR studies within the higher education curriculum has been identified as one of the action plans by the Disaster Management Centre in Sri Lanka. This research, therefore, sets out to enhance the current teaching and research capacity in the field of DR among the BE disciplines in Sri Lankan state universities. This study adopts a phenomenological philosophy and uses multi-method qualitative as the methodological choice in deriving a conclusion. Under survey strategy, desk study and semi-structured interviews were incorporated as the data collection techniques. The findings were subjected to manual content analysis. The importance of acquiring DR knowledge by BE professionals are confirmed in the literature review. This research developed a landscape using desk study to identify the current status of DR education in terms of teaching and research among BE disciplines in the state universities in Sri Lanka. The landscape revealed that among the departments that offer BE related programmes, the teaching modules that are related to DR are comparatively limited. Nevertheless, the research activities related to DR are conducted in most of the BE related departments. The key drivers for the integration of DR into the BE education are to make BE professionals responsible in building a habitable world to human-beings and to face the increasing number of disasters, the personal research interest, expertise of academic staff members in the DR related research area, and the social responsibility of the academics. The key barriers encountered in terms of DR teaching and research capacities were the heavily loaded modules specific to the degree programme of the curriculum, the high priority given for the technical knowledge, not updating the curriculum frequently to meet the emerging knowledge requirements, lack of resource persons, and lack of awareness on educating BE professionals with DR knowledge. Finally, recommendations were suggested to effectively incorporate DR knowledge within the higher education curriculums and research activities on the BE disciplines of the state universities in Sri Lanka.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Economic evaluation of grid -tied PV technology used in apparel manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka
(2021) Harindi GL; Waidyasekara KGAS
Grid-Tied Photovoltaic (PV) technology is a globally accepted renewable technology used for built environment. Application of grid-tied PV system is a promising alternative and it’s essential that clients know if the investments in such technologies are actually profitable. In Sri Lanka fewer studies were found on the economic evaluation of grid-tied PV technology. In particular, the economics of generating solar electricity has not been addressed appropriately for Sri Lanka’s apparel manufacturing industry. Therefore, aim of this study is to evaluate the economic gain of grid-tied PV technology for apparel manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka to promote its application. The case study approach was adopted as the research strategy and four (04) apparel manufacturing facilities were selected. The data collection was done through semistructured interviews and documentary reviews, whereas the analysis was conducted through manual content analysis and evaluation of economic indicators. Case study data revealed the key economic benefits of the system such as monthly revenue, low maintenance cost, reduce burden on local utility grid, etc. Key economic challenges were identified as high initial cost, high replacement costs, cost due to conflicts with suppliers, revenue depreciation with system losses and the like. Selecting energy service companies, promote bulk purchase and maintain stocks, enhance national solar energy demand, improve the process of renewable energy loan schemes, etc. are the proposed strategies to overcome those challenges. In addition, three (03) economic indicators were measured, such as levelized cost of electricity, net present value and simple payback period. The levelized cost of electricity resulted in a reasonable range for the cost of producing electricity using a solar PV system, ranging between Rs. 10 and Rs. 12 per kilowatt hour (kWh) and simple payback period and net present value showed a favorable condition, implying system’s profitability for apparel manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Culture of municipal solid waste management : analysis of values, attitudes and behaviours
(2021) Kumarasiri DMGBT; De Silva N; Samaraweera A; Dissanayake P
Developing countries like Sri Lanka are having huge stinking garbage dumps which is a “silent looming crisis” as cities grow day by day. Even though, there are strategies already implemented in municipal solid waste management (MSWM), most of those were either failed or not sufficient to address the current waste crisis. This is mainly due to the poor planning and implementation practices in MSWM, where the relevant authorities are responsible. They are not enthusiastic in pursuing solutions for the growing public concerns towards MSWM. Because they are not aware about the exact importance of proper MSWM for the country. Thus, there is a need of an attitudinal and behavioural change to overcome this problem. Despite the availability of research on community attitudes and behaviours in MSWM, a gap in literature could be identified in identifying the values, attitudes, and behaviours of authorities in planning and implementation of MSWM in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this research intends to provide a culture-based solution for MSWM by investigating values, attitudes, and behaviours of authority personals in MSWM. A Comprehensive literature review was conducted to