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Robert Amor's Publications in 2001

PDF version is available Amor, R. and Betts, M. (2001) Information Technology for Construction: Recent Work and Future Directions, Proceedings of the CIB W78 conference, Mpumalanga, South Africa, 30 May - 1 June, pp 1.1-1.12.

Abstract: An improvement in the applications of information technology in construction is a major international research endeavour in scientific establishments and industry. A significant focal point for this research in terms of its dissemination and the derivation of a shared research agenda, has been the working commission concerned with IT for construction within the international council for innovation and research in building and construction (CIB). Working commission 78 of CIB has been active for almost 20 years in holding annual meetings of leading scholars in the field. These annual meetings have allowed the principal research activities from around the world to be presented to expert fora. In addition, the meetings have typically allowed debates and discussion to take place regarding the state of progress with key research themes, the emergence of new research themes, and a vision of construction activities in the future to which ongoing research could relate. This paper seeks to capture overall experiences from the activities of this working commission by reviewing the key research issues that have been addressed in recently reported work and seeking to illicit a vision of future IT-enabled construction projects that might inform future research.
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PDF version is available Amor, R. and Betts, M. (2001) Information Technology for Construction: Recent Work and Future Directions, Proceedings of the CIB Triennial conference, Wellington, New Zealand, 2-6 April, Vol 1, pp 54-63.
Abstract: Improving the application of information technology in construction is a major international research endeavour in scientific establishments and industry. A significant focal point for this research in terms of its dissemination and the derivation of a shared research agenda, has been the working commission concerned with IT for construction within the international council for innovation and research in building and construction (CIB). Working commission 78 of CIB has been active for almost 20 years in holding annual meetings of leading scholars in the field. These annual meetings have allowed the principal research activities from around the world to be presented to expert fora. In addition, the meetings have typically allowed debates and discussion to take place regarding the state of progress with key research themes, the emergence of new research themes, and a vision of construction activities in the future to which ongoing research could relate. This paper seeks to capture overall experiences from the activities of this working commission by reviewing the key research issues that have been addressed in recently reported work and seeking to illicit a vision of future IT-enabled construction projects that might inform future research.

PDF version is available Bloomfield, D., Amor, R., Oliveri, E., Groosman, M. and Rio, O. (2001) Information Services to Enable European Construction Enterprises: An Overview of the I-SEEC European Union Project, Proceedings of the CIB Triennial conference, Wellington, New Zealand, 2-6 April, Vol 4, pp. 31-41.

Abstract: Electronic information services are of key importance to the efficiency and effectiveness of the construction industry, and increasingly, such services need to transcend national boundaries. I-SEEC is a collaborative project funded by the European Union with the overall goal of creating an infrastructure to enable and link high quality commercial electronic information services throughout its member countries. This project started in March 2000 and finishes in April 2001. It builds upon a previous EU project - CONNET (CONstruction information service NETwork). This paper provides a description of the infrastructure already developed and the extensions and new services created under I-SEEC. The countries participating in I-SEEC are Finland, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Other countries and partners are encouraged to join in this initiative.
CONNET provides access to a range of high quality Internet-based services for the construction industry in Europe. It provides both a European entry point to identify resources and national entry points for localised service delivery. The European CONNET entry point provides a range of technology park services as well as industry-specific services. These services include: The services offered by I-SEEC include a Technical Information Centre, Waste Exchange Centre, Electronic News Service, Calculation and Software Centre, Who's Who in Construction, Specialist Equipment Directory and a Best Practice Information service.
The CONNET infrastructure and the I-SEEC information services provide the means to promote effective use of information by construction industry professionals in an efficient and cost-effective way. The ability to pass queries from one high quality service to another in a different country is a substantial contribution to the CIB goal of providing information to achieve performance. This paper draws out lessons learned - both technological and practical - in the course of this multi-country initiative to develop a portal for the construction industry.

PDF version is available Bloomfield, D. and Amor, R. (2001) I-SEEC: An Internet Gateway to European Construction Resources, Proceedings of the CIB W78 conference, Mpumalanga, South Africa, 30 May - 1 June, pp 12.1-12.14.

Abstract: For the construction industries to move into the knowledge society and knowledge economy they need to be able to build upon their existing information base. This information base is unique within individual countries (though often with significant overlap between countries, for example, with Eurocodes utilised across Europe) and usually widely dispersed. Drawing together the information resources within nations, and then connecting them with each other to form transnational resources enables a more effective, informed, and intelligent industry. I-SEEC is a collaborative project funded by the European Union with the overall goal of creating an infrastructure to enable and link high quality commercial electronic information services throughout its member countries. This project started in March 2000 and finished in April 2001. It builds upon a previous EU project - CONNET (CONstruction information service NETwork). This paper provides a description of the final state of the infrastructure, services, and business models available through I-SEEC. The countries participating in I-SEEC are Finland, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. At a late stage in I-SEEC there was collaboration with Belgium and Germany.

PDF version is available Bloomfield, D., Amor, R. and Groosman, M. (2001) The Evolving CONNET Gateway to European Construction Resources, Proceedings of the CIB W102 conference, Melbourne, Australia, 26-27 March.

