Citizen participation has become an important component of urban development, as spatial interventions directly affect the daily lives of residents and often involve competing interests. Although participation is intended to incorporate citizens’ values, concerns, and preferences into planning processes, many participants perceive a disconnect between their input and final decisions. This gap is frequently described as a “black box”: an invisible process in which citizen input is interpreted, weighed, and translated into planning outcomes by experts and political actors. At the same time, Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly used in participatory planning to improve communication and understanding of spatial proposals. However, limited knowledge exists about how citizens’ values are balanced against other considerations and how this process is reflected in VR models.

This study examines how the weighing process of citizens’ values can be made more transparent in order to better safeguard these values within VR-supported participatory urban development. A qualitative case study was conducted in a Dutch municipality involving a road infrastructure and housing development project. Data were collected through a literature review, semi-structured interviews with residents and experts, and exploratory VR sessions.

The findings show that the weighing of values is shaped by the interaction between a project arena, institutional and political arena. Within these arenas, citizen values are continuously balanced against broader considerations such as policy objectives, political priorities, feasibility constraints, risk management, and project ambitions. Rather than representing a neutral translation of participation outcomes into spatial interventions, decision-making emerges as a dynamic process in which values are negotiated, prioritised, and sometimes transformed. This process gives rise to procedural value conflicts concerning transparency, fairness, trust, and influence. While citizens often express concerns about substantive issues such as traffic safety, accessibility, and liveability, dissatisfaction is frequently rooted in perceptions of limited influence over decision-making and uncertainty about how trade-offs are made.

In response to these tensions, experts adopt different strategies ranging from deliberative dialogue to more strategic and technocratic approaches. While these strategies are often intended to manage complexity and maintain project progress, they can simultaneously reinforce procedural tensions and contribute to perceptions of exclusion. The study concludes that VR can contribute to transparency by making trade-offs, constraints, and alternative scenarios more visible. However, VR should not be regarded as a neutral tool. Because decisions about what is visualised and what remains invisible are themselves shaped by institutional and political considerations, VR can also function as a strategic instrument that influences how decisions are perceived and legitimised. Transparency therefore requires making not only design outcomes visible, but also the decision-making processes through which they are produced.
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Construction projects increasingly rely on legal and managerial instruments to improve collaboration between project actors. In the Dutch construction sector, project start-ups (PSUs) are frequently applied to foster collaborative behavior from the outset of complex projects. Despite their increasing use, there is limited understanding regarding how project start-ups can be practically and legally embedded to support the achievement of actor goals at the individual, team, project, and organizational levels. This thesis addresses the main research question: How can project partners practically and legally design project start-ups to achieve actor goals in complex projects? The study investigates how PSUs are designed in practice, the context in which they are applied, their legal embedding, the goals motivating their use, stakeholders’ perceptions of PSU effectiveness, and potential design improvements. It follows a mixed-methods design based on a case study of three complex infrastructure projects using integrated contracts and partnering arrangements. The data collection included document analysis, semistructured expert interviews, and Qsorting methodology to identify actor priorities and evaluate perceived PSU effectiveness. Subsequently, cross-case synthesis was used to develop practical design recommendations.

The findings demonstrate that PSUs are evolving from informal kick-off workshops into semi-formal collaborative governance instruments. Their effectiveness depends less on singular interventions and more on continuous reinforcements, organizational commitments, balanced actor participation, and adaptation throughout the project lifecycle. The study further identifies three interconnected PSU goal categories: relational & interpersonal goals, interorganizational alignment goals, and project control-related goals, refining the traditional hard-soft project management distinction.

This thesis contributes to project management and collaboration literature by reconceptualizing PSUs as governance mechanisms and by emphasizing the temporal and actor-level dependence of collaboration effectiveness. In addition, the study provides practical guidance and implications for the DPS framework, project owners, managers, facilitators, and legal professionals seeking to enhance the start-up process and to strengthen teamwork processes in complex construction projects. ... Read more

In this MSc thesis, the Q-methodology was used in conjunction with the TOE-complexity framework to find different perspectives on project complexity within projects and between projects. To this end, three projects were analysed. The research took both the role of an individual, and the organization type they work at into consideration at the same time.