review the concepts of value, attitude, and behaviour in MSWM context, including the waste management strategies adopted in MSWM. Positioning this research in an interpretivist stance, a qualitative approach was used adapting qualitative survey as the research strategy to achieve the aim of the research. Seventeen semi structured interviews were held with the key authorities who responsible for planning and implementation of MSWM in Sri Lanka. Manual content analysis was used to analyse the results of qualitative survey. The verdicts of the research revealed the common MSWM practices in Sri Lanka, which are open dumping, landfilling, composting, adaptation of 3R concept and so on along with the accompanying values, attitudes, and behaviours. Positive values, attitudes and behaviours along with noteworthy negative values, attitudes and behaviours such as community cooperation is less in MSWM, open dumping of waste is the easiest method of getting rid of waste and adapting new technologies is not affordable to Sri Lanka, which is result in the behaviours like open dumping of waste without any treatment and reluctancy in allocating fund for latest technologies in MSWM. Although many positive values are held by Sri Lankans in MSWM, such values are not reflected through the attitudes and behaviours. Moreover, it was revealed through the findings that future positive behaviour of an individual influences changing the attitude of another while creating a positive value to the authorities responsible for MSWM. Thus, the research could be concluded that behaviours should be improved as it was already revealed that the cycle of culture management can do a great influence on managing MSW. Finally, the study was concluded by proposing strategies to manage MSW from a cultural perspective by refining the conceptual framework. The knowledge generated through this research can be used by respective authorities in Sri Lanka in successful planning and implementing MSWM strategies.
item: Thesis-Full-text
Post fire refurbishment of apparel manufacturing buildings for enhanced building performance
(2020) Rathanyake RMDIM; Abeynayake M; Sridarran P
The essence of buildings in apparel sector is highly influenced on the efficiency and effectiveness of occupants’ performance and comfort. Creation of user satisfaction can be reached through the involvement of building performance mandates (BPMs) within the interplay of total building performance (TBP). TBP is affected by numerous reasons. Among those, fire incidents may cause direct or indirect impacts to the present building or even in old age. Consequences of these fire incidents in apparel buildings lead to building refurbishments which intended to reinstate the building condition as well as to improve the quality of life. Nevertheless, evaluation of post-fire refurbishment projects mainly focused on building integrity in terms of mechanical and physical properties. However, there are no evidence of any building evaluation especially focusing to the other performance mandates in post fire building refurbishment. Therefore, equal importance should be given to other five BPMs (spatial performance [SP], thermal, acoustic [TP], indoor air quality performance [IAQP], visual performance [VP] and acoustic performance [AP]) in order to achieve building functionality and comfort of the building occupants. The study was conducted by involving the concurrent nested mixed design under mixed research approach. An extensive literature review and case studies of three fire affected apparel buildings were involved as data collection methods. Literature review was conducted in order to review the behaviour of building fires, factors contribute to building fire incidents, hardware and software measures of fire safety and models for building fire impact evaluation. Moreover, refurbishment of fire damaged buildings and its impact on building performance were recognised through the literature review. Data collection were supported by eighteen semi structured interviews and a questionnaire survey among thirty-six respondents. Collected qualitative data analysed using manual content analysis and quantitative data analysed by relative importance index (RII). The results revealed that due to the business nature of apparel sector holds high risk for fire incidents. To fight against high fire risk in apparel sector, better symbiosis between elements of fire detection, notification and suppression emphasised by the current research. On the other hand, lack of practice on passive fire protection and unavailability of apparel sector specific fire regulation in Sri Lanka asserted as a practice which hinder the effective building protection against fire. To safeguard the building from critical fire incidents, forty-nine factors highlighted and strategies to overcome the identified loopholes elaborated in the current study. Accordingly, ‘faulty wiring’ was ranked with highest relevance followed by ‘welding work with electrical sparks’. Importance of BPMs for apparel manufacturing buildings was analysed to enhance building performance in post-fire situation. Then existing best practices of BPMs in the apparel sector were discussed. Even though these BPMs essential to apparel manufacturing sector, the better application of BPMs have been limited by many challenges in the business operation. The research identified forty-five (45) challenges encountered in maintaining BPMs of post fire refurbished apparel manufacturing buildings and provided strategies to overcome the identified challenges. Finally, a framework was developed by incorporating main three themes, push factors and pull factors identified in the study to enhance the performance of post-fire apparel buildings beyond restoration.
