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The construction industry is a risky and complex industry involving various parties characterized with different objectives, skills, cultures, and values. This requires effective communication management to facilitate interaction between them and ensure delivery of successful projects. The poor performance of the Malaysian construction sector has its root in poor communication. Poor communication may result in project failure. Therefore, this paper is essential to investigate the effects of communication issues in the construction industry. This research study was conducted and analysed using SPSS Software. The five-point Likert type scale has been adopted for the questions which is distributed to over 121 respondents who are working in the construction industry around Petaling Jaya, Klang Valley, Malaysia. A total of 8 effects of poor communication in the construction industry were identified. The most dominant effect is time overrun while other effects include project failure, cost overrun, fatal and non-fatal accidents, waste generation, increase carbon footprint and contribute to greenhouse effect. However, questionnaire surveys may result in dishonest answers. Hence, the study recommends conducting physical interviews to better understand respondents view on the negative impacts of poor communication and at the same time, raise awareness as a strategic approach to achieve successful construction projects.

Abstract. Lightweight concrete can be effectively produced by replacing normal aggregates (60% to 75% of concrete volume) with a lighter alternative. With depleting natural resources, utilising waste materials, such as oil palm boiler clinker (OPBC), in concrete for structural use is one way to mitigate environmental concerns raised by the construction industry. This paper presents a review of the mechanical properties, structural behaviour and performance of OPBC concrete. Lightweight concrete using OPBC can be designed to achieve different compressive strengths with different mixes. The different OPBC concrete mixes result in different densities and workability. The degree of content and the type of OPBC substitutes used affect the flexural strength and 28-day splitting tensile strength of OPBC concrete. A different effect was observed in the modulus of elasticity as the drying shrinkage and water absorption of OPBC concrete are also impacted. This review study also compares the structural performance of OPBC concrete to that of conventional concrete.

As timber with natural durability and excellence properties is limited and high in price, there is a need to make use of the timber with low durability and properties. In order to use this kind of timber, the timber needs to be treated to improvise its properties and durability. The well-known treatment used worldwide is by using chemical preservative; however, this kind of treatment is bad to the environment. Therefore, there is a need to find an alternative way to replace this treatment with an environmentally friendly way of treatment. Heat treatment is one of the treatments which may equip the timber with new properties without using any chemical or preservative but heat where the heat is used to achieve new material properties rather than to dry the wood. Heat treatment generally causes an apparent decrease in wood mechanical properties due to the material losses in the cell wall, hemicelluloses degradation and the modification of long chain molecules. Therefore, this study investigated the effect of heat treatment on the colour of one of the Malaysian hardwood timbers; Pauh Kijang which located in Strength Group 3 of timber (SG3) after had been treated by heat. The size of the timber beam for each sample is 50mm x 90mm x 1800mm. The total numbers of the sample are 90 which 15 numbers of sample allocated for control, kiln dried and four levels of heat treatment. There are four different levels of temperatures namely 150°C, 170°C, 190°C and 210°C were applied on the timber beam samples within 1 hour. Control and kiln dried samples been used as comparisons to each test conducted to identify the changes that occur on the colour after heated. The colour turned darker as the temperatures increased for these four species of heat-treated timber which had been analysed by CIE-Lab system.