Project leadership in building and civil engineering projects – better leadership through coaching
Alexander Styhre (project leader) Summary of results with list of publications from Technology Management & Economics, CTH. Email: Alexander.Styhre@fenix.chalmers.se
The job of the site agent is no sinecure.
Do site agents regard the support by a professional coach as helpful for their capabilities to lead and manage a building project? In this project an attempt has been made to find practical and theoretically interesting models for supporting site agents in their work and for challenging the preconception concerning conservatism in the construction industry.
Coaching is an activity that can help the site agent in his/her development and its use on a broader scale should therefore be of interest. Coaching provides a greater opportunity for active learning, because problems and challenges are defined with reference to the day-to-day work of the site agent, and because the process goes on over a longer period than e.g. a leadership course. The development of capability that occurs through a coaching project should therefore be seen as a long term investment.
ICT tool for integrated life cycle design of residential building platforms
Lars-Olof Nilsson (project leader)
Summary of results with list of publications from Building Materials, Lund University.
Email: lars-olof.nilsson@byggtek.lth.se
Rational construction must be coupled to management of the function and quality of the building over its whole life. The aim of the project was to develop and implement an ICT based tool box for the design of residential buildings (integrated life cycle design ILCD).
The project describes, in a product model based construction project, the aim of different ILCD tools and the time for their implementation, and proposes indicators for building characteristics which should at a later stage be taken into consideration in developing product models. The long life of buildings and their large impact on economy, environment and the wellbeing of owners and users underline the need for a whole life perspective in design.
Condition assessment of existing buildings with regard to future emissions
Lars-Olof Nilsson (project leader)
Summary of results with list of publications from Building Materials, Lund University.
Email: lars-olof.nilsson@byggtek.lth.se
A large proportion of future construction activities will consist of the upgrading and rebuilding of the existing building stock. Decisions must be made as to which components must be retained, which must be repaired or replaced, and how the existing components will function together with the new ones. This demands knowledge of the physical status of the buildings.
The aim of this project has been to produce some of this knowledge as the basis for recommendations of how the status of materials and building components is to be evaluated. The study has focused on condition assessment with regard to potential future emissions to indoor air, where building components are not visible or damage to these is difficult to assess. The principle is to find geographical and temporal correlations between building related illness and factors in the building which may give rise to emissions.
Reliability of timber structures under moisture action
Annika Mårtensson (project leader)
Summary of results with list of publications from Lund University.
Email: annika.martensson@kstr.lth.se
The aim of this research project has been to produce rational and scientifically based methods for reliability-based design of timber structures in which the action of moisture is dealt with in the same way as other actions, such as snow and wind action, in order to create safer buildings in a cost effective way.
Induced moisture profiles and internal stresses reduce resistance and may give rise to cracking between longitudinal fibres. The weakening and ultimate collapse of loadbearing structures can often be traced back to internal stresses perpendicular to the grain. It is therefore important to analyse the risks and to improve the existing design methods. The development of a climate simulation model and calculation of moisture profiles in timber elements, as well as stress calculations, are of critical importance in bringing about improvements in the existing design regulations. One way of minimising moisture effects is to paint the timber or to apply some other form of surface protection. Regarding moisture as another action opens the way for a more precise design of timber structures since it gives greater emphasis to the direct impact of moisture.
Land and water in an urban environment – changes in pore pressure in urban areas caused by extensive groundworks
Göran Sällfors (project leader)
Summary of doctoral thesis (Persson 2007) from Chalmers.
Email: goran.sallfors@chalmers.se
Risk of leaks in tunnelling. Photograph: Bengt Nicolsson.
Groundwater drawdown may give rise to extensive settlement. The best known case is probably Mexico City, but examples can also be found in several places in Sweden where the extraction of groundwater has caused settlement – e.g. Kungälv and Söderköping. Tunnel projects in Stockholm and Göteborg have also caused damage through settlement. In all cases the extraction of water is strictly controlled since a known volume is pumped out through wells. In underground construction, however, more or less uncontrolled inflow often occurs; this affects groundwater conditions and may cause damage to nearby buildings and installations. For construction in urban environments susceptible to settlement, increasingly strict requirements are therefore imposed for groundwater levels and maximum permissible inflow. The quantity of inflow is chiefly governed by the permeability and thickness of the grouted zone and by its depth below the groundwater level.
For tunnel projects, the risks of inflow can be reduced or at least highlighted through a number of improvements. Among other things, greater cooperation between hydrogeologists and geotechnical engineers, throughout the entire construction process from planning and design to the monitoring programme, would be of great value. Better communication regarding ground conditions and flow conditions in the soil profile concerned provides a good basis for assessing the likely consequences, so that various measures may be considered and prepared. A well planned and evaluated pumping test is of critical importance for the model that forms the basis for the analysis.
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