Infrastructure Engineering - Research Publications
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ItemAfter the Ribbon Cutting: Governing PPPs in the Medium to Long Term(WILEY, 2017-09)Abstract Much attention has gone towards ‘up‐front’ processes when delivering infrastructure public–private partnerships (PPPs), but less on how to best govern after the ribbon is cut and the infrastructure built. This paper identifies the primary contractual and institutional governance challenges arising in the medium to long term of PPP concession contracts and explores these governance challenges through interviews with high‐level PPP industry insiders. The paper presents new findings on the importance of good public administration for successful PPP operation, and on the interesting evolution of medium‐ to long‐term governance arrangements. It finds that although industry interviewees agreed PPP governance had improved significantly, they had differing views on how capable Australian states were in governing PPP and how well this task was being undertaken. They were also split on the adequacy of transparency; half feeling satisfied with the current contractual arrangements, and the other half favouring greater transparency, because commercial confidentiality had alienated the public.
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ItemImproving design performance by alliance between contractors and designers in international hydropower EPC projects from the perspective of Chinese construction companies(MDPI AG, 2018-04-13)© 2018 by the authors. Extant literature lacks a systematic framework addressing the mechanisms of the alliance functional process and its impacts on management activities together with performance in delivering Engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) projects. This study quantitatively investigates the cause-effect relationships among these themes by building and validating a conceptual model of contractor-designer alliance in international hydropower EPC projects. With the support of data collected from an industry survey, the results reveal the key design problems, application of contractor-designer alliance, design management level and performance, which form a sound basis for design management emphasis in EPC activities, e.g., sufficiently considering sustainability of hydropower projects by incorporating environmental, social, and economic factors into designs. The path analysis indicates that the contractor-designer alliance can not only improve design performance by enhancing design management, but also directly promote design performance. This research has significant contributions to the body of knowledge by building interdisciplinary linkages between the areas of alliance, design management, and performance, theoretically demonstrating the mechanism of how interfirm cooperation functions to achieve superior design outcomes of hydropower EPC projects. Understanding these causal relationships will be crucial for contractors and designers to optimally allocate their complementary resources for seeking better design solutions in dealing with both technical issues and sustainability factors.
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ItemRoad Networks Management under Uncertainty: A stochastic based model(SpringerLink, 2012)Current pavement management systems (PMS) adopted by the Road Authorities are often very complex and data intensive. Other challenges also faced by Road Authorities in managing road networks include budget constraints and the uncertainty associated in predicting the future performance of pavements. In addition, the emphasis in pavement management has shifted from reconstructing completely new roads towards preservation of existing networks. In many cases, existing PMS do not meet these requirements. Thus, an efficient model that is able to accommodate all of those challenges needs to be developed. This paper outlines the development of a stochastic based PMS that includes a performance prediction model using Markov chains and an optimization model based on Markov Decision Processes (MDP). Combinations of pavement preservation strategies and maintenance budget levels are applied as action criteria in contrast to other stochastic models. Despite the apparent influence of uncertainty in road pavement performance during their service live, stochastic models provide promising results for enhancing current PMS. By analysing historical data, the future behaviour of road pavements under different expenditure levels and combination of routine and periodic maintenance measures can be predicted. From an optimization point of view, the utilization of constrained MDP will potentially result in cost savings. This is due to the optimality principal of the model which is capable of finding a optimal multi-year maintenance policy through the direct inclusion of additional constraints into the optimization problem. Hence, the model considers constraints and incorporates relationships between historical maintenance actions and costs. This paper also presents a methodology for developing rationale for long-term maintenance policies by integrating stochastic based performance prediction and optimization models with the experience of Road Authorities in managing roads networks.
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ItemQualitative Analysis of the Occupational Health and Safety Performance of Chinese International Construction Projects(MDPI AG, 2018-11-22)Chinese contractors undertaking international projects are frequently criticized for their poor Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) performance. It is noticed that people with different occupations may perceive OHS differently. From a qualitative perspective, this study investigates the perceived OHS performances of design managers and construction managers engaged in Chinese overseas construction projects, considering a range of subgroups classified by people’s overseas experience, project size, project industry, project location, and firm size. The analysis was based on an e-questionnaire survey that sampled responses from 52 design managers and 160 construction managers involved in 110 international projects, and face-to-face interviews with 26 managers. The findings indicate that the assessment variation of OHS performance between design managers and construction managers is not only related to their different mental ways, but also can be mediated by their in-progress communication and affected by project and organizational conditions. The varying OHS performance in projects with different sizes or from different regions also suggests that Chinese contractors should be more proactive in OHS management instead of passively responding to external requirements.
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ItemTheory derived conceptualisations for high level interpretations and descriptions of informational systems and data linkages(Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, 2018)
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ItemDescribing proposed elements of and considerations for public procurement to frame research into building information modelling (BIM) and infrastructure projects(Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, 2018)
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ItemExploration and summary of adopted definitions and descriptions of framework components for building information modelling (BIM) framework review(Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, 2018)
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ItemDescribing structural configurations towards identifying and establishing theoretical foundations for the exploration and understanding of building information modelling (BIM)(Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, 2018)As part of a broader enquiry into the theoretical foundations of building information modelling (BIM), this working paper identifies and describes the definitional and terminological considerations attributing to this endeavour. This not only concerns the challenges associated with defining BIM, and the myriad of perspectives from which this can be considered. But it also identifies those types of structures or forms that have been adopted or proposed as a means to understand and frame BIM. Further emphasis is given to examining and distinguishing those structures generally described as frameworks, including when referenced in terms of BIM. Relevantly, and notwithstanding the emergent nature of BIM, there appears to be certain knowledge gaps within the research that highlight the need for terminological and methodological consistency. Arguably the resolution of these are fundamental for future research purposes, but further suppose there is considerable scope for research on BIM frameworks and other theoretical foundations concerning BIM.
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ItemProceedings of the Port Competitiveness and Financing Research Workshop(University of Melbourne, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, 2018-04-10)Preface As an initiative of The University of Melbourne and partner universities, The University of Gadja Mada and Universitas Indonesia, a workshop of port researchers and senior practitioners was convened in Melbourne from 4th April to 6th April 2018. The researchers and practitioners have been brought together as a part of the Infrastructure policy and finance research being undertaken under the auspice of the Infrastructure Cluster Agenda of the Australia Indonesia Centre. This set of proceedings collates the presentations on the research day of the workshop conducted on the 4th April 2018. The researchers have been considering infrastructure and finance associated in improving port efficiency in situations where the port directly interfaces with a major city. The researchers have collectively critically reviewed the international literature, conducted surveys in Indonesia and Australia, conducted focus group meetings in Indonesia and Australia, conducted in‐depth interviews, participated in field trips to major port establishments and explored a range of case study projects in both countries. This workshop created the opportunity for researchers to seek opportunity to syntheses their collective research.
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ItemThe impact of technical standards on international project performance: Chinese contractors' experience(ELSEVIER SCI LTD, 2017-11)