Gayani Karunasena

From March 2027, the Australian state of Victoria’s Building Electrification Regulations will require existing households to replace gas hot water systems with electric alternatives when they reach end of life. This mandate creates a clear compliance obligation with significant legal and governance implications. Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) households often rely more heavily on gas and may face unique socioeconomic, cultural, and informational barriers that affect their ability and willingness to comply. Despite the importance of inclusive climate policy, limited research examines the factors shaping CALD communities’ compliance intention, and national surveys do not provide comprehensive analyses of these groups. This study investigates the compliance intention of CALD communities in Victoria, Australia, in response to the 2027 mandate. Through semistructured interviews with 10 CALD community leaders in Victoria, the research identifies the behavioral, normative, cultural, and policy-related determinants influencing compliance intention. The findings reveal that cost burden, information accessibility, and trust in government are the most decisive factors, while cultural familiarity with gas use and limited program awareness further constrain willingness to adopt electric hot water systems. The findings revealed that strong collective moral values and respect for regulatory authority provide a foundation for engagement when policies are communicated clearly and equitably. The study concludes that achieving an inclusive and legally robust energy transition requires culturally responsive policy design, integrating communication, community partnerships, and targeted financial support to enhance compliance intention among CALD communities. These findings will be valuable for policymakers in refining their campaigns to enhance the effectiveness of future policy implementations.

The adoption of the circular economy (CE) practices in the construction industry helps to mitigate unsustainable footprints by reducing waste and enhancing resource efficiency. Nevertheless, decision-makers still perceive adaptation of CE strategies as risky, which is slowing their uptake. Policy efforts are among many things that influence CE adoption through regulatory compliance and incentives. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the potentials and gaps of the existing policy framework for addressing perceived risks in the adoption of CE practices in the Australian construction industry. This study employed a PRISMA-based systematic literature review (SLR) to identify causes of perceived risks, which were then cross-referenced with 13 existing Australian policies from the commonwealth and the states of Victoria and New South Wales (NSW). The literature findings revealed that regulatory clarity, jurisdictional consistency, enforcement strength, and the availability of incentives directly influence how decision makers perceive risk, particularly in the context of realities such as regulatory compliance risk, financial risk, information gaps, and limited financial and other resources. Beyond direct regulatory effects, the policy context also influences decision-makers’ cognitive tendencies, such as loss aversion, reliance on heuristics, ambiguity aversion, and analysis paralysis, by shaping how information, incentives, and regulatory pathways are structured and communicated. The findings will assist policymakers in accelerating the transition toward circular construction in Australia through future policy reform, through a context-specific exploration.

Purpose: Circular economy (CE) knowledge management (KM) has been identified as a promising solution to enhance CE adoption in construction and demolition (C&D) waste management (WM). Yet designers' low motivation in CE KM limits its effective uptake. This study examines the underlying motivational factors driving designers to manage CE knowledge regarding C&D WM in the Australian building industry. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory sequential mixed-method design was used for data collection. 19 preliminary interviews with design experts in the Australian building industry were first conducted and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis to identify the motivations. A questionnaire survey was next conducted to identify significant motivations and examine underlying motivational factors and 128 completed responses were received. Descriptive statistics, relative importance index and exploratory factor analysis were used to analyse the quantitative data. Findings: 20 motivations were identified, with seven new CE KM motivations in the C&D WM sector. All 20 items were scored as significant, with professional commitment to environmental stewardship ranked as the highest motivation. Four underlying factors were derived as professional commitment to CE, ability for strategic marketing, requirements for organisational growth and project performance management, explaining 61.05% of total variance. Practical implications: These findings provide novel insights for designers and policymakers in the construction industry to enhance CE KM, empowering motivational factors. By framing motivational factors, this study contributes to sustainable development goals (SDGs) 4, 8, 12 and 13. Originality/value: This study provides the first in-depth investigation of motivational factors that can enhance CE KM by design professionals regarding C&D WM.

Purpose: This paper proposes the building circularity performance (BCP) model to address fragmentation in existing building circularity assessments, which lack comprehensive coverage of circular economy (CE) aspects, standardized KPI weightings and multi-level evaluation across buildings. Design/methodology/approach: Using a design science research approach, a holistic and weighted assessment framework spanning five building levels (material, subcomponent, component, system and building) was developed. The BCP integrates 52 validated and weighted key performance indicators (KPIs) covering material flows, waste, energy, water, CO2 emissions and design strategies, aligned with ISO 20887 and ISO 59020. The model was demonstrated through a single case study, and evaluated through an expert focus group, four design scenarios and sensitivity analyses of KPIs and weights. Findings: Results show that circularity performance improves most through strategies extending building lifespan, promoting modularity and optimizing renewable resource use. The findings reveal that circularity emerges from the interaction of material, environmental and design strategies rather than isolated interventions. Sensitivity analyses confirm that the model is both responsive and robust, with bounded variations in outputs and consistent scenario rankings under input and weight changes. Originality/value: The novelty of BCP lies in its systematic integration and weighting of multiple KPIs in various CE dimensions through a five-level structure. BCP advances existing approaches by integrating previously overlooked dimensions, including locality, hazardous content, environmental performance and design strategies such as repairability and take-back systems, within a single building assessment framework. It also contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals by supporting climate-resilient, resource-efficient and circular building practices.

