Facilities Management Development in China 9781781904060, 9781781904053

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ISSN 0263-2772

Volume 30 Number 13/14 2012

Facilities Facilities management development in China Guest Editor: Xiaoling Zhang

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Facilities

ISSN 0263-2772 Volume 30 Number 13/14 2012

Facilities management development in China Guest Editor Xiaoling Zhang

Access this journal online _______________________________ 554

CONTENTS

Editorial review board____________________________________ 555 Guest editorial ____________________________________________ 556 Assimilating total building performance mandates with Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios Low Sui Pheng, Deng Xiaopeng and Quek Li Ting ____________________

558

Shaping mega-event flagships: a case study of Expo Center of Expo 2010 Shanghai, China Ying Deng _____________________________________________________

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Investigating key components of the facilities management of residential care and attention homes Mei-Yung Leung, Jingyu Yu and Shiwang Yu ________________________

611

Recycling attitude and behaviour in university campus: a case study in Hong Kong Calvin Wan, Ronnie Cheung and Geoffrey Qiping Shen ________________

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A comparative study of critical success factors for public private partnerships (PPP) between Mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Esther Cheung, Albert P.C. Chan, Patrick T.I. Lam, Daniel W.M. Chan and Yongjian Ke _______________________________________________

647

Exploring the applicability of construction partnering in Mainland China: a qualitative study Yuming Hong, Daniel W.M. Chan and Albert P.C. Chan________________

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Book review _______________________________________________ 695

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Editorial review board

EDITORIAL REVIEW BOARD

Professor Jan Bro¨chner Chalmers University of Technology, Go¨teborg, Sweden Dr Claudia Miranda de Andrade AZEVEDO Arquitetura Corporativa, Brazil Dr Paul Dettwiler Institute of Facility Management, Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland Dr Frank Duffy Director, DEGW, UK Dr Abbas Ali Emlualim Innovative Construction Research Centre, University of Reading, UK Dr John D. Gilleard The Sloane Partnership Facility Management Consultancy, Hong Kong Dr Christopher Heywood University of Melbourne, Australia Dr Goksenin Inalhan Istanbul Technical University, Turkey Dr Tu Kung-Jen National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

Peter McLennan University College London, UK Dr Daryl May Senior Research Fellow, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK Rogerio Santovito Escola Polite´cnica da Univesidade de Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil Professor Ilfryn Price Facilities Management Graduate Centre, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK Dr Danny Shiem-Shin Then Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China Professor Brian Sloan Building and Surveying Department, Napier University, UK Dr Matthew Tucker Liverpool John Moores University, UK Dr Theo van der Voordt Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

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Facilities Vol. 30 No. 13/14, 2012 pp. 556-557 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0263-2772

Guest editorial The evolving facility management challenge in China Since the founding of this journal 30 years ago, the nature of facilities has diversified into many new subject areas that were not originally envisaged: building performance evaluation, post-occupancy evaluation, intelligent buildings, sustainability, novel procurement methods and partnering, to name but a few examples. It is hoped that through the publication of research evidence, those involved in facilities management can more effectively contribute to the future efficiency and effectiveness of facilities management. The paper by Low Sui Pheng, Deng Xiaopeng and Quek Li Ting addresses total building performance issues from a very innovative perspective. The ancient principles of Chinese geomancy share many of the same goals as total building performance (TBP) in delivering an optimal environment for occupants that promotes their well-being. The Chinese geomancy concept differs to conventional thinking with respect to openings and colors to surrounding amenities and building height. The research evaluates the relevance and applicability of Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios with respect to the six TBP mandates. The principles and scenarios endorsed in both of these domains are tested through a survey questionnaire involving 32 building professionals in Singapore. There are some rather surprising findings that emerge from the study. In particular, the t-test statistics indicate that 25 of the 26 Chinese geomancy principles and 12 of the 20 Chinese geomancy scenarios are significantly applicable for the TBP mandates at 95 a percent confidence interval. This finding shows that there are common denominators between Chinese geomancy and TBP. In the paper by Ying Deng, the subject of coordinating the performance of what are described as mega-event flagship (MEFs) facilities is considered in relation to the Shanghai World Expo Center (EC). By using the case study approach and a pilot questionnaire survey the author assesses how the organization of the Expo Center managed to coordinate the entire Expo event. The major findings are as follows: . Functional priority – Expo Center was conceived more as a future investment than solely as an Expo input, thus supporting Shanghai’s intended strategic and spatial transformation. . Flexibility/adaptability – EC offered multi-purpose spaces with four primary and four secondary functions during and after the Expo. . Diversity of stakeholders – Given the number and type of stakeholders involved, EC’s client organization was complex. . Objective consistency – The three key programmatic components of EC remained largely consistent throughout. The paper by Mei-Yung Leung, Jingyu Yu and Shiwang Yu attempts to identify key facilities management (FM) components in three particular areas of residential care homes. A post-occupancy evaluation (POE) questionnaire survey of 119 end-users (both elderly residents and staff) was used to evaluate the FM performance of the homes and establish the relationships between the comfort levels of FM components and the satisfaction of elderly residents. It indicated that all 16 key FM components

were significantly related to the satisfaction with the home. Based on the results, recommendations on adding several new design improvements are made, such as the adoption of wide but short corridor lengths and low-speed air-conditioning machines in the common areas. In the bedrooms, the use of partitions is recommended, to address issues of privacy and consider the microclimate carefully. Furthermore, the use of lifting devices, louver doors, adequate ventilation and a stable hot water supply are identified as being important for satisfying elderly residents. Can behavioral intention be influenced by attitude? The paper by Calvin Wan, Ronnie Cheung and Geoffrey Qiping Shen investigates the recycling attitudes and behavior of university students and staff members, by applying the theory of planned behavior. Using this approach it develops a partial least squares method to validate the proposed model to measure the determinants of recycling behavior amongst staff and students in a university campus. The research indicates that the behavioral intention with regard to recycling is influenced by several factors including attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, the awareness of consequences, the moral norms, and convenience. Recently, Mainland China and Hong Kong have both been keen to deliver more infrastructure service projects using public-private partnership (PPP) procurement. However, the question arises as to whether there is any difference between the PPP models employed. The paper by Esther Cheung, Albert Chan, Patrick Lam, Daniel Chan and Yongjian Ke compares the critical success factors for PPP between Mainland China and Hong Kong. An empirical questionnaire survey was conducted with relevant experienced practitioners in Mainland China and Hong Kong. The results indicate that Hong Kong does not regard multi-benefit objectives as highly as Mainland China, which, in contrast, tended to be more concerned with achieving an equitable risk sharing mechanism given the problems affecting the financial market in Mainland China. In the paper by Yuming Hong, Daniel Chan and Albert Chan, the subject of the applicability of construction partnering in Mainland China is explored. Document analysis was initially used to identify the favorable conditions and potential difficulties in the adoption of partnering in Mainland China. This approach was succeeded by a series of face-to-face semi-structured interviews targeting academic experts and industrial practitioners. These interviews were conducted to solicit their perceptions on the benefits and difficulties of implementing partnering in Mainland China. The paper ends with an overall assessment of partnering and the implementation challenges of such an approach in the region. The results of the document analysis indicated that the cultural roots of co-operation and mutual trust, together with the increasing needs for improving the current state of project performance in Mainland China, underpin the application of partnering in the construction market. However, its application and generalization still encounter significant difficulties. The perceived benefits, potential barriers and effective strategies for partnering application in Mainland China were identified from the interviewees. The interview results support the applicability of construction partnering and provide constructive and practical suggestions for possible implementation of partnering in the Chinese construction industry. The findings provide useful suggestions and possible implications for decision-makers considering the adoption of this collaborative approach to project procurement. Xiaoling Zhang

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The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-2772.htm

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Assimilating total building performance mandates with Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios Low Sui Pheng Department of Building, National University of Singapore, Singapore

Deng Xiaopeng Department of Construction and Real Estate, Southeast University, Nanjing, China, and

Quek Li Ting Department of Building, National University of Singapore, Singapore Abstract Purpose – The ancient principles of Chinese geomancy appear to share the same goal as total building performance (TBP) in delivering an optimal environment for occupants that promotes their well-being. This research aims to evaluate the relevance and applicability of Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios with respect to the six TBP mandates. Design/methodology/approach – The Chinese geomancy concepts vary from considerations relating to openings and colours to surrounding amenities and building height. The assimilated principles and scenarios in both domains are tested through a survey questionnaire of 32 building professionals in Singapore. Findings – The t-test statistics indicate that 25 of the 26 Chinese geomancy principles and 12 of the 20 Chinese geomancy scenarios are significantly applicable for the TBP mandates at the 95 per cent confidence interval. This supports the hypothesis that there are common denominators between Chinese geomancy and TBP. Practical implications – The research examines Chinese geomancy’s Form Theory, Yin and Yang Theory, the Classical Compass School and the Black Sect School with respect to the six building performance mandates in terms of the psychological, physiological, sociological and economic aspects. Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios are assimilated in the context of the TBP mandates with the support of evidence from existing literature. Originality/value – This research provides a back to the basics, macro perspective of the relevance and applicability of Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios with respect to TBP and reveals possible limitations in actual application. However, it also observes that specific scenarios of Chinese geomancy concerning openings, key occupancy locations, building height, trees and roads are not applicable for all contexts. Further research should be carried out to identify the reasons for the inapplicability of certain scenarios, which are caused by different climatic and cultural context of applications, failure to account for technological advancement, and the evolution of Chinese geomancy since time immemorial.

Facilities Vol. 30 No. 13/14, 2012 pp. 558-589 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0263-2772 DOI 10.1108/02632771211270568

Keywords Chinese geomancy, Total building performance, Building industry, Facilities, Buildings, Singapore Paper type Research paper

The authors are grateful to the two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions.

Introduction With the concept of sustainable development being recognized and embraced worldwide, the building industry has consequently been focusing much attention and limelight on this aspect. This is because buildings account for a large amount of resource consumption. For example, in the USA, buildings constitute 39 per cent of total energy use, 12 per cent of total water consumption, 68 per cent of total electricity consumption and 38 per cent of carbon dioxide emissions (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2010). Similarly in Singapore, buildings constitute about 34 per cent of energy consumption (National Climate Change Committee, 2006). Given Singapore’s limited natural resources and its heavy reliance on imports of construction materials such as cement, granite and sand, the need for the construction industry to adopt sustainable construction and building practices is even more pressing. With growing affluence and a higher standard of living, the quality and performance of buildings will be expected to, at the very least, meet the user’s needs. However, contrary to this belief, minimum standards such as thermal, visual and air quality are still inadequate in satisfying 80 percent of the population at all times (Hartkopf and Loftness, 1999). The performance of buildings is widely discussed to have a positive correlation with the occupants’ health, productivity and performance. Total building performance (TBP) is one of the prominent concepts that address the issues mentioned by considering several building mandates simultaneously to provide for the needs of the users. TBP, in essence, is a framework comprising a comprehensive set of objective and subjective field evaluations in all performance areas simultaneously so as to achieve a healthy environment to facilitate the function of the occupants in the space (Wong and Wy, 2003). On one’s first encounter with Chinese geomancy and with superficial examination, the concept will often be dismissed as a myth or superstitious belief. However, upon closer examination of the history and application of Chinese geomancy in the rich history of ancient China, this ancient knowledge still portrays relevance for modern-day building design concepts. Practitioners of Chinese geomancy used to be called di li jia ( ), or geographers, and were regarded to be persons of professional skills (Lip, 2008). This is probably because Chinese geomancy originated as a study of physical configurations such as mountains, waterways, surrounding sites and buildings to protect the villages from the harsh climate in Northern China four to five thousand years ago. This method has been evaluated and recognised to be an analysis of the built environment with scientific basis (Mak, 2009; He, 1990; Wang, 1992; Cheng and Kong, 1993). Chinese geomancy has often been perceived as a form of site planning, land use management of natural and human resources which protected a well sited building from the harsh climate and natural disasters while providing a constant supply of food, water and other benefits to the inhabitants. The ancient Chinese adopted techniques that enabled environmental control concerning ventilation, day lighting, insulation, and waterproofing as well as structural integrity in aspects of termite prevention, fire prevention and anti-seismic measures (Low, 2004). Since Chinese geomancy was the predominant method of architectural design and planning in ancient China, the techniques adopted to achieve building performance and occupiers’ comfort may have their roots in the principles of Chinese geomancy. Low (2004) also reflected that building professionals in particular

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can look to China’s rich history to search for answers to modern-day questions relating to the built environment to avoid reinventing the wheel. Most importantly, Chinese geomancy is essentially a realm of ancient knowledge sharing the same goals as TBP in delivering an optimal environment for the occupants that promotes their well-being. Although not as well-received as TBP in the English-speaking world, the practice of Chinese geomancy is said to be derived from observations and experience of planning and constructing buildings that can hold ancient wisdom and value as illustrated in many research studies cited above. Many people are not familiar with Chinese geomancy for the built environment because its original text was predominately written in Chinese. Like traditional Chinese medicine, which is gradually becoming accepted as an alternative to Western medicine, Chinese geomancy too can be distilled for its wisdom when examined objectively. More often than not, scholars have tended to avoid controversial practices like Chinese geomancy. Where research exists, researchers have mainly examined the value of Chinese geomancy theory and its application in urban planning, architectural and general environmental design in ancient China (Mak, 2009; Yu, 1994). A handful of researchers have associated Chinese geomancy with sustainability, its importance for sustainable development in ancient China and the lessons that one can learn for contemporary developments (Chen and Wu, 2009; Fong, 2007; Chou et al., 2007). However, considering that the ultimate aim of Chinese geomancy is to ensure the well-being of the occupants (albeit in aspects of health, wealth, career, etc.), it will be apt to evaluate it in the light of the corresponding TBP mandates given that sustainability underpins both domains. Apart from some one-off performance evaluation, there appears to be no existing literature that assesses the principles of Chinese geomancy with reference to building performance holistically. At best, this was evaluated in light of achieving healthy buildings and environment (Chen et al., 1997). Hence, this research aims to investigate the relevance and applicability of Chinese geomancy for the user’s well-being and the performance of buildings. Since TBP is widely accepted as a form for holistic building evaluation in ensuring the user’s well-being, this study will examine the relevance of Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios with the corresponding TBP mandates. The research proposition is that there are common denominators between Chinese geomancy and TBP where selective building design principles are concerned. The research aim is to examine the congruity of TBP with Chinese geomancy principles through investigating the commonality with and applicability of Chinese geomancy principles to TBP in ensuring the well-being of the occupants. A review of Chinese geomancy principles and TBP mandates will be conducted. With this established, a questionnaire survey will be conducted with building professionals to study the commonality of Chinese geomancy principles and the TBP mandates identified in this research. Total building performance Total building performance (TBP) encompasses a set of coordinated strategies and processes that aims to deliver integrated and high performance buildings with respect to needs and resource availability. It is a whole-building system approach and process for the application and integration of the values of a building (Low et al., 2008a, b). This TBP concept assesses the following mandates for an integrated evaluation of building performance:

. . . . . .

spatial performance; thermal performance; indoor air quality (IAQ) performance; acoustical performance; visual performance; and building integrity.

Sometimes, safety and security are also regarded as a performance mandate of a building (Ng, 2005). While TBP appears to emphasize the performance of buildings, it does not compromise the ability to meet the sustainability and energy efficiency requirements. Instead, the application of TBP promotes the attainment of sustainability and energy efficiency parameters. TBP can potentially reduce energy consumption, pollution and waste by a factor of four and simultaneously enhance the quality of life in terms of occupant satisfaction, health and productivity within buildings (Hartkopf and Loftness, 1999). In achieving integrated and high performance buildings, TBP takes into account energy, materials and other resource conservation and usage issues, under the economic limits of acceptability. This means building designs are made with an understanding of the resource allocation over time. It evaluates the allocations necessary for initial outlay, operating costs, maintenance costs, eventual replacement and associated personnel costs (Hartkopf et al., 1986). TBP emphasizes the specifications of the desired performance of the whole system and the resulting demands of the component parts (Hartkopf et al., 1986). The performance mandates for TBP have four limits of acceptability, namely: (1) physiological; (2) psychological; (3) sociological; and (4) economic. From the investigation of the four limits of acceptability of each mandate below, the principles for achieving the performance of each mandate can be derived. Although discussed separately, the four limits of acceptability are largely inter-dependent. The physiological requirements of the performance mandates deal with occupants’ physical comfort, health and safety. It involves sheltering occupants’ basic bodily functions of sight, hearing, breathing, feeling, and movement, etc., from destruction or wear over time against circumstances such as fire, poisonous fumes and extreme temperatures to building collapse (Hartkopf et al., 1986). The psychological requirements of spatial performance involve supporting occupants’ mental health and enabling the performance of designated functions such as work and rest. This psychological requirement may take the form of privacy, clarity, status, change, interaction, etc. (Hartkopf et al., 1986). Sociological requirements, sometimes termed socio-cultural requirements, revolve around the need to support the well-being of the community within which the individuals act, relating the needs of the individuals to those of the collective (Hartkopf et al., 1986).

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Economic requirements of the performance mandates aim to allocate resources in the most efficient manner to serve user needs within the wider social context. The conservation of resources may be in the form of space, materials, time, energy, money or investments. In the aspects of economic requirements, the following general principles apply to all the six TBP mandates: cost, energy consumption and efficiency, as well as conservation of materials and other resources. As an illustration of how the different mandates ought to be integrated, the design of openings is considered an important factor in determining the economic performance of a building. The design of openings affects the amount of noise or daylight entering as well as the heat transfer. These factors have implications for the subsequent energy consumption for thermal and visual performance. The materials and resources used for acoustical performance would also be affected. A summary of the discussion of TBP principles within the context of the physiological, psychological, sociological and economic requirements is presented in Table I. Chinese geomancy Chinese geomancy, more commonly known as feng shui, is an approach to create an optimal environment for the occupant’s well-being in aspects of wealth, health and relationships through considerations of a set of principles developed by the ancient ) translates to “wind” and “water” in Chinese. Construed together, Chinese. Feng shui ( it stands for the power of the natural environment, the wind and air of the mountains and hills, bodies of water and the composite influence of natural processes (Low, 1978). That said, it should be noted that there is no one universal and all-encompassing definition of Chinese geomancy due to the different schools of thought in this practice. Furthermore, a slightly different perspective is offered by practitioners, architects and academics, which may not necessarily be mutually exclusive groups. For example, most practitioners would describe Chinese geomancy to be an art of placement to achieve balance and harmony with people, nature and the cosmos (Yu, 1994; Xu, 1998). Unlike most practitioners, many architects, academics or researchers do not readily discuss the concept of cosmology. The reason for the incongruence is conceivably due to the current absence of scientific backing of the concept of cosmology. Another instance would be that some practitioners clearly separate the impact of each arrangement to an aspect of the occupant’s well-being, such as career, wealth or relationships, while others often take it to be affecting the well-being of the occupant as a whole without explicitly specifying the aspects affected. This is probably due to the difficulty in drawing a clear line as to which aspects of the occupant’s well-being are affected. For the same reason, this research will construe the impact on the occupant’s well-being as a whole, but whenever possible and logical, this research will draw a distinction to the specific aspects. The different schools of thought are addressed below. The ancient practice of Chinese geomancy is commonly known to have emerged from China varying from three to five thousand years ago, although some literature has suggested the possibility of having its roots from the Indian art of placement, ), Vatsu (Schmieke, 2002). In ancient times, Chinese geomancy was named kanyu ( ) and the way of earth (didao, ). The meaning the way of heavens (tiandao, ) during the practitioners of Chinese geomancy were called geographers (dili jia, Qing Dynasty of AD 1616-1911 and were regarded as persons of professional skills during the Han dynasty of 206 BC -AD 220 (Lip, 2008).

Engineering controls Generic controls Administrative controls Appropriate architectural design and elements Space planning Ventilation and air change efficiency Materials selection and specification Building envelope and openings External noise minimisation Internal sound minimisation Building services disturbance Vibration minimisation

Thermal performance

Building integrity

Visual performance

Acoustical performance

Sociological

Interaction of occupants Privacy for occupants Systematic arrangement of space

Psychological

Ventilation and air change Overall architectural design efficiency Space planning Materials selection and specification Building envelope and openings Internal sound minimisation Building services disturbance Vibration minimisation View Appropriate quantity of Appropriate quantity of lighting lighting Building envelope and building Building envelope and orientation building orientation Design of openings Design of openings Occupancy factor View Mechanical properties for Mechanical properties for overall overall geometric stability geometric stability Physical properties of air and water Physical properties of air and water tightness tightness Visible properties of colour, texture, and surface finish

Ergonomic comfort

Spatial performance

IAQ performance

Physiological

Performance mandates Cost Energy consumption and efficiency Conversion of materials and other resource

Economic

Chinese geomancy principles 563

Table I. Summary of TBP principles

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Like any other disciplines, Chinese geomancy too has various schools of thought and practice. Each school may adopt different approaches to Chinese geomancy but all embrace a common bottom line of promoting the well-being of the occupants. Between schools, some appear to have overlapping concepts. Practitioners too sometimes may adopt one or more schools of thought in their practice. The commonly known schools are presented below.

564 The Form School The Form School approach promotes the well-being of occupants by evaluating the physical configuration of mountains and waterways surrounding sites and buildings. The origin of this school was said to be from the North of China, where it was practised by the ancient Chinese from four to five thousand years ago. This region was characterized by the Northern Yanshan Mountains, Yangtze flat plains and the waters of the sea and Huang He, to the South and East. More importantly, this region experienced a considerably harsh climate. Hence, to protect themselves from the unfavourable Northern weather as well as to benefit from the Northern sun, it was vital that natural landforms and waterways were considered by the inhabitants in the placement of their homes (Smith and Stewart, 2006). The ancient Chinese then represented an auspicious site with animals that resembled the geographical shape in the four directions: North with a black tortoise, South with a red phoenix, East with a green dragon and West with a white tiger. The Form School has been acknowledged to encompass scientific foundation in the analysis of the built environment (Mak and Ng, 2005, 2008). The balance of yin-yang This theory is found in most Chinese cultures and practices, quite apart from Chinese geomancy. The Chinese believe that there is yin and yang in everything, and hence there are overlapping notions with concepts such as the Five Elements Theory, the flow of energy, etc. The concept will still be covered separately in this research for clarity, and the linkage with other concepts will be highlighted whenever it is applicable. The Classical Compass School The Compass school is based on metaphysical speculations of cosmology. It analyses the orientation characteristics in terms of the relationships between the five elements, eight trigrams, heavenly stems, earthly branches and constellation (Mak, 2009). This school of Chinese geomancy is said to have emerged as the practice of Chinese geomancy spread and was required to accommodate a greater context of people and environment. Hence, this is considered by many to be the traditional way, and it is also the most widespread method of practice in China. This method, as its name suggests, uses an elaborate compass inscribed with Chinese geomancy’s formulae in concentric ). A key note in this method is that individuals would circles called luo pan ( consider the optimal placement and orientation based on birth date. This would be ), an octagon with a trigram from the I-Ching ( ), followed by the use of pa kua ( which has eight sides, and the lo shu magic square to determine the orientation of architectural and furniture placement based on the individual’s auspicious direction.

The Black Sect School Unlike the previous school that relies on the orientation analysis, the Black Sect School of Chinese geomancy emphasized the balance of the natural flow of energy or commonly known as Qi ( ). It does, however, integrate many theories from other schools. This school was believed to have evolved from the principles of the form school arising out of the need to extend to more and different context of the environment. Chinese geomancy has also sometimes been perceived as a religion, possibly because there are extensions of this school named and termed with religious associations. For instance, the Black Sect of Tantric Buddhism is a fusion of Chinese Geomancy with Tibetan Buddhism and Taoism that includes philosophies like the Yin and Yang Theory. Over the last three decades, it was said that this school of thought was believed to have spread to Western countries such as the USA and those in Europe, evolving to incorporate more modern, Western knowledge and sciences into this school (Smith and Stewart, 2006). The Intuitive Chinese Geomancy School This school of Chinese geomancy, much less pursued, expounds about the notion of intuitive instinct or psychic sensitivity of the practitioner. Manifested in this school is the reliance of the innate ability and sole discretion of the practitioner to determine the characteristics of a site. Not surprisingly, the Intuitive Chinese Geomancy School has drawn much criticism. It has been attacked on the basis that all animals and human beings have an intuitive instinct to follow universal principles to arrange spaces that “feel good”, and that there is consequently no need for an intuitive Chinese geomancy practitioner (Feng Shui Times, 2009; Smith and Stewart, 2006). Given that the intuitive concept is based on the sole discretion and ability of the practitioner, this research will not therefore examine this concept. The general principles identified from the different concepts in Chinese geomancy are summarised in Table II. Criticisms of Chinese geomancy To disbelievers and sceptics, Chinese geomancy will often be dismissed as being no more than a set of superstitious practices used by proclaimed masters to induce the ignorant into paying for their consultancy fees and expensive articles in the name of good feng shui. It has claimed that fallacies were introduced into Chinese geomancy, and that this could be attributed to emperors and governors introducing false principles and ideas into Chinese geomancy to maintain their political power and dominance in ancient China. Similarly, self-proclaimed masters in Chinese geomancy have fabricated principles at their whims and fancies as an unscrupulous money-making tool. Carroll (2003), in the online version of The Skeptic’s Dictionary, criticized that: . . . feng shui has become an aspect of interior decorating in the Western world and alleged masters of feng shui now hire themselves out for hefty sums to tell people such as Donald Trump which way his doors and other things should hang. Feng shui has also become another New Age ‘energy’ scam with arrays of metaphysical products from paper cutouts of half moons and planets to octagonal mirrors to wooden flutes offered for sale to help you improve your health, maximize your potential, and guarantee fulfillment of some fortune cookie philosophy (Carroll, 2003).

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Table II. Summary of Chinese geomancy principles in the different schools

Chinese geomancy concepts

General principles

Form Theory

Surrounding elevation, contours and landform Orientation and solar implications of respective placement Direction and rate of flow of water bodies

Yin and Yang Theory

Site location Balance and contrast of colours Lighting type and function

Five Elements Theory

Material consideration Other characteristics (colour, orientation, climate)

Concept of Qi

Stable foundation Openings characteristics Key occupancy location Vicinity’s bright lighting

Concept of Qi and water

Water frontage Building height and level Surrounding trees Roads

In this context, Oh (2010) observed that most scholars have attacked Chinese geomancy for its mysterious character. In today’s context, Chinese geomancy has spread far and wide and is no longer only practised in China (Yoon, 2006). Practitioners of this ancient art of placement and design are no longer restricted to the Chinese, but include people from other Asian nations and Westerners, including those in Europe and the USA. Oh (2010) reported that Chinese geomancy was transmitted to the Joseon Kingdom and continues to be practised in Korea today. It was also reported that Chinese geomancy had penetrated into the New York property market, sending real estate brokers rushing to learn about this ancient art of placement to meet increased demand (My Paper, 2010). While secular states like Singapore might be said to be less receptive to Chinese geomancy, it is not completely absent. Chinese geomancy was considered in buildings like the Marina Bay Sand Integrated Resort, the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, the Suntec City Convention Centre and the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Singapore. There are also historically preserved buildings that adopted Chinese geomancy in Singapore. For example, the House of Tan Yeok Nee adopted the harmony of yin and yang as well as the Five Elements Theory as evident in the use of the Chinese geomancy classification of gold, wood, water, fire and earth for its ceiling. The House of Tan Yeok Nee was gazetted as a national monument on 29 November 1974 (Wei, 2010). While scepticism of Chinese geomancy still prevails, there is growing awareness and attention drawn towards it in the realm of academic education and research. For example, Chinese Geomancy is also currently taught in some Chinese universities as part of the architecture curriculum. Singapore Polytechnic also offers Chinese geomancy courses (AsiaOne, 2009). In addition, more researchers are beginning to explore Chinese geomancy principles in various aspects of urban planning and sustainability. Serious scholars have highlighted the advantages of feng shui landscape resources to integrating natural and cultural heritage (Marafa, 2003) and the

application of feng shui principles to environmental issues (Chen and Nakama, 2004). Chen et al. (1997) contended that feng shui has enabled healthy buildings to exist in China since ancient times. Similarly, Lau et al. (2005) documented that feng shui principles can help to facilitate sustainable design in its simplest form. The criticisms as well as the positive aspects of Chinese geomancy are reviewed briefly above. Notwithstanding the criticisms, it may be concluded that Chinese geomancy must have its strengths and merits for it to survive for thousands of years in China, and for it to flourish outside of China in more recent times. Hence, this research posits that there remains value and wisdom in Chinese geomancy that has not been given due recognition. In the context of the built environment, it is also a fact that there is no known research undertaken to evaluate Chinese geomancy principles comprehensively in the light of building performance. Hence, the motivation for this research is to fill this lacuna.

Assimilating Chinese geomancy and total building performance The modern concept of building performance establishes that the primary goal of buildings is to serve user needs in the broadest sense in terms of occupancy and the needs of the surrounding community (Centre Internationale du Baˆtiment, 1982). Similarly, the most apparent purpose of Chinese geomancy is applied to promote the well-being of the occupants. Hence, it would be apt to evaluate the various principles embedded in Chinese geomancy that have now been adopted in the various TBP mandates. While apparently no research has been done to investigate the principles of Chinese geomancy and TBP, the examination of Chinese geomancy with respect to the discipline of building is not new. Healthy buildings are said to have existed in China since ancient times due to the application of Chinese geomancy principles. The application of the quadrangle design of buildings from the principles of Chinese geomancy has been associated with good IAQ and easy maintenance of the indoor climate (Chen et al., 1997). In addition, the quadrangle design enables optimization of the thermal environment, illumination by natural lighting, infrared light absorption and radiation, noise, IAQ and insulation properties through mathematical analysis. These conditions discussed are similar to those of the TBP mandates. In addition, TBP evaluates the environmental and energy effectiveness of the construction, operations, maintenance, renewal and demolition of buildings (Hartkopf and Loftness, 1999). In Chinese geomancy, the aspect of sustainability is similarly adopted stemming from the Chinese philosophy of “unity with nature” in which the balance amongst nature, buildings and people was emphasized. This is in line with sustainability where the natural environment is taken into account. Chinese geomancy is said to have brought about the following observations (Wang, 1992): . respecting surrounding landscape and the environment; . sustaining the growth and protection of trees and biodiversity; . encouraging the sustainable use of water resources; . taking advantage of local resources for building and construction; . reusing construction wastes; and . using rudimentary renewable resources.

Chinese geomancy principles 567

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The principles of TBP established from existing literature and Chinese geomancy principles will be assimilated accordingly. Subsequently, the assimilation will be supported by existing research as well as logical deductions to establish the congruity between the two domains. The research will only examine the congruity between Chinese geomancy and TBP principles in aspects of psychological, physiological and sociological performance. The economic aspects of TBP will be excluded from the assimilation for the following reasons: . extensive quantitative data are required to establish cost, energy and efficiency implications; and . investigation into the sustainability and conservation of resources would demand another research focus on its own. For reasons of space, the discussions leading to the assimilation are not presented in the paper. Suffice to say that based on the literature review, an assimilation of the principles from various Chinese Geomancy concepts with the TBP mandates is summarized in Table III. Research methodology After understanding the background of TBP and Chinese geomancy, an assimilation of the corresponding principles was established based on an extensive literature review. While an experimental approach to further inspect the linkages drawn is appropriate, it would be beyond the scope of this current research given the wide spectrum of principles assimilated. More importantly, the research attempts to provide a broad perspective of Chinese geomancy principles in the context of TBP for the first time. With this background, a questionnaire survey was adopted for the study. This is an appropriate research design because the study aims to establish similarities between principles in both the Chinese geomancy and TBP domains. This also allows more responses to be collated economically from across a wide spectrum of relevant building professionals. It should be noted that the questionnaire made no reference to Chinese geomancy. Derived from the above literature review, its principles were appropriately described in common layman’s terms that a technically competent building professional is able to understand. An example of how the questions were asked, in the context of thermal performance and IAQ performance, is illustrated in the Appendix. For this reason, there is no need for the respondents to be familiar with Chinese geomancy, and nor is there a need for the research team to deliberately target respondents from a particular ethnic or cultural group. It should also be noted that it was not the intention of the study to “reveal” what Chinese geomancy or TBP is all about. Rather, the aim of the study is to evaluate the relevance and applicability of Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios with respect to the six TBP mandates. This bridge between Chinese geomancy and TBP principles is a contribution to new knowledge. Following the development of the questionnaire and pilot test with two experts (a Green Mark Manager and a professor with expertise in TBP), a survey was conducted with relevant building professionals to examine various Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios in the light of the TBP mandates. To reiterate, the purpose of the survey questionnaire is to investigate the congruity of Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios in the context of the TBP mandates through the views and opinions of relevant building professionals. Architects registered with the Board of Architects of

IAQ Physiological Appropriate architectural design and elements Space planning Ventilation and air change efficiency Materials selection and specification Building envelope and openings

Thermal Physiological Engineering controls Generic controls Administrative controls Psychological Engineering controls Generic controls Administrative controls Sociological Engineering controls Generic controls Administrative controls

Spatial Physiological Ergonomic comfort Psychological Privacy for occupants Systematic arrangement of spaces Sociological Interaction between occupants

TBP principles

U

U

U

U

U

U

Form theory Orientation and solar Surrounding implications of elevation, respective contours and placement landform

U

U

Yin and Yang theory Balance and contrast of Site location colours

U

U

U

Five elements Lighting theory type and Material function considerations Stable foundations

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

Characteristics of openings

Key occupancy location

Concept of Qi Vicinity’s bright lighting

U

U

U

U

U

U

Roads

(continued)

Concept of Qi and water Building height and Surrounding Water level trees frontage

Chinese geomancy principles 569

Table III. Summary of assimilation based on literature review

Table III.