item: Thesis-Full-text
Enhancing the application of life cycle assessment in the construction industry: use of modified quintuple helix innovation model
(2020) Amarasinghe SDIA; Hadiwattege C
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is identified as a systematic analytical tool used to assess the total environmental burdens related to any product, process, or activity by assessing all upstream flows and all downstream flows throughout the whole value chain. LCA has been applied significantly in developed countries, as a sophisticated assessment method to strengthen the decision-making process in the construction industry. Although LCA applications in the construction sector have been implemented comprehensively in the international arena, it is challenging to discover evidence in the Sri Lankan construction sector as a developing country. Also, the Sri Lankan construction industry has been in the position of highly vulnerable to face environmental degradation as a result of the booming nature of constructions, which drastically increases environmental challenges. Hence, it has become a key requirement for establishing LCA in the Sri Lankan construction industry as a solution to reduce the increasing adverse environmental impacts. Therefore, this study targets to bridge the research gap by solving the research problem of ‘how to establish LCA practice in the construction industry through a Quintuple Helix Innovation approach?’. Literature findings emphasised the twelve (12) number of strengths and opportunities enjoyed by developed countries, which have improved the capacity of LCA applications. Further, literature findings indicate the eleven (11) number of weaknesses and threats faced by developing countries in establishing LCA. The qualitative research approach was adopted and an expert interview survey was used as the research method. Data was collected with the use of the Repertory Grid Interview (RGI) technique, and data collection was limited to twenty (20) expert interviews representing five (05) contenders in the Quintuple Helix Innovation Model. Data was analysed using manual content analysis. The empirical investigation highlighted that ‘ability to identify opportunities for environmental improvements with the use of LCA’ as one of the extremely important strengths identified by all contenders. ‘Positive growth in the country to achieve environmental sustainability’ identified as one of the extremely important opportunities by all contenders. ‘Unavailability of experienced LCA professionals’ identified as one of the weaknesses by all the contenders. ‘Unavailability of accurate LCA data’ categorized as one of the extremely influential threats by all the contenders. Then, individual SWOT analysis was developed for each of the contenders by identifying their respective strengths/opportunities and weaknesses/threats. Further, ‘government intervention by providing financial incentives’ and ‘development of LCA database’ are identified as some of the strategies to overcome the identified weaknesses and threats in establishing LCA for the construction industry. Finally, a Modified Quintuple Helix Innovation Model was developed and it could be employed to motivate all the related contenders to apply LCA as a decision-making tool to assess and mitigate environmental impacts generated by the Sri Lankan construction industry.
item: Thesis-Full-text
Performance measurement for the Development of emerging smart cities: the Case of sri lanka
(2020) Samarakkody AL; Kulatunga U; Bandara HMND
Performance of a Smart City can be measured in terms of the smartness which in turn is defined by means of smart characteristics. Suitable smart characteristics for a particular context can be identified by means of performance measures and the Performance Measurement System prepared as such, can provide means for the emerge of Smart Cities in that context. Thus, this research aims at enhancing the emerging city development projects in Sri Lanka through an appropriate and holistic Smart City Performance Measurement Systems. The objectives of this study were accomplished with a mixed method approach and data were collected through preliminary interviews, case study interviews and questionnaire surveys. Findings were analysed with content analysis using cognitive maps and with statistical analysis using Battelle scoring approach. As the major findings of this study, a list of Performance Measures for Smart Cities from literature, the appropriate list of Performance Measures for the proposed Smart City project in Colombo Port City and a scoring system as part of the Performance Measurement System for a Sri Lankan Smart City context are produced. The Performance Measurement System includes the themes Smart Mobility, Smart People, Smart Environment, Smart Living, Smart Economy and Smart Governance, embedded in critical success factors in a Smart City project and shows interrelationships between themes. Findings revealed that availability of ICT infrastructure as the most significant Performance Measure while the Smart Mobility was the most significant theme in the scoring system. The researchers in designing the Performance Measurement System have given an equal importance to Smart People theme as well. Additionally, the reasons to proceed with emerging Smart City development projects, barriers to proceed with the developed Performance Measurement System to Smart Cities in Sri Lanka and the recommended solutions to overcome the barriers are discussed.