In two projects two different perspectives were identified. Whilst in the third project, three perspectives emerged. In the two projects with two perspectives, the perspectives were split between on one hand participants that found more complexity from the experienced lack of trust and other relational sources, and on the other hand participants that found complexity stemming from project content. The perspectives in the third project were more nuanced. With one finding political influence and higher management more complex, one finding the number of subprojects and influence from external stakeholders complex, and a third finding technical and project environment elements more complex. Within this third project, the complexity from lack of trust was ranked lower. The project manager from that project expressed that they had put a lot of effort into creating and keeping trust throughout the project. It seems that putting high effort into elements that are ranked high in one or more of the perspectives could lower the perceived complexity of that element. But if this actually is the case, and if this can lead to better project results or collaboration needs to be researched further.

When looking at all projects at the same time, complexity experienced from the lack of trust was also prevalent in two of the three perspectives that emerged.

The research confirms that multiple, distinct perspectives exist within project teams, each reflecting a different understanding of which elements are most complex. These perspectives do not systematically align with project roles nor organisational boundaries. In one project, the perspective aligned more with IPM role, in one project results were similar between role and company, and in one project perspectives aligned more with organisation.

Identifying perspectives on project complexity through (for example) the Q-methodology, can be used to increase collaboration by enabling project professionals to understand each other better. This allows for perspective-taking, enhancing group performance through fostering cooperation and coordination.
Through the different perspectives on project complexity, different complexity elements emerge as adding the most complexity to the project. These emerging elements should be investigated within a team, by directing more attention to them. For example, by focussing on them more during risk analysis sessions. If everyone had thought the same about the complexity, these elements might not emerge and be overlooked. Thus, having different perspectives should be embraced.

The complexity of a project, and the perception thereof are not static, therefore identifying perspectives should be repeated. Over time the perspective of a person could drift away from what others think that person has as a perspective. By systematically repeating the exercise throughout a project lifecycle, (for example) before each project follow-up, helps project professionals to keep understanding each other, keeping perspective-taking possible. Whilst simultaneously identifying new emerging complexity elements that warrant investigation and attention. ... Read more

Public construction projects take place in dynamic multi-actor environments in which uncertainty, changing conditions, and interdependencies can put project objectives under pressure. Although risk registers are widely used to document and manage risks, they are not always written consistently, and links between causes and response measures are often not made explicit. This limits their comparability, learning potential, and practical usefulness.

This thesis examines how risk causes are related to response measures in Dutch public construction projects, using pre-construction risk registers as the empirical dataset. The study combines a focused literature review, thematic analysis of the risk registers, and an expert meeting with three project control managers.

The findings show that the literature provides a useful starting point for structuring recurring risk causes, but that additional refinement is needed to reflect practice. The thematic analysis resulted in practice-based categorizations for risk causes, risk events, and response measures, and showed that causes and measures are related through recurring links. Rather than pointing to fixed response rules, these recurring links suggest three broader cause–measure pattern types, namely focused cause–measure patterns, dispersed cause–measure patterns, and broad linking patterns.

Overall, the thesis shows that broad recurring cause–measure patterns can be identified in risk registers through structured analysis, and that clearer categorization and recording practices can strengthen the value of the risk registers for comparison, learning, and improvement in public construction projects.
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Originating from a fascination with what nature can bring, this project aims to break the boundary between man and nature in the urban environment. In this design, an existing concrete building in Rotterdam is not demolished, but cracked open and transformed into a living project for learning and housing. It shows how nature, human and architecture can merge.
Central in this project is the office building Blakeburg, designed in 1977 by Jan Hoogstad, which is being redeveloped into a Montessori school, housing for the elderly and public space. The building transforms from a closed, monofunctional volume to an open and changeable biotope in which learning, living and ecology reinforce each other.
The architectural interventions, such as opening up the façade, integrating a landscape staircase, and deploying natural ventilation through existing towers, emerged from a research process. Through literature review, case study visits, participation workshops with children, and the creation of a comic book, seven design principles were formulated: community, reciprocal relationship, natural elements, sustainability, flexibility, participation and scalability.
In this project, nature is not added as aesthetic greenery but is the foundation of the whole design. It is a plea for architecture as a living organism, in which the boundaries between city and nature, old and new, young and old, slowly blur, and space is created for a changing future. ... Read more