Risk refers to the uncertainty associated with achieving a particular objective. Innovative approaches often involve greater risk because they are not fully realised or widely validated in real-world contexts. The Circular Economy (CE) represents such an innovation, replacing traditional linear material flows with regenerative principles. Given its transformative nature and the conservative characteristics of the construction industry, CE adoption in Australia involves considerable uncertainty. This can lead to risk aversion among decision-makers, particularly clients who act as project initiators and investors. Therefore, how these decision-makers perceive risk is critical, as it strongly influences the initial decision to adopt CE. Therefore, this study examines the perceived risks faced by decision-makers in the Australian commercial construction industry. Eleven industry experts were interviewed, and the data were analysed using content and thematic concurrence analysis in NVivo. The findings show that financial ambiguity, material quality, supply chain reliability, stakeholder coordination, end-of-life planning and longer construction time are perceived as critical risks shaping early-stage decision-making. Experts explained that perceptions even exceed objective risk realities, consistent with the principles of Prospect Theory, which highlight the divergence between perceived and actual risk. In contrast, uncertain regulatory changes, corruption and health and safety concerns were generally not considered decisive in the initial decision-making process. The study highlights that perceived risks, rather than objective risks, dominate decision-makers in the early stages of CE adoption, underscoring the need to address perception gaps to facilitate effective implementation of circular practices in Australian commercial construction projects, leading to future research.

Just as a roadworthy certificate for a motor vehicle relies on periodic inspections to verify continued safety, residential buildings should also be subject to scheduled compliance checks to ensure they continue to perform safely, efficiently, and sustainably over time. Moving from foresight to action, this study conceptualises an inclusive compliance approach to sustain the energy efficiency of new single-family homes through regular inspection cycles. Developed through a scoping review and desk study, the concept proposes: (i) a practical workflow and supporting equations to determine when new residential buildings should enter their first compliance cycle, and (ii) a method for defining a minimum penalty-free retrofit window to support timely, proactive upgrades, within the initial cycle. The study lays the groundwork for a forward-looking policy framework that strengthens inclusive compliance pathways, promotes early intervention, and advances the transition toward a resilient, energy-efficient, and regenerative housing sector.

Purpose: Construction professionals encounter a range of psychosocial hazards that can significantly impact their health, well-being, and work performance. This systematic review examines and categorises psychosocial hazards affecting construction professionals, the associated risks and consequences, and how these risks vary across different demographics. It also identifies several research gaps and future research directions. Design/methodology/approach: Following the PRISMA guidelines, the review systematically identified and assessed 75 relevant peer-reviewed journal articles. The literature search, guided by keywords shaped by the CoCoPop framework, encompassed five databases: Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest Central, PubMed, and PsycINFO, along with the Google Scholar search, to ensure comprehensive coverage of articles published from 1989 to 2025. Scientometric and content analyses were conducted to identify underlying patterns, followed by an in-depth discussion. Findings: Five levels at which psychosocial hazards affecting construction professionals manifest are: (1) task, (2) organisational, (3) interpersonal, (4) personal, and (5) environmental. These hazards culminate in three primary risk domains: (1) stress, (2) mental health impacts, and (3) physical health impacts, particularly when exposure is prolonged and coping mechanisms are inadequate. The review also highlighted unique hazards across various demographics based on gender, age, experience, and work settings. Additionally, it identified theoretical frameworks or models underpinning psychosocial research on construction professionals. Originality/value: The paper reveals both patterns in the existing literature and gaps for future research, thereby contributing to the theory and practice concerning psychosocial risk management in the construction industry.

Construction projects are prone to conflicts and disputes due to differing stakeholder interests, which can adversely affect their successful completion in terms of time, cost, and quality. Thus, implementing effective conflict management methods is essential to reduce negative outcomes and capitalize on the positive outcomes of conflicts. However, there is still limited understanding of the status and trends of stakeholder conflicts, and critical conflict causes and management strategies identified by previous studies. Thus, a systematic literature review was conducted, complemented by a scientometric analysis using the VOSviewer bibliographic tool and Pareto analysis to systematically identify critical factors within literature. A total of 63 studies published between 1993 and 2025 were analyzed. Findings indicate that most recent studies have focused more on human, contractual, and technological aspects of conflict. Overall, this study identified 46 conflict causes and 58 management strategies, which were categorized into different groups based on their characteristics. Among these, 23 and 31 were identified as most critical causes and management strategies based on Pareto analysis, with most factors linked to stakeholder relationships. The study offers a systematic understanding of the status quo and emerging themes in stakeholder conflicts research in construction industry. The findings of this study will be beneficial for researchers in identifying future research directions and project stakeholders to understand the most common conflicts and effective management methods for handling conflicts in construction projects.