item: Thesis-Full-text
Liveability defined : the case of Colombo, Sri Lanka
(2020) Tennakoon TMMP; Kulathunga U
The rapid increment in the population in the cities has manifested number of challenges in terms of unauthorized developments, underutilized housing, limitations in infrastructure and services, energy consumption and waste management. The quality of lives of the inhabitants have diminished and cities are becoming less liveable. Hence, the need of a planning approach to address these issues with a sensitivity to the requirements of the inhabitants has been felt for some time. The concept of liveability which is a subset of the concept of sustainability is perceived as a philosophy to face the urban conundrum. Liveability has been assessed using liveability indexes which have marketability purpose. The representation of liveability through the existing indexes is unlike to address the issues of urbanization. Thus, this study advocates to define and characterize liveability to enhance the quality of lives of inhabitants in Sri Lanka. Based on a pragmatist research philosophy, an abductive research approach is used for the study. Firstly, an extensive literature review is conducted, followed by a case study strategy to contextualize the literature findings. Data collection is done via expert interviews, document review to define liveability for the case. Six liveability characteristics, twenty-five attributes and seventy-one indicators were distinguished prioritized using Analytical Hierarchy Process. Challenging the existing vague definitions, liveability was defined as the satisfactory quality of lives of inhabitants achieved through its balanced socio-economic environment reflected through the character of the city of Colombo with quality and proximate services, connectivity to amenities through proper infrastructure and preserved natural environment. Balanced socio-economic environment was prioritized over other characteristics. A global weight was assigned to these elements which was utilized as the weighting factor of the developed liveability index to enhance the quality of lives of the inhabitants of cities. Unlike current liveability indexes with marketability purposes, the developed liveability indexes adapt a participatory approach to address the issues in the cities with a liveability perspective.
item: Thesis-Full-text
Applicability of carbon pricing instruments to reduce energy based carbon emissions of apparel sector in Sri Lanka
(2019) Karunaratne TLW; Jayawickrama T
Global warming and subsequent climate change have been identified as critical global issues which need urgent and close attention. Nevertheless, addressing this has become a problem due to the direct relationship between development and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, with the introduction of Paris agreement, countries are trying to reduce GHG emission by using various emission reduction policy instruments. Price based emission reduction instruments are deemed to be effective in achieving emission reductions, as they induce emission reductions through price signals, and also generate revenues which can later be used. Carbon tax systems and emission trading schemes are identified as the most popular pricing instruments. However, implementation of carbon pricing instruments in not that common seen. Hence, this research focuses on identifying the applicability of carbon pricing instruments to reduce GHG emissions in apparel sector, which is also a highly energy intensive sector in Sri Lanka. Data collection was done through semistructured interviews and questionnaires. Data collected through questionnaire survey was analysed using Fuzzy Extended Analytic Hierarchy Process (FEAHP), while data collected through interviews were analysed through content analysis. A preliminary survey was done to validate literature findings, which was used in the questionnaire. Questionnaire survey was conducted to evaluate the response of apparel firms to carbon pricing instruments. When evaluating the response of firms, the importance given by firms to decision alternatives was analysed using FEAHP. Accordingly, investing in new technologies was found as the most important decision alternative for apparel firms with an importance weight of 0.24, while shifting cost to customers was found as the decision alternative with lowest importance with a weight of 0.17. From the expert interviews, it was found that the carbon pricing revenue should be used to programmes which targets emission reductions. Further, the expert interviews revealed that there could be barriers at organization level, sector level and national level when implementing a carbon pricing instrument. Hence, it was found that the necessary steps should be taken at all those three levels to overcome the barriers and implement a lasting carbon pricing instrument which is capable of achieving emission reductions.
