Management Strategies and Innovations: Important Roles to Sustainable Construction

Abstract

While sustainable construction has gained rapid growth worldwide in recent years, it is confronting various challenges and problems, particularly those from a management perspective. This Special Issue collects 16 original research articles relating to management strategies and innovations of sustainable construction, which are mainly concentrated in three areas: the adoption of sustainable construction technologies and products, the development of sustainable built environment, and the organization studies associated with sustainable construction.Keywords: management strategies; innovation; sustainable construction While sustainable construction has gained rapid growth worldwide in recent years, it is confronting various challenges and problems, particularly those from a management perspective. According to the existing literature, 30 percent of sustainable construction projects experienced rework [1]; 50 percent of sustainable construction projects were plagued by delay [2]; and 90 percent of sustainable construction projects required cost premiums to ensure project completion [3]. More than that, sustainable construction projects were also found to face diverse risks at a greater magnitude than conventional construction projects [4][5][6]. Such sad facts are sending a strong signal to authorities, industry practitioners and academics that careful, close, and particular attention should now be devoted to the management problems in sustainable construction projects.This Special Issue collects 16 original research articles relating to management strategies and innovations of sustainable construction, which are mainly concentrated in three areas: the adoption of sustainable construction technologies and products, the development of sustainable built environment, and the organization studies associated with sustainable construction.Five articles talked about the adoption of sustainable construction technologies and products. Chan, et al. [7] identified the important strategies that can promote green building technology (GBT) adoption in construction, and found "financial and further market-based incentives for GBTs adopters", "availability of better information on cost and benefits of GBTs", "mandatory governmental policies and regulations", and "green rating and labeling" were the top four important promotion strategies. Cho, et al. [8] analyzed the construction process and productivity of applying half-precast concrete slab system (HPCSS), a new type of slab systems. Cho, Shin and Kim [8] found that the construction productivity of HPCSS is 1.7 times that of a traditional slab system, and the cost per productivity unit of HPCSS exceeds that of a traditional slab system. Additionally, they found form crew and rebar crew were two critical resources affecting the HPCSS productivity. Xue, et al. [9] and Xue, et al. [10] explored the critical factors affecting the capital cost of prefabrication and found that "specification and standards for prefabricated building design", "related experience of manage...

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