Construction projects are swiftly growing in complexity that poses a significant challenge to project success, performance, schedule and cost. Cross-functional teams are commonly arranged for complex projects to facilitate comprehensive problem-solving and decision making. Shared leadership, a critical success factor in project management associated with various benefits for team effectiveness, plays a pivotal role in cross-functional teams. However, there is scant research how this manifests in practice. This study sets out to explore shared leadership behaviors in Dutch project design teams, to promote a comprehensive understanding how it influences and enhances team effectiveness. Two complex construction projects were studied; 50/10kV main station and 150/20kV main station. The main research question that this study aims to answer is what effects do shared leadership behaviors have on team effectiveness in Project-Based Cross-Functional Design Teams under different project delivery methods in the Dutch construction industry?

This study adopted the mixed methods approach, with a comparative case study as the research strategy. Data was collected through a context analysis, participatory observations, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires. Qualitative data was analyzed by coding and annotating audio transcripts. Quantitative data was analyzed by calculating the baseline scores and team effectiveness scores. Subsequently, qualitative and quantitative data were integrated.

The study showed that that every task-focused and person-focused leadership behavior was exhibited, individually or in various combinations. This indicated that there is no one-size-fits-all leadership behavior. Moreover, the findings revealed the presence of situational leadership indicating the ability of individuals to adapt their leadership behaviors by prioritizing, steering and meeting the needs of the team. The second main finding suggested that high exhibition of leadership behaviors, especially person-focused behaviors during milestones, was associated with higher team effectiveness. Milestones were unveiled as critical moments that had a substantial impact on the exhibition of shared leadership behaviors and team effectiveness. An unexpected finding suggested that team composition -more than the project-delivery method- moderates the relationship between shared leadership and team effectiveness. Furthermore, the findings suggested that the project phase and responsibilities of individuals play a significant role in the involvement and presence during meetings. Hence, the study should be extended to fully observe and comprehend the influences of the project-delivery method on team composition. Therefore, two hypotheses are formulated that deserve further research, specifically suggesting that: 1) team composition moderates the relationship between shared leadership and team effectiveness in Project-Based Cross-Functional Design Teams; and 2) team composition in Project-Based Cross-Functional Design Teams are project phase-dependent.

In conclusion, this study provided valuable insights into the importance of shared leadership on team effectiveness in engineering design teams in the Dutch construction sector and has shown how various task-focused and person-focused leadership behaviors manifest in practice and how they can shape team effectiveness through time. The findings strengthen the idea that person-focused behaviors are equally important, if not, more important than task-focused behaviors in enhancing team effectiveness in Project-Based Cross-Functional Design Teams. Emphasizing person-focused behaviors should be beneficial to increasing overall performance, satisfaction and quality effectiveness. All team members can contribute to addressing this challenge, which promotes cohesion, satisfaction and improved team work. ... Read more