item: Thesis-Full-text
Developing a framework for facilities management supply chain performance evaluation in hotels
(2019) Abdeen FN; Sandanayake YG; Ramachandra T
Facilities Management Supply Chain (FMSC) encompasses multi-disciplinary activities, and thus have extensive requirement for multiple party interactions. Moreover, FMSC is characterised with complexities due to the network structure, availability of conflicting relationships and involvement of multiple parties resulting in deprived performance levels. Performance measurement and Performance Measurement System (PMS) have been endorsed by many researches worldwide as a mechanism to upsurge supply chain performance levels by evaluating performance and determining future courses of actions. However, performance measurement and metrics pertaining to FMSC have not received adequate attention from researchers or practitioners of Facilities Management (FM). This research therefore, sets out to develop a PMS to evaluate FMSC performance in hotels. The study primarily carried out an extensive literature review. Subsequently, under qualitative approach and case study strategy, data was collected through document review and 21 semi-structured interviews in three (03) case studies of five-star hotels in Sri Lanka. The collected data were analysed using manual code base content analysis and QSR N-Vivo 10 Software. The study initially conducted an in-depth investigation to determine the nature of FMSC and revealed that FMSC comprises upstream, mid-stream and downstream processes and activities carried out by internal and external parties together with bidirectional information, product and finance flow and unidirectional service flow. The seven (07) key FMSC processes identified by the study were delivery of product by suppliers, delivery of services by service providers, sourcing, make/ fulfil, delivery of FM services and products, receipt of FM services and receipt of products by customers. Empirical findings revealed that FMSC undergoes several challenges faced mainly from supplier, internal and customer perspectives. Lack of reliable suppliers, lack of information and inconsistent quality from supplier’s end formed the top most challenges in FMSC. These challenges possess threats on FMSC performance in short term and long term. Hence, the necessity of monitoring and evaluating FMSC performance through a systematic PMS is indispensable. Therefore, based on the derived FMSC process and key activities, 38 key performance indicators were developed for all seven (07) key sub-processes. By integrating the key performance indicators, the overall performance measurement system for FMSC was developed to improve cooperation among FMSC partners, to raise FMSC integration and finally to pursuit FMSC excellence through FMSC performance monitoring, evaluation and feedback. The developed Framework was validated by three (03) subject matter experts in hotel industry. The FMSC performance measurement system developed by this study would assist FM practitioners to contribute towards overall hotel performance by ensuring both internal and external customer satisfaction
item: Thesis-Full-text
Stakeholder engagement in smart city projects in Sri Lanka
(2019) Jayasena NS; Mallawaarachchi BH; Waidyasekara KGAS
Escalating challenges in the modern cities with the rapid urbanisation has initiated the need of sustainable urban development. Smart Cities are identified as the most suitable solution in achieving sustainable urban development. The concept of Smart Cities have created an anticipation in Sri Lanka and strategic plans are being developed in enabling Smart Cities in Sri Lanka. Though there is a growing requirement in developing Smart Cities, Smart City projects entails certain challenges, which are required to be resolved in order to achieve success of the project. Enabling the effective engagement of the stakeholders in the project is identified as a key for the achievement of successful Smart City projects. Therefore, the scope of this research focuses on enabling stakeholder engagement in Smart City projects in Sri Lanka. The research was conducted by utilising the explanatory sequential mixed design under mixed research approach. A comprehensive literature synthesis was conducted in order to review the concept of Smart Cities, importance of Smart Cities in sustainable urban development and to identify the characteristics of Smart City projects. Moreover, stakeholders in Smart City projects and their contributions were identified through the literature review. Subsequently, a desktop study was carried out in order to identify stakeholders and their contributions in urban development projects in Sri Lanka. After the comparison of the findings of the literature review and the desktop study, a list of stakeholders in Smart City projects and their contributions were determined. Afterwards, a single case study was carried out to validate the stakeholders and to find their contributions in Smart City projects. Moreover, factors ensuring the engagement of stakeholders, which can be used as strategies were identified through the case study. Captured data from the desktop study and the case study were quantitatively and qualitatively analysed respectively. In accordance with the findings, a model was developed in order to enable the engagement of stakeholders in the SC projects in Sri Lanka. Government, Local and Regional Administrative Bodies, financial suppliers/ investors, utility suppliers and developers are identified as the internal stakeholders in Smart City projects and Academia and Research Institutions, Media, citizens, non-profit organisations and opposition political parties are identified as the external stakeholders in Smart City projects. Specific contributions and common contributions of each stakeholder were presented in the model. The developed model was validated through an expert survey, which could be utilised to enable the engagement of the stakeholders in Smart City projects in Sri Lanka.
