Quick assessment tool for assurance of structural safety in the building process

From forensic investigation it is known that many structural failures can be attributed to human errors and organizational factors. To provide project leaders with information on the current state of factors in the building process influencing structural safety, we developed a quick assessment tool. Logistic regression was used, based on data of...

The building process as a chain of displacements - Following a construction project from strategic planning through an architectural competition to the building permit

While research on architectural competitions can be considered a well-established field nowadays, research on the transition between the competition procedure and the subsequent project phase remains fragmentary. The paper at hand aims at addressing this gap. Standing in the tradition of actor-network theory (Callon 1986; Law and John 2004;...

Learning from safety in other industries

The Dutch building industry has been shocked by some major structural accidents during the last 10 years with buildings during construction as well as with delivered buildings. Several initiatives were started to improve the safety. In other industries the safety awareness seemed to be more developed. In this article the Dutch building sector is...

Challenges and opportunities of the passive house concept for retrofit

For newly built houses and renovations European and national ambitions prescribe increasing levels of energy performances, even including achieving the passive house standard, net zero energy or carbon neutral houses. For highly energy-efficient renovation, project information from first demonstration projects is now becoming available. This...