Kun-Chi Wang

This study presents an innovative approach to seamlessly integrate Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Virtual Reality (VR) technologies to facilitate layout changes and accurate cost estimation in construction and architectural projects. By leveraging the synergy between these two powerful tools, our system streamlines the design process, enhances visualization, and provides real-time cost projections, ultimately improving project efficiency and decision-making. An immersive cost estimation system is developed in this study to realize the previously mentioned concept. By implementing the system to the real case, it is observed that it indeed assists clients in making decisions regarding whether to proceed with design changes. Through practical implementation in real-world scenarios, our system has demonstrated its effectiveness in aiding clients in making informed decisions regarding the adoption of design changes.

This paper presents a novel approach for measuring the cost requirements and related values for building information modeling (BIM) adoption using the adaptive analytic hierarchy process approach. The proposed approach considers the importance of each BIM use item in relation to its cost, allowing for prioritization of BIM uses based on their relative value while considering prerequisite relationships and budgetary constraints. The effectiveness of the approach was demonstrated through empirical validation involving a survey of 50 construction industry professionals, and two BIM use prioritization methods (project objective- oriented and value- oriented) were recommended for decision-making under budget constraints. The lessons learned from the empirical case study include the importance of Government’s role and the industrial standards in evaluating cost-benefit and promoting for BIM adoption, the different contributions of BIM uses across project phases, and the diverse perceptions of BIM cost requirements among different participants. These lessons are invaluable for countries planning BIM implementation. This paper also demonstrates the development and empirical validation of a novel approach for BIM use adoption under limited budgets, which can assist decision-makers in selecting appropriate BIM use items and estimating their associated costs.

Statistics show that novice and experienced construction workers face different risks of construction accidents. However, there is very little work on this topic. This study conducted empirical experiments to quantifying the effectiveness of immersive virtual-reality-based safety training (IVST) across 6 worker specialties in terms of facing 17 hazardous scenarios at real construction sites. An immersive virtual reality–based safety training system (IVSTS) is proposed to measure the effectiveness of IVST programs with regard to six specialties in 2 controlled groups: (1) novice workers (40 college students), and (2) experienced workers (40 randomly selected construction practitioners). The study results indicate that the proposed IVSTS improved the safety performance index of all 80 participants by 14.12% in terms of correct selection of personal protection equipment, and by 28.95% in terms of hazardous scenario identification. The improvement of safety learning performance of the novice workers was better than that of the experienced workers, especially for hazardous scenario identification, with a 15.90% higher improvement index. The improvement suggestions for the existing IVST program were summarized according to the influence of the individual characteristics of the trainees on the learning effect between the novice and the experienced IVST programs.

The facility safety is a highly important issue in educational institutions and public facilities, where the safety and health of the occupants (students, educational and public service staff) is a high-order priority. The research hypothesizes that a synergy exists between the maintenance and safety of public facilities. Analytical–empirical research methods were aimed at the development of an integrated maintenance–safety framework. The framework was validated through inferential statistics and a case study. A correlation (R²) of 0.74 between the level of maintenance and the safety level of 24 educational facilities was found using the Pearson correlation coefficient. The levels of maintenance and of safety observed were marginal. An innovative Integrated Safety–maintenance performance framework was developed for synergetic safety–maintenance monitoring, control and management. The framework proposes a cycle loop of safety–maintenance–performance audits of facilities as a key tool for advanced maintenance and safety management in public facilities. The framework was validated in a case study of public facility. The time history of maintenance performance and safety shows a high level of fitness (R² = 0.8865, p-Value < 0.05). These research findings stress that integrated safety and maintenance should be implemented as a unified procedure to enhance the advanced maintenance performance and safety climate in public facilities management.