Abstract: For the construction industries to move into the knowledge society and knowledge economy they need to be able to build upon their existing information base. This information base is unique within individual countries (though often with significant overlap between countries, for example, with Eurocodes utilised across Europe) and usually widely dispersed. Drawing together the information resources within nations, and then connecting them with each other to form transnational resources enables a more effective, informed, and intelligent industry. I-SEEC is a collaborative project funded by the European Union with the overall goal of creating an infrastructure to enable and link high quality commercial electronic information services throughout its member countries. This project started in March 2000 and finishes in April 2001. It builds upon a previous EU project - CONNET (CONstruction information service NETwork). This paper provides a description of the final state of the infrastructure, services, and business models available through I-SEEC. The countries participating in I-SEEC are Belgium, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

PDF version is available Donn, M., Amor, R. and Harrison, D. (2001) A design proposal for an internet based Simulation Quality Control Tool, Proceedings of the IPBSA conference, Building Simulation 2001, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 13-15 August, pp. 731-738.

Abstract: The lack of widespread use of building environmental design decision support tools in architecture appears to be because the tools are often too simplistic. Designers find it difficult to trust the output of a tool that apparently trivialises the design issues. Even, regular users of simulation have a difficult time developing procedures to ensure that they can trust the output of the simulation. A web site has been developed which addresses this need directly. This paper describes the design principles on which the web site is based. Its aim is to develop a means by users can test the “reality” of the performance figures which simulation software predicts for the thermal, visual and acoustic environment of a building

PDF version is available Amor, R. and Faraj, I. (2001) Misconceptions about Integrated Project Databases, ITcon journal, http://www.itcon.org/2001/5/, ISSN 1400-6529, Vol. 6, pp.57-68.

Abstract: The notion of an integrated project database (IPDB) has existed for decades. Over that time many projects have been undertaken to develop the technologies and frameworks required to implement an IPDB. Also over that time, there has been promotion of the benefits and impacts that IPDB systems will have on the industry. As there are still no industrially stable IPDB systems in existence, the industry’s perception of what they are and what they can do has diverged from many of the original presentations. It is also clear that researchers and developers involved in IPDB development have many different ideas about what constitutes an IPDB and what is, or is not, possible to create. This paper aims to describe misconceptions which are growing up around IPDB systems, and presents the authors’ view of reality (informed by the opinions of the UK network of experts in objects and integration (URL-1 1999) which was run by the DETR).

PDF version is available Amor, R., Bloomfield, D., Cerovsek, T., Finne, C., Groosman, M., Gudnasson, G., Hutchison, A., Hyvarinen, J., Olafsson, G., Oliveri, E., Rio, O. and Turk, Z. (2001) I-SEEC: Information Services To Enable European Construction Enterprises, Final report, EC-DG-Enterprise, April, 105pp.

Introduction, Background, Context: The construction industry is the largest industrial sector in the European Community, both in terms of GDP (11% in 1996) and employment (some 7% of working population). A recent review of the industry for the UK shows that the building materials sector and the contracting sector account for most of the GDP (2% in value-added terms and 8% respectively).
It provides unique challenges due, inter alia, to the number of SMEs (97% of construction companies have less than 20 employees), the constantly changing project-based working alliances, and the diverse nature of the participants (some dozen different disciplines).
Electronic information services are of key importance to the efficiency and effectiveness of the construction industry, and increasingly, such services need to transcend national boundaries. I-SEEC is a collaborative project funded by the European Union with the overall goal of creating an infrastructure to enable and link high quality commercial electronic information services throughout its member countries.
This project started in March 2000 and finished in April 2001. It builds upon a previous EU project - CONNET (CONstruction information service NETwork).
Description of Project
The infrastructure developed under CONNET has been extended and three new types of services created. The countries participating in I-SEEC have been extended beyond the original three in CONNET to Finland, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Between them some thirty-five separate services have been enabled through the CONNET infrastructure. Other countries have expressed interest and additional services have been created for Belgium and Germany.
Results
CONNET provides access to a range of high quality Internet-based services for the construction industry in Europe. It provides both a European entry point to identify resources and national entry points for localised service delivery. The European CONNET entry point provides a range of technology park services as well as industry-specific services. These services include: The services offered by I-SEEC include Technical Publications, Manufactured Products, Signposts to Web resources, Calculation and Software, Waste Exchange, Who's Who in Construction, Specialist Equipment and Facilities and Best Practice Information services.
The CONNET infrastructure and the I-SEEC information services provide the means to promote effective use of information by construction industry professionals in an efficient and cost-effective way. The ability to pass queries from one high quality service to another in a different country is a substantial contribution to providing information to achieve performance. The range of services, along with active notification systems, help to achieve technology transfer within Europe’s architecture, engineering, and construction industries.
Future Developments
Some of the CONNET services are already operating as commercial services, others will be operated with support from partners and sponsoring national bodies with a view to commercialisation in the future. It is planned to create a suitable legal body (a European Economic Interest Group) to allow continuing collaboration between the current partners and to encourage new countries and partners to make use of the tools and infrastructure developed. A plan for the EEIG has been drawn up and will be implemented by the end of the project or shortly afterwards. Proposals for extending the functionality of the manufactured product service have been prepared as this is seen as a key area of great importance for the construction industry.
Robert Amor- Email: trebor@cs.auckland.ac.nz