item: Thesis-Full-text
Applicability of zero waste concept to the Sri Lankan construction industry
(2019) Liyanage KLAKT; Waidyasekara KGAS
The construction industry, being the largest industry, it generates massive quantities of Construction and Demolition waste (CDW). Generation of CDW leads to issues related to environmental pollution, adverse health issues, economic issues, social issues, and undesirable landfill creations. Strategies such as the 3R concept (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle), and waste hierarchy are followed in the construction industry for CDW management. Although such strategies are applied to manage the CDW, CDW management is still in a primary stage. In order to eliminate CDW, the Zero waste concept emerged as a potential solution. Although, Construction Waste Management (COWAM) project is available for manage CDW in Sri Lanka, there is a lack of studies to manage C&D waste management. Thus, this study focuses on elimination of CDW from construction industry by applying zero waste concept. To achieve the ultimate aim of the study, comprehensive literature survey was carried out by referring to the existing findings on CDW definitions, origins and causes for CDW generation, composition of CDW, impacts of CDW, strategies, enablers, barriers and zero waste concept. Further, qualitative research approach was followed and eight case studies were used to collect data. Semi structured interviews, document review and observations were carried out in the selected eight case studies. To analyse the collected data, cross case analysis was followed. Through the case study findings, composition of CDW, origins and causes of CDW, current CDW management procedure, strategies, enablers, barriers and suggestion to apply zero waste concept in the Sri Lankan context were identified. Finally, all the collected data was harmonized into one place and a framework was developed to apply zero waste concept in the Sri Lankan construction industry.
item: Thesis-Full-text
Green building information modelling for existing buildings : a facilities management perspective
(2019) Rathnasiri HWTP; Jayasena S
There is a manifest increase for the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) techniques in the construction industry due to its evident benefits that facilitate the construction processes than traditional approaches. The need of incorporating BIM based techniques for building constructions has been increasingly acknowledged both at the academic research and industrial levels. Herein, Green BIM as one of BIM based technologies has been discussed in recent years in relation to sustainable and green concepts with its advanced technological features that help to accomplish sustainable goals. The fundamental advantage of Green BIM is the ability of generating advanced building performance analysis results that are important in optimizing energy consumption of buildings through improved decision making. The inherent benefits of Green BIM have been extensively discussed in literature especially considering its implementation during design and construction phases of building construction projects towards the energy optimization. Evidently, there are lack of research for the use of Green BIM for existing buildings even though there is a huge potential in optimizing energy during operation and maintenance phases of existing buildings. As discussed in literature, facilities managers are being faced numerous challenges in adopting Green BIM for existing buildings due to lack of necessary building data during the operation and maintenance phases of buildings discouraging the implementation of Green BIM for existing buildings. The aim of this research therefore, was to study the potential of adopting Green BIM for existing buildings from facilities management perspective. To achieve the aforementioned aim, a qualitative research approach was followed which included a multiple case study analysis. The case study was conducted with two cases through the practical implementation of Green BIM. The practical implementation was mainly included creating the basic BIM models and running Green BIM techniques to analyse the performances of selected buildings. The Green BIM techniques used for the selected cases were solar analysis and energy analysis respectively. The experiences gathered during the study were analysed and discussed as the findings of the research. The findings include the challenges faced during the study when implementing Green BIM for the selected cases and the actions taken during the study were discussed with further recommended solutions. Finally, a framework was developed as a guidance to overcome the challenges of Green BIM implementation for existing buildings. The findings of this research emphasized the challenges that can be faced from facilities management point of view, over the implementation of Green BIM for existing buildings during the operation and maintenance phases. Thus, the framework provided in this study may significantly helpful for facilities managers to implement Green BIM for existing buildings that maintain with lack of data, towards the energy optimization through improved decision making.
item: Thesis-Full-text
Identification of cooperative environment for the diffusion of innovation in the field of quantity surveying
(2019) Kolugala LMBN; Jayasena HS
Construction industry compared with other industries are coping up with the technological revolution which directs new knowledge and information to the field. Thus, professional engaged in multidisciplinary areas must incorporate and directs towards the technological revolution with their adoption in individual and in organizational basis. Thus, the concept of diffusion of innovation emerges and it enables a social system to adopt an innovation with the aid of communicational channels over a period of time. Nevertheless, within the Sri Lankan Quantity Surveying community, the rate of adoption of innovation is comparatively less and thus, there is requirement of identifying the nature of the social systems and the behaviour of the actors in order to study the current context of community in terms of innovation adoption. Hence their knowledge and information transmission and their impact upon a social system is required to be identified along with the individual participation in the innovation diffusion process. Subsequently, the encouragement of an influential person typically identified as an Opinion leader is required. Thus, the research was aimed to identify the nature of the social system on which actors could collaboratively engage in the process of innovation. The study encompassed with a comprehensive literature review identifying the, innovations within the construction industry, key components of diffusion of innovation, innovation categories, factors affecting the adoption of innovation, collaboration of innovation management along with the opinion leadership. Quantitative approach through Social Network Analysis (SNA) was applied with measures of cohesion to identify nature of social networks corresponding to different innovations and measure of centrality to identify the individual behaviour of the actors of the social system. Through the research it is revealed that the behaviour of the social network differentiates with the types of innovation where more diffusion is taken place corresponding to the innovations which are core areas corresponding to quantity surveying profession. Consequently, individual behaviour presents a tendency towards the preventive innovation category as the individual has the flexibility to adopt or reject the innovation.