Visual Physiological Appropriate quantity of lighting

Acoustical Physiological Keeping out external noise Minimising internal sound Building services disturbance Minimising vibration Psychological Keeping out external noise Minimising internal sound Building services disturbance Minimising vibration Sociological Minimising internal sound Building services disturbance Minimising vibration

Psychological Ventilation and air change efficiency Materials selection and specification Building envelope and openings Sociological Overall architectural design Space planning

U

U

Vicinity’s bright lighting

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

Key occupancy location

U

Characteristics of openings

U

U

U

U

U

Roads

(continued)

Concept of Qi and water Building height and Surrounding Water level trees frontage

U

Stable foundations

Concept of Qi

U

U

Five elements Lighting theory type and Material function considerations

U

U

U

Yin and Yang theory Balance and contrast of Site location colours

570

TBP principles

Form theory Orientation and solar Surrounding implications of elevation, respective contours and placement landform

F 30,13/14

Building integrity Physiological Mechanical properties for overall geometric stability Physical properties of air and water tightness Psychological Mechanical properties for overall geometric stability Physical properties of air and water tightness Visible properties of colour, texture and surface finish Sociological Mechanical properties for overall geometric stability Physical properties of air and water tightness Visible properties of colour, texture and surface finish

Building envelope and building orientation Design of openings Occupancy factor Psychological Appropriate quantity of lighting Building envelope and building orientation Design of openings View Sociological View

TBP principles

U U

U U

U U

U U

Form theory Orientation and solar Surrounding implications of elevation, respective contours and placement landform

Yin and Yang theory Balance and contrast of Site location colours

U

U

U

U

U

U

Five elements Lighting theory type and Material function considerations

U

Stable foundations

Characteristics of openings

Key occupancy location

Concept of Qi

U

Vicinity’s bright lighting

U

U

U

U

Concept of Qi and water Building height and Surrounding Water level trees frontage

U

U

Roads

Chinese geomancy principles 571

Table III.

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572

Singapore were chosen for the survey due to their involvement in the design and planning of buildings and the fact that they would be adequately equipped with TBP knowledge. Green Mark Building Professionals and Green Mark Managers registered with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) in Singapore were also targeted for the survey because TBP principles are also considered in the Green Mark Scheme championed by the BCA. These people formed the population for the survey. The survey questionnaire was comprised of six sections according to the TBP mandates, namely: (1) spatial performance; (2) thermal performance; (3) IAQ performance; (4) acoustical performance; (5) visual performance; and (6) building integrity To reiterate, the principles and scenarios from Chinese geomancy were inserted in the form of statements and categorised in the six sections accordingly. Respondents were required to rank the statements on a five point Likert scale with 1 being strongly disagree and 5 strongly agree. Two types of statements about the assimilated concepts were embedded in the six sections: (1) General principles proposed by Chinese geomancy – general principles are broad considerations that are critical in Chinese geomancy. The statements were be phrased without reference to Chinese geomancy so that they could be analysed in the context of TBP. (2) Specific scenarios set out by Chinese geomancy – specific scenarios are extensions of the Chinese geomancy general principles. Again, the statements were be isolated from Chinese geomancy to enable analysis in the context of TBP. The two-tier structure enables subsequent in-depth analysis on assimilation principles. The questionnaire did not indicate that the principles were derived from Chinese geomancy principles to ensure that the respondents made an objective, unbiased judgement. Survey findings The target population of the questionnaire survey included three population frames. They were: (1) professional architects; (2) Green Mark building professionals/managers; and (3) professional architect cum Green Mark building professional/manager. A total of 120 survey forms were randomly sent through e-mails to various individuals comprising architects and Green Mark building professionals/managers. Another 46 survey forms were also sent to architectural and building companies for distribution with the request that the questionnaire be completed by their professional architects and/or Green Mark building professionals/managers. These excluded subsequent referrals from

the respondents. A total of 32 individuals responded to the survey, comprising 17 architects (53 per cent), 13 Green Mark building professionals/managers (41 per cent) and two architect-cum-Green Mark building professionals/managers (6 per cent). Table IV shows the descriptive statistics of Chinese geomancy principles. Table V shows the descriptive statistics of Chinese geomancy scenarios. The difference between principles and scenarios, as highlighted earlier, is that principles are Chinese geomancy’s broad considerations, while scenarios are specific examples of arrangements that are extensions of the general principles of Chinese geomancy. An example of a principle of Chinese geomancy is the assessment of the position and orientation of openings, but a scenario is the avoiding arranging front and back doors in a row. By analysing the mean according to performance mandate without differentiating Chinese geomancy principles from the scenarios, the mean for all the six performance

No.

Chinese geomancy principles

Mean

A

Spatial performance Balance and contrast of colours Type of materials Orientation and position of openings Key occupancy location

3.977 3.969 3.969 4.125 3.844

B

Thermal performance Site elevation, contour and landforms Orientation respective to site characteristics Orientation and position of openings

4.500 4.375 4.500 4.625

C

IAQ performance Surrounding amenities Orientation and position of openings Water frontage Building height and level Roads

4.006 4.281 4.156 3.563 3.938 4.094

D

Acoustical performance Surrounding amenities Building height and level Roads

4.136 4.063 4.188 4.156

E

Building integrity Site elevation, contour and landforms Orientation respective to site characteristics Material compatibility Soil colour and porosity Roads

3.694 3.719 3.656 4.281 3.531 3.281

F

Visual performance Lighting type Orientation and position of openings Water frontage Building height and level Position of trees Vicinity lighting conditions

3.969 4.469 4.563 3.594 3.781 3.563 3.844

Chinese geomancy principles 573

Table IV. Descriptive statistics of Chinese geomancy principles

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No.

Chinese geomancy scenarios

Mean

A

Spatial performance Balance and contrast of colours Type of materials – perception Type of materials – enhancement Orientation and position of openings Key occupancy location

3.400 3.406 3.875 3.563 2.844 3.313

B

Thermal performance Orientation and position of openings

2.969 2.969

C

IAQ performance Surrounding amenities Orientation and position of openings Key occupancy locations and openings Building height and level Roads

3.394 3.781 3.094 2.875 3.938 3.281

D

Acoustical performance Surrounding amenities Building height and level

3.563 4.000 3.125

E

Building integrity Site characteristics Roads

3.516 3.531 3.500

F

Visual performance Lighting type Orientation and position of openings Building height and level Position of trees Vicinity lighting conditions

3.569 3.781 3.844 3.938 2.781 3.500

574

Table V. Descriptive statistics of Chinese geomancy scenarios

mandates achieved a rating of above 3.5. This indicates an overall trend that Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios appear to be relevant to the respective TBP mandate. However, by examining the minimum and maximum ratings, most questions received a wide spectrum of responses, indicating some level of subjectivity. Only the general principles in relation to thermal performance and the lighting type of questions in relation to visual performance achieved a rating of minimum 4 and maximum 5. While the mean indicated that Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios were generally relevant, Chinese geomancy’s relevance to the six building performance mandates was not all equal. The ranking of relevance as determined by the mean scores is as follows: . thermal performance (4.1); . acoustical performance (3.9); . visual performance (3.8); . IAQ performance (3.7); . spatial performance (3.7); and . building integrity (3.6).

As mentioned earlier, the survey questionnaire was drafted to include two broad types of statements: (1) Chinese geomancy principles – this investigates whether the broad principles of Chinese geomancy are analogous to TBP principles; and (2) Chinese geomancy scenarios – due to the above generalisation, the second type of statements was used to test for the validity of some Chinese geomancy scenarios in TBP. From the results of the survey questionnaire, it was observed that the mean of Chinese geomancy principles was higher than that of Chinese geomancy scenarios. This suggests that Chinese geomancy general principles were generally more applicable in TBP than the specified Chinese geomancy scenarios. This is perhaps an indication that while Chinese geomancy is embedded with principles that are in line with TBP, the scenarios can no longer be applied indiscriminately to the current context of place and time. Previously, all the principles and scenarios were analysed in the context of TBP. Another useful perspective would be to analyse the results of the survey questionnaire in the context of Chinese geomancy theories. The ranking of the relevance of the Chinese geomancy theories in accordance to the mean scores is as follows: . the Form Theory (4.06); . the Yin and Yang Theory (3.96); . the Five Elements Theory (3.92); and . the concept of Qi and water (3.67). The Form Theory showed the highest mean of 4.06 among the Chinese geomancy theories. This is consistent with the research by Mak and Ng (2005), where the Form School has been acknowledged to encompass scientific foundation in the analysis of the built environment. This research highlighted the applicability of the Form Theory in thermal and building integrity aspects. Since Chinese geomancy was said to have started with the Form Theory, it would appear logical that the theory was created to meet the basic needs of thermal and building integrity. The Yin and Yang Theory has the second highest mean of 3.96. The Yin and Yang Theory has been applied to numerous traditional practices such Chinese medicine, martial arts and acupuncture, and Chinese geomancy is no exception. The Yin and Yang Theory, as the research appears to suggest, can be applied to spatial, IAQ, acoustical and visual performance. Similarly, the Five Elements Theory seems to be applicable to the spatial and building integrity performance mandates. The concept of Qi and water has the lowest mean of 3.67 among the Chinese geomancy theories. However, it would not be the least applicable Chinese geomancy theory judging from the number of assimilated principles and scenarios. This is to say that while the ranking provides a gauge on the relevance of Chinese geomancy theories, caution must be exercised when reading the mean scores because certain weak principles or scenarios may nevertheless still bring down the mean scores of the theory. The concept of Qi and water is believed to have evolved from the principles of the Form school arising out of the need to extend to more and different context of the environment. Possibly due to the same reason, the concept of Qi and water appears to

Chinese geomancy principles 575

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576

be able to draw linkages across all six mandates. This is a useful theory for TBP but must be analysed according to the context of time and place as discussed earlier. One-sample t-test A one-sample t-test was used to assess whether the assimilated Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios described earlier were significant in influencing TBP. A one sample t-test is appropriate in this context because it enables the comparison of the mean score of a sample to a specified value and fulfils the assumption that it is normally distributed based on the central limit theorem (sample size more than 30). The one sample t-test analysis was conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Since a five-point Likert scale was used, it was tested against a test value of 3 (neutral). Null hypothesis H0. m ¼ 3. This indicates neutrality of the Chinese geomancy principle or scenario in influencing TBP. Alternate hypothesis H1. m – 3. This indicates the non-neutrality of the Chinese geomancy principle or scenario in influencing TBP. A 95 per cent level of confidence was used for this statistical analysis. The results were interopreted in two ways: (1) A comparison of the significance test level against the level of significance: this means the level of significance would be compared to the value of 0.05. If the value is greater than 0.05, it means that the decision is not to reject H0, suggesting neutrality of the Chinese geomancy principle or scenario in influencing TBP. This would also indicate that it is not significant in influencing TBP. If the value is equal or less than 0.05, it means the decision is to reject H0, suggesting the non-neutrality of the Chinese geomancy principle or scenario in influencing TBP. However, this would not indicate directly that it is significant in influencing TBP. A second step of comparing the t-statistics against the critical value is therefore required. (2) A comparison of the t-statistics against the critical t-value: the critical value of t at a ¼ 0:05 for 31 degrees of freedom (n 2 1) is 2.0395. If the value is greater than 2.0395, then it would mean the Chinese geomancy principle or scenario is significant in influencing TBP. However, if the value is smaller than 22.0395, then, it would mean the Chinese geomancy principle or scenario is significantly inapplicable in TBP. As a whole, most general principles of Chinese geomancy were significant in influencing the TBP mandates at the 95 per cent confidence interval (a # 0:05, t-value $2.0395). This means the decision of the null hypothesis H0 was rejected, indicating the non-neutrality of Chinese geomancy principles or scenarios in influencing TBP. The only exception was the consideration of roads in affecting building integrity (a . 0:05, t-value $2.0395).

On the other hand, numerous scenarios of Chinese geomancy were not significant in influencing the TBP mandates at the 95 per cent confidence interval (a . 0:05). This means that the null hypothesis was not rejected, and, as interpreted from the context of the survey questionnaire, implies the neutrality of Chinese geomancy scenarios in affecting TBP mandates. These include: . orientation and position of openings under spatial, thermal and IAQ performance; . key occupancy locations under spatial and IAQ performance; . trees under visual performance; . roads under IAQ performance; and . building height and level under acoustical performance. This supports the notion put forward earlier that while the general principles of Chinese geomancy could be adopted in TBP, the specific scenarios of Chinese geomancy may not be that readily applied to TBP. The results of the assimilated principles after an analysis of the survey questionnaire for principles and scenarios are summarised in Tables VI and VII, respectively. In these tables, a tick indicates that the principles were assimilated and significantly applicable. An asterisk, on the other hand, indicates that the assimilation was not significantly applicable. In addition, the reasons for the inapplicability of the principle and scenarios are summarized in Table VIII. Conclusion From the literature review, the research has established in general that Chinese geomancy’s Form Theory, Five Elements Theory, Yin and Yang Theory, and the concept of Qi and water are relevant for the physiological, psychological and sociological aspects of the six TBP mandates. Through testing of the assimilated principles using the survey questionnaire, the t-test indicates that 25 out of 26 principles are significantly applicable for the TBP mandates at the 95 per cent confidence interval. Also, 12 of the 20 scenarios alluded to in Chinese geomancy are also significantly applicable for the TBP mandates at the 95 per cent confidence interval. The main reasons for the inapplicability of the principles and scenarios appear to include: . the evolution of Chinese geomancy has led to dilution of some principles; . the climatic and cultural context of application was not accounted for; and . the advancement of technology that that would render a scenario inapplicable could not be predicted. Given that the research has assimilated many Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios in the context of TBP and a majority of the principles and scenarios were significantly applicable, this appears to support the proposition that there is congruity of TBP mandates with Chinese geomancy principles. This research offers a fresh, back to the basics, macro-perspective on how the general principles and scenarios of Chinese geomancy can be reverse-engineered to achieve TBP. The broad coverage of Chinese geomancy in the context of TBP can also

Chinese geomancy principles 577

Table VI. Summary of assimilated principles based on questionnaire survey results

IAQ Physiological Appropriate architectural design and elements Space planning

Thermal Physiological Engineering controls Generic controls Administrative controls Psychological Engineering controls Generic controls Administrative controls Sociological Engineering controls Generic controls Administrative controls

Spatial Physiological Ergonomic comfort Psychological Privacy for occupants Systematic arrangement of spaces Sociological Interaction between occupants

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

Yin and Yang theory Balance and Lighting Site contrast of type and location colours function

U

U

Material considerations

Five elements theory

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

Stable Characteristics foundations of openings

U

Key Vicinity’s occupancy bright Water location lighting frontage

Concept of Qi

U

Roads

U (continued)

Concept of Qi and water Building height and Surrounding level trees

578

TBP principles

Form theory Surrounding Orientation and elevation, solar implications contours and of respective landform placement

F 30,13/14

Acoustical Physiological Keeping out external noise Minimising internal sound Building services disturbance Minimising vibration Psychological Keeping out external noise

Ventilation and air change efficiency Materials selection and specification Building envelope and openings Psychological Ventilation and air change efficiency Materials selection and specification Building envelope and openings Sociological Overall architectural design Space planning

TBP principles

Form theory Surrounding Orientation and elevation, solar implications contours and of respective landform placement

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

Roads

U (continued)

Concept of Qi and water Building height and Surrounding level trees

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

Stable Characteristics foundations of openings

Key Vicinity’s occupancy bright Water location lighting frontage

Concept of Qi

U

Material considerations

Five elements theory

U

U

U

U

Yin and Yang theory Balance and Lighting Site contrast of type and location colours function

Chinese geomancy principles 579

Table VI.

Table VI.

Visual Physiological Appropriate quantity of lighting Building envelope and building orientation Design of openings Occupancy factor Psychological Appropriate quantity of lighting Building envelope and building orientation Design of openings View Sociological View

Minimising internal sound Building services disturbance Minimising vibration Sociological Minimising internal sound Building services disturbance Minimising vibration

U

U

Yin and Yang theory Balance and Lighting Site contrast of type and location colours function Material considerations

Five elements theory

U

Stable Characteristics foundations of openings

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

Roads

(continued)

Concept of Qi and water Building Key Vicinity’s height occupancy bright Water and Surrounding location lighting frontage level trees

Concept of Qi

580

TBP principles

Form theory Surrounding Orientation and elevation, solar implications contours and of respective landform placement

F 30,13/14

Building integrity Physiological Mechanical properties for overall geometric stability Physical properties of air and water tightness Psychological Mechanical properties for overall geometric stability Physical properties of air and water tightness Visible properties of colour, texture and surface finish Sociological Mechanical properties for overall geometric stability Physical properties of air and water tightness Visible properties of colour, texture and surface finish

TBP principles

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

Form theory Surrounding Orientation and elevation, solar implications contours and of respective landform placement

Yin and Yang theory Balance and Lighting Site contrast of type and location colours function

U

U

U

U

U

Material considerations

Five elements theory

U

Stable Characteristics foundations of openings

Key Vicinity’s occupancy bright Water location lighting frontage

Concept of Qi

Concept of Qi and water Building height and Surrounding level trees

*

*

Roads

Chinese geomancy principles 581

Table VI.

Table VII. Summary of assimilated scenarios based on questionnaire survey results

IAQ Physiological Appropriate architectural design and elements

Thermal Physiological Engineering controls Generic controls Administrative controls Psychological Engineering controls Generic controls Administrative controls Sociological Generic controls Engineering controls

Spatial Physiological Ergonomic comfort Psychological Privacy for occupants Systematic arrangement of space Sociological Interaction between occupants U

U

U

Material consideration

*

*

*

*

*

Stable Characteristics foundation of openings

*

*

Key Vicinity’s occupancy bright Water location lighting frontage

Concept of Qi

Building height and level

Roads

(continued)

Surrounding trees

Concept of Qi and water

582

TBP principles

Form theory Yin and Yang theory Surrounding Orientation and Balance elevation, solar implications of and Lighting contours and respective Site contrast of type and landform placement location colours function

Chinese geomancy scenarios Five elements theory

F 30,13/14

Acoustical Physiological Keeping out external noise Minimising internal sound Building services disturbance Minimising vibration Psychological

Administrative controls Space planning Ventilation and air change efficiency Materials selection and specification Building envelope and openings Psychological Ventilation and air change efficiency Materials selection and specification Building envelope and openings Sociological Overall architectural design Space planning

TBP principles

U

U

U

U

Form theory Yin and Yang theory Surrounding Orientation and Balance elevation, solar implications of and Lighting contours and respective Site contrast of type and landform placement location colours function Material consideration

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Key Vicinity’s occupancy bright Water location lighting frontage

Concept of Qi

Stable Characteristics foundation of openings

Chinese geomancy scenarios Five elements theory

*

U

U

U

U

Building height and level

*

*

*

*

*

Roads

(continued)

Surrounding trees

Concept of Qi and water

Chinese geomancy principles 583

Table VII.

Table VII.

Visual Physiological Appropriate quantity of lighting Building envelope and building orientation Design of openings Occupancy factor Psychological Appropriate quantity of lighting Building envelope and building orientation Design of openings View Sociological View

Keeping out external noise Minimising internal sound Building services disturbance Minimising vibration Sociological Minimising internal sound Building services disturbance Minimising vibration U

U

Material consideration

U

Stable Characteristics foundation of openings

U

U

Key Vicinity’s occupancy bright Water location lighting frontage

Concept of Qi

U

U

U

*

Building height and level

*

*

Roads

(continued)

Surrounding trees

Concept of Qi and water

584

TBP principles

Form theory Yin and Yang theory Surrounding Orientation and Balance elevation, solar implications of and Lighting contours and respective Site contrast of type and landform placement location colours function

Chinese geomancy scenarios Five elements theory

F 30,13/14

Building integrity Physiological Mechanical properties for overall geometric stability Physical properties of air and water tightness Psychological Mechanical properties for overall geometric stability Physical properties of air and water tightness Visible properties of colour, texture and surface finish Sociological Mechanical properties for overall geometric stability Physical properties of air and water tightness Visible properties of colour, texture and surface finish

TBP principles

Form theory Yin and Yang theory Surrounding Orientation and Balance elevation, solar implications of and Lighting contours and respective Site contrast of type and landform placement location colours function

U

U

U

U

U

Material consideration

Key Vicinity’s occupancy bright Water location lighting frontage

Concept of Qi

Stable Characteristics foundation of openings

Chinese geomancy scenarios Five elements theory Building height and level Surrounding trees

Concept of Qi and water

U

U

Roads

Chinese geomancy principles 585

Table VII.

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No. Type 1

586

2 3 4 5 6 7

Table VIII. Reasons why Chinese geomancy principles and scenarios were not applicable

8 9

Chinese geomancy

Assimilated TBP mandate

Reasons for inapplicability

Principle Roads

Building integrity Evolution of Chinese geomancy that extends the definition of “water” to roads Scenario Orientation and position of Thermal Different climatic conditions due to openings performance location and time Scenario Building height and level Acoustical Not an obvious association due to performance the need to account for other factors Scenario Trees Visual Need to account for current context performance of environment and technology Scenario Orientation and position of IAQ performance Different climatic conditions due to openings location and time Scenario Key occupancy locations IAQ performance Different climatic conditions due to and openings location and time Scenario Roads IAQ performance Dependent on the air intake location, surrounding environment and cultural and location context Scenario Orientation and position of Spatial Subjectivity of spatial performance openings performance due to unquantifiable parameters Scenario Key occupancy locations Spatial Subjectivity of spatial performance performance due to unquantifiable parameters

act as a starting point for future exploration into more specific aspects such as to investigate Chinese geomancy in the context of one performance mandate. Furthermore, while understanding whether Chinese geomancy principles are similar to that of the TBP mandates, the research has presented a series of factors and scenarios that significantly influence TBP. This study has therefore contributed to new knowledge by bridging Chinese geomancy and TBP principles. The aforementioned can be of significance in discovering design and placement of buildings adopted by the ancient Chinese to achieve the objective of TBP and occupants’ well-being. For example, Chinese geomancy evaluates the surrounding height of buildings in relation to the building occupancy to examine the flow of Qi and yin and yang energy. By analysing the description of Qi and yin and yang energy, the principle appears to consider the effect of surrounding buildings on visual performance ( yin and yang) as well as air flow distribution (Qi ). Hence, as illustrated, the Chinese geomancy principle when viewed in the context of TBP, can uncover new or neglected design principles to further enhance occupants’ well-being. The quest to present Chinese geomancy objectively in the academic realm of TBP is a task that is not without challenges. For instance, there are different interpretations of Chinese geomancy by different literatures and masters. Since Chinese geomancy is based on abstract writings and teachings from the ancient Chinese, there are some terms and wordings that have been interpreted differently. This has posed some difficulties in establishing the most appropriate principles. Hence, whenever a conflicting interpretation was observed, this research based it on the most established and widely held principle.

This research selectively evaluated numerous established principles of Chinese geomancy, as coverage of all of the principles of Chinese geomancy was not possible. Future research could be done on a micro basis to test the validity of Chinese geomancy principles quantitatively. In addition, Chinese geomancy could also be investigated in light of the aspects of the economic limits of acceptability and sustainability, which is not covered in this research.

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References AsiaOne (2009), “Feng Shui course gains popularity”, AsiaOne: Education, 6 February, available at: www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20090206-119946.html (accessed 20 July 2010). Carroll, R.T. (2003), “The skeptic’s dictionary”, available at: www.skepdic.com/fengshui.html (accessed 1 November 2011). Centre Internationale du Baˆtiment (1982), “Working with the performance approach in building”, CIB Report Publication 64, Centre Internationale du Baˆtiment, Montreal. Chen, B.X. and Nakama, Y. (2004), “A summary of research history on Chinese Feng Shui and application of Feng Shui principles to environmental isues”, Kyushu Journal of Forest Research, Vol. 57 No. 2, pp. 297-301. Chen, Q., Feng, Y. and Wang, G. (1997), “Healthy buildings existed in China since ancient times”, Indoor and Built Environment, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 179-87. Chen, X. and Wu, J. (2009), “Sustainable landscape architecture: implications of the Chinese philosophy of ‘unity of man with nature’ and beyond”, Landscape Ecology, Vol. 24, pp. 1015-26. Cheng, J. and Kong, S. (1993), Feng Shui and Architecture, Jiangxi Science and Technology Press, Nanchang (in Chinese). Chou, P.C., Hung, C.C. and Chiang, C.M. (2007), Does Feng Shui Approach Improve the Indoor Environment Quality? The View Point of the Room Ventilation by CFD Simulation, Sustainable Building, Taipei. Feng Shui Times (2009), “Ham and cheese on a wry bagua”, Feng Shui Times, Part II, 3 February, available at: www.fengshuitimes.com/article/detail.asp?aid¼421andcid¼1 (accessed August 15, 2010). Fong, J. (2007), Feng Shui in the City: A Practical Handbook for Modern Urban Living, Marshall Cavendish, Shah Alam. Hartkopf, V. and Loftness, V. (1999), “Global relevance of total building performance”, Automation in Construction, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 377-93. Hartkopf, V.H., Loftness, V.E. and Mill, P.D. (1986), “The concept of total building performance and building diagnostics”, in Davis, G. (Ed.), Building Performance, ASTM Publication 04-901000-10, ASTM International, Philadelphia, PA, pp. 5-22. He, X. (1990), The Source of Feng Shui, Southeast University Press, Nanjing (in Chinese). Lau, S.S., Garcia, R., Ou, Y.-Q., Shen, S.J. and Namba, H. (2005), “Sustainable design in its simplest form: lessons from the living villages of Fujian rammed earth houses”, Structural Survey, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 371-85. Lip, E. (2008), All You Need to Know about Feng Shui, Marshall Cavendish, Singapore. Low, S.P. (2004), “Techniques for environmental control and structural integrity of buildings in ancient China”, Structural Survey, Vol. 22 No. 5, pp. 271-81.

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Low, S.P., Liu, J.Y. and Oh, K. (2008a), “Influence of total building performance, spatial and acoustic concepts on buildability scores of facilities”, Facilities, Vol. 26 Nos 1/2, pp. 85-104. Low, S.P., Liu, J.Y. and Wong, H.L. (2008b), “Relationship between buildability, indoor air quality and visual performance”, Structural Survey, Vol. 26 No. 1, pp. 38-54. Low, W. (1978), “Chinese geomancy and architecture”, unpublished dissertation, Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore, Singapore, March. Mak, M.Y. (2009), “Feng shui villages in Hong Kong: a case study of Tai Fu Mansion”, 4th ICSFSBE Proceedings, available at: www.vital-office.net/download/Vortraege/4th_ ICSFSBE_Proceedings_2009/MAK_Michael_Villages.pdf (accessed 10 October 2010). Mak, M.Y. and Ng, T.S. (2005), “The art and science of Feng Shui – a study of architects’ perception”, Building and Environment, Vol. 40 No. 3, pp. 427-34. Mak, M. and Ng, T.S. (2008), “Feng Shui: an alternative framework for complexity in design”, Architectural Engineering and Design Management, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 58-72. Marafa, L. (2003), “Integrating natural and cultural heritage: the advantage of Feng Shui landscape resources”, International Journal of Heritage Studies, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 307-23. My Paper (2010), “Feng Shui takes root in New York property market”, My Paper (Singapore), 26 August, p. A20. National Climate Change Committee (2006), “IACEE Report”, 15 January, available at: www.nccc. gov.sg/aboutnccc/report.shtm (accessed 20 July 2010). Ng, C. (2005), “Development of Total Building Performance (TBP), assessment system for office buildings”, unpublished BSc dissertation, Department of Building, National University of Singapore, Singapore. Oh, S.H. (2010), “The recognition of geomancy by intellectuals during the Joseon Period”, The Review of Korean Studies, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 121-47. Schmieke, M. (2002), Vatsu: The Origin of Feng Shui, Goloka Books, Hatchend. Smith, V.M. and Stewart, B.L. (2006), Feng Shui: A Practical Guide for Architects and Designers, Kaplan Publishing, Chicago, IL. US Environmental Protection Agency (2010), “Green building: why build green?”, 3 December, available at: www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/pubs/whybuild.htm (accessed 10 December 2010). Wang, Q. (1992), Research of Feng Shui Theory, Tianjin University Press, Tianjin (in Chinese). Wei, T.D. (2010), “Marina Bay Sands covers its bets”, The Sunday Times (Singapore), 14 March, p. 8. Wong, N.H. and Wy, L. (2003), “Total building performance evaluation of academic institution in Singapore”, Building and Environment, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 161-76. Xu, P. (1998), “Feng Shui models structured traditional Beijing courtyard houses”, Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 271-82. Yoon, H.K. (2006), The Culture of Feng Shui in Korea. An Explanation of East Asian Geomancy, Lexington Books, Plymouth. Yu, K. (1994), “Landscape into places: Feng Shui model of place making and some cross-cultural comparisons”, Proceeedings of the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA 94), Mississippi State University, Starkville, MS, pp. 320-40. Corresponding author Low Sui Pheng can be contacted at: [email protected]

Appendix

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Figure A1. Sample questionnaire relating to thermal performance and IAQ performance

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Ying Deng Department of Real Estate and Construction, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR, China Abstract Purpose – A mega-event flagship (MEF) refers to a purpose-built building flagship for a global mega-event and a popular instrument to catalyze urban renewal in the host city. Despite their lasting popularity and volatile outcomes, such highly controversial developments have received little analysis. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap in the research. Design/methodology/approach – To bridge the Triple-C Gap identified, a case study method was adopted in the form of participant observation, due to the author’s special role as a key project coordinator of Expo 2010. To provide a good reference for comparable developments, it takes three steps to study the Expo Center (EC) – one of the four MEFs of Expo 2010. First, planning rationales are explained to form a holistic understanding of the Big 4 as an integrated whole. Then, a pilot questionnaire survey is reported to identify pressing issues on a broader scale. Finally, the early stages of the EC are investigated in six dimensions. Findings – The study concludes with significant lessons in shaping the early stage of a MEF, as well as correcting a misunderstanding of such a development being an end in itself. Research limitations/implications – Certain constraints in participant observation have been minimized since the author maintained a relatively independent role as a process facilitator, which is different from the traditional role of a design manager or a project manager. Originality/value – A timely reminder to rethink the commitment to MEFs, this explorative study offers new insights into MEF research and will be of cross-boundary value to a wide spectrum of people and agencies. Keywords Mega-event flagship, Triple-C Gap, Case studies, Early stages, Expo Center, Buildings, Project management Paper type Research paper

Introduction The Triple-C Gap Mega-event flagships (MEFs) refer to a special type of dually oriented flagships initiated by one-off mega-events such as the Olympics or the Expos. As dedicated venues for event staging, they are also aimed at catalyzing area-based urban renewal on and beyond event sites (Deng, 2011). Due to pronounced synergies between the two operations, their popularity peaked after Expo 1962 in Seattle, USA, and the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain (van den Berg et al., 2002; Hall, 1992). Amid the good signs, little evidence indicates that both short-term and long-term agendas can always be satisfactorily met in such MEF developments with escalating financial outlays. Facilities Vol. 30 No. 13/14, 2012 pp. 590-610 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0263-2772 DOI 10.1108/02632771211270577

The author is grateful to Dr S.W. Poon for his insights and inspirations. Special thanks are also given to the journal’s editors and reviewers for providing constructive comments on an earlier draft of this paper.

After the Olympic years of 1976, 1980, 2000 and 2004, gigantic MEFs in Montreal, Moscow, Sydney and Athens have come at the cost of long-term financial burdens and have hindered renewal attempts (Andranovich et al., 2001; Athens News Agency, 2004; CBC News, 2006; Flyvbjerg et al., 2003; Searle, 2002). The highlighted volatility in the post-event performance of a MEF is closely tied to an inevitable truth: historic peaks of demand from a global reach are short-lived and normally die out in the post-event era. As a result, it has been a tricky issue for a MEF with a “custom-made” capacity and configuration to find new uses or suit new expectations. This may be further exacerbated by inadequate organization and management. Despite their lasting appeal, these controversial developments have received little in-depth analysis. Deng and Poon (2011) highlight 12 reoccurring pitfalls in MEF development: (1) overstated image-building; (2) copycat mentality; (3) programming duality; (4) time pressure; (5) cross-boundary system; (6) objective complexity; (7) volatile organization; (8) high turnover of staff; (9) organizational boundary; (10) impeded knowledge transfer; (11) downplayed process management; and (12) pricy forgetfulness.