The Construction Industry holds an important role by contributing around 6% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) based on data from Market Prospects. Despite this substantial contribution, numerous projects within the industry struggle to attain their objectives effectively. Project uniqueness, coupled with the impact of project complexity, leads to difficulties in project identification and inaccurate selection of control methods. Thus, appropriate project identification, control method selection, and monitoring techniques are vital to anticipating such issues. Earned Value Management (EVM) emerges as an advanced monitoring method to anticipate the issues that include scope, time, and budget as controlled variables within a project. However, there remains a research gap in how to effectively apply EVM to diverse project types to effectively monitor the project. Through this gap, therefore a research question emerges:
“How to adapt Earned Value Management to various levels of projects based on the project complexity?”
To answer this question, the study will first outline significant aspects within EVM and assess the maturity level of organizations implementing EVM. Van Oord is chosen as the study location to gather data on their EVM application. The study then delves into potential adaptations of EVM and its effective application across diverse project types.
The research yields several significant outcomes. Firstly, the core EVM aspects are grouped under Earned Value Analysis, encompassing Planned Value (scope, budget, schedule), Actual Cost, and Earned Value. Project variance analysis, forecast calculations, and corrective action analysis are also recognized as critical components of EVM. The next step is understanding the organization maturity level, where this study reveals that EVM partially implemented in the organization and only in selected projects, following the threshold of EVM Maturity Level standards.
The next step involves the formulation of frameworks. The ABCD EVM Framework is developed based on the modified EVM 10-step model, focusing on elements such as Earned Value Analysis and the ANSI/EIA-748 standard as modified EVM components. One impactful aspect, as per the ANSI/EIA-748 Standard, involves determining the Work Breakdown Structure level, influencing the level of detail in schedule planning, budgeting, and progress tracking. Additionally, other variations include frequency of variance calculation and project forecast estimation. Various other aspects such as changes, responsibilities, reporting, and organizational decisions outlined in the discussion chapter are also differ on each project levels.
Moreover, the EVM framework is generated through TOE complexity analysis. Out of the 47 TOE Elements, 29 elements are being identified as influencing elements for the implementation of Earned Value Management. By adhering to the scalability factor from the ANSI/EIA-748 Standard and considering interview outcomes, several suggestions are formulated for Earned Value Management activities. The objective is to anticipate the high-scoring TOE elements for each project. The EVM aspects influencing this framework mainly concern the Project Measurement Baseline Plan, Budget and Schedule Authorization, the level of detail in the Work Breakdown Structure, and the recording of allocation and management reports.
Conclusively, variation in the adaptability of Earned Value Management are shown in the resulted frameworks for variety of project levels, as well as becoming tools to improve the organization maturity level. For practical application, this study recommends organization to implement EVM using the ABCD project classification or similar project sizing measurement approach while integrating insights from the TOE EVM Framework. This holistic strategy can enhance project monitoring and control across various complexity levels, contributing to the successful and effective outcomes of projects in the construction industry. ... Read more

To prevent and reverse detrimental climate and biodiversity change, it is essential to motivate the housing construction supply chain to reduce the emission of carbon and nitrogen. The need to reduce the amount of emitted greenhouse gases and nitrogen oxides (NOx) is even more urgent in the Dutch housing construction. Currently, little research has been conducted into what hinders and motivates actors in the housing construction industry in their collaborative pursuit towards sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) in the Dutch housing construction industry.

The goal of this study is to provide new insights for actors in the housing construction chain, the government and science. To gain these new insights, the following research question has been formulated: How can the collaboration between actors in the Dutch housing construction industry be improved in the pursuit of sustainable supply chain management? This research was conducted through an in-depth case study research, based on literature research and semi-structured interviews with representatives from the most influential actor types in the Dutch housing construction supply chain. The housing construction supply chain contains a wide variety of actors with key players herein being main contractors, property developers and so-called first tier subcontractors

During the analysis of the interview results, an extensive amount of barriers and drivers were uncovered that actors encounter during the implementation of SSCM in the Dutch housing construction industry. For both barriers and drivers, it was found that subcontractors and property developers focus on the market and networking category, indicating they look more at the supply chain compared to main contractors. For main contractors, it seems they focus more on regulations, institutional barriers and drivers from within their own organization.

Based on the identified barriers and drivers, the following practical recommendations can accelerate the transition to SSCM in the Dutch housing construction industry. First, share knowledge with all actors in the supply chain. Second, develop a sustainable corporate culture that is reinforced both top-down and bottom-up in the organization. Third, some investments in sustainable operations are too high for a single actor to realize. Therefore, it is recommended that supply chain actors find effective ways to share financial burdens with each other in housing projects. Fourth and last, governmental institutions draft long term visions for the environment and subsequently translate this into policy.

The research findings can be used to inform and motivate main contractors, subcontractors, property developers and governments about practical implications and the use of policy instruments to achieve a sustainable supply chain in the Dutch housing construction industry. The combination of more intrinsic motivation from all actors in the housing construction chain can pave the way for creating a sustainable way of constructing houses.
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Context
Projects in the construction sector are known for their high complexity. Due to this complexity, disputes in construction are close to inevitable. While these disputes can lead to major project delays and financial costs, they demand for a resolution. Juridical resolution methods like litigation and arbitration have found to be unfavourable in terms of time, money and business relationship costs. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods like mediation are viewed to score better on these points.