item: Thesis-Full-text
A Framework to enhance value management application in hotel refurbishment projects in Sri Lanka
(2019) Ekanayake BJ; Sandanayake YG
Refurbishment offers profound avenues for mitigating contemporary issues attributed to buildings improve facilities and prolong building life span. Nevertheless, refurbishment projects are characterised with uncertainty and complexity that result in the subvert of value for money. In this context, value management (VM) is endorsed as an approach to optimise value for money of construction projects. Enhancing VM application in refurbishment projects seems less, even though employing VM application in new building projects continues. This research therefore, sets out to develop a framework to enhance VM application in hotel refurbishment projects in Sri Lanka, since refurbishment projects that have employed VM are comparatively high in hotel sector. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 18 participants, documents review and observations. The manual and code based content analysis was used for data analysing. The study revealed that VM is employed in an ad-hoc manner, primarily as a cost reduction exercise. The VM workshops adopted for the case studies were derivatives of the standard SAVE 40-hour job plan and contractors’ change proposal. However, this study proved that the ad-hoc application of VM could reduce the project cost on average by 6.81%. Nevertheless, the ad-hoc VM studies contributed to time overruns of 1 to 3 months. Although certain solutions were practiced to overcome these challenges, the full benefits of VM can be realised by enhancing VM application. Hence, the current study introduced a framework for enhancing VM application in hotel refurbishment projects in Sri Lanka by incorporating strategies on raising awareness, training and development on VM, choosing the appropriate timeframe to apply VM, choosing the appropriate composition for the VM team, choosing the appropriate VM job plan and enabling legal provisions and assistance from regulatory bodies. Further, the benefits that can be obtained from successful VM application were also presented.
item: Thesis-Abstract
Impact of sustainable features on life cycle cost (LCC) of green buildings in Sri Lanka
Weerasinghe, AS; Ramachandra, T
Recently, the focus to green buildings has fore-fronted in countries like Sri Lanka. However, in the context of Sri Lanka, the number of green certified buildings is still at a minimal level and the reason could be attributed to green investors who continue to perceive that green buildings are costly with a 20 to 25% of green premium. They fail to appreciate the benefits that could be absorbed in the long run in terms of operation and maintenance costs. Further, in the global context, there are contradictory views with regards to green cost premium. However, in both context, only a little information is available on the status of operation and maintenance costs reduction. Further, quantitative evidence of running cost reduction in green buildings compared to conventional buildings, would enable green investors in their decision making. Therefore, this study establishes the economic sustainability of green buildings followed by a comparison of life cycle cost of green certified and that of conventional industrial manufacturing buildings in Sri Lanka and an assessment of the impact of each sustainable feature on life cycle cost of green buildings. First, a preliminary study was conducted using the already published data on LEED certified buildings in Sri Lanka to identify the level of sustainability achievement in terms of variable sustainable features and the reasons for the level of achievement of those sustainable features. Afterwards, two green buildings and a conventional building with similar physical and performance characteristics were selected with due considerations to year of construction, Net Internal Area, and occupancy rate. The quantitative data on construction, operation, maintenance and end of life cycle costs of the selected green and conventional buildings were collected referring to green building construction budget, operation and maintenance expenditure budget records and analysed using Net Present Value and sensitivity analysis. The analysis shows that the construction cost of green building is 37% higher than that of a conventional building while the green building offers a saving of 28%, 22% and 11% in terms of operation, maintenance and end of life cycle costs respectively. Overall the green buildings offer an economic sustainability of 21% over its life time. According to the sensitivity analysis, the changes in variables do not affect the economic sustainability of green buildings, still the life cycle cost of green building is less than that of a conventional building. Further, the sustainable features: Energy and Atmosphere and Indoor Environmental Quality contribute more to life cycle cost of green buildings due to the implementation of energy metering and sub metering, Building Management System, CO2 and airflow measurement equipment, high-performance glazing, building commissioning and 3D energy modelling. Therefore, the study recommends the green building investors to select suitable green strategies and technologies to reduce the life cycle cost of green industrial manufacturing buildings.

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