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These problems are caused either by dysfunctional clients, unconventional challenges or insufficient capacities, which boils down to the Triple-C Gap illustrated by Figure 1. A competitive client is the driving force behind the practice but is significant

Figure 1. The Triple-C Gap of MEF research

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under-represented in the existing literature. Academic interests have been misleading, focusing more on assessing impacts than profiling challenges. Besides tangential studies on Western-based practices, research is rare in emerging economies, towards which MEFs are now shifting.

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The case study approach Participant observation. Due to the unique duality of a MEF, this paper argues that it should be pre-post positioned rather than being simplified to a legacy issue. As a rising mega-event host who played host to the 2008 Olympics and Expo 2010, China is a logical place to tackle the Triple-C Gap. As the latest and largest MEF cluster in Expo history, “the Big Four” (the Big 4) of Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China, refer to four cultural flagships: (1) the Expo Center (EC); (2) the Theme Pavilion (TP); (3) the China Pavilion (CP); and (4) the Performing Arts Center (PAC). Being “extreme or unique” (Yin, 1994, pp. 39-41), each is suitable for a single-case study. Of the four, EC was functionally the most complicated, originally planned as the largest in size, and was the first ready for construction. Such a pioneering development will therefore constitute a good reference for future practices. Since case-study research demands breadth as well as depth of analysis, hands-on experience is of great importance in providing a different lens to reveal greater details. Participant observation (Easterby-Smith et al., 1991), and more specifically, “complete participation” (Junkers, 1960) or “researcher as employee” (Easterby-Smith et al., 1991, pp. 96-8) was adopted due to the author’s role as Senior Supervisor of the Expo 2010 Organizer. The benefits are three-fold: (1) her role as a client member brought to the spotlight the critical yet much-neglected decision-making process at the critical early stages; (2) her assigned responsibilities in coordinating all stakeholders greatly facilitated data collection on a first-hand basis; and (3) this insider perspective offers a deeper understanding of the rationales and practices of MEFs. The process model. The fact that the early stages of MEFs have seldom been explored leads to a need to define the term. Also known as the initiation stage or the strategic stage, the early stages of any building project usually comprise the stages of planning and programming. The schematic design stage may also be included when a project is large and complicated (Best and Valence, 1999; Carmichael, 2006; Cleland and Ireland, 2007; Hershberger, 1999; Phillips, 2000; Preiser, 1993; Ryd, 2004). Because of the unusual complexity of MEFs, the process model (Figure 2) is established to study the early stages of EC, i.e. planning, programming and design competition. The following briefly defines each stage and identifies research gaps to be filled. The major purpose of planning is to optimize site utilities (Hershberger, 1999) and facilitate all stakeholders to forge a shared vision of an intended development (Blyth

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Figure 2. The process model for the early stages of a MEF

and Worthington, 2001). With regard to planning Expos or urban renewals, Lynch (1962) points out two difficulties: (1) the more-than-20-year development timeframe; and (2) the uncertainty of future utility. Surprisingly, such signature processes are much emulated, yet rarely explored. The purpose of the process of programming is to identify opportunities and constraints, to clarify and communicate requirements, and to develop a program statement to guide the design process and evaluate the built product (Blyth and Worthington, 2001; Cherry, 1998; Duerk, 1993; Hershberger, 1999; Kumlin, 1995; Pen˜a and Parshall, 2001; Preiser, 1993; Sanoff, 1992). Although research findings indicate that organizational factors may have a greater influence than expected on the outcome of a project, such issues are largely ignored in the programming process (Farbstein; cited in Preiser, 1993, p. 384). Likewise, although the client’s program constitutes an essential communication channel between the client and the competitors in a design competition (American Institute of Architects, 1988; Nasar, 1999; Strong, 1996), prevailing attention is often given to the result rather than the process, hindering constructive lessons from being learned. These outstanding issues will therefore be explored in the case study. Significance and limitation Convention centers have been introduced as a key incentive for urban renewal (Altshuler and Luberoff, 2003; Lawson, 2000). EC is a case in point. By reviewing how such a strategic transformation has been pursued, this exploratory study will contribute new insights into MEF development and be of cross-boundary interest to a wide spectrum of people and agencies. Negative impacts of participant observation such as potential biases and ethical dilemmas (Easterby-Smith et al., 1991; Yin, 1994) have been minimized because the author was not employed by any client of the Big 4, and hence was able to maintain a relatively neutral stance. Her role can also be

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regarded as what Emmitt et al. (2009) define as a process facilitator, who, differently from the traditional role of a design manager or a project manager, is expected to be responsible for the process rather than the outcome of a project. The Expo Center In line with the process model, this study takes three steps. First, planning rationales behind the Big 4 are explained to define the strategic role of EC. Next, pressing issues in the early stages are identified through a pilot questionnaire survey on major public buildings in China. Finally, the early stages of EC are studied from five dimensions: (1) programming complexity; (2) client organization; (3) formation of the client’s program; (4) the program competition; and (5) the design competition. Since most critical decisions on the future of a MEF have to be made in the early stages, the quality of the early stages should be evaluated at both the project level and the organization level. Table I further breaks them down into two sub-levels. The case summary is made according to this matrix followed by lessons learned for future improvement. Planning rationales For almost each waterfront Expo in the past, there is always a legendary river that plays a pivotal role in the urban development of the host cities: the Seine in Paris, the Thames in London, and for Shanghai, the Huangpu River (“the River”). As the city’s structural spine, the River divides the city into Puxi and Pudong, namely, the populous West bank and the spacious East bank. As illustrated in Figure 3, the River has witnessed a development trilogy over two centuries: (1) the nineteenth-century Bund in Puxi; (2) the twentieth-century Lujiazui in Pudong; and (3) the twenty-first century Renewal on both banks of the River. As a feature of the third Riverfront development, Expo 2010 was conceived by the Shanghai Municipal Government (2006) as an effective catalyst in making Shanghai an international hub of commerce, finance, trading and shipping by 2020. This ambitious vision has a precise relevance to the Big 4, which is explained next. The twenty-first century cross-river development, as the largest in scale among the three, is focused on urban renewal in a bid to rectify the visible imbalances between

Table I. Evaluation matrix of the early stages of a MEF

Level

Sub-level

Project

Functional priority Flexibility/adaptability Diversity of stakeholders Objective consistency

Organization

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Figure 3. The development trilogy along the Huangpu River in Shanghai

Puxi and Pudong (Deng and Poon, 2011). Expo 2010 offered good timing to rebalance. Figure 4 shows the Big 4 grouped in the Pudong side of the 5.28 km2 cross-river Expo site. During the Expo, they each provided over 140,000 m2 of multi-functional spaces for over 70 million visitors. Afterwards, they would set the pace for transforming an industrialized urban edge into a future sub-center after the Bund and the Lujiazui.

Figure 4. A computer-generated rendering of the Big 4 defining a future sub-center of Shanghai

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Figure 5 shows the functional relevance of the Big 4 in two timeframes. During the Expo, the horizontal axis divided the four into two thematic areas: (1) an exhibition zone; and (2) a public event zone. Afterwards, the vertical axis separates them into two districts: (1) a convention and exhibition district; and (2) a cultural and museum district. By attracting investment and resources to previously under-developed areas, this emerging area would expedite Shanghai’s renaissance towards a being global center. A pilot questionnaire survey While EC constitutes the epitome of major projects of national significance, it leads to the need to identify pressing problems in the early stages of major public buildings in China. Hence, a pilot questionnaire survey on programming and design competition practices was conducted in 2009. Representative sampling was used to overcome the deficiency in a “broadcast”-type survey (Cherns and Bryant, 1984). One hundred respondents were selected from those construction professionals and clients involved in the Big 4 and other conventional projects. Sixty-five questionnaire samples were returned, of which 57 were valid and eight were invalid due to incompleteness. Data were collected from 90 major public building projects between 2000 and 2009 in 25 mega and medium cities, of which MEFs and non-MEFs accounted for 30 percent and 70 percent, respectively. Table II shows the structure of the questionnaire. Three outstanding issues in the early stages that might lead to a considerable amount of rework at the later stages were identified. The first concerned the issue of a programming fee. Figure 6 shows that 70 percent of 90 programming services were

Figure 5. The inter-relationship of the Big 4

Category

Sub-category

Part 1 (Q1-7) Respondent information

Length of work experience Diversity of work experience Recent involvement in major public buildings Related education/training Professional practice Academic outputvEducation Value Status Fee Key factors affecting the outcome Typical problems of competition programs Method in use Benefit Attitude Project profile Client profile Competition format Frequency of significant changes Communication method Fee charging method

Part 2 (Q8-14) Overview of programming Part 3 Q15-18) Perceptions on programming services Part 4 (Q19-20) Design competitions Part 5 (Q21-25) Formation of programs Part 6 (Q26) Programming cases

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Table II. The matrix of the pilot questionnaire survey

Figure 6. Distribution of 90 projects by billing method of programming services

unpaid. The second issue concerned the participants in the programming process. By frequency of presence, Figure 7 indicates that the involvement of “user representatives” among 14 types of participants was recorded as low as 14 percent. The third issue was related to the outcome of the design competition. With regard to a design competition, “program quality” was ranked as the most important factor. The two most common problems in a competition program were “too generic or too trivial in project requirements” and “lack of priority, clarity or consistency in project requirements”. These problems will be addressed in the case report that follows.

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Figure 7. Frequency of presence by different participants during the programming processes of 90 projects under survey

Project overview EC sits on a 6.65 ha belt (Figure 8) alongside the River and borders on Expo Parkland – a landscape legacy from Expo 2010. As shown in Figure 9, the facility comprises two interlocking volumes, stretching 350 m in an East-West direction and 140 m in a North-South direction. Of the total floor area of 142,000 m2, the 100,000 m2 area above

Figure 8. Location map of Expo Center

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ground is dedicated to international conventions, public events, banquets, press conferences and affiliated services, whereas the underground space is mainly for mechanical and parking purposes (Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd (2009); Shanghai Urban Planning Administration Bureau and Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, 2007). Eight functional components are identified in Figure 10. The four types of major space are a 2,600-seat convention hall, a 600-seat international conference hall, a 5,000-seat multi-purpose hall and a 3,000-seat banquet hall. The four types of complementary space include small- to medium-sized meeting rooms, a restaurant that is open to the public, several VIP centers and a media center. EC features high flexibility for various uses in different timeframes. During the Expo, it offered a dynamic convergence for visitors, as well as an ideal setting for international conventions, forums, banqueting and VIP services. Afterwards, EC would function as a dedicated venue for municipal events while striving to become a premier Asian venue for brand-named conventions, conferences and other public events.

Figure 10. Zoning of the Expo Center

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Programming complexity The initial idea to develop a world-class convention center was mooted in 2001 when China bid for the right to host Expo 2010. The aim was articulated in the master planning stage in 2004. Three major objectives, as specified below, were gradually clarified when the Expo preparations moved to the detailed planning stage in 2005. The market demand. After the grand development of Pudong in the 1990s, Shanghai has quickly risen to prominence as China’s new economic engine. To transform this mega-city into one of the major event destinations in the Asia Pacific region, the Shanghai Foreign Economic Relation and Trade Commission and the Shanghai Foreign Investment Commission (2005) aimed to host 500 international exhibitions and 1,000 international conferences annually by 2010. A spatial shortage of 200,000 m2 existed in meeting the projected demand (Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, 2004, 2006). Moreover, one of the major local convention and exhibition centers (CECs) could host a single exhibition in a 30,000 m2 exhibition space by 2007 (Gong and Zeng, 2007, p. 75). Due to a lack of integrated planning, the ability of major local CECs to expand has been limited by their physical location. This space deficiency was too obvious to be ignored if the the annual target of 500 international exhibitions was to be realized, which justified the construction of EC. The fixed component. EC was also conceived as a permanent venue for the two most important local political events on an annual basis – the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress and the Shanghai Municipal People’s Political Consultative Conference (the “Two Conferences”). For decades, the Two Conferences were held in the Shanghai Exhibition Center. Built in 1955, the center lacks a dedicated pre-function space, a VIP center and an independently run security system, causing extra workloads for facility managers and many inconveniences to other user groups for the durations of the conferences. The Expo mission. Throughout the 184 days of Expo 2010, EC was conceived as a major destination to hold conferences, forums and other public events for over 200 participating nations, international organizations, and 34 Chinese provinces and regions. It would also provide designated spaces for VIPs and press conferences. To cater for such a variety of users constituted a real challenge. Leading difficulties. Among the three programmatic components, the first would require flexibility and adaptability to gain a competitive edge in the market. The second was to offer a permanent solution to political conferences and hence prefer a relatively fixed setting and a high level of security. The third aimed to create temporary spaces for many one-off purposes during the Expo. This triple-tier program led to two major challenges for developing EC. At the site level, a spacious front and a large backyard are two prerequisites for a convention center to accommodate prominent events. This in turn requires sufficient depth of its site. Self-evidently, EC’s site (Figure 8) is narrow (130 m) and long (530 m). As the master planning stage was almost completed before EC was programmed in early 2006, adjacent road and utility systems were beyond any drastic alteration. Coupled with its functional complexity, it would be a great challenge to deliver a well-functioned building solution on such a difficult site. At the building level, the difficulty lay in how to coordinate different and sometimes conflicting user requirements. The fact that a significant portion of EC would be a fixed component may have caused a partial loss of its spatial and operational integrity. With the original intention to provide a permanent home to the

Two Conferences, the facility’s flexibility may have been reduced and increased operational difficulties may have been caused for Expo Group to arrange other public and commercial events. Client organization Corresponding to the three objectives mentioned above, a cross-agency client (Figure 11) was officially formed in January 2006. The developer. Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd (“Expo Group”) was set up in 2004 when the Expo 2010 development moved into its early preparation stage. It was designated as one of two major state-owned developers for Expo 2010 and the long-term facility owner of EC and TP. Hence, the group’s top priority was to find an integrated building solution of the two adjacent MEFs in a bid to gain a competitive edge in the market after the Expo. The coordinator. The Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination (SEB) was established as a temporary public institution in October 2003. One of its major duties was to coordinate key external stakeholders including the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee General Office, the Shanghai Municipal Government General Office, SFMB, the Shanghai Municipal Foreign Affairs Office and other municipal agencies. The user representative. It is highly recommended that facility managers are involved in the processes of programming and post-occupancy evaluation for their hands-on experience (Preiser, 1995). As the designated facility manager for the Two Conferences, Shanghai Municipal Facility Management Bureau (SFMB) was invited by SEB and Expo Group to put forward detailed facility requirements concerning seating capacities, circulations and logistics on behalf of various municipal agencies.

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Formation of the client’s program Pressing issues. Due to the complexity of EC, substantial research was jointly carried out by the planning team, the in-house management team of Expo Group and multiple divisions of SEB. A series of consultation workshops was organized by SEB and attended by SFMB, the Shanghai Urban Planning and Administration Bureau (SUPAB) and other municipal agencies. Five major issues were highlighted:

Figure 11. The client organization of the Expo Center

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(1) Expo component. A review of the two most recent Expos by the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination (2006) showed a great demand for large-scale meetings and press conferences. Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany, was held on an existing 1.6 km2 exhibition ground. Over the course of 153 days, 187 nations and international organizations participated in 15,000 events including about 100 large conferences and forums. Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan, took place in a 1.73 km2 park with the participation of 133 nations and international organizations. During the 185 days of its duration, over 100 large conventions and conferences were held (Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd, 2006c). According to the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination (2006), the number of events during Expo 2010 could exceed 100,000 by putting into perspective its 5.28 km2 site as well as the projected 70 million visitors and over 200 participating nations and international organizations. (2) Fixed component. After the Expo, the two Conferences with a maximum of 3,000 attendees would be held in EC on an annual basis. The question was whether this designated hall should be designed as a tiered space with fixed seating or a multi-purpose space. Based on years of operational experience on the part of SEMB, it was considered highly desirable that this space was designed as a fixed component to reduce time and resources spent on move-in and move-out. However, multi-purpose spaces would be more welcome in any commercial-oriented convention facility. (3) Adaptable component. EC should be appropriately sized and programmed to have multiple purposes. Drawn from previous lessons in existing CECs, EC should strike a precise balance between its flexible and fixed components. The two zones should be able to operate separately and be used in combination to increase flexibility. (4) Peaks and off-peaks. It is important to learn from previous lessons that peaks of demand for a MEF such as an Olympic stadium normally drop sharply afterwards. Would EC also encounter such a dilemma? To answer this critical query, Table III specifies the three major types of programmatic components in two different timeframes. Concerning the fixed component, the Two Conferences, which usually accommodate 2,500-3,000 people, would be the largest by attendance. The attendance of international conventions could reach up to 20,000 people, well beyond the recorded attendance of the two most recent Expos and the estimated peak attendance of Expo 2010. These data indicated that the post-Expo demand would be larger and more diversified than the Expo demand. Hence, the typical peaking problem in most sports MEFs would be less likely to occur in EC. (5) Pre-post surplus. However, this distribution of facility demand in two timeframes gave rise to a new problem. On the one hand, the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination (2006) estimated that a total area of 37,000 m2 would suffice for the visitors for the duration of the Expo, suggesting a surplus of spaces during the Expo and an increase in maintenance costs. On the other hand, SEB witnessed a significant increase in the number of its divisions in 2006, such as events management, information technology, logistics, traffic control and public security. This expansion resulted in an

Up to 1,000 conventions by 2010

10,00020,000

International political summits, economic conferences

Conferences, conventions (with exhibitions and other smaller meetings), corporate meetings, other social events

Convention/conference hall, green rooms, smaller meeting rooms, banquet space, multifunctional space Meeting space, banquet space, multi-functional space, hospitality facility

Convention/conference hall, VIP center, banquet space, multi-functional space, media center

Spatial requirement

Sources: Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd (2006a), Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination (2006), Shanghai Foreign Economic Relation and Trade Commission and Shanghai Foreign Investment Commission (2005)

Varied

Annual

2,500-3,000 One week

The Two Conferences

Municipal/government conventions

2-3 days Monthly

Post-Expo

300-500

Summit forums

Forums, conferences, news release

Expo

Timeframe General types of use

The peaking demand Attendance Specific types of use (range) Duration Frequency

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unexpected large demand for administration spaces for the duration of the Expo. To rebalance, some temporarily vacant spaces were used for the purposes of on-site management and operations during the Expo. Future identity. To address these issues, extensive market surveys were carried out by the client, aiming to establishing a future identity for EC. In April 2006, a survey report (Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd, 2006a) was finalized after extensive desk research and study visits to major CECs at home and abroad. Worldwide, there are two major trends in developing CEC facilities, i.e. the European model and the American model. A major difference lies in whether conventions and exhibitions are held separately. The former features a rigid division between the two. In most cases, European congress centers are home for conventions with no exhibition space, whereas dedicated exhibition centers are often located at urban edges adjacent to railways for the convenience of transportation and logistics (Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd, 2006a). As a representative of the European model, German exhibition centers have maintained a strong global edge (Law, 1994; Lawson, 2000). By contrast, the American model shows an increasing inter-dependency between convention and exhibition activities. A typical American convention center is usually located adjacent to downtown hospitality facilities and offers large, convertible halls for both conference and exhibition purposes (Law, 1994). Representative venues such as the Orlando Convention Center and the Las Vegas Convention Center allow all associated activities – i.e. trade, hotel, retail and office – to take place within close proximity. In Asia, the American model has been further developed to make most convention centers functionally more sophisticated and visually more iconic. Examples include the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center, COEX in Seoul, and the Tokyo Forum. To match its rising reputation, Shanghai is in need of a cutting-edge solution to the upscale international convention market. In Pudong, where EC was constructed, a dedicated conference center and a European-style exhibition center already existed. Hence, a combination of both would give EC a unique identity after Expo 2010. Recent international trends also showed that the boundaries between conferences, exhibitions and large events have been blurred, with a single event demanding a full range of attendance from less than 20 people to over 10,000. This would require high-level flexibility in facility configuration. However, according to the survey (Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd, 2006a), major local CECs lagged far behind in this crucial regard. Some could hold large exhibitions but only small meetings, and others were insufficient in both. While the seat capacity of a world-class convention center nowadays tops 5,000 people or more, the largest counterpart in Shanghai could only accommodate 3,000 people. A lack of expandability stood as another stumbling block for further development. The program competition While most preparations for EC’s design competition were made, a recurring issue encountered by many ambitious Chinese clients remained unsolved – how to define “a world-class facility”. To draw on the best practices in the global context, the client decided to launch an international programming consultation in early May 2006. Among hundreds of design agencies, the client looked for those with excellent reputation and expertise in designing CECs. In the middle of May 2006, an invitation

was extended to 11 overseas firms and three domestic institutes in a bid to optimize the client’s program based on historical data of successful cases. Each overseas firm received recommendations to form a consortium with a domestic firm if possible, and vice versa. Subsequently, each consortium was advised to team up with programming consultants and/or facility managers in CECs. A multi-disciplinary jury including client members, key stakeholders, design professionals and facility managers was set up to determine a shortlist for the design competition. A briefing was arranged for each candidate to make an in-depth presentation of its program report in June 2006. This in turn provided a good learning opportunity for the client to gain new insights. In particular, the report prepared by an American firm was highly acclaimed by the jury. Among others, five-tier market trends were reviewed, including CECs in Shanghai, its vicinity, China, Asia, and worldwide; opportunities and challenges were highlighted; differences of CECs in North America, Europe and Asia were stressed; and key development criteria, common practice and planning standards were elaborated. A summary of the report (De Stefano Partners, Inc. and C.H. Johnson Consulting, Inc., 2006) is presented below: . An integrated district. A convention center cannot be financially self-sustained without being planned as an integral part of a mixed-use district with hospitality, commercial, entertainment and cultural components. . Functional diversity. To maintain the vitality of EC, multi-functional spaces should be provided to accommodate events such as trade shows, consumer shows, concerts and entertainment events. Banquet facilities, upscale restaurants, and food outlets should be considered and properly sized as a proven financial bonus. As venues for summits, high-end hotel-style ballrooms and convention halls should also be included. . Flexibility and expandability. The hybrid model of conventions and exhibitions is noticeably changing the event industry, which in turn calls for more flexibility in facility configuration. Meeting spaces should consider the possibility of either combined or divisible uses. As the size of the facility plays a decisive role in guaranteeing old and new clienteles, it is crucial to take expandability into consideration. The design competition On July 4, 2007, a 180-page program statement (Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd, 2006b) was issued based on three sources: (1) a study report on post-Expo requirements by Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd; (2) a study report on Expo requirements by the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination (2006); and (3) program reports by external experts (Participators of Program Consultation for the Public Event Center of Expo 2010 Shanghai China, 2006). It was concluded that a multi-purpose convention center with adjacent hotel and retail facilities would best suit the theme of the Third Riverfront Renewal. The report elaborated on a comprehensive range of issues of the proposed 145,000 m2 development, including site situation, design principles, facility requirements,

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mechanical and engineering systems and sustainable objectives. Two major deliverables were required. Within the site, the client asked for an architectural design scheme, an interior design scheme, and a landscape design scheme of EC. To make the Big 4 an integrated whole, three more schemes were also sought outside EC’s site boundaries but within the permanent zone, including a landscape design scheme of the permanent zone, a concept site plan of TP as the future exhibition center, and a concept plan for the site of the proposed hotel and retail facilities. After five months of collaborative research by the cross-agency client and one month of international programming consultation, the design competition for EC was ready to go. Based mainly on the results of the program competition, the client invited ten agencies to participate in the highly anticipated design competition in early August 2006. By the end of August 2006, seven candidates responded to the notice to bid. They were: (1) a consortium of an Australian firm and a local firm; (2) a consortium of a local firm and an American firm; (3) a consortium of a local firm and an American firm; (4) a consortium of a Beijing-based firm and an American firm; (5) a French firm; (6) a British firm; and (7) a German firm. In early October 2006, a cross-agency jury was set up to look for teams who demonstrated exceptional qualities in providing sustainable design solutions to large and complex convention facilities. By early November 2006, the competition was narrowed down to three finalists. After rounds of screening, the consortium between a local firm and an American firm secured the winning bid in early 2007 and the project officially entered into the design development stage. Conclusions Case summary According to the evaluation matrix previously put forward, a summary of EC is as follows: . Functional priority – EC was conceived more as a future investment than solely an Expo input to facilitate Shanghai’s strategic and spatial transformation. . Flexibility/adaptability – EC offered multi-purpose spaces with four primary and four secondary functions during and after the Expo. . Diversity of stakeholders – given the number and type of stakeholders involved, EC’s client organization was complicated. . Objective consistency – the three key programmatic components of EC remained largely consistent throughout. To make EC function beyond Expo 2010, the priority focus of the cross-agency client was to strike a precise balance between the market demand, the fixed need and the Expo mission. Accordingly, comprehensive surveys were carried out to learn lessons from local and international practices. The involvement of key stakeholders and external experts further rationalized the triple-tiered program and avoided potential

conflicts between multiple uses. A rigorously structured process played a large part in making this, the most complicated amongst the Big 4, the first to be ready for construction. A program competition EC’s international program competition is so far a rare case in China. Although the event was not officially labeled as a “competition”, considerable powers of criticism and enriched experience were required for candidates. Therefore, it served as an explorative instrument for the client to further evaluate the overall strength of candidates in managing such complex projects. In terms of research capacity, overseas firms performed in a more professional manner than their Chinese counterparts in EC’s program competition. It is worth noting that the extensive programming efforts stipulated by most states in the USA have become a prerequisite for undertaking and commissioning architectural design. Accordingly, large American design practices have developed either strong in-house capabilities or established strong ties with professional programmers (Preiser, 1993). From the outcomes of the program competition to the questionnaire survey, there is a shortage of well-trained professionals to carry out quality programming services. For highly specialized facilities such as CECs, laboratories and health facilities, trendy building envelopes are far from sufficient to provide sustainable facilities. The real competitive edge lies in a solid accumulation of historical data and a precise identification of market trends through expert judgments. For China, EC’s program competition reiterates the significance of devising a proper mechanism to guide design practices towards making responsible and sustainable facilities. A catalyst for change In retrospect, when the legacy issue is ranked secondary to the primary objective of staging mega-events, MEF development could become an end in itself. It is a growing consensus that its sustainability agenda cannot be realized by relying solely on a one-off extravagance. In this sense, what makes EC a groundbreaker goes beyond its considerable scale and lies in its pioneering early stages. To survive and thrive on a mega-event, a MEF needs to establish its long-term identity to stay competitive in the post-event market. Since a MEF may involve considerable initial investment and face intense competition, accurate projections of the number and variety of facility users hold the key to its functional and financial sustainability. Moreover, when cross-agency cooperation becomes the norm for MEF development, no single party can produce a miraculous outcome alone. When any conflict of interest among stakeholders arises, it is judicious to reach the necessary compromises by giving up a scheme that tends to create more troubles than solutions. A MEF client has to ensure that its organizational capabilities and processes are ready to support sustainability as being central to any development. Besides a key instrument to physical renewal, MEF development can also become an invaluable initiative to enhance the production of long-lasting buildings. References Altshuler, A. and Luberoff, D. (2003), Mega-projects: The Changing Politics of Urban Public Investment, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC/Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, CA.

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American Institute of Architects (1988), Handbook of Architectural Design Competitions, 15th ed., American Institute of Architects, Washington, DC. Andranovich, G., Burbank, M.J. and Heying, H.C. (2001), “Olympic cities: lessons learned from mega-event politics”, Journal of Urban Affairs, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 113-31. Athens News Agency (2004), “Cost of Athens 2004 Olympics”, November 13, available at: www. greekembassy.org/Embassy/content/en/Article.aspx?office¼3&folder¼200&article¼ 14269#top (accessed 6 August 2010). Blyth, A. and Worthington, J. (2001), Managing the Brief for Better Design, Spon Press, London. Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination (2004), Application Documents for Registration of the World Expo 2010 Shanghai China to BIE, Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, Shanghai. Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination (2006), “Preliminary study on the programmatic requirement of PEC during the Expo”, working paper, Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, Shanghai, March. Carmichael, D.G. (2006), Project Planning and Control, Taylor & Francis, London. CBC News (2006), “Quebec’s Big Owe stadium debt is over”, available at: www.cbc.ca/canada/ montreal/story/2006/12/19/qc-olympicstadium.html (accessed 7 March 2010). Cherry, E. (1998), Programming for Design: From Theory to Practice, Wiley, New York, NY. Cleland, D.I. and Ireland, L.R. (2007), Project Management: Strategic Design and Implementation, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. Deng, Y. (2011), “Shaping mega-event flagships – case studies of the Big Four of Expo 2010”, PhD thesis, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 31 August. Deng, Y. and Poon, S.W. (2011), “Mega-challenges for mega-event flagships”, Architectural Engineering and Design Management, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 23-37. De Stefano Partners, Inc. and C.H. Johnson Consulting, Inc., Chicago, IL (2010), Shanghai EXPO 2010, China – Public Event Center Market Analysis and Program Recommendation, De Stefano Partners, Inc. and C.H. Johnson Consulting, Inc., Chicago, IL. Duerk, D.P. (1993), Architectural Programming: Information Management for Design, Van Nostrand Reihold, New York, NY. Easterby-Smith, M., Thorpe, R. and Lowe, A. (1991), Management Research: An Introduction, Sage Publications, London. Emmitt, S., Prins, M. and den Otter, A. (Eds) (2009), Architectural Management: International Research and Practice, Blackwell, Ames, IA. Flyvbjerg, B., Bruzelius, N. and Rothengatter, W. (2003), Megaprojects and Risk: An Anatomy of Ambition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Gong, W.-G. and Zeng, Y.-Q. (2007), The 2007 Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industry Report, 1st ed., Shanghai People’s Press, Shanghai. Law, C.M. (1994), Urban Tourism: Attracting Visitors to Large Cities, Mansell, London. Lawson, F. (2000), Congress, Convention and Exhibition Facilities: Planning, Design and Management, Architectural Press, Oxford. Lynch, K. (1962), Site Planning, 1st ed., MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Nasar, J.L. (1999), Design by Competition: Making Design Competition Work, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Participators of Program Consultation for the Public Event Center of Expo 2010 Shanghai China (2010), “Compilation of the program reports for the Public Event Center of Expo 2010

Shanghai China”, unpublished manuscript, Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd, Shanghai, 30 June. Pen˜a, W. and Parshall, S. (2001), Problem Seeking: An Architectural Programming Primer, 4th ed., Wiley, New York, NY. Phillips, R. (Ed.) (2000), The Architect’s Plan of Work: For the Procurement of Feasibility Studies, a Fully Designed Building Project, Employer’s Requirements or Contractor’s Proposals, Royal Institute of British Architects, London. Preiser, W.F.E. (Ed.) (1993), Professional Practice in Facility Programming, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, NY. Preiser, W.F.E. (1995), “Post-occupancy evaluation: how to make buildings work better”, Facilities, Vol. 13 No. 11, pp. 19-28. Ryd, N. (2004), “Facilitating construction briefing – from the client’s perspective”, Nordic Journal of Surveying and Real Estate Research, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 86-101. Sanoff, H. (1992), Integrating Programming, Evaluation, and Participation in Design: A Theory Z Approach, Avebury, Aldershot. Searle, G. (2002), “Uncertain legacy: Sydney’s Olympic stadiums”, European Planning Studies, Vol. 10 No. 7, pp. 845-60. Shanghai Foreign Economic Relation and Trade Commission and the Shanghai Foreign Investment Commission (2008), “Convention, exhibition, and tourism services”, 22 October, available at: www.investment.gov.cn/2005-10-22/1129957271684.html (accessed 8 September 2008). Shanghai Municipal Government (2006), “Outline of the 11th five-year outline plan for national economic and social development in Shanghai”, available at: www.shanghai.gov.cn/ shanghai/node2314/node2319/node22396/index.html (accessed 24 February 2010). Shanghai Urban Planning Administration Bureau and Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination (2010), “Detailed regulatory plan of Expo 2010 Shanghai China planning area (3rd edition)”, working paper, Shanghai Urban Planning Administration Bureau and Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, Shanghai, December. Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd (2006a), “Case studies of international convention centers”, working paper, Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd, Shanghai, June. Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd (2006b), “The competition program for the Public Event Center of Expo 2010 Shanghai China”, working paper, Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd, Shanghai, July. Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd (2006c), “Program report for the Public Event Center of Expo 2010 Shanghai China”, working paper, Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd, Shanghai, May. Shanghai World Expo (Group) Co. Ltd (2009), Development Record of the Expo Permanent Buildings by Expo Group, Shanghai Culture Press, Shanghai. Strong, J. (1996), Winning by Design: Architectural Competitions, Butterworth Architecture, Oxford. van den Berg, L., Braun, E. and Otgaar, A.H.J. (2002), Sports and City Marketing in European Cities, Ashgate, Aldershot. Yin, R. (1994), Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 2nd ed., Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, CA.