Problem
Unfortunately, still a big amount of escalated disputes in the construction sector are resolved by traditional juridical methods, where the parties fight each other to win. This results in major expenses, time investments and relational damage.

Purpose
This research aims to gain a better understanding of mediation processes in the construction industry. This could lead to less use of juridical procedures and maybe less escalated disputes in general. This could save disputing parties in the construction sector money, time and business relational damage.

Method
A grounded theory approach has been used in this research, because no research has yet been conducted on factors that influence the mediation process, nor on the course of its process in practice. Four case studies have been carried out in a qualitative fashion, conducting in-depth interviews with the involved disputing parties and the mediator(s). The resulting transcripts have been analysed on contributing factors, allocating quotations to closed and open coding. Furthermore, the cases have been analysed on their course of the mediation process.

Findings
A substantial amount of influencing factors have been found to be influencing the mediation process in practice: a few from academic literature and the majority from the case studies, consisting of internal moderators, external moderators, mediator’s interventions and the action of bartering. Therefrom, conclusions have been drawn which have been discussed with a validation panel to value them and add a level of depth. Furthermore, an enhanced framework of the mediation process has been constructed where these factors have been added to. Since this research has a limited scope and is based on the grounded theory approach, a substantial amount of limitations and recommendations for future research have been given. ... Read more

Design in healthcare projects is complex because of the high number of stakeholders and the involvement of end-users in the design process. This causes collaboration issues and information asymmetry which are barriers in communication and information exchange. The purpose of this research is to gain insight into the design process in healthcare building projects, more particularly into the way the end-users groups like the medical caregivers and the design team exchanged information and participate in developing the design. The focus of this research is the end-user design team interactions in the hospital design process.
The main research question is: In hospital building projects, how does the project organization translate the end-user information into design? By performing a single case study, data was collected through context analysis, document analysis, and in-depth interviews about end-user involvement, information flow, and decision-making process in Erasmus MC Rotterdam new building project. Ten interviews were conducted with different members of the project organization including project managers and leaders, design experts, and also external advisors. The research analysis illustrates a participative design and decision-making process and the three main findings of this research:(1)End-users from different groups were involved in the design and decision-making process and the level of involvement was different in each stage. There is mainly a consultative form of user involvement that evolved into a co-design form in the technical phase of design. User representatives and designers were members of technical design teams: TOTs in this phase looking for design solutions together. (2) Two groups had key roles during the process: User Coordinators and the Building Expertise group. User Coordinators ensure the gathering of user information and engagement of end-users during the design, and they are the information exchange link between the end-users and the design team. The Building Expertise group in this project had an intermediator role acting in different boundaries of the organization. (3) Design decisions are based on continuous consultation with end-user representatives which are linked to the project organization at all levels. There was a transparent and informed decision-making process. Review matrices were decision-making support tools used by different groups including different end- end-user groups and help different groups exchange information in different boundaries. Research findings and the analysis gives a better understanding of information management, end-user, and stakeholder management in healthcare building design and planning and give insights on project management and how to organize the information exchange and the team interactions and use different methods and tools during the briefing and design process in complex building design projects like hospitals. ... Read more

