Purpose –This study aims to identify and assess the most important factors affecting the quality of construction projects in Lebanon before and after the economic crisis (in 2019), and to determine their impact on the cost overrun of the project. Design/Methodology/Approach –A quantitative statistical analysis was conducted to achieve the research objectives through a survey of 22 factors (distributed under 6 categories) filled out by 80 engineers working in the construction field. Collected data were used to rank and categorize these factors and to determine their impact on the cost overrun ...

Construction Enterprise Resource Planning (CERP) systems are built to fit the needs of construction companies. The major modules that are required to be within this system include management of general contractors, subcontractors, financial work, accounting, payroll, logistics, workflow processes... The collected data are stored within one unique database. However, CERP systems are difficult to standardize and fit the need of all the companies. Hence, this research focuses on the elaboration of a framework that displays the minimum required modules to be included within a CERP, specifically ...

Qatar is an arid country with limited natural freshwater resources due to low rainfall and high evapotranspiration. The country, having the third largest natural gas reserve in the world, relies primarily on fossil fuel-powered seawater desalination to meet domestic water demand, estimated at around 600 liters per capita per day. Additionally, groundwater is being depleted to supply the agricultural sector, which consumes about 230 million cubic meters of freshwater each year. Hence, this paper aimed at improving the sustainability of the water management scheme of Qatar by developing a combination ...

The current coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) affected 218 territories around the world, infected more than 60 million people, and killed more than one million. It is expected that the number of cases will continue to increase unless a vaccine becomes available to all countries. However, the coronavirus outbreak is much more than a health crisis. This pandemic poses numerous challenges on different sectors and exacerbates existing inequalities. COVID-19 exposed major problems with our cities and highlighted their limited resilience. In an ever-more interconnected world (social, environmental, ...

Given the high complexity of construction projects, these projects carry numerous inherent risks and uncertainties. Such risks if managed properly can turn threats into opportunities. With the current decline in the construction and economic sectors in Lebanon, the application of risk management in construction projects has become imperative and more needed than ever. This master’s thesis looks into the current state of-the-practice of risk management in construction projects in Lebanon focusing on procurement methods in these projects to identify the main obstacles in its application. The thesis ...

While concrete, steel and Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) jackets are the most commonly used types of jackets in the industry to confine columns, the focus of this research is to study and compare the compressive behavior of concrete cylinders confined with different types of fibrous composites; including Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC), Fiber Reinforced Mortar (FRM), and Slurry Infiltrated Fiber Concrete (SIFC). This study will provide a broad understanding of the behavior of the different confinement types used to retrofit columns to resist detrimental loads including blast and impact. The study ...

Globalization has had a significant impact on all businesses and industries including construction. It reduced distance and time between all points of the world in near real-time which stimulated international projects. Lebanon as well as the Arab Gulf, have always had a culturally mixed societies and always experienced cultural differences due to many reasons. Working with people from different cultures can present a unique set of problems and challenges. The concept of Cultural Intelligence (CQ) looks at the ability of effectively adapting to different cultures. On the surface, it would seem ...

Purpose – The topic of this thesis focuses on the Lebanese Construction Industry as it has been lagging in terms of technological advancements in the last few years. The purpose of this thesis is to find out the impact of technological advancements, specifically Building Information Management and Modeling, on the Lebanese Construction Industry, its penetration in the market in Lebanon in comparison to the MENA region, in addition to estimating the payback period of investments in BIM for small and medium engineering consultancy offices. Design/methodology/approach-Philosophic Approach and ...