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About the authors Dr Ying Deng is currently a Researcher at The University of Hong Kong and a consultant for an architectural design firm based in the USA and China. She holds a BArch degree and a PhD degree in Architectural Management. She has over 11 years of cross-agency experience in the professional, government and academic sectors in Mainland China, Japan and Hong Kong. From 1996 to 2003, she served as an architectural designer, design manager and managing director for domestic and overseas architectural and planning practices. Her design portfolio covers urban planning and architectural design in educational, institutional and residential developments in major Chinese cities. In 2004, she joined the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination and worked as Senior Planning Supervisor and later Acting Director of the Chief Architect’s Office. In 2004, she was stationed at the Japan Association of Expo 2005 World Exposition in Nagoya and Tokyo. During her four-year involvement in Expo 2010, she was a founding coordinator of the initiation of major Expo flagships, a chief representative in charge of the planning, design and construction affairs of over 200 pavilions, and a key contributing author of planning and design related international publications. Ying Deng can be contacted at: [email protected]

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Investigating key components of the facilities management of residential care and attention homes

Residential care and attention homes 611

Mei-Yung Leung and Jingyu Yu Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, and

Shiwang Yu School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China Abstract Purpose – The proportion of the population aged 65 and over is rapidly rising and is expected to reach 24.3 per cent by 2031, up from 12 per cent in 2006. As a result, the Hong Kong government is facing challenges in meeting the growing demand for residential care homes. To provide a clear picture for construction professionals engaged in the future design and operation of such homes, it is first necessary to understand the opinions of end-users in existing facilities. The paper aims to identify key facilities management (FM) components in three particular areas of residential care homes. Design/methodology/approach – In order to collect data from end-users, a questionnaire survey of 119 end-users (both elderly residents and staff) based on post-occupancy evaluation (POE) was used to evaluate the FM performance of the homes and establish the relationships between the comfort levels of FM components and the satisfaction of elderly residents. Findings – The findings in the questionnaire survey indicated that all 16 key FM components were significantly related to the satisfaction with the home, while space planning, temperature, ventilation, privacy, finishes, and staff were the factors predicting satisfaction with different areas. Practical implications – The paper makes a number of practical recommendations to government and construction professionals for improving the residential care environment, including a wide corridor with short distance and a low-speed air-conditioning machines in the common areas. In the bedroom, designers are recommended to install some partitions in terms of privacy and consider the microclimate carefully. In the bathroom, the use of lifting devices, louver doors, sufficient ventilation and a stable hot water supply are beneficial for the elderly’s satisfaction. Originality/value – Post-occupancy evaluation is a commonly used tool to evaluate FM performance based on the end-user’s perspective. The study innovatively investigates the impact of different FM components on elders’ satisfaction degree by application of POE. Keywords Care and attention homes, Designers, Elderly, Facilities management, Post-occupancy evaluation, Satisfaction, Elder care, Institutional care Paper type Research paper

The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from CityU (Project No. 7008027).

Facilities Vol. 30 No. 13/14, 2012 pp. 611-629 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0263-2772 DOI 10.1108/02632771211270586

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Introduction There are over 893,500 people aged and over 65 living in Hong Kong, comprising about 12.8 per cent of the population in 2009 (Census and Statistics Department, 2009). The proportion of the population in this age bracket is rising significantly, from 12 per cent in 2006 to a predicted 24.3 per cent in 2031. As a result, Hong Kong faces real challenges, brought about by an ageing population and the resulting increase in demand for residential care homes. Hong Kong is one of the regions with a large wealth gap (Tsui, 2008). A study conducted by the Hong Kong Council of Social Services found a record number of people living below the national poverty line. This included more than half of elders over 65 (Earth Times, 2009). Hence, under the principles of “Aging in Place” and “Continuum of Care”, the Hong Kong government has made a great effort to respond to the needs of the elderly by providing them with adequate services and residential care homes (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, 2009, 2010). In addition to the quality of the care services provided in such homes, the quality of the living environment is another key factor that directly influences elderly residents’ quality of life (Pearson et al., 1993). Most research studies have focused on the building environment and elderly services (Barnes, 2002; Riemersma-van der Lek et al., 2008), while comprehensive research on the impact of facility management (FM) on the quality of life and the satisfaction of the elderly remains rare, especially research that seeks to understand the perspective of the elderly. This research aims to investigate FM in residential care and attention homes using post-occupancy evaluation (POE). POE is an end-user basis method of assessing building performance (Preiser, 1995). In order to achieve this aim, the paper identifies the major FM components, based on the perspective of end-users, and investigates the relationships between them and the satisfaction of elderly residents of such homes. Major components of FM in care homes As the demand for residential care services has increased, there are now a total of 23,640 residential care homes for the elderly, comprising about 82 per cent of all the service units in Hong Kong (The Hong Kong Council of Social Services, 2009). Therefore, the government needs to pay more attention to enhancing the satisfaction of elderly residents in such facilities. In theoretical terms, FM refers to the process by which an organisation delivers and sustains support services in a quality environment to meet strategic needs (Alexander, 1996). Therefore, in a residential care home, FM plays a key role in providing a comfortable environment for service users. Many studies have investigated the relationships between resident satisfaction and the physical environment (Kruzich et al., 1992; Sikorska, 1999; Toseland and Rasch, 1978; Zinn et al., 1993). Improving the quality of the facilities provides a comfortable and healthy environment for elderly residents, and also staff. Facilities management in residential care homes can be categorised into three groups, namely: (1) architecture; (2) building services; and (3) supporting facilities (Ho et al., 2004; McKenna & Co., 1993).

Architecture The architectural category refers to the layout and design of the building that seeks to enhance the environmental quality (Cotts, 2009). Space management, privacy, fixtures and furniture, as well as finishes have been identified as architectural components of FM that relate to the level of satisfaction of elders (Barnes, 2002). In residential care homes, “space management” refers to the space allocated for daily living (Robson et al., 1997) including the living- and dining-rooms and the bedrooms, the distance between them and between these rooms and the bathrooms (Torrington, 1996), and the width of all corridors. Appropriate space planning can help to utilise the limited area available fully, especially in Hong Kong, and fulfil the varied requirements of end-users, including movement or assistance. Privacy is a basic human need that relates to effective individual and group functioning; its converse, i.e. lack of privacy, can result in a range of problems, both psychological and interpersonal (Alalouch and Aspinall, 2007). Therefore, it is the most important environmental item for the elderly (Morgan and Stewart, 1998). In fact, an elderly resident often prefers to be surrounded by his or her own furniture and photographs of family members in a private space, in order to establish a sense of dignity and security (The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, 2009). Good quality and appropriate fixtures and furniture not only ensure the comfort of the elderly in residential care homes, but also reduce risks (Myers et al., 1991). For example, reclining chairs, either electric or manual, can enable a resident to sit or stand with minimal effort, and handrails on both sides of corridors can assist them to walk independently (Leibrock, 2000). Due to mental problems, some elderly residents may encounter further difficulties finding their way around to other locations such as the dining-room or even their own bedroom. Therefore, signage performs a role in giving clear directions to residents and helping them to participate in both special events and daily activities. Finishes to the floors, walls, and ceilings can decorate care homes and consequently enhance the comfort of end-users. While the emphasis in bedrooms is on the aesthetic value of finishes, in bathrooms people are normally concerned with the possible risks, such as falling and collapse (Carter et al., 1997). Previous research has shown that using light colours can establish a family-type, warm feeling for the residence in general (Mahnke, 1996). Building services Building services concern how the building can function and fulfil the needs of the elderly (Bitner, 1995). Lighting, ventilation, temperature, noise, safety and security, as well as firefighting services, are considered to be building services components that affect the living environment of elderly occupants (Robson et al., 1997). People’s eyesight alters with age. The elderly’s visual abilities largely rely on the performance of lighting in particular areas (Mahnke, 1996). To provide a better visual environment, both artificial and natural lighting should be combined in order to avoid excessive brightness or glare, to easily establish an “intermediate” lighting area for walking and chatting, and to ensure sufficient illumination for reading and sewing (Leibrock, 2000). Good ventilation in the rooms provides better indoor air quality and improves the health of the elderly as it can avoid airborne contaminants. In general, older people

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prefer natural ventilation (Ward, 2002). Due to modern Hong Kong’s serious levels of air pollution and overcrowding, it is necessary for care homes to combine natural ventilation (which raises questions about matters such as the position and size of windows) with mechanical systems such as fans and exhausts (Race, 1982; Research Group on Urban and Culture, 1999). Temperature is divided into two types: (1) ambient; and (2) effective. The ambient temperature means the temperature in the surrounding environment; this, is affected by the air-conditioning or radiation systems and the natural lighting. The effective temperature, which refers to the individual’s perception of the ambient temperature, is easily influenced by humidity levels (McAndrew, 1993). The elderly’s perception of the temperature directly influences their feelings, which can subsequently cause them both physical and attitudinal problems (Rose, 1994). Elderly residents who have partial or total deafness normally wear hearing aids to amplify sound. Therefore, they also hear unwanted sounds, which are often perceived as noise (McAndrew, 1993). Excessive noise may not directly influence an elderly person’s physical health, but it can have a serious impact on their mental health, causing problems such as depression and dizziness (Robson et al., 1997). Therefore, it is necessary to develop higher levels of sound insulation and to control background noise in the living and communal areas. Safety and security in a care setting always seems to be the antithesis of independence (Regnier, 1999). Care must be taken to avoid creating unexpected obstructions such as misalliances and unlocked safety doors to enable escape as any obstruction may endanger the blind or partially sighted resident. However, at the same time, security should also be carefully considered in order to avoid crimes such as theft, vandalism, personal attack, or intrusion into the home (Booty, 2009). Ageing also causes deterioration in the sensitivity of the sense of smell. This can be dangerous for the elderly, as they cannot detect smoke, fire, natural gas, spoiled food, and so on (McInnis-Dittrich, 2005). Although current regulations are sufficient to cover the installation of firefighting services, special attention must be drawn to the danger caused by fire, by means such as installing aural and visual fire alarms (Robson et al., 1997). Supporting facilities Supporting facilities aim to satisfy elders and improve their quality of life (Duncan-Myers and Huebner, 2000). FM components such as hygiene, well-trained staff, and catering and recreation are applied to support elders’ daily life and improve their level of satisfaction (Chou et al., 2001). Hygiene is an important concern in residential care homes. Sufficient cleanliness not only affects physical and mental health, but can also reduce risks such as infection and falling. More attention should be paid to areas such as toilets, floor finishes, chair covers, and so on (Shaw, 1991). Since the elderly need frequent and varied assistance, adequate human resources and well-trained staff are important components of holistic FM. Well-trained staff should have the ability to optimise overall performance by allocating appropriate

resources for particular tasks/activities in order to meet the challenges of providing a caring service for as many elderly as possible (Okoroh et al., 2001). Furthermore, there are many different facilities in the homes to facilitate the care of physical health (such as cooking devices in the kitchen and dining-rooms for catering), mental health through recreation, such as a swimming pool or gymnastic equipment (Torrington, 1996), and various types of equipment to move residents between bed, chair, toilet, and bath (such as adjustable beds, hoist lorries, and nippier machines) (Miller, 2002). FM and satisfaction POE is defined as the systematic assessment (review, feedback, and evaluation) of building products (Zimring, 2002) based on user satisfaction with the building’s performance (Carmon, 1997; Leung and Fung, 2005). Preiser (1995) suggests that facilities managers can apply POE to continuously improve the quality and performance of the facilities that they operate and maintain. It is a formal way of determining whether an occupied, remodelled, or built environment is performing to expectations. POE is an end-user basis method for assessing FM (Eley, 2001). It focuses on residents’ satisfaction with the actual performance of FM in particular areas (Atkinson, 1998). Of the many different rooms in a residential care home, the elderly spend most of their time in the common areas, bedrooms, and bathrooms. This study therefore concentrates on the FM components of these three functional areas. It may be hypothesised in the POE that better performance generally results in higher satisfaction (Leung et al., 2005). Analysis of the performance of facilities and of FM in residential care homes can be used to support the elderly and, as a result, improve their satisfaction with daily life. Research methodology To identify the key components of FM in residential care homes, a questionnaire survey was conducted with both elderly residents and staff. The aim was to identify both groups’ level of comfort with the care home. Based on extensive literature, the questionnaire consisted of three main sections: (1) background information on the elderly resident or staff member; (2) his or her level of comfort with each of the 16 FM components measured by 54 items; and (3) his or her degree of satisfaction with the common areas, bedroom, and bathroom, measured by 27 items. The FM components were measured by three scales: (1) architectural; (2) building services; and (3) supporting facilities. Architectural FM components, which were validated in and adopted from previous studies, included space management (e.g. distance between rooms, width of corridor, and circulation space in rooms), privacy (e.g. in the bedroom, toilet, and bathroom), and finishes (e.g. the number and type of non-slip finishes provided in the common areas,

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the bedroom and the bathroom) (Carter et al., 1997; Chou et al., 2001; Leibrock, 2000). Building services FM components, which were also validated in and adopted from previous studies, included lighting (e.g. natural daylight, artificial daylight, and artificial nightlight), ventilation (e.g. natural and mechanical), and noise (e.g. noise levels in the bedroom, common areas, and the bathroom) (Carter et al., 1997; Gill et al., 2007). Supporting FM components, which were validated in and adopted from previous scales, consisted of staff (e.g. the number and attitude of staff), hygiene (e.g. cleanliness of the bedroom, bathroom, common areas, and other facilities), catering (e.g. the choice and quality of food), and recreation facilities (e.g. physiotherapy facilities and leisure facilities) (Chou et al., 2001; Zimmerman et al., 2002). On the other hand, the overall satisfaction with common areas, the bedroom, and the bathroom was measured by 27 items, including plenty of space for movement, adequate facilities for assistance, and clean environment (Chong, 2003; Lawton, 1980). The items that were employed to measure the FM components and satisfaction with different areas have been shown to be reliable in various previous studies. The elderly in Hong Kong are mainly traditional Chinese persons who can normally only read Chinese. For this reason, the questionnaire was drawn up in Chinese. Because elders may have experienced a decline in cognitive competence and attentiveness (Baltes, 1987), the respondents might have difficulty answering a complex questionnaire and differentiating their comfort level clearly on a scale consisting of a large number of items (e.g. a seven-point scale or a nine-point scale). Thus, a five-point Likert scale was employed for parts 2 and 3 of the questionnaire. Indeed, this scale is widely adopted in studies targeting elders (Farquhar, 1995; Grant, 1996; Vaarama et al., 2007), because it discriminates the level of ratings, unlike simple yes/no questions. It also makes respondents less likely to choose the neutral or mid-point than if they were using a three-point Likert-type scale (Matell and Jacoby, 1972; Garland, 1991). Numerical scores ranging from 1 (very uncomfortable) to 5 (very comfortable) were used to enable the respondents to express their degree of comfort with each of the FM components and their level of overall satisfaction with the three specific rooms (that is, the common areas, bedroom, and bathroom). As different facilities are normally present in different rooms, comfort levels for some FM factors were omitted in some instances; for example, the respondents were not asked about privacy in regard to the common areas; about fixtures and catering in the bedroom; or about furniture, equipment, noise, and catering in the bathroom. Purposive sampling (Adams and Schvaneveldt, 1985) was adopted to select the residential care homes based on five criteria: (1) operating types (subsidised versus non-subsidised); (2) operating year (from 1981 to 2005); (3) the overall size (from 40 m2 to 5,591 m2); (4) capacity (from 56 to 272); and (5) building type (public housing versus purpose built). Finally, seven representative homes were chosen in which to conduct the questionnaire survey with both elderly residents and staff. Due to the elders’ limited abilities to read and write, a trained interviewer carried out a face-to-face structural interview with each respondent, in private, so as to provide an opportunity to explain each item in the

questionnaire and to reduce the chance of discrepancies in understanding; for example, the privacy items in the survey were intended to gauge the elderly’s level of comfort with their general privacy in different areas. The interviewers then explained the items by giving the same examples, including accessibility privacy (e.g. a lock on the bedroom door), auditory privacy (e.g. sound insulation of the walls), and visual privacy (e.g. partition walls/curtains between each bed), and so on (Barlas et al., 2001). All the elderly persons were introduced to the researcher by the care home staff in order to make sure that each respondent possessed the ability to move around his or her living environment, the ability to communicate with the researcher, and a cognitive level that was sufficient to understand the questionnaire. At the same time, an identical survey was distributed to the staff to be self-completed and returned within two weeks. The opinions of the staff were also important for the study as both the elderly and the staff are end-users of residential care homes. The total sample size of the study was 119, of which 81 were elderly residents and 38 were staff. This sample size (n ¼ 119) was considered acceptable and adequate compared with those of other similar studies on facilities management (McLennan and Bennetts, 2003; Stoy and Johrendt, 2008; May and Pinder, 2008). Ninety of the respondents were female. The data collected from the questionnaire survey were analysed using SPSS 15.0. Of the 81 elderly respondents, 7 per cent were between 71 and 75 years of age, 68 per cent were between 76 and 80, and 25 per cent were over 80. Approximately 90 per cent of the participants had stayed in the centre for more than a year, and over 60 per cent for more than three years. Hence, the respondents were expected to have a good knowledge of their homes and environment. Results Spearman correlation All FM components and the satisfaction degree were measured by aggregating all related items and tested by reliability analysis. All factors had an acceptable Cronbach’s a value greater than 0.6 and were considered reliable (see Table I) (Hair et al., 1998). The result of checking the outliers indicated that there were no outliers existing among all FM components and satisfactory variables. Moreover, given the similar value of the original means and the 5 per cent trimmed mean of all variables, the impact of outliers would not influence the correlation and regression analysis in this study (Pallant, 2005). As the variables were not normally distributed, Spearman correlation was conducted to investigate the inter-correlations between the 16 FM factors and satisfaction with the common areas, the bedroom, and the bathroom (Ho, 2006). In studies including variables that are not normally distributed, Spearman correlation is widely adopted to obtain a reliable result (Pallant, 2005). As facilities in common areas are expected to be shared with other residents, recreation and catering facilities to be located in the common areas, and noise to be a concern mainly in the common areas and bedroom, correlation coefficients between these variables and satisfaction with those specific areas were not excluded from the data analysis. Spearman correlation coefficients between the 16 FM factors and satisfaction with the common areas, the bedroom, and the bathroom are presented in Table I. The correlation coefficient is widely used as a key index of effect size (Meyer et al., 2001; Rosenthal, 1994). According to the commonly accepted guideline proposed by Cohen

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Table I. Correlation between FM factors and satisfaction

FM factor F1. Space planning F2. Privacy F3. Colour and decoration F4. Furniture and fixtures F5. Signage F6. Finishes F7. Lighting F8. Ventilation F9. Noise F10. Temperature F11. Security F12. Safety F13. Staff F14. Hygiene F15. Recreation facilities F16. Catering

a

Common area coefficient

Bedroom coefficient

Bathroom coefficient

0.835 0.831 0.758 0.904 0.751 0.934 0.870 0.746 0.868 0.975 0.601 0.917 0.897 0.935 0.783 0.916

0.545 *b / 0.319 * 0.461 * 0.301 * 0.315 * 0.305 * 0.363 * 0.472 * 0.377 * 0.455 * 0.375 * 0.521 *a 0.399 * 0.458 * 0.418 *

0.508 *b 0.349 *b 0.310 * 0.441 * 0.385 * 0.302 *b 0.314 * 0.348 *b 0.479 * 0.428 *b 0.419 * 0.323 * 0.482 * 0.300 * / /

0.438 * 0.402 * 0.381 * 0.440 * 0.359 * 0.543 *a 0.340 * 0.461 *b / 0.367 *b 0.516 * 0.427 * 0.505 *b 0.418 * / /

Notes: Coefficients represents the Spearman correlation coefficient between FM factors and satisfaction. “/” indicates that the item was not considered in that area; aa large effect size with a significant correlation coefficient higher than 0.5; bsignificant relationships are also found in the regression models (refer to Table II); *correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed)

(1988), correlation coefficients over 0.1 represent a small effect size, those over 0.3 represent a medium effect size, and those over 0.5 represent a large effect size. Although a large effect size is preferable, a medium effect size is good enough in psychology, business, and certain other disciplines (Len, 1997; Stice et al., 2004). Several FM factors in the study had a large effect size, while others had a medium effect size with regard to the degree of satisfaction with residential care homes. The results indicated that a few FM factors were significantly related to satisfaction of a large effect size, including space planning (F1: 0.545) and staff (F13: 0.521) in the common areas, space planning (F1: 0.508) in the bedroom, and finishes (F4: 0.543), security (F11: 0.516) and staff (F11: 0.505) in the bathroom; all remaining FM factors were significantly correlated to satisfaction of a medium effect size. Multiple regression To predict the satisfaction of the elderly with the different locations of the residential care homes, an ordinary least squares forward stepwise multiple regression analysis (MRA) was also conducted. The multicollinearity was tested by collinearity diagnostics using the variance inflation factor (VIF), which represents multicollinearity with a value greater than 10 (Ho, 2006). It was found that the VIF value for each variable was less than 2.6, so there was no problem of multicollinearity among all the variables. Table II summarises the results. All the regression models obtained the value of Cohen’s f 2 in a range from 0.531 to 0.916, representing a relatively large effect size (e.g. over 0.35 represents a large effect size) (Cohen, 1988). The results showed that space planning and temperature were

Model

B

SE

t

Significance VIF

In the common areas 1a. (Constant) F1 Space planning 1b. (Constant) F1 Space planning F10 Temperature

7.208 0.483 5.948 0.328 0.369

0.674 10.688 0.056 8.678 0.772 7.708 0.074 4.427 0.121 3.049

0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.003

In the bedrooms 2a. (Constant) F1 Space planning 2b. (Constant) F1 Space planning F10 Temperature 2c. (Constant) F1 Space planning F10 Temperature F8 Ventilation 2d. (Constant) F1 Space planning F10 Temperature F8 Ventilation F2 Privacy 2e. (Constant) F10 Temperature F8 Ventilation F2 Privacy 2f. (Constant) F10 Temperature F8 Ventilation F2 Privacy F6 Finishes

6.823 0.503 5.511 0.331 0.807 4.040 0.229 0.686 0.373 3.806 0.127 0.576 0.381 0.462 3.753 0.679 0.454 0.588 3.543 0.529 0.385 0.550 0.393

0.762 0.063 0.829 0.079 0.240 0.979 0.086 0.238 0.140 0.967 0.096 0.239 0.138 0.203 0.969 0.227 0.127 0.180 0.959 0.234 0.129 0.178 0.183

8.949 7.989 6.651 4.175 3.364 4.128 2.661 2.878 2.660 3.937 1.329 2.408 2.761 2.281 3.873 2.993 3.588 3.272 3.693 2.261 2.989 3.096 2.145

0.000 0.000 0.004 0.000 0.001 0.000 0.009 0.005 0.009 0.000 0.187 0.018 0.007 0.024 0.000 0.003 0.000 0.001 0.000 0.026 0.003 0.002 0.034

In the bathrooms 3a. (Constant) F13 Staff 3b. (Constant) F13 Staff F10 Temperature 3c. (Constant) F13 Staff F10 Temperature F8 Ventilation

6.533 0.505 5.345 0.339 0.796 4.189 0.242 0.645 0.355

0.791 0.061 0.795 0.070 0.193 0.855 0.075 0.192 0.116

8.263 8.258 6.723 4.857 4.134 4.899 3.243 3.355 3.072

0.000

f2

R

R2

0.629 0.626 0.386

DR 2 –

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1.000 0.745 0.661 0.427

0.041

619

1.876 1.876 0.531 0.594 0.347

–

1.000 0.667 0.641 0.400

0.053

0.754 0.667 0.430

0.030

0.818 0.685 0.450

0.020

1.876 1.393 2.283 1.970 1.865 2.563 1.970 1.752 2.223 0.808 0.679 0.447 20.003 1.992 1.775 2.548 0.862 0.694 0.463

0.016

2.191 1.865 2.278 2.427 0.570 0.607 0.363

–

1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.002 0.001 0.003

0.786 0.670 0.440

0.077

2.243 1.847 0.915 0.701 0.478

0.038

2.347 1.874 1.572

factors that influenced the level of satisfaction of the elderly with the common areas (refer to Model 1b in Table II), while temperature, ventilation, privacy, and finishes were factors that predicted optimised satisfaction with the bedroom (refer to Model 2f). It was interesting to note that for the bedroom, the space planning factor could also form an acceptable model with the R 2 of 0.43 in Model 2c, which involved the FM factors of space planning, temperature, and ventilation. Staff, temperature, and ventilation were the factors that influenced satisfaction with the bathroom (Model 3c).

Table II. Regression model for predicting the satisfaction of elderly people in different areas of care homes

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Discussion The correlation coefficients clearly indicate that all FM factors are significantly related to the satisfaction of elderly people living in residential care homes. Hence, both designers and facilities managers need to consider FM from the design through to the operation stages. The results of the regression analysis highlight that satisfaction with different areas of residential homes was most accurately predicted by space planning (F1) and temperature (F10) in the common areas; privacy (F2), finishes (F6), ventilation (F8), and temperature (F10) in the bedrooms; and ventilation (F8), temperature (F10), and staff (F13) in the bathrooms. Therefore, particular attention should be paid by both designers and facilities managers to improving these factors in these areas. Common areas As pointed out by Scott-Webber and Koebel (2001), the design and construction of residential homes need to take into account the people, noises, lights, and action in a room. From the healthcare point of view, careful attention should be paid to space planning to enable the elderly to move around and to be assisted (Robson et al., 1997). Due to their loss of mobility (Gilderbloom and Markham, 1996), the elderly generally need some special equipment, such as a walking stick, frame, or wheelchair, to assist their movement around the common areas. Therefore, both circulation width and the distance between the dining room and bedrooms are important for a satisfying daily life. Temperature is the only FM factor that appears in all three optimised regression models covering the three different areas. Due to the limited size of the windows and the specific location of the air-conditioning system in the large common areas, the microclimate in different parts of the common areas may be extremely varied. For example, it may be too cold in the areas under diffusers and too hot in the areas far away from them, or near the windows. It is easy for the elderly to catch infections and become sick in an environment where the temperature fluctuates. Bedrooms A bedroom in residential home is a private place where residents sleep at night or relax in the daytime. However, residential care homes in Hong Kong normally only meet the current basic space requirements (6.5 m2 per person, including all sleeping and common areas) stated in the Code of Practice for Residential Care Homes (Elderly Persons) in Hong Kong (Social Welfare Department, 2005). With limited spaces, it is impossible to retain privacy. Furthermore, some of the beds are not enclosed by any partition or curtain, so that staff can easily take care of each resident at any time. The space in the bedroom can thus be considered as simply another part of the common area, and one that directly influences the privacy of elderly residents in their daily lives. The body temperature of elderly residents can be thought of as an internal clock controlling the sleeping cycle (Simon et al., 1998). A change in temperature can influence sleep; for example, a higher temperature reduces deep sleep and a lower one increases wakefulness and sleep latency (Harrington and Lee-Chiong, 2007). A typical recommended temperature in bedroom is between 18 and 23 degrees Celsius (Bach et al., 1994). As three of the seven residential care homes in this study accommodated five to nine elderly persons together in a single bedroom, the temperatures of the different beds may vary considerably. This will directly affect comfort.

Ventilation gives human comfort to elderly persons to meet their primary needs. Discomfort can be caused by increased levels of airborne contaminants, which may lead to shortness of breath. Ventilation can be improved by either natural design or mechanical systems, but the elderly generally prefer the former. In fact, the process of liberation from mechanical ventilation may affect the sleep quality of the elderly (Cooper et al., 2000). Due to the crowded environment in these seven care homes, only one or two beds can be located beside windows and thus fully enjoy natural ventilation. Therefore, ventilation is considered as an important FM component, predicting the comfort of the elderly in their bedrooms. Vinyl tiles can establish a warm environment with different colours and a smooth surface; they are also relatively inexpensive. As a result, all homes in the study had laid vinyl tiles on the bedroom floors. However, the results of both the correlation and regression analyses indicate that the elderly significantly prefer non-slip rather than simply aesthetic floor finishes in the bedrooms. This indicates that end-users consider safety as the most important criterion in their daily lives. Bathrooms For older, disabled people, the bathroom is the room where they are most likely to have an accident, such as a fall. It is interesting to note that non-slip floor finishes are not significantly related to satisfaction in the bathrooms. It may be that they took it as a given that this would be present, and that all homes from our observation have actually been using non-slip, ceramic floor tiles in their bathrooms. Due to physical and/or mental impairment, it is common for the elderly to be assisted, especially when bathing (Gill et al., 2007). Although all care homes employed registered social workers and qualified caretakers, some elderly respondents still complained that there was not enough staff in their care homes. In fact, the requirements of residents will be changing all the time, depending on their physical and mental condition (Hardy et al., 2005). They may prefer to take a bath or go to the toilet by themselves (that is, to be independent) if their health allows, but they may also expect someone to give them a hand if their health is worsening, perhaps due to the weather or sickness. Hence, support from staff is important for the elderly in residential care homes. Since there is a decline in heat storage capacity with age, the elderly cannot easily maintain and adjust their body temperature, resulting in hypothermia (Stokes, 1992). In practice, the temperature in the bathroom should be kept constant when bathing (Torrington, 1996). A stable hot water system and heater are thus essential facilities in the bathroom to maintain a consistent temperature and serve the elderly in a comfortable environment. However, some staff complained that the bathroom environment was too hot for them to provide their services easily, and others that the length of the pipework between the boiler and the bathroom leads to an unreliable hot water service. Hence, both elderly residents and staff consider temperature to be a major FM component influencing their comfort. Due to the requirement for a higher temperature, the ventilation system is the other essential FM component predicting comfort with the bathroom. In this study, the windows in the bathrooms were generally very small from our observation. With the poorly performing ventilation system, it is difficult to reduce humidity and prevent condensation (Torrington, 1996). Staff who assist with bathing have a really hard job. In fact, vaporised water often condenses on any cold surface, like the floor, which

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induces a potential falling hazard in bathrooms (Clemson et al., 1996). Humidity in the home can also enter the walls and cause mildew and mould growth, which may affect physical health (Baughman and Arens, 1996). Recommendations Practical implications As mentioned by Cooper (2001), POE can be considered as a “design” and “management”. This study has used POE to identify key FM components from the views of end-users in residential care homes. It will clearly assist architects and facilities managers to improve these services during the design and operation stages, especially with regard to the common areas, bedrooms, and bathrooms. The study results act as practical references for designers and facilities managers to design or manage the various facilities in residential care homes for enhancing the satisfaction of the elderly residents. The elderly generally need some special equipment such as a walking stick, frame, or wheelchair, to assist them with movement in common areas. Accordingly, a corridor wide enough to allow two people in wheelchairs or walking with frames to pass (Robson et al., 1997) and a short distance between living and dining rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms are required to ensure the convenience and mobility of the elderly in the home. Since there is a decline in heat storage capacity with age, it is difficult for the elderly to maintain and adjust their body temperature (Stokes, 1992). Designers and facilities managers also need to consider natural sunshine and the mechanical air-conditioning system together at the building design stage. It is recommended that a number of low-speed air-conditioning machines be installed, rather than a single high-speed system, where there is a big dining room and various common areas. This will help to avoid uneven degrees of temperature at different points in a big room. Due to the limited residential places for elderly residents in Hong Kong, they normally end up living in a crowded area. It is not unusual for them to have only a low private cabinet beside their bed to store all of their own property, with most living together with three to nine others in a single bedroom. To improve this worst-case situation in terms of privacy, designers and facilities managers are strongly urged to install demountable partitions separating each bed, while the government urgently needs to review the minimum size per elderly person in homes. To maintain a stable environment in the home, designers and facility managers also need to pay special attention to people who are sleeping in different areas or corners of the bedrooms. It is suggested that they should consider the microclimate carefully at the design stage (in terms of, for example, building orientation, the size of windows and doors, and so on) (Givoni, 1994) and at the operation stage (such as thinking about airflow during the allocation of beds in the bedrooms). Split-type systems with a quiet air-conditioner and a small heater (Avara and Daneshgar, 2008) are recommended rather than a single, high-speed ventilation system in order to establish a comfortable environment with an even temperature across the bedroom. On the other hand, designers and facilities managers also have to consider the physical impairment of the elderly; it is suggested that non-slip floor finishes should also be used in the bedrooms to reduce any risk of falling there. Elderly persons are usually assisted during bathing, due to their physical impairments. Designers therefore have to consider the requirements of both staff and elderly together. Facilities such as a sit and stand lifter for changing residents’ diapers,

and a hoist/overhead lifting device for lifting and moving them from their bed to the bathroom can reduce workload and ensure staff safety (Engst et al., 2005), while the use of a louvre door and sufficient ventilation can improve airflow in bathrooms. To maintain a stable hot water supply, it is also recommended that the boiler be located close to the bathrooms rather than being centralised far away from them. Furthermore, facility managers should regularly review the workload of staff and the health of the residents in order to match the particular requirements of each according to age. Additional staff may be required for older or more disabled elderly people. Research implications Although this study has important findings, several potential limitations of its design should be noted. The relatively small sample, with 119 respondents from seven care homes, may limit the generalisability of the results; there is also the risk of common method variance. However, several factors reduce this possibility. Firstly, the homes included both subsidised and non-subsidised facilities, and those that were both attached to public housing and individually located in a purposed building. In total, over 800 respondents were represented across the seven homes. Secondly, all the elderly respondents in this survey were identified by staff as being healthy. Thirdly, a researcher conducted the survey face-to-face with each elderly respondent, taking an average of an hour to do so, to ensure that they understood each question clearly. Fourthly, all elderly participants had direct experience of the application of FM components in residential homes. In fact, 90 per cent had stayed in the home for more than a year. Finally, all our factors were statistically tested as reliable (that is, within the acceptable a ranges, which are greater than 0.6; Hair et al., 1998). Therefore, we feel confident that our results are not biased by different responses to the variables measured. This research has confirmed the positive relationships between comfort levels with all 16 FM components and the satisfaction of elderly residents. However, different results may be obtained depending on the size of the home, the type of house (attached to public housing or in an individual, purposed building), the types of financial support (subsidised or non-subsidised), and the gender of residents. The current study has provided a platform for more detailed research in the future. To gain an overall picture for the detailed design and operation of residential care homes with different backgrounds, clustered data analysis is necessary. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that a large-scale survey be conducted based on the current research. The study has significant implications for the design and development of residential care homes. As indicated above, efforts should be directed toward promoting residents’ satisfaction by enhancing space planning, privacy, ventilation, temperature, finishes, and staff. We suggest further investigation of the technical requirements of these FM components in particular (e.g. Nicol and Roaf, 2005), as the needs of elderly people change and vary as they grow older. The Hong Kong Housing Society (2004) has indicated that there are many risks hidden in residential care homes, including falling, collision, twisting, scalding, infection, getting lost, behavioural disorders, fire, security, and so on. Hence, it is valuable to investigate the impact of FM components (architectural design, building services, and supporting facilities) on the occurrence of these risks in order to build a healthy environment for our elders.