Aim: The aim of this thesis is to investigate team effectiveness in the field of construction. With this study, influential factors on team collaboration between different companies and within teams will be defined. By defining these factors, project managers of comparable project-based integrated design teams can improve the team collaboration within the project team and with that optimize their team’s effectiveness. The research focuses on a big complex building project, which will be used as a transportation hub, in the Netherlands. Research question: What are key factors which influence team collaboration of a project-based integrated design team in context of a large-scale complex building project, influenced by fast growth, different cultures and a changing scope? Methodology: The factors are explored by conducting a single case study research. The starting point was a literature study towards team effectiveness. The outcome of this study was used as input for the case study research. The case study was used to collect data, the data was generated by conducting semistructured interviews. After these interviews were conducted, observations, off the record conversations and inspection of restricted documents were used to discuss and validate conclusions. Findings: The literature research concluded in the backbone of this research. The IMOI model of Ilgen et al. (2005), structure the inputs, mediators and outcomes of the team’s effectiveness. The model is used to determine different factors that could influence the team collaboration. The case study research determined three events which are important for the further course of the project. Due to a lack of management during these events, the client in combination with leading members of the team had to overrule the management layer. The events; assembling the team, collaboration during the project and involving team members have to be managed with both organizational and interpersonal skills. Limitations of the research: It is a qualitative research; therefore, the research is always subject to biased opinions and interpretations of the data. Besides that, the research is conducted on only one case and therefore not automatically representative for all comparable cases. However, the factors resulting from this study need to be kept in mind, due to the fact that it will always be factors that influence the team collaboration, not said that they have to be the most influential for every comparable project-based integrated design team. Practical implications: The research addresses factors that affect the team collaboration of a project-based integrated design team. These factors should be taken into account when starting a comparable project team. Even though the case study of this research concluded with these factors, it is not excluded that there are more factors that influence the team collaboration of a project-based integrated design team. Therefore, more studies should be conducted in this area of research. Scientific relevance: There are a lot of studies conducted towards the team effectiveness of composed teams, however, more research is needed to define the factors that influence the team collaboration of a projectbased team. This research could be used as a starting point for further research, while it is one of the first studies conducted on a project-based team of this size and complexity, subjected to designing a big complex building project. Keywords: Project-based integrated design team, team collaboration, team effectiveness, project management, IMOI framework. ... Read more

It is the year 2019 and the Dutch economy is flourishing. However, the retail sector is still in a ‘re- inventing phase’. The popularity of e-commerce is increasing and Dutch shopping districts are continuously changing. This affects the profitability of both retailers and retail investors. Considering that the Dutch population is aging, people live longer independently and elderly people like shopping centres as places for spontaneous encounters it seems clear that an increasingly important target group for Dutch neighbourhood shopping centres are the elderly people. If our neighbourhood shopping centres are not tailored towards the wishes of the elderly consumers it can have both a social and financial impact. First of all, the elderly might not be able to buy the goods they need for an autonomous live and they might not like the physical environment of the shopping centre as a social meeting place. Besides this, it can lead to missed financial opportunities for retailers and shopping centre investors. The main aim of this research is to gain insight into solutions / measures that make existing neighbourhood shopping centres future proof in aging societies such as the Netherlands. The emphasis in this study is on analysing the wishes of elderly visitors with regard to the characteristics of the shopping centre. ... Read more

Aim: The aim of this research was to explore the soft side of project management, specifically the way process managers apply interpersonal skills to influence team functioning in project-based integrated design teams which apply shared leadership. This will provide insight within the context of shared leadership on the way project-based integrated design teams function, the role of the process manager, and the way interpersonal skills can be applied.
Research question: Considering interpersonal skills, how can process managers influence team functioning in project-based integrated design teams which apply shared leadership?

Methodology: The here described comparative case study uses an interpretive qualitative approach. Data was collected from two case studies, through context analysis, participant observations and interviews on behaviour, team interaction and communication.

Findings: This research highlighted the complexity of hospital design project organisations. The case studies address three managers: process manager, design manager and project controller – who each have their own responsibilities and focus. The emphasis of this research is with the process manager, who adapts to what the project team needs in that situation and can apply interpersonal skills by reflecting and ask questions (Why? What? When? Where? How?) to stimulate creative and critical thinking and engage project team members to interact with each other (trigger shared leadership). These skills can be applied to obtain organisational purposes, such as financial goals and to manage information which can contribute to project progress. Stagnation of project progress occurs when topics or problems are attempted to be solved at the wrong organisational level, thus “at the wrong table” (in Dutch: “het probleem wordt op de verkeerde tafel gelegd”). The different strategic levels influence each other, which in turn may alter the communication, and functioning within the team, as well as the project outcome. Furthermore, this research indicated that BIM is often seen as a goal in its own right, thus as a 3D Revit model, rather than a means to support shared understanding or shared mental model, and thus act as a boundary object. Findings indicated the need for a BIM to be dealt with as an information management system. Therefore, the outcomes of the study and it is recommended to involve a BIM coordinator to enact the use of BIM as a boundary object amongst project team members.

Practical implications: This research emphasizes on the importance of interpersonal skills and the importance of information sharing to team functioning. This can provide insight for project team composition, recruitment and training, and tendering processes. ... Read more

According to literature, the benefits of BIM can be well found in complex projects such as healthcare. When well implemented, the use of BIM as a tool for communication and collaboration can lead to a higher design quality and quality of the realized building, as well as increased efficiency and costs savings.
BIM can be used for integrated communication and collaboration between different stakeholders, from the same as well as from different project phases. For a good collaboration with BIM, clear objectives should be communicated between stakeholders. With BIM, project team actors can work together in a shared environment, existing of a 3D model and other tools. The project stakeholders can be architects, engineers, (sub)contractors, but also new roles that emerge due to BIM, such as BIM managers and BIM designers. Existing roles of project actors, such as architects, can also change because e.g. different technical BIM related skills are required. BIM can be used for information management between these different roles of the design team and the client and its end-users.
Considering the project lifecycle, the design and operation phase are critical because in the design phase the usability for the use phase is defined, and the use phase is the longest phase of building projects. BIM can be used for communication between the different actors that work in the design and use phase. Also, end-users can be included in the communication about design and operation of buildings, to make a building better fit to the end-use. When communicating about the design and its specifications, the design and corresponding BIM model should be validated and verified.
Although a lot of benefits are given in literature, the findings of empirical research show that these benefits are often not met in practice: interviewed stakeholders stated that the benefits are not always working out as proposed by BIM programme makers, and the connection between design and use with BIM is often not implemented well enough, e.g. due to different information needs of different actors.
The process of communication in the project, as well of the way stakeholders validate and verify the design, are influenced by the project context, including language, culture, background and interests of different stakeholders. Further, incidents during the process can influence the extent that the BIM documents such as protocols and execution plans, as agreed upon in the start of the project, are followed during the project. Critical points towards a successful project are: 1. To use BIM as a means, instead of a goal in itself: the reasons why BIM is used should be well defined upfront, and good agreements should be made about it.; 2. BIM is not only a way to resolve design errors, but also to involve different stakeholders, including the client. The interests and competences of different actors should be defined upfront; 3. If the client does not have extensive knowledge of BIM, or does not know exactly why and how to use BIM, it is also up to the design team to help the client sort this out. 4. BIM and digital communication should not replace real life communication, as it stays important to meet face to face.
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The building sector in Europe represents 40% of the energy consumption and, of this amount, 26% is represented by office buildings that demand 44% of the energy only for lighting. Therefore, architects and engineers have a big responsibility to find design strategies and technologies that answer to this issue. In particular, a possible approach is the application of adaptive façades that respond to outdoor and indoor stimuli in order to fulfil requirements. In this research, a definition of adaptive façade will be given, and different typologies of adaptive facades will be investigated in order to understand what their future trends are. Moreover, particular attention will be given to smart windows and to daylight management strategies in order to provide a design solution that improves the visual comfort of an office space by solving glare, increasing the amount of daylight and therefore reducing the energy demand for electrical lighting. Furthermore, because of the strong correlation between visual comfort and thermal comfort - due to the fact that both of them depend on the solar radiation - the design will be further improved in order to achieve a façade that controls visible light and solar heat gain independently. This will enable to achieve the optimal configuration over the year and decrease the overall energy consumption of the building. ... Read more

Onderzoek naar de eigenaar-bewoners in zwakke woonwijken. Op basis van statistische analyse aan de hand van de WoOn Database(2009, 2012, 2015) zijn eigenaar-bewoners in de veertig Vogelaarwijken vergeleken met de eigenaar-bewoners. Zowel de bewoners als de woningen zijn bestudeerd. Hieruit komt een beeld naar voren waaruit blijkt dat de groep eigenaar-bewoners in de 40 wijken op die plek wonen omdat zij niet elders kunnen kopen of huren. Daarnaast hebben zijn minder financiële middelen om de woning te verduurzamen. De woningen van deze groep zijn op dit moment reeds slechter onderhouden en hebben gemiddeld een aanzienlijk slechter energie-label. De groep wordt niet voldoende bereikt door overheidsbeleid, en ook gemeenten hebben moeite deze mensen te activeren. Er zullen dan ook beleidsmaatregelen genomen moeten worden om ervoor te zorgen dat deze groep beter in staat is mee te gaan in de verduurzaming van de Nederlandse woningvoorraad, daarnaast zal er stop moeten komen op het uitponden van woningen met een label B- door woningcorporaties in deze wijken. ... Read more