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Conclusions Both architects and facilities managers in residential care homes have to understand the expectations of elderly people during the design and operation stages. The POE has uncovered some important issues, including the distance of circulation, the size of the living-rooms and their seating arrangements, the furniture in bedrooms, the provision of natural lighting and ventilation, the adjustment of air-conditioning systems, and the installation of nurse call systems in bedrooms and bathrooms. Residential care providers should ensure that effective management services are maintained during the operational period. Residential homes should not just provide residential care, meals, personal care, and limited nursing support for elderly residents. Instead, it should be about giving responsive care that reflects the person’s view of a “good life”. Based on an interview survey of 119 respondents (elderly and staff) in seven residential care homes in Hong Kong, our study has shown that all components of FM in the homes were significantly related to satisfaction, while different components predicted satisfaction in different areas. For example, space planning and temperature are the key FM factors in the common areas; space planning, temperature, ventilation, privacy, and finishes are the issues in bedrooms; and staff, temperature, and ventilation are particularly important in bathrooms. To meet the expectations of elderly residents, a number of recommendations are suggested with regard to these three particular room types. Designers and facilities managers need to allow sufficient space for the elderly to move around the homes, to apply non-slip tile finishes in the bedrooms to reduce the risk of falling, and should also seriously consider installing demountable partitions separating each bed. The government urgently needs to review the minimum space provision per resident. An appropriate building orientation with sufficient window areas and mechanical systems (exhaust fans) is also important for improving ventilation and microclimate in both bedrooms and bathrooms. To maintain a stable temperature for the elderly as well as a comfortable environment for staff, it is suggested that the building be designed to maximise natural sunshine penetration and a split-type ventilation system, with quiet air-conditioning and small heaters, be installed in preference to a single, high-speed system. The boiler of the hot water system should also be located close to the bathroom in order to avoid condensation inside the building and minimise the possible risk associated with this. Finally, designers need to add facilities such as hoists and hooks to help staff with their daily work, and facilities managers should regularly review the workload of staff in response to the changing physical and mental health of each elderly resident. References Adams, G.R. and Schvaneveldt, J.D. (1985), Understanding Research Methods, Longman, New York, NY. Alalouch, C. and Aspinall, P. (2007), “Spatial attributes of hospital multi-bed wards and preferences for privacy”, Facilities, Vol. 25 Nos 9/10, pp. 345-62. Alexander, K. (1996), Facilities Management, Theory and Practice, E. & F.N. Spon, London. Atkinson, D. (1998), “Living in residential care”, in Brechin, A., Walmsley, J., Katz, J. and Peace, S. (Eds), Care Matters: Concepts, Practice and Research in Health and Social Care, Sage Publications, London, pp. 13-26.

Avara, A. and Daneshgar, E. (2008), “Optimum placement of condensing units of split-type air-conditioners by numerical simulation”, Energy and Building, Vol. 40, pp. 1268-72. Bach, V., Bouferrache, B., Maingourd, Y., Libert, J.P. and Kremp, O. (1994), “Regulation of sleep and body temperature in response to exposure to cool and warm environments in neonates”, Pediatrics, Vol. 93 No. 5, pp. 789-96. Baltes, P.B. (1987), “Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: on the dynamics between growth and decline”, Developmental Psychology, Vol. 23 No. 5, pp. 611-26. Barlas, D., Sama, A.E., Ward, M.F. and Lesser, M.L. (2001), “Comparison of the auditory and visual privacy of emergency department treatment areas with curtains versus those with solid walls”, Annals of Emergency Medicine, Vol. 38 No. 2, pp. 135-9. Barnes, S. (2002), “The design of caring environments and the quality of life of older people”, Aging and Society, Vol. 22, pp. 775-89. Baughman, A.V. and Arens, E.A. (1996), “Indoor humidity and human health – part I: literature review of health effects of humidity-influenced indoor pollutants”, AASHRAE Transactions, Vol. 102 No. 1, pp. 193-211. Bitner, M.J. (1995), “Building service relationships: it’s all about promises”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 246-51. Booty, F. (2009), The Facilities Management Handbook, 4th ed., AMACOM, New York, NY. Carmon, N. (1997), “Post-occupancy evaluation of a life-care community for the aged in Israel”, in Pastalan, L.A. (Ed.), Shelter and Service Issues for Aging Populations: International Perspectives, The Haworth Press, New York, NY, pp. 63-82. Carter, S.E., Campbell, E.M., Sanson-Fisher, R.W. and Redman, S. (1997), “Environmental hazards in the homes of older people”, Age and Ageing, Vol. 26, pp. 195-202. Census and Statistics Department (2009), “Mid-year population by age group”, Census and Statistics Department, The Government of the Hong Kong SAR, available at: www. censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistics_by_subject/index.jsp?subjectID¼1& charsetID¼2&displayMode¼T (accessed 19 March 2010). Chong, A.M.L. (2003), “Validating the accuracy of the resident satisfaction measure”, Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, Vol. 18, pp. 203-26. Chou, S., Boldy, D.P. and Lee, A.H. (2001), “Measuring resident satisfaction in residential aged care”, The Gerontologist, Vol. 41 No. 5, pp. 623-31. Clemson, L., Cumming, R.G. and Roland, M. (1996), “Case-control study of hazards in the home and risk of falls and hip fractures”, Age and Ageing, Vol. 25, pp. 97-101. Cohen, J. (1988), Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ. Cooper, A.B., Thornley, K.S., Young, G.B., Slutsky, A.S., Stewart, T.E. and Hanly, P.J. (2000), “Sleep in critically ill patients requiring mechanical ventilation”, Chest, Vol. 117 No. 3, pp. 809-18. Cooper, I. (2001), “Post-occupancy evaluation – where are you?”, Building Research and Information, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 158-63. Cotts, D.G. (2009), The Facility Management Handbook, AMACOM, New York, NY. Duncan-Myers, A.M. and Huebner, R.A. (2000), “Relationship between choice and quality of life among residents in long-term-care facilities”, American Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 54, pp. 504-8.

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Zimmerman, S., Gruber-Baldini, A.L., Hebel, R., Sloane, P.D. and Magaziner, J. (2002), “Nursing home facility risk factors for infection and hospitalization: importance of registered nurse turnover, administration, and social factors”, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Vol. 50 No. 12, pp. 1987-95. Zimring, C. (2002), “Postoccupancy evaluation: issues and implementation”, in Bechtel, R.B. and Churchman, A. (Eds), Handbook of Environmental Psychology, Wiley, New York, NY, pp. 306-21. Zinn, J.S., Lavizzo-Mourey, R. and Taylor, L. (1993), “Measuring satisfaction with care in the nursing home setting: the nursing home resident satisfaction scale”, Journal of Applied Gerontology, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 452-65. .

Further reading McGregor, W. and Then, S.S.D. (1999), Facilities Management and the Business of Space, 2nd ed., Butterworth-Heinemann, London. Neter, J., Wassermann, W. and Kutner, M.H. (1983) in Richard, D. (Ed.), Applied Regression Models, Irwin, Homewood, IL. Ryden, M.B. (1984), “Morale and perceived control in institutionalized elderly”, Nursing Research, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 130-6. Sawyer, A.G. and Ball, A.D. (1981), “Statistical power and effect size in marketing research”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 18, pp. 275-90. Social Welfare Department (2005), “List of subvented, self-financing and contract residential care homes for the elderly providing subsidized places for elders (as at 30.6.2011)”, available at: www.swd.gov.hk/en/index/site_download/page_listofserv/ (accessed 15 September 2011). Corresponding author Mei-Yung Leung can be contacted at: [email protected]

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Recycling attitude and behaviour in university campus: a case study in Hong Kong

630

Calvin Wan Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

Ronnie Cheung The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China, and

Geoffrey Qiping Shen Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China Abstract Purpose – This study investigates the recycling attitudes and behaviour of university students and staff members, and suggests ways to improve environmental policies and recycling facilities in a university campus. Design/methodology/approach – This study applies the theory of planned behaviour, through which it develops an instrument to measure the determinants of recycling behaviour among the people in a university campus. A survey was designed and administered at a public university in Hong Kong; 205 valid responses from 179 students and 26 staff members were collected. A partial least squares approach was used to validate the proposed model. This model accounted for the 42.1 per cent and 50.3 per cent variance (R 2) in behavioural intention and behaviour, respectively, vis-a`-vis recycling activities. Findings – The survey results suggested that behavioural intention with regard to recycling is influenced by attitude, the subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, awareness of consequences, the moral norms, and convenience. Educational and promotional programmes highlighting the benefits and importance of recycling activities and convenience of the recycling facilities can be adopted as the key strategies to encourage recycling on campus. Research limitations/implications – The unique culture in relation to recycling in the specific campus environment and the nature of the sample might limit the generalisability of the results to other areas and contexts. The self-report-based measures adopted in this study might lead to a social desirability bias in the results provided by the respondents. Originality/value – The findings provide insightful information for universities and the wider community to shape a more user-friendly and convenient recycling scheme. This can fulfil the actors’ social responsibility. Keywords Recycling, Attitude, Theory of planned behaviour, Facilities, University campus, Environmental management, Students, Hong Kong Paper type Research paper

Facilities Vol. 30 No. 13/14, 2012 pp. 630-646 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0263-2772 DOI 10.1108/02632771211270595

1. Introduction To conserve natural resources and reduce the demand for landfill sites, the Hong Kong government consider waste reduction and recycling to be very important elements in the policy framework of waste management (Environmental Protection Department, 2010). The government introduced a campaign in 2005 to raise public awareness of recycling. It

set up waste separation facilities to facilitate recycling as part of the effort. Although waste disposal rates have declined slightly since the early 2000s, largely because of the government’s endeavours to reduce waste (Chung, 2010), it was predicted that Hong Kong’s three major landfills would reach full capacity by mid-2010. Hong Kong is a compact but land-hungry city (Tang et al., 2007); the burden on landfills poses challenges for its planning and development. In October 2010, the Hong Kong government proposed a reduction in the size of a country park by five hectares to make way for an expanded landfill. This drew criticism from lawmakers, residents and pressure groups, given the negative environmental impacts such a move would create. Eventually, the lawmakers passed a motion repealing the executive order on landfill expansion (The Standard, 2010). Since then, the government has been taking other waste reduction measures instead. Drop-off recycling is one of the more effective programmes to deal with the increasing waste problem and limited landfill capacity. Universities, being better miniatures of the society, may serve as a testing ground for formulating new ways to address those problems. Universities possess certain characteristics that are similar to those of the general public (Kelly et al., 2006). Kaplowitz et al. (2009) highlighted that universities often involve diverse populations engaging in activities with a considerable consumption of materials and energy in a large area; they argued, therefore, that universities could be considered as communities that significantly influence wider society. Noeke (2000) suggested that the environmental friendliness of a university leads to a positive societal image. Reducing solid waste is one of the key strategies to develop a “green” and sustainable university campus (Smyth et al., 2010). Kelly et al. (2006) debated that successful recycling programmes demand both technology and the involvement of people; it is important to develop and maintain pro-environmental behaviour. The Hong Kong government has committed itself to providing public education and recycling facilities. To further improve a campus-based recycling scheme, facilities management professionals should develop a sound understanding of people’s attitudes and behaviours towards recycling. Such an understanding can shed light on programme formulation in environmental protection. Previous research has examined the theory of planned behaviour in explaining the factors that influence recycling behaviour at a household or municipal level (e.g. Oom Do Valle et al., 2005; Sidique et al., 2010; Tonglet et al., 2004a). These studies attempted to include additional factors that improved the model’s sufficiency. However, there was no consensual model that which the recycling behaviour model could be extended to; this might due to the contextual factors of each of these studies (i.e. Tonglet et al., 2004a; Sidique et al., 2010; Oom Do Valle et al., 2005). Little effort has been made to understand the situation of Hong Kong, a place that possesses most of the typical characteristics of a compact city (Ganesan and Lau, 2000). The objectives of the current study are to formulate a model to predict recycling behaviour in university campuses and to provide insights into a scheme vis-a`-vis waste reduction and recycling. 2. Literature review 2.1 Theory of planned behaviour (TPB) The theory of reasoned action (TRA; Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980) suggested that an individual’s intention to perform certain behaviours is the immediate determinant of that behaviour, and that behavioural intentions are influenced by two factors:

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(1) attitude; and (2) subjective norms. Attitude generally refers to the favourability of an individual toward certain behaviours, while a subjective norm involves perceived social pressure or acceptance of that behaviour. However, the performance of certain behaviours is usually deterred by the lack of appropriate opportunities, knowledge, skills, and time (Liska, 1984). These circumstances limit the sufficiency of the TRA in explaining an individual’s behaviour. Therefore, the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) extended the TRA by including an additional variable (Figure 1), namely perceived behavioural control (PBC). PBC refers to an individual’s perception of his or her ability to perform certain behaviours (Ajzen, 1991). Oom Do Valle et al. (2005) explained that PBC reflects two key dimensions: (1) external conditions; and (2) an individual’s perceived ability. In the context of recycling behaviour, the former dimension can be explained in terms of the ease and convenience of performing recycling activities, while the latter depends on an individual’s understanding and knowledge of the behaviour, i.e. the extent to which an individual knows how to recycle. TPB has been widely adopted in attitude-behaviour studies, such as those that address technology acceptance (Mathieson, 1991), the dishonest actions of college students (Beck and Ajzen, 1991), smoking (Godin et al., 1992), and driving violations (Parker et al., 1992). It also serves as the foundation for studies on recycling behaviour, and so researchers have adopted TPB in this area (e.g. Cheung et al., 1999; Davis et al., 2006; Oom Do Valle et al., 2005; Oreg and Katz-Gerro, 2006; Sidique et al., 2010; Tonglet et al., 2004a). However, while the findings of these studies suggested that TPB provides a good starting point for attitude-behaviour studies, the authors proposed the use of additional variables to improve the sufficiency of their respective models. Ajzen (1991) said that TPB allows for the use of additional variables to strengthen the ability to explain certain behaviours. The whole set of variables, including those of TPB, are explained as follows.

Figure 1. Theory of planned behaviour

1.1.1 Attitude. Attitude towards behaviour is defined as a function of an individual’s beliefs towards a behaviour and a subjective evaluation of that behaviour (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). The belief component captures a person’s knowledge and perceptions about a certain behaviour. Many studies confirmed the correlation between attitudes and behavioural intention (Kelly et al., 2006; Oskamp et al., 1991; Tonglet et al., 2004a; Vining and Ebreo, 1990). This is also the most significant predictor of recycling behaviour to correlate strongly with recycling intentions (Tonglet et al., 2004a). 2.1.2 Subjective norm. A subjective norm or social pressure is a function of the perceived expectations by other individuals or groups who are important or close to a person, and that person’s motivation to comply with these expectations (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). It implies that pressure from peers, family members and neighbourhood has a positive effect on recycling behaviours. Previous studies have confirmed that social pressure is an important factor in motivating recycling behaviour (Oskamp et al., 1991; Sidique et al., 2010). 2.1.3 Perceived behavioural control (PBC). Davies et al. (2002) argued that, collectively, control factors that facilitate or inhibit the performance of a given behaviour provide a more accurate measure of PBC. Tonglet et al. (2004a) operationalised PBC by identifying in their study a set of traditionally perceived control variables (e.g. ease and opportunity) and facilitating or inhibiting factors (e.g. level of convenience; knowledge of how, what, and where to recycle; and provision of recycling resources). Knowledge and opportunity had been found to correlate significantly with recycling intentions. 2.1.4 Convenience. The number of expected recycling site visits increased when recycling was considered a convenient activity (Sidique et al., 2010). Convenience is considered as the time, space and the perceived ease of an individual in managing waste (Barr et al., 2001; Tonglet et al., 2004b). This result accorded with the findings of previous studies, that convenience is an important factor in encouraging recycling behaviour (Domina and Koch, 2002; Gonzalez-Torre et al., 2003; Hornik et al., 1995; Saphores et al., 2006; Vining and Ebreo, 1990). 2.1.5 Awareness of consequences and moral norm. The model of altruistic behaviour (Schwartz, 1977) proposed that behaviour is explained by four key factors: (1) personal norms; (2) social norms; (3) awareness of consequences; and (4) ascription of responsibility. In this model, the impact of social-norm influences on individual behaviour is moderated by personal norms of altruistic behaviour. This relationship was confirmed by the results of Hopper and Nielsen’s (1991) study on recycling behaviour. A personal norm can simply be interpreted as the rule that governs whether or not an individual in considering whether a behaviour is the right thing to do. In addition, the model elaborates that the correlation between personal and social norms is moderated by awareness of consequences and the ascription of responsibility. However, the consequences of recycling and concern for community have been proved to be significant predictors of recycling behaviour (Tonglet et al., 2004a). The ascription of responsibility could be operationalized similarly to the moral norms as suggested by

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Tonglet et al. (2004a) and Chen and Tung (2010). “Moral norm” refers to beliefs about moral standards and social responsibility in performing certain behaviour. Chen and Tung (2010) further recognized that a moral norm is involved and statistically significant in predicting behavioural intentions; examples of these studies included those pertaining to dishonest actions (Beck and Ajzen, 1991) and driving violations (Parker et al., 1992).

634 3. Conceptual framework and research hypotheses Drawing upon the aforementioned literature, a conceptual framework is proposed (Figure 2). There have been only a few research efforts on recycling attitudes and behaviours in university campus of Hong Kong, and this paper seeks to fill that gap.

Figure 2. Research framework

TPB suggested that three predictors – i.e. attitudes, subjective norms, and PBC – are the key determinants in explaining the behavioural intention of an individual. Based on the existing model, the following hypotheses were formulated: H1. Attitude relates positively to recycling intention. H2. Subjective norms relate positively to recycling intention. H3. Perceived behavioural control relates positively to recycling intention. The model of altruistic behaviour (Schwartz, 1977) suggested that behaviour can be explained in terms of personal norms and social norms if awareness of consequences and the ascription of responsibility have been activated. A “personal norm” can be interpreted simply as the rule that governs an individual in considering if a certain behaviour would be the right thing to do; however, a social norm is similar to the subjective norm found in the TPB model. Awareness of consequences and the ascription of responsibility had been found to be significant predictors of recycling behaviour (Tonglet et al., 2004a), and the ascription of responsibility is similar to the moral norm suggested by Tonglet et al. (2004a) and Chen and Tung (2010). Thus, this study camp up with the following additional hypotheses: H4. Awareness of consequences relates positively to recycling intention. H5. Moral norm relates positively to recycling intention. The perceived convenience of recycling activity relates directly to the number of visits made to recycling facilities (Sidique et al., 2010); it is considered an important factor in encouraging recycling behaviour (Domina and Koch, 2002; Gonzalez-Torre et al., 2003; Hornik et al., 1995; Saphores et al., 2006; Vining and Ebreo, 1990). This is particularly significant for drop-off recycling, which requires considerable effort on the part of individuals (Saphores et al., 2006). Therefore, the following hypothesis was defined: H6. Convenience relates positively to recycling intention. TRA and TPB (Ajzen, 1991; Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980) suggest that an individual’s behavioural intention towards a certain behaviour is the mediating factor of performing that particular behaviour. Finally, the following hypothesis was formulated: H7. Recycling intention relates positively to recycling behaviour. 4. Research methods 4.1 Questionnaire design and data collection The questionnaire used was designed with reference to the recycling literature and the TPB theoretical framework (Tonglet et al., 2004a; Sidique et al., 2010). Five-point Likert scales were used to measure the components of TPB, with 5 indicating a positive view and 1 a negative view. The questionnaire contained the six major independent variables: (1) recycling attitudes; (2) subjective norms; (3) PBC;

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(4) awareness of consequences; (5) moral norms; and (6) convenience. It also included two dependent variables: (1) recycling intention; and (2) recycling behaviour (see the Appendix, Table AI). The constructs of attitude, PBC, and moral norms were adapted from the study by Tonglet et al. (2004a), while the constructs of subjective norms, awareness of consequences and convenience were adapted from the study by Sidique et al. (2010). Although Sidique et al. (2010) defined the constructs of subjective norms and awareness of consequences as social pressure and attitude, respectively, similar statements for these two constructs were operationalised in other studies as subjective norms and awareness of consequences (e.g. Tonglet et al., 2004a; Oom Do Valle et al., 2005). The questionnaire also involved questions soliciting demographic information, such as age, gender, education level, occupation, and monthly income. To enhance internal validity, pre-testing was conducted to modify the questionnaire before launching formally. Thirty copies of the questionnaire were randomly distributed in this pre-test/pilot study. Some wording was then refined according to the results. The main data collection was conducted in November 2010, during which 300 questionnaires were distributed in the computer centre, library and cafeteria of a public university in Hong Kong. Two hundred and five completed and valid questionnaires (response rate 69 per cent) were returned. Table I shows the profile of the respondents. Since the study was conducted in a university, naturally the demographic variables of the respondents would illustrate that most of them were students. 5. Data analysis Structural equation modelling (SEM) is a statistical technique for measuring latent and unobservable concepts through multiple observed indicators (Chin, 1998b; Jo¨reskog, 1989). Partial least squares (PLS) is a common statistical analysis in SEM, and it can be used to validate the constructs of an instrument, test and confirm the structural relationships among the constructs (Chin, 1998a; Gefen et al., 2000). Jo¨reskog and Wold (1982) suggested that PLS is better suited for theory development, whereas linear structural relationship (LISREL) analysis is suitable to be applied for confirmatory analysis. This is because confirmatory analysis requires a more stringent distributional assumption and a large sample. The study used PLS because its premises are less limiting and the sample size in this study was relatively small. SmartPLS 2.0, a statistical software application for PLS-based path modelling, was applied to measure the causal relationships in the proposed model. 5.1 Measurement model The PLS measurement model for the latent constructs was evaluated by examining the convergent and discriminant validity. The convergent validity can be assessed by the inter-correlations between indicators within the same constructs. The factor loadings,

Demographic variable

n

Percentage

Gender Female Male

104 101

50.0 49.3

Age Under 20 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50 or above

36 140 7 6 7 4 3 2

17.6 68.3 3.4 2.9 3.4 2.0 1.5 1.0

99 80 26

48.3 39.0 12.7

Monthly income (HK$) Below or 4,999 5,000-9,999 10,000-19,999 20,000-29,999 30,000-39,999 40,000-49,999 50,000 or above

166 9 3 8 10 2 7

81.0 4.4 1.5 3.9 4.9 1.0 3.4

Occupation Student Teacher

179 26

87.5 12.5

Education level Sub-degree Bachelor’s degree Master’s degree or above

composite reliabilities and average variance extracted as computed in PLS were examined using the three criteria suggested by Fornell and Larcker (1981) and Chin (1998b), namely: . the factor loading of indicators should be statistically significant and exceed 0.5; . the composite reliability of each construct should exceed 0.6; and . the average variance extracted (AVE) by each construct should exceed 0.5. As shown in Table II, the factor loadings of all constructs in the measurement model exceeded 0.5 and were significant at p ¼ 0:001. The composite reliabilities of constructs ranged from 0.83 to 0.88, and the AVE ranged from 0.51 to 0.79. Therefore, all three of the aforementioned criteria for convergent validity were met. This indicated that the constructs in the proposed model demonstrated adequate internal consistency. The Cronbach’s a scores for each construct were also computed, with the value ranging from 0.68 to 0.77 as shown in Table II. This also demonstrated that each construct exhibited strong internal reliability. A generally acceptable low limit is 0.7 (Hair et al., 1998); however, an a coefficient of 0.5 has also been considered an acceptable limit in previous research on recycling behaviour (Sidique et al., 2010).

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Table I. Respondents’ profile

F 30,13/14 Constructs

Composite reliability (CR)

Cronbach’s a

Attitude (ATTD)

ATTD1 ATTD2 ATTD3 ATTD4

0.66 0.78 0.80 0.83

11.84 22.44 13.34 31.27

0.59

0.85

0.77

Subjective norm (SUBN)

SUBN1 SUBN2 SUBN3 SUBN4

0.74 0.84 0.61 0.65

11.87 19.61 6.29 7.46

0.51

0.81

0.70

Perceived behavioural control (CTRL)

CTRL1 CTRL2 CTRL3 CTRL4

0.70 0.78 0.75 0.64

10.85 18.07 13.24 9.63

0.52

0.81

0.70

Consequences awareness (AWARE)

AWARE1 AWARE2 AWARE3 AWARE4

0.65 0.84 0.75 0.62

6.44 18.47 8.92 5.52

0.52

0.80

0.68

Moral norm (MORN)

MORN1 MORN2 MORN3 MORN4

0.63 0.88 0.81 0.65

6.50 26.31 15.04 7.41

0.56

0.83

0.74

Convenience (CONV)

CONV1 CONV2 CONV3

0.75 0.85 0.81

15.06 32.76 22.73

0.64

0.85

0.72

Behavioural intention (BINT)

BINT1 BINT2

0.91 0.87

89.69 41.24

0.79

0.88

0.74

Behaviour (BEHV)

BEHV1 BEHV2 BEHV3

0.76 0.78 0.80

14.03 14.10 30.50

0.62

0.83

0.73

638

Table II. Measurement model

Factor Indicators loadings t-value

Average variance extracted (AVE)

In relation to discriminant validity of constructs, indicators should have stronger loadings on their own constructs than the others in the same model. A rule to assess discriminant validity (Chin, 1998b) is that the square root of the AVE of a construct should be larger than the correlations between the specific construct and other constructs in the model. Table III reveals the requirement was met by all constructs, and thus adequate discriminant validity was exhibited. 5.2 Structural model The structural model was evaluated by examining the path coefficients, t-statistics, and variance explained (i.e. R 2 value). Path significances were determined by running the model using a bootstrap resampling routine with 205 cases and 1,000 samples. Hypothesis tests were carried out to test the study’s proposed model. Results of the analysis are presented in Figure 3.

Constructs ATTD SUBN CTRL AWARE MORN CONV BINT BEHV

ATTD

SUBN

CTRL

AWARE

MORN

CONV

0.77 0.36 0.57 0.16 0.20 0.62 0.51 0.35

0.72 0.34 0.16 0.35 0.29 0.43 0.31

0.72 0.14 0.33 0.45 0.49 0.31

0.72 0.24 0.15 0.26 0.11

0.75 0.24 0.36 0.23

0.80 0.47 0.29

BINT

BEHV

Recycling attitude and behaviour 639

0.89 0.71

0.79

Notes: ATTD, attitude; SUBN, subjective norm; CTRL, perceived behavioural control; AWARE, consequences awareness; MORN, moral norm; CONV, convenience; BINT, behavioural intention; BEHV, behaviour. Italicised figures are the square roots of the average variance extracted (AVE)

Table III. Correlations among constructs

Figure 3. The structural model

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The R 2 value of behavioural intention (0.421) showed the amount of variance in recycling behavioural intention that could be explained by attitudes, subjective norms, PBC, consequences awareness, moral norms, and convenience. In addition, the R 2 value of behaviour (0.503) revealed the amount of variance in recycling behaviour was explained by behavioural intention. The values of 0.421 and 0.503 demonstrated that the model explained a good amount of variance in behavioural intention and behaviour vis-a`-vis recycling. The path coefficients are also shown in Figure 3; all paths were significant at p , 0:05. The results shown in Table IV supported all the hypotheses. The coefficient of the path from ATTD to BINT was significant with low effect size and low predictive relevance (b ¼ 0:19, t ¼ 2:32, p , 0:05, f 2 ¼ 0:03, q 2 ¼ 0:02). The path from SUBN to BINT was significant, with a relatively higher, albeit still low, level of effect size and predictive relevance (b ¼ 0:19, t ¼ 3:54, p , 0:01, f 2 ¼ 0:05, q 2 ¼ 0:03). In addition, the CTRL significantly correlated with BINT with a low effect size and low predictive relevance (b ¼ 0:19, t ¼ 3:10, p , 0:01, f 2 ¼ 0:04, q 2 ¼ 0:02). The coefficient of the path from AWARE to BINT was significant with a low effect size and low predictive relevance (b ¼ 0:12, t ¼ 2:19, p , 0:05, f 2 ¼ 0:02, q 2 ¼ 0:02). The paths from MORN to BINT (b ¼ 0:13, t ¼ 2:16, p , 0:05, f 2 ¼ 0:02, q 2 ¼ 0:01) and from CONV to BINT (b ¼ 0:17, t ¼ 2:14, p , 0:05, f 2 ¼ 0:03, q 2 ¼ 0:03) were also significant, with low effect size and low predictive relevance. The exogenous variables in the model explained low amounts of variance of BINT (R 2 ¼ 0:421). The R 2 value can be divided based on the path coefficients and correlations between the dependent and explanatory variables (Tenenhaus et al., 2005). Table V illustrates the contribution of R 2 value by each explanatory variable in predicting the dependent variables. For this model, attitude and PBC were the most important variables in the prediction of BINT, contributing 22.46 per cent and 21.42 per cent of R 2, respectively. In addition, SUBN and CONV contributed 19.62 per cent and Path

Table IV. Path coefficients

ATTD ! BINT SUBN ! BINT CTRL ! BINT AWARE ! BINT MORN ! BINT CONV ! BINT BINT ! BEHV

Block

Table V. Explanation of behavioural intention of recycling (BINT)

ATTD SUBN CTRL AWARE MORN CONV

b

t

f2

q2

0.187 0.192 0.185 0.121 0.125 0.166 0.709

2.323 3.538 3.100 2.192 2.163 2.141 31.286

0.03 0.05 0.04 0.02 0.02 0.03

0.02 0.03 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.03

b

r

Contribution to R 2 (per cent)

0.187 0.192 0.185 0.121 0.125 0.166

0.51 0.43 0.49 0.26 0.36 0.47

22.46 19.62 21.42 7.46 10.58 18.47

18.47 per cent of R 2, respectively. Each of these four exogenous variables contributed around 20 per cent of R 2; on the other hand, the AWARE and MORN contributions were only 10.58 per cent and 7.46 per cent, respectively – far lower than those of other exogenous variables. The blindfolding results (G ¼ seven blocks) are presented in Table VI. In the model, all blocks had high values for the cv-communality index H 2 that were higher than the threshold level of 0 (Fornell and Cha, 1994). The cv-redundancy index F 2, BINT and BEHV had relatively high values. This measured the model’s sufficiency in predicting the dependent variables indirectly from a prediction of their own latent variables using the related structural relation, by cross-validation (Tenenhaus et al., 2005). The proposed model had a GoF index of 0.52, which indicated a good fit and an acceptable level of predictive relevance.

Recycling attitude and behaviour 641

6. Discussion and conclusions The TPB provided a useful foundation in explaining recycling behaviour. Attitudes, subjective norms, and PBC significantly correlated with behavioural intention. This finding was consistent with those empirical studies in related areas, including those of Chen and Tung (2010), Oom Do Valle et al. (2005), and Cheung et al. (1999). The additional measures of moral norms, awareness of consequences, and convenience were included in the model; these variables were also statistically significant in explaining the behavioural intention of recycling behaviour. Moral norm was an important predictor in the studies of Chen and Tung (2010) and Oom Do Valle et al. (2005). The current study’s result regarding awareness of consequences was consistent with the findings by Tonglet et al. (2004a). In addition, the significance of convenience factor accorded with the results of previous studies (e.g. Saphores et al., 2006; Sidique et al., 2010; Vining and Ebreo, 1990). This study gives insightful information to facilities management professionals as regards shaping a more user-friendly and convenient recycling scheme to fulfil the social responsibility for environmental protection. The results suggested that each of the four predictors – attitude, subjective norms, PBC, and convenience – contributed approximately 20 per cent of R 2 in explaining behavioural intention. However, the contributions of the other two variables – i.e. awareness of consequence and moral norms – were comparatively low. These findings implied that the key challenges and Block ATTD SUBN CTRL AWARE MORN CONV BINT BEHV Average GoF

R2

0.421 0.503 0.462 0.52

Communality

H2

Redundancy

F2

0.59 0.51 0.52 0.52 0.56 0.65 0.79 0.62 0.58

0.59 0.51 0.52 0.52 0.56 0.65 0.79 0.63

0.33 0.31

0.34 0.27

Table VI. Communality and redundancy

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considerations for practitioners about the design and implementation of recycling schemes included: . The need to focus on people’s attitude toward recycling behaviour. This can be achieved through educational and promotional programmes. From a marketing or promotional perspective, attitudes can be changed via a variety of strategies (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2010), such as changing the motivational function by highlighting the prominent needs to recycle, associating with an admired group or event to project a favourable image, and so forth. For example, the promotional messages should not only focus on the benefits of recycling but also illustrate how recycling behaviour would change a person’s values and lifestyle towards a better environment. In addition, environmental protection groups can be invited to improve the image of recycling activities. . The need to enhance knowledge and understanding of recycling and its environmental impacts. This would enhance the PBC of the individuals. For example, a related promotional programme would highlight how recyclables should be dealt with, where the university members can find recycling facilities, and the like. Therefore the promotional programme can highlight how the recyclables should be sorted, stored and handled, etc. In addition, directional signage can be considered to be placed in the campus to show the location of recycling facilities. . The need to position participation in recycling activities as a social norm and trend through marketing communication and public relation events. This is similar to the attitude-change strategy mentioned above by associating with an admired group or event, or even identifying a celebrity to promote recycling. In a university setting, the senior management, student or alumni representatives can be considered. Celebrities may serve as a role model for recycling. In addition, campus authorities may include feedback in the form of statistical figures about recycling, for example the amount of recyclables collected. These figures can illustrate the popularity and acceptance of recycling in the campus. . The need to make recycling activities more convenient, for example by providing more facilities or drop-off points in the campus. This had been highlighted by a number of studies, such as those of Tonglet et al. (2004a), Oom Do Valle et al. (2005), and Saphores et al. (2006). The related authorities may consider setting up more drop-off points in the campus such as lift lobbies, cafeterias, and main entrances. Apart from collection points for papers, plastic bottles and aluminium cans, there can be drop-off points for discs and rechargeable batteries, since these are common types of waste on university campuses. This study contained several limitations that should be addressed in future research. First, the Cronbach’s a for the construct of consequences awareness marginally fell below the generally acceptable low limit of 0.7 (Hair et al., 1998). This construct could be considered for revision in further studies, or new relevant indicators could be developed and added. Second, the setting and nature of the sample for this study might have limitations, because the study was conducted in a university in Hong Kong, and most of the respondents were students. The unique culture vis-a`-vis recycling activities in the specific campus environment and the sample nature might confine the generalisability of the results to other areas and contexts. Therefore, further studies

were suggested to apply the model in different higher education institutions in different areas, and to include different campus users, such as administrative staff, and faculty members, etc., as samples. Third, since all measures were based on self-report, and respondents could choose whether to provide their responses, social desirability bias might exist in the results, particularly when recycling is commonly promoted and encouraged as a socially desired behaviour to protect the environment. This study developed a model to identify the determinants of attitude and behaviour vis-a`-vis recycling activities in university campus in Hong Kong. The results showed that our critical factors including recycling behaviour were influenced by attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, awareness of consequences, moral norms, and convenience and that each of these correlated positively with recycling intentions. This study also confirmed that recycling intention correlated positively with recycling behaviours. This sheds light for facilities managers on the design and implementation of recycling schemes in university.

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Environmental Protection Department (2010), “An overview on challenges for waste reduction and management in Hong Kong”, available at: www.epd.gov.hk/epd/english/ environmentinhk/waste/waste_maincontent.html Fishbein, M. and Ajzen, I. (1975), Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behaviour: An Introduction to Theory and Research, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA. Fornell, C. and Cha, J. (1994), “Partial least squares”, in Bagozzi, R.P. (Ed.), Advanced Methods of Marketing Research, Basil Blackwell, Cambridge, MA, pp. 52-78. Fornell, C. and Larcker, D.F. (1981), “Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 39-47. Ganesan, S. and Lau, S.S.Y. (2000), “Urban challenges in Hong Kong: future directions for design”, Urban Design International, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 3-12. Gefen, D., Straub, D.W. and Boudreau, M.C. (2000), “Structural equation modeling and regression: guidelines for research practice”, Communications of the Association for Information System, Vol. 4 No. 7, pp. 1-79. Godin, G., Valois, P., Lepage, L. and Desharnais, R. (1992), “Predictors of smoking behaviour: an application of Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour”, British Journal of Addiction, Vol. 87 No. 9, pp. 1335-43. Gonzalez-Torre, P.L., Adenso-Diaz, B. and Ruiz-Torres, A. (2003), “Some comparative factors regarding recycling collection systems in regions of the USA and Europe”, Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 69, pp. 129-38. Hair, J.F., Anderson, R.E., Tatham, R.L. and Black, W.C. (1998), Multivariate Data Analysis, 5th ed., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Hopper, J. and Nielsen, J.M. (1991), “Recycling as altruistic behaviour: normative and behavioural strategies to expand participation in a community recycling programme”, Environment and Behaviour, Vol. 23, pp. 195-220. Hornik, J., Cherian, J., Madansky, M. and Narayana, C. (1995), “Determinants of recycling behaviour: a synthesis of research results”, Journal of Socio-economics, Vol. 24, pp. 105-27. Jo¨reskog, K.G. (1989), LISREL 7: A Guide to the Programme and Applications, SPSS, Chicago, IL. Jo¨reskog, K.G. and Wold, H. (1982), “The ML and PLS techniques for modeling with latent variables: historical and comparative aspects”, in Jo¨reskog, K.G. and Wold, H. (Eds), Systems under Indirect Observation: Causality, Structure and Prediction, North Holland, Amsterdam, pp. 219-43. Kaplowitz, M.D., Yeboah, F.K., Thorp, L. and Wilson, A.M. (2009), “Garnering input for recycling communication strategies at a Big Ten University”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 53 No. 11, pp. 612-23. Kelly, T.C., Mason, I.G. and Leiss, M.W. (2006), “University community responses to on-campus resources recycling”, Resources Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 47 No. 1, pp. 42-55. Liska, A.E. (1984), “A critical examination of the causal structure of the Fishbein/Ajzen attitude-behaviour model”, Social Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 47 No. 1, pp. 61-74. Mathieson, K. (1991), “Predicting user intentions: comparing the technology acceptance model with the theory of planned behaviour”, Information Systems Research, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 173-91. Noeke, J. (2000), “Environmental management systems for universities – a case study”, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 1 No. 3, pp. 237-51. Oom Do Valle, P., Rebelo, E., Reis, E. and Menezes, J. (2005), “Combining behavioural theories to predict recycling involvement”, Environment and Behaviour, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp. 364-96. Oreg, S. and Katz-Gerro, T. (2006), “Predicting proenvironmental behaviour cross-nationally: values, the theory of planned behaviour, and value-belief-norm theory”, Environment and Behaviour, Vol. 38, pp. 462-83.

Oskamp, S., Harrington, M.J., Edwards, T.C., Sherwood, D.L., Okuda, S.M. and Swanson, D.C. (1991), “Factors influencing household recycling behaviour”, Environment and Behaviour, Vol. 23, pp. 494-519. Parker, D., Manstead, A.S.R., Stradling, S.G., Reason, J.T. and Baxter, J.S. (1992), “Intention to commit driving violations: an application of the theory of planned behaviour”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 77 No. 1, pp. 94-101. Saphores, J.M., Nixon, H., Ogunseitan, O.A. and Shapiro, A.A. (2006), “Household willingness to recycle electronic waste: an application to California”, Environment and Behaviour, Vol. 38, pp. 183-208. Schiffman, L.G. and Kanuk, L.L. (2010), Consumer Behaviour, 10th ed., Pearson Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Schwartz, S.H. (1977), “Normative influences on altruism”, in Berkowitz, L. (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Academic Press, New York, NY, pp. 221-79. Sidique, S.F., Lupi, F. and Joshi, S.V. (2010), “The effects of behaviour and attitudes on drop-off recycling activities”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 54, pp. 163-70. Smyth, D.P., Fredeen, A.L. and Booth, A.L. (2010), “Reducing solid waste in higher education: the first step towards ‘greening’ a university campus”, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 54 No. 11, pp. 1007-16. (The) Standard (2010), “Dump fight looms again”, The Standard, November 30. Tang, B., Wong, S. and Lee, A.K. (2007), “Green belt in a compact city: a zone for conservation or transition?”, Landscape and Urban Planning, Vol. 79 Nos 3/4, pp. 358-73. Tenenhaus, M., Esposito Vinzi, V., Chatelin, Y.-M. and Lauro, C. (2005), “PLS path modeling”, Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Vol. 48 No. 1, pp. 159-205. Tonglet, M., Phillips, P.S. and Read, A.D. (2004a), “Using the theory of planned behaviour to investigate the determinants of recycling behaviour: a case study from Brixworth, UK”, Resources Conservation and Recycling, Vol. 41, pp. 191-214. Tonglet, M., Phillips, P.S. and Bates, M.P. (2004b), “Determining the drivers for householder pro-environmental behaviour: waste minimisation compared to recycling”, Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Vol. 42, pp. 27-48. Vining, J. and Ebreo, A. (1990), “What makes a recycler? A comparison of recyclers and non-recyclers”, Environment and Behaviour, Vol. 22, pp. 55-73. About the authors Calvin Wan is a Research Student in the Department of Building and Real Estate at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests include public attitudes and values, environmental psychology and sustainable development. Calvin Wan is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected] Ronnie Cheung held various posts, including Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Assistant Professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Currently, he is working as a Consultant for the Hong Kong CyberU. He also has extensive consultancy experience for various public and commercial organizations. He also served as the Chairman of ACM-HK chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery. Geoffrey Qiping Shen is the Chair Professor of Construction Management, the Associate Dean, Faculty of Construction and Land Use and the Head, Department of Building and Real Estate at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has a proven track record of academic research in collaborative working in construction, supported by information and communication technologies.

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Appendix

Construct

646

Variables

Attitude (ATTD) ATTD1 ATTD2 ATTD3 ATTD4

1. 2. 3. 4.

Recycling Recycling Recycling Recycling

Subjective norm (SUBN) SUBN1 SUBN2 SUBN3 SUBN4

5. 6. 7. 8.

My friends expect me to recycle recyclables My classmates/colleagues expect me to recycle recyclables Media influences me to recycle recyclables Environmental groups influence me to recycle recyclables

is is is is

good useful responsible sensible

Perceived control (CTRL) CTRL1 CTRL2 CTRL3 CTRL4

9. I know what items can be recycled 10. I know where to take my recyclables for recycling 11. I know how to recycle my recyclables 12. I know would recycle more if I had more information on recycling

Consequences awareness (AWARE) AWARE1 AWARE2 AWARE3 AWARE4

13. 14. 15. 16.

Recycling Recycling Recycling Recycling

Moral norm (MORN) MORN1 MORN2 MORN3 MORN4

17. 18. 19. 20.

It would be wrong of me not to recycle my recyclables I would feel guilty if I did not recycle my recyclables Not recycling goes against my principles Everybody should share the responsibility to recycle recyclables

Convenience (CONV) CONV1 CONV2 CONV3

21. It is not a difficult task for me to recycle the recyclables 22. I have enough time to sort the materials for recycling 23. I have enough space to store the materials for recycling

is a major way to reduce pollution is a major way to reduce wasteful use of landfills is a major way to conserve natural resources improves environmental quality

Behavioural intention (BINT) BINT1 24. I intend to recycle my recyclables in the next four weeks BINT2 25. I will recycle my recyclables regularly

Table AI. Questionnaire items

Behaviour (BEHV) BEHV1 BEHV2 BEHV3

26. I have been recycling my recyclables regularly 27. I have recycling behaviour over the past four weeks 28. I have recycling behaviour at the university

Sources: Adapted from Tonglet et al. (2004a) and Sidique et al. (2010)

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A comparative study of critical success factors for public private partnerships (PPP) between Mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

A study of CSFs for PPPs

647

Esther Cheung School of Professional and Continuing Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China

Albert P.C. Chan Faculty of Construction and Environment, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China

Patrick T.I. Lam and Daniel W.M. Chan Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China, and

Yongjian Ke Department of Building, National University of Singapore, Singapore Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to explore the critical success factors (CSFs) necessary for adopting public private partnerships (PPPs) in both Mainland China and Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach – An empirical questionnaire survey was conducted with relevant experienced practitioners in Mainland China and Hong Kong. Findings – Both Mainland China and Hong Kong have been keen to deliver more infrastructure service projects through PPP mode, with the former aiming to meet its rapidly growing infrastructure demand and the latter uplifting its efficiency further. The results indicate that Hong Kong does not regard multi-benefit objectives as importantly as Mainland China. Mainland China on the contrary felt more concerned with an equitable risk sharing mechanism, which is understandable given the problems affecting the financial market in Mainland China. Originality/value – It is anticipated that the results presented in this paper will assist both the public and private sectors to deliver PPP projects more successfully. Keywords Procurement, Success, Project management, Critical success factors, Partnership, China, Hong Kong Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction A major push for the “business approach” of public facilities and services in the UK was given in the 1980s when the government put out to tender some of its traditional duties in the provision of infrastructure. The idea was to seek the best value possible

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(Fitzgerald and Melvin, 2002). PPP was first introduced in the UK in 1992 (Rodney and Gallimore, 2002), in the form of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) as a way of procuring public infrastructure by getting the private sector to finance, build and operate infrastructure under contracts typically lasting 25 to 30 years (Tieman, 2003). Since its introduction, PFI has been the government’s preferred method of public infrastructure procurement (Handley-Schachler and Gao, 2003). As a result PFI now accounts for between ten and 14 percent of Britain’s total annual investment in public services. In 2003, total investment under PFI was forecast to reach £4.6 billion (Tieman, 2003). After almost 50 studies, the National Audit Office (NAO) concluded that when PFI functioned properly, it delivered both better value and better infrastructure. Furthermore, according to an NAO review in 2003, 78 percent of PPP/PFI projects were delivered within budget, and 76 percent on time (Tieman, 2003). However, Maltby (2003) asserted that PFI should be abolished for smaller projects and for information technology schemes. Similarly, Kanning and Vogler (2008) also mentioned how stakeholders were often reluctant to launching PPPs as attitudes were not positive enough, controllability was not perceived as being high enough, and because the subjective norm for the implementation of PPPs was too low. It is clear that PPP is not a panacea to solve all problems and may not be suitable for all project settings. It is therefore important to explore the successful ingredients for delivering PPP projects. PPP has been practiced in many developed countries in Europe, North America and Australasia for delivering construction and building projects. The success and advantages of adopting PPP in these places have been well documented. But unfortunately not all of these PPP projects have been equally successful. For countries that are new at adopting PPP it is even more important for them to identify the CSFs in order to maximize the advantages of this method and to reduce the risks for all concerned parties. With the rapid development being experienced in China, there has been a strong cry for more and better public facilities and services. In order to deal with the large infrastructure plan proposed for the coming years, the Chinese government has been keen to seek alternative methods to relieve its financial burden. Together with the economic opportunities foreseeable in China, many international investors have also been attracted to the Chinese business market. As a result PPP has become an ideal option favored by both the public and private sectors. To cope with the increased number of PPP projects foreseeable in the near future, there is a strong need to study the practice of this method in China. As part of a larger research study looking at developing a best practice framework for PPPs, this paper presents the findings of the CSFs necessary to ensure smooth sailing PPP projects. 2. Literature review of PPP critical success factors A comprehensive literature review was conducted to study the CSFs of PPP. Contemporary literature including research reports, journal articles, conference papers and internet materials were identified and reviewed thoroughly. Table I shows a summary of the analysis of these pieces of literature. From the literature review, 15 key CSFs of PPP were identified. For each CSF identified the number of times it was mentioned amongst the seventeen pieces of literature was recorded. The identified CSFs could be grouped under seven principal headings:

Li et al. (2005) Jefferies (2006) Abdul-Rashid et al. (2006) Corbett and Smith (2006) Zhang (2005) El-Gohary et al. (2006) Qiao et al. (2001) Nijkamp et al. (2002) Jamali (2004) Jefferies et al. (2002) Tam et al. (1994) Tiong (1996) Birnie (1999) Grant (1996) Kanter (1999) Gentry and Fernandez (1997) Akintoye et al. (2001) Total number of citations for a certain CSF

7

£

£

£

£

8

£ £

£

£ £

£

£

Project economic viability

£ £

£ £

Competitive and Transparent procurement process

4

£

£

£

£

Government guarantee

5

£

£

£ £

£

Available financial market

3

£

£

£

Clear project brief and client requirements

2

£

£

Business diversification

7

£ £ £ £

£ £

£

Strong private consortium

5

£

£

£ £

£

6

£

£

£

£

£

£

1

£

Critical success factors of PPP Good Strong Consultation partners’ government with endrelationship support users

3

£

£

£

Appropriate risk allocation

4

£

£ £

£

Stable and transparent political/ social situation

4

£ £

£

£

Appropriate project identification

2

£

£

Effective management control

1

£

Technology transfer

62

1

1

3 7 4 1 1 3

2 4

1 7

9 7

4

4 3

Total number of critical success factors from each literature

A study of CSFs for PPPs

649

Table I. CSFs of PPP from published literature

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(1) Equitable allocation of risks: appropriate risk allocation. (2) Strong private consortium: . strong private consortium; . good partners’ relationship; . technology transfer; and . effective management control. (3) Judicious government control: . government guarantee; . consultation with end-users; and . appropriate project identification. (4) Transparent and efficient procurement process: . competitive and transparent procurement process; and . clear project brief and client requirements. (5) Project economic viability: . project economic viability; and . business diversification. (6) Adequate legal framework and stable political environment: . strong government support; and . stable and transparent political/social situation. (7) Available financial market: available financial market. 2.1 Equitable allocation of risks A core principle in PPP arrangement is the allocation of risk to the party best able to manage and control it (Efficiency Unit, 2003). Logically, the government would prefer to transfer risks associated with asset procurement and service delivery to private sector participants, who are generally more efficient and experienced in managing them. But the government should be reasonable to take up risks that are out of the control of private sector participants. In all cases, the government should ensure that there are measures in place to manage the risk exposure rather than leaving it open to the private sector. Likewise before committing to projects, private sector participants should fully understand the risks involved and should be prudent in pricing and managing the risks appropriately (Grant, 1996; Qiao et al., 2001; Zhang, 2005). Increasingly more PPP projects are done through careful considerations on risk allocation. Each organization takes on risk that it has the expertise to handle. For example, Bilfinger Berger Civil and CH2M Hill are sharing the design, engineering and project management duties of the Golden Ears Bridge, Vancouver, Canada. They are aided by 19 other companies with differing expertise for better risk allocation of different tasks. The Project Manager of this project has also previously worked on the Kaohsiung High Speed Railway in Taiwan and the Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong (Staff, 2006).

2.2 Strong private consortium In contracting out the PPP projects, the government should ensure that the parties in the private sector consortium are sufficiently competent and financially capable of taking up the projects. This suggests that private companies should explore other participants’ strengths and weaknesses and, where appropriate, join together to form consortia capable of synergizing and exploiting their individual strengths. A good relationship among partners is also critical because they all bear relevant risks and benefits from the co-operation (Abdul-Rashid et al., 2006; Birnie, 1999; Corbett and Smith, 2006; Jefferies et al., 2002; Kanter, 1999; Tam et al., 1994; Tiong, 1996; Zhang, 2005). The majority of PPP projects tend to constitute a strong private consortium in order for the method to work. For example, the London Underground Connect PFI contract in the UK was awarded to a financially strong company, CityLink Telecommunications Limited, a company created to undertake a 20-year Connect contract for London Underground. Its shareholders include Thales (33 percent), Fluor (18 percent), Motorola (10 percent), Laing Investment (19.5 percent) and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (19.5 percent). The cost of the design, build and maintain contract is £2 billion over 20 years (Transport for London, 2007; PublicTechnology.Net, 2007). Chaos is likely to become increasingly familiar for commuters of Sydney City Rail, as the management of CityRail is accused of being the worst in the world (7 News, 2007; Heath, 2007; Kerr and Dick, 2004). This indicates that a strong private consortium is therefore important for the successful implementation of PPP. Apart from financial muscle, the strength of private sector participants lies in the management team they deploy. For example, the Ministry of Energy and Mines of the British Columbia Government in Canada made open remarks that the concessionaire of the Sierra Yoyo Desan Road project had assembled a capable team with extensive experience throughout Northern British Columbia (Ministry of Energy and Mines, 2003). The strength of the private consortium will also be affected by its relationship with the public sector. Love et al. (2000) mentioned that two fundamental attributes for procuring successful infrastructure projects are commitment and mutual trust, which need to come from both the public and private sectors. 2.3 Judicious government control Under PPP contracts the government should be concerned that the assets are procured and services are delivered on time with good quality, and meet the pre-agreed service benchmarks or requirements throughout the life of the contract. However, the government should be less concerned with “how” these are achieved and should not impose undue restrictions and constraints on private sector participants. The government should be relegated to the primary role of industry and service regulation; should be flexible in adopting innovations and new technology; should provide strong support and make incentive payments to the private sector where appropriate. On the other hand, the government should retain controls in case of default and be prepared to step in and re-provide the service if necessary (Abdul-Rashid et al., 2006; Corbett and Smith, 2006; El-Gohary et al., 2006; Jamali, 2004; Kanter, 1999; Li et al., 2005; Tam et al., 1994; Tiong, 1999; Zhang, 2005).

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In the UK, the government has promptly approved arrangements for funding and constructing the Birmingham Northern Relief Road, which the concessionaire, Midland Expressway Limited, has signed up to so that work on the road can start as planned (M2 Presswire, 2000). Thus, strong government support is indispensable to launch a new PPP project.

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2.4 Transparent and efficient procurement process A transparent and efficient procurement process is essential in lowering the transaction costs and shortening the time in negotiation and completing the deal. Clear project brief and client requirements should help to achieve these in the bidding process. In most cases, competitive bidding solely on price may not help to secure a strong private consortium and obtain value for money for the public. The government should take a long-term view in seeking the right partner (Corbett and Smith, 2006; Gentry and Fernandez, 1997; Jefferies et al., 2002; Jefferies, 2006; Li et al., 2005; Qiao et al., 2001; Zhang, 2005). Indeed, an objective, competitive and fair transparent procurement process is conducive to the successful implementation of a PPP project; otherwise, legal battle would be invoked easily. For instance, residents fighting to stop the Birmingham Northern Relief Road (BNRR) have been awarded sight of significant parts of the secret Concession Agreement, despite the private contractor’s protests to the Judge (Bradshaw-Smith, 2007). In Canada, the government has made concerted efforts to make the public aware of the whole procurement process in the cases of Golden Ears Bridge in Vancouver (Dickson, 2006) and of Sierra Yoyo Desan Road in British Columbia (Ministry of Energy and Mines, 2003) in order to make the procurement process more transparent towards the general public. 2.5 Project economic viability For projects where the major source of revenue to the private sector is generated from direct tariffs levied on users, there are revenue risks that can go beyond the control of the private sector, like, for example, future usage level and permitted tariff charges. There may also be unforeseen risks during the course of the project’s life. To ensure project economic viability, the government may consider some forms of government guarantees, joint investment funding or supplemental periodic service payments to allow the private sector to cover the project costs and earn reasonable profits and investment returns. At the same time, the government should take due consideration of the private sector’s profitability requirements in order to have stable arrangements in PPP projects. Alternative sources of income and financing like property development opportunities along a railway can be sought to bridge the funding gap for private investors (Abdul-Rashid et al., 2006; Corbett and Smith, 2006; Li et al., 2005; Nijkamp et al., 2002; Qiao et al., 2001; Tam et al., 1994; Tiong, 1996; Zhang, 2005). If the profit generated is decreased, the development of a railway project will be affected. Passenger levels in the Croydon Tramlink project in London, UK, turned out to be 25-30 percent lower than expected and so a lot of money was lost, which may affect the economic viability of the project to expand its capacity (Public Private Finance, 2007; Wood, 2003). In a balance between public affordability and private profitability, it is not uncommon to see government bestowing periodic service

payments to a private sector consortium to cover the project costs and reasonable profits with the purpose of sustaining the provision of public transportation services (Jamali, 2004; Nijkamp et al., 2002; Qiao et al., 2001; Tam et al., 1994). The economic viability of the Sierra Yoyo Desan Road is obvious due to the fact that it will provide the primary access to more than 27,000 square kilometers of oil and gas territory.

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653 2.6 Stable political and social environment Successful PPP implementation requires a stable political and social environment, which in turn relies on the stability and capability of the host government (Wong, 2007). Political and social issues that go beyond the private sector domain should be handled by the government. If unduly victimized, it is legitimate that the private sector participants should be adequately compensated. Unstable political and social environments have resulted in some failed rail projects (e.g. frequent change in government premiers in Bangkok leading to the cancellation of many new public infrastructure projects originally procured under the PPP approach). 2.7 Adequate legal framework As mentioned by the National Treasury PPP Unit of South Africa (2007), an independent, fair and efficient legal framework is a key factor for successful PPP project implementation. Sufficient legal resources at reasonable costs should be available to deal with the amount of legal structuring and documentation required. A transparent and stable legal framework should help to make the contracts and agreements bankable. An adequate dispute resolution system should help to ensure stability in the PPP arrangements. Appropriate governing rules, regulations and reference manuals related to PPP have been well established in some developed countries (e.g. UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa, etc.) to facilitate the effective application of PPP procurement approach. 2.8 Available financial market Many researchers (Akintoye et al., 2001; Corbett and Smith, 2006; Jefferies et al., 2002; Li et al., 2005; Zhang, 2005) have found that project financing is a key factor for private sector investment in public infrastructure projects. The availability of an efficient and mature financial market with the benefits of low financing costs and diversified range of financial products would be an incentive for private sector taking up PPP projects. 3. Previous research on PPP critical success factors The questionnaire template designed by Li (2003) was adopted for this study. Although the authors could have developed their own research questionnaire, there were several advantages foreseeable to adopt Li’s (2003) survey questionnaire rather than designing a new template. Firstly, the value of Li’s (2003) questionnaire has already been recognized by the industry at large. His publications as a result of the research findings derived from the questionnaire are evidence of its worthiness. Secondly, there would be no added advantage to reinvent the work that has previously done by other researchers. And thirdly by administering Li’s (2003) questionnaire in different administrative systems, it would be of interest for comparison purposes in the future. Therefore Li’s (2003) questionnaire was adopted for the survey as presented in

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Figure 1.

this paper with prior permission obtained from the author Dr Bing Li and his doctoral research supervisor, Professor Akintola Akintoye who is currently the Head of the School of Built and Natural Environment at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. 4. Research methodology 4.1 Collection of research data An empirical questionnaire survey was undertaken in both Mainland China and Hong Kong to compare and contrast the CSFs of PPP in these two similar and yet different administrative systems. In this study, the target survey respondents of the questionnaire included all industrial practitioners from the public, private and other sectors. These respondents were requested to rate their degree of agreement against each of the identified CSFs according to a five-point Likert scale (1 ¼ least important and 5 ¼ most important). Target respondents were selected based on their direct hands-on involvement with PPP projects. Survey questionnaires were sent to 103 target respondents in mainland China (administered in Beijing) and 95 target respondents in Hong Kong. It was anticipated that some of these target respondents would have colleagues and personal connections knowledgeable in the area of PPP to participate in this research study as well; hence some of the respondents were dispatched five blank copies of the survey form. A total of 53 completed questionnaires from mainland China and 34 from Hong Kong were returned representing response rates of 52 percent and 36 percent, respectively. Although there were a total of 87 responses received, only 86 were valid for subsequent statistical analyses, including 53 from mainland China and 33 from Hong Kong. Figure 1 shows that amongst these respondents, 45 percent were from the private sector, 16 percent from the public sector and 39 percent from other organizations (mainly academics and researchers). The higher response rate in Mainland China compared to Hong Kong was anticipated. There have not been that many PPP projects in Hong Kong, and hence the number of people involved with PPP projects would be lower. Mainland China on the other hand has launched more PPP projects recently in comparison with Hong Kong.

Also, the population of the Mainland is much higher than Hong Kong. China has a booming population size of 1.32 billion as recorded in March 2008 (China Population Development and Research Center, 2008), and although Hong Kong is densely populated for a city of its size, its population is much smaller than China’s at only 6.96m at the end of 2007 (Census and Statistics Department 2008). After its reversion to China, Hong Kong has operated a different administrative system from that in the mainland under the “one country, two systems” principle. 4.2 Tools for data analysis 4.2.1 Mean score ranking technique. Chan et al. (2010) adopted the “mean score” method to establish the relative importance of the perceived benefits of the Pay for Safety Scheme (PFSS) in Hong Kong as advocated by the clients and contractors. The data collected from the current questionnaire survey was also analyzed using the same technique, within various groups being categorized according to the origins of the respondents (i.e. mainland China and Hong Kong). The five-point Likert scale (1 ¼ least important and 5 ¼ most important) as described previously was used to calculate the mean score for each CSF, which was then used to determine its relative ranking in descending order of importance. These rankings made it possible to triangulate the relative importance of the CSFs to the respondents from mainland China and Hong Kong. The mean score (MS) for each CSF was computed by the following formula: P ðf £ sÞ ; ð1 # MS # 5Þ; ð1Þ MS ¼ N where: s

¼ score given to each CSF by the respondents, ranging from 1 to 5 (1 ¼ least important and 5 ¼ most important);

f

¼ frequency of each rating (1-5) for each CSF, and

N ¼ total number of responses concerning that CSF. 4.2.2 Kendall’s concordance analysis. The survey respondents were based on two groups, i.e. mainland China and Hong Kong. Kendall’s concordance analysis was conducted to measure the agreement of different respondents on their rankings of CSFs based on mean values within a particular group. If the Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (W) is significant at a pre-defined allowable significance level of, say 0.05, a reasonable degree of consensus amongst the respondents within the group on the rankings of CSFs was indicated. W for the CSFs was calculated using the following formula (Siegel and Castellan 1988): Pn   2 ðRi 2 RÞ ; ð2Þ W ¼ i¼12 nðn 2 1Þ=12 where: n ¼ number of CSFs being ranked; R i ¼ average of the ranks assigned to the ith CSF; and R ¼ average of the ranks assigned across all CSFs.