A research gap was found when addressing the literature on small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the construction industry. Subcontractors and suppliers are primarily SMEs and form the largest percentage of firms in comparison to large enterprises (LEs) in the industry. Many parties are mainly concerned with maximising their profit, reason why, in many occasions, subcontractors and suppliers are selected by the main contractor on the basis of lowest price, rather than best value. Main contractors include harsh terms in contracts with subcontractors and suppliers, e.g., risk transfer. Risk transfer is a well-known risk treatment strategy in project risk management that has the purpose of allocating a risk to the party most capable of handling it. Unequitable
distribution of risk is a consequence of current practices affecting commercially and financially weaker parties, such as SMEs. ... Read more

Aim: This research focuses on aims to explore the concept of shared leadership in integrated design teams in the construction branch. The exploration is conducted by addressing the question of whether leadership styles and tasks are solely performed by the project manager of a design team, or whether leadership styles and tasks are also performed by other team member of the design team. The intention is to increase understanding of the interrelatedness of tasks, leadership style and communication using an inductive approach.
Research question: What are the main tasks that need to be addressed in project teams with Shared Leadership and is the way a task was performed dependent on certain leadership styles?
Methodology: The concept is explored by using a comparative case study design. Two case studies were executed to collect data. First, the team members and the project manager were interviewed by using a semi-structured interview at the beginning of the research. Second, an observational study is done by observing the design team meetings to identify which members are contributing to shared leadership and could there be tasks and roles recognized on the basis of their behaviour and communication flow. Third, the team members and the project managers were asked to fill in a questionnaire, which are used to understand the interpersonal side of team collaboration.
Findings: Shared leadership can be measured by making observations and applying communication labels as developed during the research. There is not a relationship to be recognized between the formal role of a person and the shown behaviour. Furthermore, Shared leadership is dynamic as it is not linked to specific leadership styles. Furthermore, a new definition of shared leadership appeared from this study: Shared leadership consists of multiple dynamic leadership behaviours to maximize team effectiveness.
Limitations of the research: Qualitative research is always subject to bias due to the interpretation of the qualitative information. Subsequently, the modest number of samples that is investigated in this research are not intended to adequately represent the behaviour and communication flow. To date, this is among the first observational studies to result in an inductive result.
Practical implications: This research raises awareness on the concept of shared leadership and how this is outlined in corresponding tasks. This research recommends to train the project managers in a way where there is an increased focus on the people-oriented approach. Furthermore, reflections on the collaboration process should be built in the standard project checks every month.
Scientific relevance: This research tries to make an addition to the current literature about shared leadership. By introducing specific communicative qualities and link these to tasks performed in teams with shared leadership.
Originality/value: Limited literature is available on the practical implication of shared leadership; this research increases the insight of this concept.
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Het doel van het onderzoek is het geven van een beeld van de veranderingen in organisatieaspecten binnen woningcorporaties die tot een verbetering van huurderstevredenheid hebben geleid. Tevens is het het doel om een basis te leggen voor verder onderzoek op dit onderwerp, vandaar het exploratieve karakter van het onderzoek. Door middel van een praktijkonderzoek met semi-structured interviews op 16 corporaties die de meeste ontwikkelingen hebben getoond op de huurderstevredenheid in de Aedes Benchmark, is data opgehaald en geanalyseerd aan de hand van een vooraf opgesteld raamwerk. Hierbij is het ESH-model als basis gebruikt. De data is hierbij vergeleken met de factoren die de huurderstevredenheid beïnvloeden volgens de literatuurstudie, waar uiteindelijk conclusies uit zijn getrokken. ... Read more