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According to Siegel and Castellan (1988), W is only suitable when the number of attributes is less than or equal to 7. If the number of attributes is greater than 7, x 2 is used as a near approximation instead. The critical value of x 2 is obtained by referring to the table of critical values of x 2 distribution, which can be found in Siegel and Castellan (1988). 4.2.3 Spearman rank correlation test. The level of agreement between the two respondent groups (mainland China and Hong Kong) on their rankings of CSFs was measured by the Spearman rank correlation coefficient (rs). Again, if rs was significant at a pre-determined allowable significance level of, say 0.05, there is no significant disagreement between the two sets of rankings. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient (rs) for the CSFs was computed using the following formula (SPSS, Inc., 2002): P 6 d2 ; ð3Þ rs ¼ 1 2 N ðN 2 2 1Þ where: d ¼ difference in rank of the two groups for the same CSF; and N ¼ total number of responses concerning that CSF. The analysis procedures described above have also been used in other similar research survey studies such as Chan (2000) and Chan et al. (2003). 4.2.4 Independent two-sample t-test. An independent two-sample t-test is used to test for a difference between two independent groups on the means of a continuous variable (SPSS, Inc., 2002). Several assumptions are made: . two independent random samples have been extracted from each population; . the two populations are both normally distributed; and . the two populations have a common (equal) variance (if the number of cases in each of the groups is similar, then the equality-of-variance assumption is not so important). The t-statistic can be defined in the following way (Keller 2005): t¼

ðx1 2 x 2 Þ 2 ðm1 2 m2 Þ qffiffiffiffi  ; s2p n11 þ n11

ð4Þ

s2p ¼

ðn1 2 1Þs21 þ ðn2 2 1Þs22 ; n1 þ n2 2 2

ð5Þ

where: n1 ¼ number of observations for group 1; n2 ¼ number of observations for group 2; x 1 ¼ mean of group 1;

x 2 ¼ mean of group 2;

m1 ¼ population mean for group 1;

A study of CSFs for PPPs

m2 ¼ population mean for group 2; s21 ¼ sample variance for group 1; and s22 ¼ sample variance for group 2. 5. Discussion of survey results The CSFs of PPP were assessed from different perspectives of the mainland Chinese and Hong Kong respondent groups. The means for each administrative system were calculated and ranked in descending order of importance, as shown in Table II. 5.1 Ranking of critical success factors of PPP Amongst the 18 CSFs, the top five factors for each respondent group were analyzed further. The top CSF ranked by both respondents from mainland China and Hong Kong was “Favorable legal framework”. This indicated that the respondents in mainland China and Hong Kong felt that the legal framework is the most important CSF. This CSF was the only one that agreed totally on the rank position between the two respondent groups analyzed. An inadequate legal framework has always been a main reason causing problems for PPP projects in China. Rui (2008) showed in his study how PPP projects of different eras have failed due to various problems with the legal framework. For example, the Shen-Da Expressway connecting Shenyang and Dalian was planned in the 1980s, at which time there were few laws and regulations pertaining to construction and operation to ensure the right institutional environment for expressway projects. On the other hand, a recent project that was completed in 2004 – the Xiang-Jin Expressway, located in Hubei Province – encountered problems due to a lack of legal transparency, which resulted in corrupt behaviors of officials. Previous experience has demonstrated how important a favorable legal framework can be to the success of PPP projects in China. The second CSF ranked by mainland Chinese respondents was “Appropriate risk allocation and risk sharing”. The National Stadium for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in China has been praised for its success as a PPP project. Liu et al. (2007) attributed this success to appropriate risk allocation and sharing. This CSF was ranked fifth by respondents from Hong Kong. Respondents from both of the administrative systems ranked this CSF relatively highly, showing that its importance applies irrespective of geographical differences. But respondents from Hong Kong ranked this CSF slightly lower. This could be due to the fact that Hong Kong has had experience with different procurement systems that entail different risk allocation models, thereby making this factor relatively less critical in terms of its contribution to project success. The CSF “Commitment and responsibility of public and private sectors” was ranked third and second by respondents from Mainland China and Hong Kong, respectively. Again it can be seen that this CSF was ranked highly by all respondent groups irrespective of geographic locations. In the case of Shenzhen Water, the Shenzhen Municipal Government sold 45 percent of its shares to the private sector. This project created a model where the government retains control over strategic assets and the private sector brings in additional capital and management expertise. To secure the

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Table II. Mean scores and rankings for the CSFs of PPP

Note: n ¼ number of survey respondents

Stable macro-economic condition Favourable legal framework Sound economic policy Available financial market Multi-benefit objectives Appropriate risk allocation and risk sharing Commitment and responsibility of public and private sectors Strong and good private consortium Good governance Project technical feasibility Shared authority between public and private sectors Political support Social support Well organised and committed public agency Competitive procurement process (enough potential bidders in the process) Transparency procurement process (process is made open and public) Government involvement by providing guarantee Thorough and realistic assessment of the cost and benefits

87 87 87 87 87 87 87 87 87 87 87 87 87 87 87 86 87 87

4.06 4.24 3.89 3.98 3.83 4.15 4.11 3.91 3.63 3.60 3.54 3.87 3.44 3.66 3.76 3.87 3.75 3.74

4 1 7 5 10 2 3 6 15 16 17 8 18 14 11 9 12 13

53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53

n

4.19 4.36 3.98 4.15 4.04 4.34 4.21 3.91 3.60 3.62 3.62 3.94 3.43 3.66 3.81 4.00 3.83 3.79

4 1 8 5 6 2 3 10 17 15 15 9 18 14 12 7 11 13

China Mean Rank

658

a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i. j. k. l. m. n. o. p. q. r.

China and Hong Kong n Mean Rank

34 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 34 33 34 34

n

3.85 4.06 3.74 3.71 3.50 3.85 3.97 3.91 3.68 3.56 3.41 3.76 3.44 3.65 3.68 3.67 3.62 3.65

4 1 7 8 16 5 2 3 10 15 18 6 17 12 9 11 14 13

Hong Kong Mean Rank

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success of PPP projects, both the public and private sectors should bring their complementary skills and commit their best resources to achieve a good relationship (National Audit Office, 2001). The fourth CSF ranked by Mainland Chinese respondents “Stable macro-economic condition”, was ranked the same by respondents from Hong Kong. This CSF was therefore seen as quite important in Mainland China and Hong Kong. In a stable macro-economic environment the market is more predictable, hence lowering risks such as the interest rate, exchange rate, employment rate, inflation rate, etc. It is very important to reduce risks and enable a reasonable investment return for private investors, especially in emerging PPP markets like Mainland China and Hong Kong. The only CSF ranked in the top five by Mainland Chinese respondents but not by respondents from Hong Kong was “Available financial market”. In Hong Kong this CSF was ranked eighth, showing only a medium level of importance. Hong Kong is an international city and some may even regard it as the gateway to China. With its combination of Western and Asian culture, many large organizations from around the world prefer to base their offices in Hong Kong rather than elsewhere in Asia. With these added advantages Hong Kong’s financial market has not been short of opportunities. Relatively, risk factors associated with PPP projects in Mainland China in terms of financing distinguish themselves from those in Hong Kong. For instance, the corporate bond market is not sufficiently mature compared with sovereign bonds (Yuan, 2004), the syndicated loan market is not prevalent as a source of debt finance (Guo, 2001), and the arrangement of a floating charge on project assets as a guarantee needed for innovative project financing is not well established legally (Li, 2005). Thus, it is understandable that respondents from Mainland China scored this CSF higher. Ranked third by respondents in Hong Kong and tenth by mainland Chinese respondents was “Strong and good private consortium”. This shows that respondents from Hong Kong feel that this CSF is highly important to the success of PPP projects. The Mainland Chinese respondents, on the other hand, ranked it rather low. According to previous studies on PPP risks in Mainland China, such as Wang et al. (2000a, b) and Sachs et al. (2007), most of the critical risks factors are related to government or government officers and their actions. Moreover, few specific PPP laws have been legislated in Mainland China to date (Li and Wang 2006). Under these situations, a PPP model cannot be successfully implemented by a strong and good private consortium alone. As the respondents were asked to rate the 17 CSFs according to a five-point Likert scale (1 ¼ least important and 5 ¼ most important), a value above 3 would indicate that the CSF is of importance. The findings showed that all CSFs were ranked above 3 by respondents from Mainland China and Hong Kong. This represents that the respondents in both administrative systems felt that all the CSFs were important to the success of PPP projects. Also, amongst the 18 CSFs it was found that the vast majority (i.e. 15) were rated higher by Mainland Chinese respondents; only two were rated higher by respondents from Hong Kong and the remaining CSF scored equally for the two administrative systems. The CSFs that scored higher in Mainland China include: . a. Stable macro-economic condition. . b. Favorable legal framework.

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. . . . .

660

. . . . . . . .

c. Sound economic policy. d. Available financial market. e. Multi-benefit objectives. f. Appropriate risk allocation and risk sharing. g. Commitment and responsibility of public and private sectors. j. Project technical feasibility. k. Shared authority between public and private sectors. l. Political support. n. Well organized and committed public agency o. Competitive procurement process (enough potential bidders in the process). p. Transparency procurement process (process is made open and public). q. Government involvement by providing guarantee. r. Thorough and realistic assessment of the cost and benefits.

Those that scored higher in Hong Kong include: . i. Good governance. . m. Social support. The only CSF that scored the same for both administrative regions was: h. Strong and good private consortium. A closer look at the mean values showed that the two CSFs that were ranked higher by respondents from Hong Kong were only marginally higher. For “Good governance” the Hong Kong mean value was only higher than that of Mainland China by 0.08. And for “Social support” the mean value was only higher by 0.01. Hence it can be assumed that these CSFs were ranked similarly. Therefore, in general the majority of CSFs were ranked higher by Mainland Chinese respondents. Respondents from Mainland China rated the CSFs from a mean value of 3.43 to 4.36, and for those from Hong Kong 3.41 to 4.06. 5.2 Agreement of respondents within mainland China and Hong Kong As shown in Table III, the Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (W) for the rankings of CSFs was 0.086, 0.119 and 0.061 for “China and Hong Kong”, “China” and “Hong Kong” respectively. The computed W values were all significant at 0.000. As the number of attributes considered were above seven, as mentioned previously the x 2 value would be referred to rather than the W value. According to the degree of

Table III. Results of Kendall’s concordance analysis for the CSFs of PPP

Number of survey respondents Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (W) Chi-square value Critical value of chi-square Degree of freedom (df) Asymptotic significance

China and Hong Kong

China

Hong Kong

86 0.086 126.170 27.590 17 0.000

53 0.119 107.142 27.590 17 0.000

33 0.061 34.045 27.590 17 0.008

freedom, the critical value of x 2 was 27.590. For all three groups (“China and Hong Kong”, “China” and “Hong Kong”) the computed x 2 values were all above the critical value of x 2 (126.170, 107.142 and 34.045 for “China and Hong Kong”, “China” and “Hong Kong” respectively). Therefore the assessment by the respondents within each group on their rankings of CSFs is proved to be consistent. This finding ensures that the completed questionnaires are valid for further analysis.

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661 5.3 Agreement of respondents between mainland China and Hong Kong The next stage of the analysis was to test whether there is any substantial agreement amongst the respondents from the two groups, which is determined by the Spearman rank correlation coefficient (rs), again using the SPSS statistical package. The correlation coefficient of the rankings on CSFs was 0.718 with a significance of 0.01. Therefore, the low significant value achieved concluded that there was no significant disagreement on the rankings of CSFs between respondents in the two administrative systems. Furthermore, an independent two-sample t-test was undertaken to examine whether there was any significant difference in mean value responses between the two respondent groups for each of the 18 CSFs discussed. When the calculated significance level is below the allowable value of 0.05 for a certain CSF, a large variation is detected between the views of the respondents from mainland China and Hong Kong. A significance level below 0.05 was used because this degree of significance has been commonly used by other researchers in similar studies. Amongst the t-test results for the 18 CSFs between mainland China and Hong Kong respondents, three CSFs fell below a significance level of 0.05 (Table IV), the others were not statistically significant. The significance levels for these three CSFs showed that the respondents from mainland China and Hong Kong shared very different views on their importance. Although it cannot be seen obviously from the ranking patterns that these CSFs shared different views between the two respondent groups, a closer look at the mean differences proved that this was the case. The variation in mean was the greatest for “Multi-benefit objectives”, with a difference of 0.54 between the administrative regions. This finding has shown that mainland Chinese respondents ranked this CSF much more importantly than the respondents from Hong Kong. The Hong Kong government has previously been criticized for its unclear objectives. Next greatest was “Appropriate risk allocation and Levene’s test for equality of variances F Significance

t-test for equality of means t Degree of freedom

Significance (two-tailed)

d. Available financial market Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed

1.553

0.216

22.499 22.649

85 82.356

0.014 0.010

e. Multi-benefit objectives Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed

0.838

0.363

22.427 22.365

85 64.422

0.017 0.021

22.281 22.266

85 68.952

0.025 0.027

f. Appropriate risk allocation and risk sharing Equal variances assumed 0.426 0.516 Equal variances not assumed

Table IV. Results of independent two-sample t-test for statistically significant CSF of PPP as identified by Chinese and Hong Kong respondents

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risk sharing” with a mean difference of 0.49. Again, Mainland Chinese respondents rated this CSF higher than respondents from Hong Kong. Wang (2001) pointed out that only very few PPP projects in mainland China could perform successfully due to the lack of an equitable risk sharing mechanism. This theory, though applicable globally, has shown to be particularly demanding in mainland China. And finally the mean difference for “Available financial market” was 0.44. This CSF was ranked higher by the mainland Chinese respondents, indicating that they felt that an available financial market is highly important. On the other hand in Hong Kong the lower ranking of this CSF may not indicate that it is less important but instead a readily available financial market has already been taken for granted. Hong Kong being an international business hub for many years, together with its touch of Western culture instilled by the previous British ruling, has drawn international investors and businesses. Compared to mainland China, Hong Kong has appeared to provide a more predictable business environment. For the other CSF’s the differences in means ranged from 0.00 to 0.34 only. 6. Conclusions This paper has presented the findings from a questionnaire survey conducted in both mainland China and Hong Kong to rate the importance of a list of CSFs. The top CSF ranked by respondents from both administrative systems was “Favorable legal framework”. Other CSFs rated highly irrespective of geographical location included: “Appropriate risk allocation and risk sharing”; “Commitment and responsibility of public and private sectors”; and “Stable macro-economic condition”. Ranked highly by Chinese respondents but not by those from Hong Kong included “Available financial market”. This finding has reflected the fact that mainland China faces many more financial restrictions compared to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, respondents ranked “Strong and good private consortium” highly unlike the Chinese respondents. Literature has shown that there are many other risks in mainland China that may disrupt the success of PPP projects. Therefore, the successful implementation of PPP is not solely reliant on a strong and good private consortium. The responses collected also showed that all CSFs were rated importantly for adopting PPP by both groups of respondents. The responses also indicate that the majority of the CSFs were rated higher by Chinese respondents. The Kendall’s coefficient of concordance showed that the respondents within each group gave consistent answers to the ranking of the CSFs, ensuring that the completed questionnaires were valid for analysis. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient showed that no significant disagreement on the rankings of CSFs between respondents of the two respondent groups was observed. The results of the independent two-sample t-test showed that the differences of three CSFs were statistically significant. These included: “Multi-benefit objectives”; “Appropriate risk allocation and risk sharing; and “Available financial market”. These CSFs showed significant difference due to a number of reasons. First, Hong Kong did not regard multi-benefit objectives that importantly. Also, previous studies have shown that mainland China is in need of a proven risk sharing mechanism. And finally as mentioned before the financial market in mainland China still faces many restrictions. Acknowledgements The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No.

PolyU 5114/05E). This paper forms part of the research project entitled “Developing a Best Practice Framework for Public Private Partnerships in Hong Kong”, from which other deliverables have been produced with different objectives/scope but sharing common background and methodology. Sincere thanks go to Dr Bing Li and Professor Akintola Akintoye for permitting the research team to adapt their survey questionnaire template. Special gratitude is also extended to those industrial practitioners from both Mainland China and Hong Kong, who have kindly participated in the questionnaire survey reported in this paper. References Abdul-Rashid, A.A., Puteri, S.J.K., Ahmed, U.A. and Mastura, J. (2006), “Public private partnerships (PPP) in housing development: the experience of IJM Malaysia in Hyderabad, India”, paper presented at Accelerating Excellence in the Built Environment, Birmingham, October 2-4. Akintoye, A., Beck, M., Hardcastle, C., Chinyio, E. and Asenova, D. (2001), “The financial structure of private finance initiative projects”, Proceedings of the 17th ARCOM Annual Conference, Salford University, Manchester, pp. 1361-9. Birnie, J. (1999), “Private finance initiative (PFI) – UK construction industry response”, Journal of Construction Procurement, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 5-14. Bradshaw-Smith, C. (2007), “Alliance Against the Birmingham Northern Relief Road”, available at: www.birminghamfoe.org.uk/bnrr/pr2698.htm (accessed May 15, 2007). Census and Statistics Department (2008), “Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government”, available at: www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistics_by_ subject/index.jsp (accessed March 7, 2008). Chan, A.P.C. (2000), “Evaluation of enhanced design and build system – a case study of a hospital project”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 18 No. 7, pp. 863-71. Chan, A.P.C., Chan, D.W.M. and Ho, K.S.K. (2003), “An empirical study of the benefits of construction partnering in Hong Kong”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 21 No. 5, pp. 523-33. Chan, D.W.M., Chan, A.P.C. and Choi, T.N.Y. (2010), “An empirical survey of the benefits of implementing Pay for Safety Scheme (PFSS) in the Hong Kong construction industry”, Journal of Safety Research, Vol. 41 No. 5, pp. 433-43. China Population Development and Research Center (2008), available at: www.cpirc.org.cn/en/ eindex.htm Government of China (accessed March 7, 2008). Corbett, P. and Smith, R. (2006), “An analysis of the success of the Private Finance Initiative as the Government’s preferred procurement route”, Proceedings of the Accelerating Excellence in the Built Environment Conference, Birmingham, October 2-4. Dickson, L. (2006), “Pitt Bridge ready by end of ’08”, Maple Ridge News, February 1, available at: http://web.bcnewsgroup.com/portalscode/searchd.cgi?sid¼68779730&papername¼ mapleridge&id¼17075&tbname¼storya&keyword¼goldenþearsþbridge&ex¼all . (accessed May 15, 2007). Efficiency Unit (2003), Serving the Community by Using the Private Sector – An Introductory Guide to Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Hong Kong. El-Gohary, N.M., Osman, H. and El-Diraby, T.E. (2006), “Stakeholder management for public private partnerships”, International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 24, pp. 595-604.

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Fitzgerald, E. and Melvin, D. (2002), “The UK private finance initiative and Glasgow schools”, Facilities, Vol. 20 Nos 3/4, pp. 119-26. Gentry, B.S. and Fernandez, L.O. (1997), “Evolving public-private partnerships: general themes and urban water examples”, Proceedings of the OECD Workshop on Globalization and the Environment: Perspectives from OECD and Dynamic Non-Member Economies, Paris, November 13-14, pp. 19-25. Grant, T. (1996), “Keys to successful public-private partnerships”, Canadian Business Review, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 27-8. Guo, H.J. (2001), “Legal issues of international syndicated loan”, The Legal Publisher (in Chinese). Handley-Schachler, M. and Gao, S.S. (2003), “Can the private finance initiative be used in emerging economies? Lessons from the UK’s successes and failures”, Managerial Finance, Vol. 29 Nos 5/6, pp. 36-51. Heath, A. (2007), “Your anger over CityRail joke”, The Daily Telegraph, March 21, available at: www. news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21417429-5001021,00.html (accessed May 15, 2007). Jamali, D. (2004), “Success and failure mechanisms of public private partnerships (PPPs) in developing countries: insights from the Lebanese context”, International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 17 No. 5, pp. 414-30. Jefferies, M. (2006), “Critical success factors of public private sector partnerships a case study of the Sydney Superdome”, Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 13 No. 5, pp. 451-62. Jefferies, M., Gameson, R. and Rowlinson, S. (2002), “Critical success factors of the BOOT procurement system: reflections from the Stadium Australia case study”, Engineering Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 9 No. 4, p. 352. Kanning, U.P. and Vogler, S. (2008), “Determinants of the implementation of facility management in German communes”, Facilities, Vol. 26 Nos 9/10, pp. 418-25. Kanter, R.M. (1999), “From spare change to real change”, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 77 No. 2, pp. 122-32. Keller, G. (2005), Statistics for Management and Economics, 7th ed., Thomas Brooks Cole, Monterey, CA. Kerr, J. and Dick, T. (2004), “Rail ride’s about to get rougher”, The Sydney Morning Herald, February 6, available at: www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/05/1075854003303.html (accessed May 15, 2007). Li, B. (2003), “Risk management of construction public private partnership projects”, PhD thesis, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow. Li, B., Akintoye, A., Edwards, P.J. and Hardcastle, C. (2005), “Critical success factors for PPP/PFI projects in the UK construction industry”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 23, pp. 459-71. Li, G.A. (2005), Innovation Guarantees in International Financing, Beijing University Press, Beijing (in Chinese). Li, Z.Z. and Wang, S.Q. (2006), “The arbitration validity of BOT concession agreement in China”, Proceedings of the 20th IPMA World Congress on Project Management: Development by Projects – A Key to the Innovation Age, Shanghai International Convention Center, October 15-17, pp. 30-5. Liu, Y.W., Zhao, G.F. and Wang, S.Q. (2007), Case Study VI – The National Stadium BOT Project for Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Public Private Partnership in Infrastructure Development: Case Studies from Asia and Europe, EU-Asia Network of Competence Enhancement on Public Private Partnerships in Infrastructure Development, August.

Love, P.E.D., Wood, B.M., Picken, D. and Confoy, B. (2000), “The privatisation of correctional facilities in Australia”, Facilities, Vol. 18 Nos 1/2, pp. 56-65. M2 Presswire (2000), “Birmingham Northern Relief Road (BNRR) on target”, M2 Presswire, September 29, available at: www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-28378307_ ITM (accessed May 15, 2007). Maltby, P. (2003), “Has the PFI grown up?”, Public Finance, August. Ministry of Energy and Mines (2003), “Resource roads to accelerate oil and gas development”, British Columbia News Release, December 15, www2.news.gov.bc.ca/nrm_news_releases/ 2003EM0021-001110.htm (accessed May 15, 2007). National Audit Office (2001), Managing the Relationship to Secure a Successful Partnership in PFI Projects, HC375, National Audit Office, London, November 29. National Treasury PPP Unit of South Africa (2007), “Public Private Partnership manual”, available at: www.treasury.gov.za/organisation/ppp/default.htm (accessed June 15, 2007). Nijkamp, P., Van der Burch, M. and Vindigni, G. (2002), “A comparative institutional evaluation of public private partnerships in Dutch urban land-use and revitalization projects”, Urban Studies, Vol. 39 No. 10, pp. 1865-80. Public Private Finance (2007), “Analysis: blood on the tracks (Mayor Ken Livingstone’s criticism of Croydon Tramlink’s work)”, February 12, available at: www.accessmylibrary.com/ coms2/summary_0286-29600413_ITM (accessed May 1, 2007). PublicTechnology.Net (2007), “London Underground rolls out new 2 billion digital radio system across the Tube”, 18 October, available at: www.publictechnology.net/modules. php?op¼modload&name¼News&file¼article&sid¼6440 (accessed May 15, 2007). Qiao, L., Wang, S.Q., Tiong, R.L.K. and Chan, T.S. (2001), “Framework for critical success factors of BOT projects in China”, Journal of Project Finance, Vol. 7 No. 1, p. 53. Rodney, W. and Gallimore, P. (2002), “Risk assessment in PFI schemes for primary health care”, Facilities, Vol. 20 Nos 1/2, pp. 52-60. Rui, M. (2008), Public-Private Partnership and the Management of Expressways in China: An Agency Theory Approach, Delft University of Technology, Delft, August. Sachs, T., Tiong, R.L.K. and Wang, S.Q. (2007), “Analysis of political risks and opportunities in public private partnerships (PPP) in China and selected Asian countries”, Chinese Management Studies, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 126-48. Siegel, S. and Castellan, N.J. (1988), Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY. SPSS, Inc. (2002), SPSS 11.0 Statistical Algorithms, SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL. Staff, P.M. (2006), “Construction begins on Golden Ears Bridge”, Maple Ridge News, August 19, available at: http://web.bcnewsgroup.com/portalscode/searchd.cgi?sid¼96293211& papername¼mapleridge&id¼145005&tbname¼storya&keyword¼GoldenþEarsþ% 32#Bridge&ex¼all (accessed May 15, 2007). Tam, C.M., Li, W.Y. and Chan, A.P.C. (1994), “BOT applications in the power industry of South East Asia: a case study in China”, East Meets West: Procurement Systems Symposium, CIB W92 Proceedings Publication 175, pp. 315-22. Tieman, R. (2003), “A revolution in public procurement: UK’s private finance initiative”, Finance Times, November 24, p. 4. Tiong, R.L.K. (1996), “CSFs in competitive tendering and negotiation model for BOT projects”, Journal of Construction Engineering Management, Vol. 122 No. 3, pp. 205-11.

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Transport for London (2007), “Finance and planning”, available at: www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/ downloads/corporate/06_Finance_and_Planning.pdf (accessed May 1, 2007). Wang, S.Q., Tiong, R.L.K., Ting, S.K. and Ashley, D. (2000a), “Evaluation and management of foreign exchange and revenue risks in China’s BOT projects”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 197-207. Wang, S.Q., Tiong, R.L.K., Ting, S.K. and Ashley, D. (2000b), “Evaluation and management of political risks in China’s BOT projects”, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol. 126 No. 3, pp. 242-50. Wang, Y.D. (2001), “BOT trap”, Global Entrepreneur, December 12 (in Chinese). Wong, A. (2007), “Lessons learned from implementing infrastructure PPPs – a view from Singapore”, paper presented at the Seminar jointly organized by the Department of Civil Engineering of The University of Hong Kong and Civil Division of The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, June 13. Wood, T. (2003), “Future uncertain for PFI light rail projects – Croydon Tramlink faces financial difficulties”, Contract Journal, February 12, available at: www.accessmylibrary.com/ coms2/summary_0286-22373843_ITM (accessed May 15, 2007). Yuan, D. (2004), Analysis of Secondary Bond Market in China: Comparison between Exchange Market and Interbank Market, Economic Science Press, Beijing. Zhang, X.Q. (2005), “Critical success factors for public–private partnerships in infrastructure development”, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, Vol. 131 No. 1, pp. 3-14. Further reading 7News (2007), “Sydney’s CityRail ‘ranked worst in world’”, 7News, March 21, available at: http:// au.news.yahoo.com/070320/23/12tkd.html (accessed May 15, 2007). Asian Development Bank (2011), “Final report on major issues and recommendations of PPP in the water sector in China”, ADB TA-4095, January, available at: www.adb.org/Documents/ Reports/PRC-PPP-Water/TA4095-Final.pdf (accessed November 1, 2011). CBC News (2006), “Ottawa council kills light rail project – backing out of $778-million contract may cost $250 million to $300 million”, December 14, available at: www.cbc.ca/canada/ ottawa/story/2006/12/14/lrt-vote.html?ref¼rss (accessed May 15, 2007). Chan, A.P.C., Lam, P.T.I., Chan, D.W.M., Sidwell, T., Kajewski, S. and Cheung, E. (2007), “From BOT to PPP – a Hong Kong example”, Proceedings of the 2007 International Conference on Concession Public/Infrastructural Projects (ICCPIP), Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, August 24-26, pp. 9:010-9:018. Drake, L. (2007), “Light rail killer”, The Tyee, January 23, available at: http://thetyee.ca/News/ 2007/01/23/LightRail (accessed May 15, 2007). Ng, S.T., Wong, Y.M.W. and Wong, J.M.W. (2010), “A structural equation model of feasibility evaluation and project success for public-private partnerships in Hong Kong”, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Vol. 57 No. 2, pp. 310-22. Zakaluzny, R. (2006), “Light rail transit: the ‘undeal’ of 2006”, Ottawa Business Journal, December 18, available at: www.ottawabusinessjournal.com/287758294226062.php (accessed May 1, 2007). Corresponding author Esther Cheung can be contacted at: [email protected] To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email protected] Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-2772.htm

Exploring the applicability of construction partnering in Mainland China A qualitative study

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Yuming Hong, Daniel W.M. Chan and Albert P.C. Chan Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to explore the applicability of construction partnering in Mainland China, and to provide useful suggestions and possible implications for decision-makers to adopt this collaborative approach to project procurement. Design/methodology/approach – Document analysis was first employed to identify the favourable conditions and potential difficulties in the application of partnering in Mainland China. A series of face-to-face semi-structured interviews targeting academic experts and industrial practitioners was undertaken to solicit their perceptions of the benefits and difficulties of implementing partnering in Mainland China, coupled with their overall assessment of the applicability of, and suggestions for, the implementation of partnering in the region. Findings – The results of document analysis indicated that the cultural roots of co-operation and mutual trust, together with the increasing need to improve the current state of project performance in Mainland China, underpin the application of partnering in the construction market, although its application and generalisation still encounter some significant difficulties. The perceived benefits, potential barriers and effective strategies for partnering application in Mainland China were determined from the interviewees. The interview results further supported the applicability of construction partnering and provided constructive and practical suggestions for possible implementation in the Mainland Chinese construction industry. The partnering approach is evaluated as being practicable and appropriate in this study for the construction industry in Mainland China. Research limitations/implications – Although it is essential to base the analysis of partnering applicability on a qualitative study, an empirical quantitative investigation of the benefits and difficulties of partnering application could further reinforce the quality of analysis. Future research could look into the project-based assessment of partnering application in terms of the perceived benefits and potential difficulties of, and success factors for, partnering implementation in Mainland China. Practical implications – Policy-makers aiming for the introduction of the partnering approach could be equipped with stronger confidence from favourable cultural environment and industrial needs. Restrictions to the application of partnering underlying in the current working culture could be mitigated when appropriate strategies are taken by the initiators of the partnering approach. Originality/value – Increased worldwide attention on construction partnering has shed light on the construction industry in Mainland China to achieve better value for money in project procurement and management. This paper provides valuable reference for decision-makers to consider the adoption of partnering based on the qualitative analysis of the applicability of partnering in the construction industry in Mainland China. Keywords Partnering, Applicability, Construction industry, Culture, Partnership, Procurement, Project management, China Paper type Technical paper

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1. Introduction The international construction industry of the past two decades has been marked by increased attention to construction partnering. In many countries or regions, such as the UK (Reading Construction Forum, 1995, 1998; Green, 1999; Wood and Ellis, 2005), the USA (Weston and Gibson, 1993; Larson, 1995), Australia (Walker et al., 2002), Hong Kong (Chan et al., 2003a, 2008), South Africa (Allen et al., 1999), etc., the vast practices of construction projects have evidenced the substantial benefits reaped through the application of partnering concepts. However, the industrial application and generalisation of construction partnering in Mainland China is still in its infancy. There are plenty of research studies asserting that there is no project clearly labelled as a partnering project in Mainland China, although the key elements of partnering can be observed in many projects (Zhang and Cao, 2005). Specific questionnaire surveys conducted by researchers in Mainland China also indicated that in recent years no construction projects implemented in a “partnering mode” have been recorded (Zhao et al., 2005; Jiang, 2008). Meanwhile, although many aspects of the study of project partnering and strategic alliancing in developed construction markets have been reported, there has been limited research on these areas in the Chinese construction sector (Lu and Yan, 2007a). Since there seems no evidence from the literature indicating that partnering is a management approach suitable for some countries but not the others (Koraltan and Dikbas, 2002), identifying the suitability of partnering application in Mainland China is conducive and essential in unveiling the understanding about the potential of construction partnering in the region. Although the term “partnering” is relatively new to the construction industry of Mainland China, there exist many project practices having embraced partnering philosophy, which usually refers to commitment, mutual trust and good faith between contracting parties (Lu and Yan, 2007b). Some partnering tools (e.g. team building sessions and review meetings) have also been used to promote co-operation between project parties (Lu and Yan, 2007a). By means of two case studies, Jin and Ling (2005) developed a holistic framework for building up relationships and mutual trust in project organisations, which concurrently promotes the application of partnering in construction projects. These studies pertaining to partnering in China revealed that the application of partnering in the Chinese construction sector is beginning to emerge. 2. Scope of study Although the definitions of partnering in construction vary from one study to another, there exists a common consensus on the key elements of partnering through co-operation and teamwork: . commitment; . mutual trust and respect; . communication; . equity; . responsiveness to problems; . continuous evaluation;

common goals; and joint problem resolution (Cook and Hancher, 1990; Construction Industry Institute, 1991; Ng et al., 2002; Chan et al., 2003b).

Construction partnering in Mainland China

To crystallise the research scope, the definition of construction partnering given by the Construction Industry Board (1997) based in the UK was adopted in this study. The Construction Industry Board (1997) defined partnering to be:

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A structured management approach to facilitate team working across contractual boundaries [. . .] it should not be confused with other good project management practice, or with long-standing relationships, negotiated contracts, or preferred supplier arrangement, all of which lack the structure and objective measures that must support a partnering relationship.

Under this definition, construction partnering is a structured management approach with objective project performance measures, usually denoted by signing a partnering charter, launching regular partnering workshops, developing a partnering performance monitoring matrix and establishing an agreed issue resolution mechanism, etc. In line with the current status of partnering application in the construction industry of Mainland China, this study, rather than vaguely looking at basic relational elements in a contractual relationship, centres on the application of construction partnering under the structured partnering process. In fact, the reported partnering practices in Mainland China within the literature fall exclusively under the category of “informal partnering” projects, deviating more or less from those under the structured partnering process. Through exploration into the State Procurement Law (SPL), new developments in Turkey, anticipated changes and the public construction process, Koraltan and Dikbas (2002) assessed the applicability of partnering in the Turkish construction sector. Lu and Yan (2007b) proposed a framework for assessing the applicability of partnering, where management mechanism, organisations involved and project dimensions can be evaluated for determining partnering use. It should be noted that these three constructs for the assessment of partnering applicability focus on the organisational/project level and stand on no empirical validation. To date, there has been a conspicuous lack of research studies on systematically exploring, at the national level, the applicability of construction partnering in Mainland China. This study aims to bridge this research gap through desktop literature review and expert interviews. It is also dedicated to provide clear answers to the questions in relation to partnering application in Mainland China as adapted from those raised by Zhang and Cao (2005), including: . Can formal partnering procedures and tools be applied in the Mainland Chinese construction industry? . What favours and underpins the implementation of partnering in the current context of Mainland China? . What is needed to promote the implementation of formal partnering? . Are there any obstacles of partnering implementation?

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If prospective clients and the government take the initiative to embrace partnering and implement it, what is the most appropriate way to adopt this approach?

Partnering, as an innovative procurement approach, is perceived to be analogous to “technology”, which shapes global affairs and itself is shaped by the global economy, politics and culture (Fritsch, 2011). To assess the applicability of construction partnering in Mainland China, this study therefore initially extends the analytical contexts of Koraltan and Dikbas (2002) to these three dimensions, reflected as political law, culture and economy in construction. Since the archival research indicates that the national laws/regulations have no ordinances conducive to partnering implementation in the building and construction sectors, culture and economic needs are mainly introduced, explored and summarised to elaborate on the favourable contexts for partnering implementation in Mainland China. This paper reviews partnering related articles since it was introduced to the international construction industry in the 1980s. Based on an extensive desktop review of prevailing partnering literature, document analysis of national culture, economic development in construction, and possible barriers to partnering implementation, coupled with expert interviews in Mainland China, this paper reviews, assesses and facilitates the applicability and adaptability of construction partnering in the construction industry of Mainland China. 3. Research methodology This study, employing the approaches of archival research and face-to-face semi-structured interviews, is basically qualitative in nature in order to obtain general perceptions on the applicability of construction partnering in Mainland China. The filtering and sorting of recorded archives of Chinese culture in business and economic developments and demands in the construction and building sectors enable a clear and substantiated picture of the adaptability of construction partnering to a certain extent. The semi-structured interviews are intended to further consolidate the analysis purely based on the existing literature, which may help trigger a comprehensive image of the issue pertaining to the feasibility and adaptability of partnering in the Chinese construction industry. Two major dimensions of national characteristics – i.e. national culture and economic needs – were initially resorted to for verifying favourable contexts for the application of partnering in Mainland China. The document analysis also encompasses the investigation of potential barriers to partnering implementation from four distinct perspectives – i.e. cultural, juristical, economic and technical barriers – which are perceived as inclusive of essential contexts for overall assessment. An analytical framework can be visualised in the model presented in Figure 1. Figure 1 gives a preliminary analysis of the favourable contexts and potential impediments of partnering application in Mainland China, which may infer the general feasibility and suitability of partnering implementation in the region. If it is perceived and determined from the analysis that partnering is not applicable in the current context, the key barriers to partnering implementation will be traced and possible effective measures for mitigating/avoiding the barriers will be recommended in order to improve the applicability of construction partnering for future practice. The

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Figure 1. Framework for document analysis of partnering applicability in Mainland China

introduction of partnering in construction projects will, in turn, affect and ameliorate the organisational culture of the industry, demonstrate its perceived benefits in practice and improve the existing market demand. Pursuant to the document analysis of favourable elements of and potential barriers to the implementation of partnering, the study further launched a series of in-depth semi-structured interviews (each lasting for about one hour) to identify the major barriers and effective strategies for partnering implementation in the Chinese construction industry. In consideration of the specific regional characteristics of Mainland China, five well-experienced academic experts in the field of project procurement and construction partnering from Mainland China were interviewed to solicit their perceptions on the potential barriers to the implementation and generalisation of partnering in Mainland China. In addition to the analysis of the barriers to practical implementation, they were further invited to evaluate the feasibility of partnering in general and to provide constructive suggestions for its application in particular. Subsequently, a senior industrial representative was targeted to verify and substantiate the perceptions and suggestions as provided by the experts from the academic sector who were interviewed. Interviews are regarded as a useful method for collecting in-depth data and insightful opinions from a small sample of representative experts, as previously applied by the research team investigating the application of target cost contracts in Hong Kong (Chan et al., 2007) and in identifying the key risk factors and risk mitigation measures for target cost contracts in Hong Kong (Chan et al., 2010). Furthermore, in terms of the number of interviews required, previous research studies have demonstrated that a sample of six interviews may have been sufficient to enable the development of meaningful themes and useful interpretations (Guest et al., 2006). The six interviewees (as shown in Table I) represent a combination of academics and practitioners in the construction field of Mainland China. All of them have good

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Table I. Background of interviewees for assessing the applicability of construction partnering in Mainland China

knowledge of partnering concepts and the implementation process, and were thus able to provide valid and reliable comments on the prospect of the implementation of partnering in Mainland China. Of the six selected interviewees, three were academic researchers who had several publications on construction partnering in Mainland China, two were well-experienced and representative experts in the field of construction engineering and management, and one had gained direct hands-on experience in construction projects where relational agreements between the client and the contractor had been formed. A total of nine open-ended questions were asked during the interview to convey general ideas regarding the information solicited, while the interviewees were encouraged to express themselves freely on the subject, without being restrained by the preset questions related to the topic. Details of the questions are listed in the Appendix for reference. The questions were designed to match closely the literature on assessing the applicability of partnering in construction. The initial two questions examined the current status and potential benefits of the implementation of partnering in Mainland China. The next five questions were compiled to investigate the potential barriers to partnering application from four macroscopic perspectives, while the future prospects for the application of partnering in Mainland China were captured from the last two questions. The answers acquired from the interviewees were first audio-recorded in Chinese and later transcribed into written dialogues in English. A systematic account of information obtained from in-depth interviews was archived for subsequent analysis using the content analysis technique, as previously adopted by Chan et al. (2007) and Chan et al. (2011). Outcomes derived from the analysis of interviews were cross-referenced to the opinions and observations solicited from various interviewees in order to identify any consensuses and divergences. In accordance with the document analysis of partnering applicability in Mainland China, a schematic flowchart for assessing the applicability of construction partnering, based on the semi-structured interview results, is proposed in Figure 2. With an overall assessment of the benefits of partnering practices and potential costs on mitigating/eliminating the impeditive effects to partnering implementation, the general viewpoint on the applicability of partnering could be generalised. Costs may be incurred from the necessary actions to improve the industrial understanding of the partnering approach, adaptive measures to mitigate/avoid confrontation with the prevailing construction regulations, and expenses on the essential procedures of partnering practice, for example the launch of partnering workshops and appointment of partnering facilitators.

Interviewee Nature of profession 1 2 3 4 5 6

Academia Academia Academia Academia Industry and academia Industry

Years of working experience

Number of publications on partnering research

Number of projects with partnering relationship involved

5 3 24 27 19 8

3 3 0 0 3 0

N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 3

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Figure 2. Schematic flowchart for assessing the applicability of construction partnering in Mainland China

4. Favourable conditions for partnering implementation in Mainland China 4.1 Cultural context Amongst many variables impacting on the procurement-related decisions taken, one of the most influential and all-pervading variables is culture (Liu and Fellows, 1999). In consideration of the cultural perspective, which may favour the adoption and implementation of partnering in Mainland China, “culture” here refers to the national culture rather than those of any other types (e.g. organisational culture, corporate culture, etc.) (Yeung et al., 2012). The national culture, based on the physical boundaries of the nation state, is a geographical distinction, whereas industry culture, occupational culture, corporate culture, and organisational structure and managerial practices form distinctive patterns of behaviour of a social unit (Pizam, 1993).

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Chinese culture has evolved over more than 5,000 years and is influenced by three moulding forces: (1) Confucianism; (2) Taoism; and (3) Buddhism. These three forces act together to produce a culture of humanism, making the Chinese way of life intensely practical and philosophical (Sheh, 1995; Haley et al., 1998; Kwan and Ofori, 2001). Amongst the three moulding forces, Confucianism has significantly influenced the Chinese way of life. Its influence covers “humanity” (ren), personality and character, education, “familism”, rites and music, as well as how to govern the country (Kwan and Ofori, 2001). Confucianism regards ren, based on “mutual trust”, as the binding force of society (Chao, 1994; Low, 1998). With reference to Hofstede’s (1980) five dimensions of national culture, this study follows Wu’s (2000) identification of key Chinese cultural values, which include: . trust (Redding, 1990; Wong, 1995); . reciprocity (Redding, 1990; Kirkbride et al., 1991); . face (Yau, 1994; Lockett, 1988; Kirkbride et al., 1991; Redding, 1990); . time dimension (Yau, 1994; Kirkbride et al., 1991); . harmony (Yau, 1988, 1994; Kirkbride et al., 1991); . hierarchy and power-distance (Kirkbride et al., 1991; Lockett, 1988; Yau, 1988, 1994); and . long-term orientation (Bond, 1987). These Chinese cultural values are mostly in line with the seven core rituals of Confucianism: (1) benevolence; (2) harmony; (3) midway; (4) forbearance; (5) filial piety; (6) trust; and (7) cautious words (Li and Wu, 1996). 4.1.1 Mutual trust. Mutual trust is built on personal relationships and understanding of the parties’ needs. Williamson (1983) advocated that exchange relationships based on personal trust will survive greater stress and display greater adaptability, while Thorelli (1986) observed that trust in Oriental culture may even take the place of contractual arrangements. Under the Chinese culture, personal relationships form the basis of social order and correct behaviour (Butterfield, 1983; Pennett and Zhao, 1992). Trustworthiness or

“xinyong” is also a predominant feature of Chinese-Chinese business transactions (Kwan and Ofori, 2001). Trust, also identified as one of the key elements and success factors of construction partnering (Bresnen and Marshall, 2000; Cook and Hancher, 1990; Chan et al., 2004; Naoum, 2003), is indispensable in developing the partnering agreement. Trust is also generally seen as the cornerstone of the successful partnering relationship (Hellard, 1995). The common values of Chinese culture stress the importance and necessity of trust within business deals amongst all parties involved, which highly underpins the adoption and implementation of construction partnering in Mainland China. 4.1.2 Reciprocity. Reciprocity is one of the hostages that sustains a network relationship (Wu, 2000). As indicated by Kirkbride et al. (1991), the principle of reciprocity is universal but the concepts have particular salience in the Chinese case. For most Chinese, a transaction or an exchange will only take place when there are mutual benefits for both parties involved. In fact, Lazar (1997) categorised the partnering relationship into two groups: (1) trust-based; and (2) reciprocity-based. In the reciprocity-governed relationship under partnering, failure to reciprocate in a timely or proportional manner can quickly damage the relationship from apparent trust to aggressively hostile, particularly when there is a pattern of non-reciprocation (Friedland, 1990; Lazar, 1997). The underlying value of reciprocity in China equips the adoption of partnering approach with favourable prerequisite where mutual benefits are achieved through partnering practice, incentivises the adoption of partnering, and in turn realises the principle of reciprocity in benefiting each other. 4.1.3 Face, hierarchy and power-distance. Face is a concept of central importance because of its pervasive influence on interpersonal relations amongst the Chinese (Yau, 1988). Face is directly involved with personal prestige and reputation, which are achieved through getting on in life, through success and ostentation (Hu, 1944). By taking account of personal reputation, the Chinese people may feel a loss of face when peers no longer have confidence in him/her in any business networks. The conception of face and prestige is deeply rooted in most the mind of most Chinese, such that they may not risk loss of face on most occasions. This dimension of culture value is in line with the element of commitment within the partnering relationship as a lack of commitment from one party may cause disrespect from his business partners, in which case face may be lost consequently. It has also been shown that Chinese cultural values such as face, hierarchy and power-distance are closely related to the creation and development of business networks (Wu, 2000), and are thus facilitative to the implementation of construction partnering in Mainland China. 4.1.4 Time dimension/long-term orientation. The time dimension, as suggested by Yau (1994), has two orientations: (1) past time orientation; and (2) continuity. Continuity indicates that the Chinese are long-term oriented. Emphasis on long-term relationships is exhibited amongst the Chinese through reciprocating benefits. Kirkbride et al. (1991) indicated that compromise is found to be the preferred solution

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by the Chinese to an unsettled conflict. The partnering process runs through the whole life-cycle of a construction project, which may last for some years (e.g. project partnering) and even spread to a series of projects in a long-term strategic relationship (e.g. strategic partnering). In view of the perceived importance of long-term relationships on the part of the Chinese, partnering has a seamless connection with Chinese cultural values in terms of the time dimension. 4.1.5 Harmony. It has been found that traditional Chinese cultural values and cognitive orientations have influenced the Chinese to preserve overt harmony by avoiding confrontation and adopting a non-assertive approach to conflict resolution (Kirkbride et al., 1991). In the context of partnering, co-operation rather than confrontation is emphasised (Smith, 2008). As evidenced in practical cases, partnering is an effective technique for placing responsibility for anticipating problems early and on those best equipped to effect their resolution (Smith, 2008). Hence, with respect to the avoidance of confrontations and conflicts amongst project participants, partnering substantially fulfils the requirement of the culture value of harmony. All of the Chinese cultural values identified above to a certain degree favour and facilitate the adoption and implementation of partnering in Mainland China. A research study conducted by Kwan and Ofori (2001) also indicated that the intrinsic values of the Chinese culture facilitate the implementation of partnering because of their emphasis on “guanxi”, mutuality and respect, trust and friendship, and maintaining harmony, which are critical success factors for the implementation of partnering. 4.2 Economic needs The Chinese construction industry has witnessed remarkable development and prosperity in the past decade. Since the turn of the twenty-first century, the gross output values of construction enterprises have increased from RMB1,249.760bn in 2000 to RMB6,203.681bn in 2008, indicating an average annual increase rate of 22.17 per cent. The number of construction enterprises in China has increased in parallel from 47,518 in 2000 to 71,095 in 2008, with an annual average increase rate of 5.17 per cent. While the construction market in China has enormous demands, high levels of project performance and project success are rarely seen (Lu and Yan, 2007a). The construction industry is considered a weak sector of the economy by international standards, which is largely attributed to the backwardness of the Chinese construction industry as compared to that of the developed countries in terms of legal frameworks and institutional mechanisms, industrial structure, technology and international market share (Xu et al., 2005). The problems rooted in the Chinese construction industry were highlighted by Xu et al. (2005) as: . inadequate legal frameworks and mechanisms; . low productivity levels and lack of competition within the industry; . relatively unsophisticated construction equipment and technologies; and . low international construction market share. A research study conducted by Wang et al. (2006) revealed that clients in China try to take advantage of the buyer’s market and poorly developed market mechanisms to increase their own benefits at the expense of construction firms. All of the prevailing

problems besetting the construction industry have resulted in lower profit margins than those of typical market economies, particularly in Mainland China. Amongst the various strategies proposed to develop a competitive construction industry, the adoption of multi-procurement routes is one of the key recommendations suggested by Xu et al. (2005). Partnering, as an innovative procurement approach since the 1980s, has proved its concerted effort in improving project performance and industrial efficiency through a rich body of project practices. In fact, as indicated in the study of Wang et al. (2006), other than the competitive bidding approach, the relationship with the client and assignment of the project by the government are the other two channels for the contractors to obtain construction contracts. Table II shows that awarding contracts based on a relationship (guanxi ) approach takes a considerable proportion of the total construction contracts awarded in China. The relationship-based contract awarding approach provides a substantial basis for the adoption of partnering in the Chinese construction industry since it is on the basis of stable relationships, mutual trust and commitment amongst the project stakeholders that partnering can run projects more smoothly and successfully. In light of the characteristics of the current construction industry in Mainland China, it is anticipated that partnering has great potential and prospects to be adopted, and could assist in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the industry as a whole.

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5. Barriers to partnering application in Mainland China In Mainland China, some legal restrictions (particularly in the public sector) limit alternatives for contractor selection. The contemporary construction law, except for exceptional cases, requires fair and transparent compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) for public procurement. The partnering process can be implemented only after the contract is awarded, but again with certain restrictions. An extensive review of the literature unfolds the different categorisations of the significant barriers to successful partnering under different major themes. Larson and Drexler (1997) identified five major themes of barriers to successful partnering, covering adherence to the key elements of partnering, perceptions, knowledge and skills of partnering approach, and the nature and structure of partnering projects. Lazar (1997) examined the organisational barriers to partnering, both external and internal. Within Lazar’ (1997) study, the external barriers arise from the politics while the internal barriers are grouped into three sub-categories: (1) organisational culture; (2) climate; and (3) structure.

Methods Competitive bidding Relationship (guanxi ) Assignment by government

State-owned enterprises (%)

Urban collective-owned enterprises (%)

95.59 35.29 7.35

100.00 11.11 0.00

Source: Adapted from Wang et al. (2006)

Shareholding Private (%) (%) 95.65 26.07 6.52

100.00 20.00 0.00

Table II. Methods to obtain construction contracts

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Some other researchers (Eriksson and Nilsson, 2008a, b) grouped the barriers to partnering into cultural, organisational and industrial barriers by jointly referring to the barriers to change in a firm for sustainable development (Post and Altman, 1994) and the barriers to supply chain information inflow (Childerhouse et al., 2003). Scrutiny of the reported literature indicates that although several research studies have been dedicated to exploring the barriers to partnering success (Larson and Drexler, 1997; Eriksson and Nilsson, 2008a, b), limited research has been conducted on identifying and screening out the barriers to the adoption of construction partnering. This study, based on the major themes of barriers identified from the literature, attempts to determine the restrictions inherent in the construction sector that impede the adoption of construction partnering. To look into the more detailed and tangible restrictions, four major themes are investigated: (1) juristical aspects; (2) economic aspects; (3) cultural aspects; and (4) technical aspects. The juristical barriers can be viewed as being in line with the industrial barriers, as identified in the previous studies (Eriksson and Nilsson, 2008a), while the economic and technical barriers can be perceived as being inherent in the organisations. 5.1 Cultural barriers The culture issue of changing the way a company is operated can also be seen as important (Matthews, 1999). At the project level, Newcombe (1997) defined the “project culture” as “the shared values, beliefs and assumptions of stakeholders involved in a project”. Liu and Fellows (1999) further pointed out that where there is a strong “project culture”, project participants will look forward to the cultural paradigm or ideology for guidance when facing difficult decisions. Naaranoja et al. (2008) advocated that practitioners are not able to change their perceptions easily and may prevent fast changes. With the support from six studies, Matthews (1999) also indicated that a start may be made under the partnering philosophy but this may change back to a traditional mode of philosophy. In the contemporary Chinese construction industry, adversarial ways amongst contracting parties exist extensively, and it is hard to change these within a short period of time. Past studies (Xu et al., 2005; Ling et al., 2007) have shown manifested that while the Chinese are known to stress collectivism, face and harmony (Yuen, 1992), Chinese contractors have a strong claims culture as their usual practice is to bid low and later claim for variations. 5.2 Juristical barriers The current regulatory system on project procurement and management in the Chinese construction industry is formed by three major construction related laws: (1) the Construction Law (revised and effective on 1 July 2011); (2) the Tendering and Bidding Law (adopted on 30 August 1999); and (3) the Contract Law (adopted on 15 March 1999).

The major restriction to the application of partnering from these construction-related laws stems from the compulsory requirement of applying a competitive tendering strategy in procuring most types of construction project (i.e. projects with an investment budget of over RMB30m). This requirement to a certain extent limits the client from selecting the main contractor on a relational basis, although past studies have identified that there other approaches exist apart from competitive tendering for contractors to obtain construction contracts, such as relationships (guanxi ) and government assignment (Wang et al., 2006). Meanwhile, it is widely recognized that the Construction Law in China is too sketchy and too narrow to regulate various actors in the construction market (Shao, 2004), where harmful trends continue as many law-breaking activities are not punished promptly. The imperfect legal environment may dampen practitioners’ confidence towards a successful partnering relationship without a strict and effective legal engagement. 5.3 Economic barriers The current competitive tendering strategy for procuring construction projects in Mainland China is mature as compared with other procurement strategies because the contracting parties have been accustomed to it for a long time. A pilot use of the partnering approach would engender unprecedented costs relating to the facilitation of partnering workshops, partnering performance monitoring activities, etc. Although it has been evidenced that partnering can largely save costs, reduce time and improve project quality, it is understandable that industrial practitioners will be significantly concerned with the costs arising from the implementation of partnering before benefits are reaped through its practice. If they proceeds inappropriately, the adoption of barely practised procurement strategies (e.g. partnering) may engender conflicts of interest amongst contracting parties as a result of the disruption of the prevailing gain-share/pain-share mechanism. 5.4 Technical barriers This group of barriers mainly refers to a lack of understanding of partnering concepts and processes within the construction industry. As past research indicates that no partnering project has been recorded in the Chinese construction industry (Zhao et al., 2005; Jiang, 2008), the concepts of partnering may be relatively novel to industrial practitioners, although some introduction of the partnering philosophy and its basic framework have been provided in the academic field by domestic researchers since the turn of the millennium. When introducing the term “partnering”, industrial practitioners in Mainland China may view it just as simple partnership with other contracting parties while not fully understanding the essential elements and standard procedures of the partnering approach. In view of the current status of the infertile practice of partnering in Mainland China, it could easily be perceived that a lack of understanding of partnering concepts and process could be a critical problem impeding its adoption within the industry. In addition, for some reason, a lack of credit is perceived to be normal in the Chinese construction industry. The government and corporations in construction care little about the concepts and awareness of individual and organisational credibility, which render it difficult for the industry to form relationship-based partnerships with other stakeholders.

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Above all, partnering requires a mindset change for many for it to be utilised successfully (Matthews, 1999). Dozens of issues arise in addressing the aforementioned barriers for facilitating the trial use of partnering in the Chinese construction industry. 6. Perceptions of interviewees on partnering implementation in Mainland China) In this section, perceptions gleaned from the interviewees are presented in adherence to the interview questions raised (see Table III). A total of nine open-ended interview questions enable us to solicit experts’ perceptions on the current status of the application of partnering, the potential benefits of and barriers to adoption of the partnering approach, as well as the prospect/likelihood of generalising construction partnering in the construction industry in Mainland China in the future (see the Appendix). 6.1 Current status of partnering In response to examining the current status of the application of partnering in the construction industry in Mainland China, three of the six academics/professionals interviewed, who all had a deep understanding of the current status of the Chinese construction industry, confirmed that there were no recorded construction projects implemented with a standard partnering process (i.e. with regular partnering workshops, a partnering charter, partnering performance monitoring matrix, establishment of issue resolution mechanism, etc.), while two other experts, though non-confirmative in their perceptions, also stated that very few projects, if any, had be undertaken under a partnering agreement. The interview findings are overall in line with previous survey results on the application of partnering conducted in Mainland China (Zhao et al., 2005; Jiang, 2008). With respect to the partnering philosophy, such as trust building, co-operation, and commitment, all of the interviewees, based on their hands-on experiences of construction projects, maintained that several key elements of partnering (such as teamwork, collaboration, mutual trust, etc.) have been embodied in many projects in the Chinese construction sector. As revealed from the interviewees’ opinions, the Chinese construction industry, though without public and well-documented records of the application of a structured partnering approach, is seeing the emergence of adopting a relationship-based contracting approach for project procurement and management. All of the interviewees indicated that the Chinese construction industry has applied the concepts of partnering and has witnessed corresponding strategies for fostering relationships amongst the key stakeholders in construction projects, in many of which satisfaction of the main stakeholders has been recorded. To a large extent, practitioners in Mainland China began to realise the importance and effectiveness of co-operation and collaboration amongst various parties in the project, which is one of the key principles and elements of construction partnering. It was specifically indicated that the clients, especially some large-scale real estate or property developers in Mainland China, have been searching for long-term strategic partnerships with some leading main contractors for continuous collaboration in launching and developing building projects. This reason for this may lie in the premise that clients are recognising the substantial benefits and working efficiency achieved through long-term co-operation with those main contractors.

Yes

Existing but not Long-term significant collaboration between the client and contractor is damaged as a result of the competitive tendering policy

None

Yes

Collaboration among client and contractor and subcontractors is restricted and damaged by the prevailing strategy of low bidding price winning the bidding in many projects

Very few

Yes

The contemporary construction policy of bidding for launching a construction project damages the longterm collaborative relationship between the client and contractor)

None

Yes

Very few

1. Mostly informal and non-standard communication, far from the written level 2. Very little comprehensive and in-depth communication

Number of projects implemented with structured partnering process A large number of projects embracing partnering philosophy? Barriers to adoption of partnering – restriction from government regulations in construction

Communicating mostly under informal approaches and procedures, with very little written and standard documents

Communicating under informal/ private approaches (e.g. dinner talk) with few written documents

1. Client taking control of the communication process 2. Lacking mutual trust amongst project parties 3. Communicating under informal and non-standard approaches

Status of communication and collaboration amongst project participants in Mainland China

Perceptions from academic experts Interviewee 3 Interviewee 4

Interviewee 2

Interviewee 1

Particulars consulted

Quotation rules and bid evaluating issues in the contemporary bidding system strictly pose restrictions on partnering implementation

Yes

(continued)

Regulations are in favour of governmentinvested construction projects/not critical

Yes

Very few

Communicating informally with little written documents while focusing mainly on personal benefits and profits

The level and extent of communication and collaboration differ from project to project

None

Interviewee 6

Interviewee 5

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Table III. Perceptions on the applicability of construction partnering from expert interviewees in Mainland China

Table III. Competitive in general

Promising but a long-term task

Competitive in general

Highly promising

Barriers to adoption Competitive in general of partnering – nature of the construction industry in China (harmonious or competitive) Future prospect of Promising partnering implementation in Mainland China

Existing/nonsignificant

Existing and significant

Barriers to adoption Existing/nonsignificant – lack of understanding of partnering concepts and process

Not applicable

Interviewee 6

The existing profitsharing mechanism among project participants is hard to change in a short period of time Existing/significant Existing and the actual profits shall be perceived through practical cases first before adoption Competitive in Competitive in general general

Existing and significant

Interviewee 5

Promising and only Promising with the Promising on the development of a premise that efforts lacking the more and more are made to tackle facilitator regulated relevant problems construction industry

Hard to summarise

Existing/nonsignificant

Not significant

Perceptions from academic experts Interviewee 3 Interviewee 4

Not significant and will decrease and die away in the long-run

Interviewee 2

Barriers to adoption Not significant in the long-run of partnering – conflict of interest amongst project participants

Interviewee 1

682

Particulars consulted

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6.2 Potential benefits of and barriers to partnering implementation Interview questions (2)-(7) concern the potential benefits of and barriers to the application of partnering. The benefits reaped through partnering (including informal partnering approaches), as perceived by the interviewees, encompass cost and time savings, quality improvement, closer relationships, reduced litigation and more efficient problem-solving. It is noted that when indicating the potential benefits of partnering, the interviewees perceived more direct (hard) benefits while barely referring to the invisible (soft) effects of partnering, such as site safety, overall environmental performance, technology innovation and other long-term advantages acquired from the use of partnering. This may be attributable to the fact that partnering practice in Mainland China is still in its infancy, and the extended benefits of partnering are not so visible with limited cases of evidence from construction projects. In line with the four dimensions of barriers mentioned above, the interviews further investigated the barriers to partnering implementation based on the experts’ opinions. To this end, the semi-structured interviews include some pertinent topics, as listed below: . cultural barriers – nature of the construction industry in China (harmonious or competitive); . juristical barriers – restrictions from government regulations in construction; . economic barriers – conflicts of interest amongst project participants; and . technical barriers – understanding of partnering concepts and process. All of the interviewees admitted that the construction industry in China is at large competitive by nature, while the “casting couch” of the industry plays an important role in awarding building contracts. The contemporary competitive culture between the client and the contractor arises from conflicts in shared benefits. Resulting from the competitive project culture is the poor project performance and ultimately the low productivity of the industry. The interview results also showed that collaboration between the client and the contractor is weakened or even damaged as a result of the prevalent competitive tendering policy in project procurement, which may form one critical barrier to the implementation of partnering in the Chinese Mainland. Without government support and associated policies, efforts in attempting to introduce the partnering approach may be wasted and may even end up in vain. Although the benefits of partnering have been evidenced in practices since its introduction into the construction industry, the gain-share/pain-share mechanism developed amongst the contracting parties involved in construction projects may be influenced or damaged by the adoption of partnering, as it would be difficult for practitioners to adapt to the new way of project procurement within a short period of time. Even if the interview results in general support that such influence should not be significant in impeding the application of partnering in Mainland China, some interviewees did confirm that changing the existing profit-sharing mechanism amongst project participants promptly essentially causes some difficulties, although the negative impacts of partnering on the profitability of the contracting parties may be mitigated and even fade away in the long term.

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On top of these barriers, the industry’s understanding of partnering concepts and process was also investigated through the interviews. Agreement was achieved on the perception that a lack of full understanding of partnering concepts and processes is detrimental to the initial trial use of the partnering approach. But there is no consensus on the significance of such a barrier to the future application of partnering, which implies that a lack of theoretical knowledge about partnering may be alleviated through some effective strategies, for example the launch of partnering seminars, conferences, training workshops and promotional pamphlets, together with documentary evidence of research reports and journal articles for dissemination within the construction industry. It is perceived by the interviewees that the potential barriers to the implementation of partnering in Mainland China can be attenuated and overcome in the current context of the Chinese construction industry. The competitive inter-firm culture can be mitigated if one or two parties take the initiative to inject a collaborative relationship. Impeditive effects arising from juristical restrictions may also be neutralised through the introduction of post-contract award partnering, which could be implemented after a building contract has been awarded to the winning contractor. Effective training and education in the partnering approach could help disseminate partnering concepts within the industry and convince practitioners of the substantial benefits of partnering during implementation. 6.3 Future prospect of partnering development The interview results (see Table IV) indicated that the Chinese construction industry is heading towards being more regulated, and the traditional adversarial relationship

Suggestions from expert interviewees

Table IV. Suggestions on partnering implementation from expert interviewees in Mainland China

Introducing partnering to construction practitioners with the broadened definition and key philosophy of partnering, e.g. form of collaborative partnership amongst construction participants Motivation of the client’s initiative to adopt the partnering approach Collaboration between academics with substantial knowledge about partnering and large-scale property developers (e.g. real estate developers) during project pre-qualification period Starting with some large-scale and specific types of projects to implement partnering in Mainland China Combined use of partnering with other contemporary procurement systems and project management strategies (e.g. design-bid-build, design-build, target cost contracting, build-operate-transfer, value management, etc) which are relatively mature in the construction industry of Mainland China Effective propaganda and training on partnering implementation and introduction of its potential benefits to domestic professional bodies and academic institutions

2

Interviewee 3 4

5

6

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

1

U

U

U

U

U

U

U

amongst contracting parties is now changing. Although it is admitted that overcoming the identified barriers to partnering implementation is a long-term task, the substantial benefits resulting from the use of partnering substantially outweigh the potential costs for the adoption and generalisation of this approach. Past research studies have asserted that partnering could be used together with any forms of contract (e.g. Main Roads Project Delivery System, 2005; Chan et al., 2009). The most feasible approach to the introduction of partnering in the Chinese construction industry, as perceived by the interviewees, is to initiate it in parallel with the use of other contemporary procurement systems and management strategies (e.g. design-bid-build, design-build, target cost contracting, build-operate-transfer, value management, etc.). It could be discerned that the overall future prospects for the development and application of construction partnering are largely promising. 7. Recommendations from interviewees on the implementation of partnering in Mainland China 7.1 Initialisation of partnering with unstructured approach When implementing partnering, there are both structured and unstructured approaches (Chan et al., 2009). As mentioned above, the “structured” partnering approach involves a number of partnering workshops, encompassing the initial workshop with an established partnering charter, interim workshops and a final wrap-up workshop. In contrast, the “unstructured” approach only contains the partnering spirit within the project team in a construction project without any workshops. As there is dearth of understanding of structured partnering concepts and processes within the industry, it would be more acceptable for industrial practitioners to adopt the “unstructured” partnering approach in the initial stages. The interviewees suggested that the unstructured partnering process, compared to a formal partnering approach, could lower the threshold and burden for the practitioners to practise partnering when launching a construction project due to fewer possible restrictions and standards posed by the contracting parties. In whatever type of approach is implemented, partnering is a process beyond the contract to align the common goals and objectives of the parties to the contract and to facilitate effective communications, integrated teamwork and joint problem solving (Chan et al., 2009). 7.2 Client’s initiative to adopt partnering approach Almost all of the interviewees stated that the client is decisive in deciding whether to adopt partnering or not, which echoed the findings of previous studies indicating that clients are in a key position of influence in the selection of an appropriate project procurement method (Black et al., 2000). The client’s initiative to adopt the partnering approach is beneficial and critical to the implementation of partnering in the Chinese construction industry. In view of the clients’ decisive role in selecting a suitable procurement strategy, it is also recommended that some large-scale real estate or property developers could be targeted for launching pilot construction projects to adopt the partnering approach as owner’s representatives who are familiar with partnering principles will help in applying an informal form of partnering (Conley and Gregory, 1999).

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On the other hand, there seems a necessity that collaboration should be established between academics with substantial knowledge and full understanding of partnering concepts and major property clients (e.g. large-scale real estate developers) during the project pre-procurement period. Such academia-industry collaboration is perceived to be highly essential in promoting the adoption of partnering. As also suggested by the interviewed experts, publicising partnering concepts and its associated benefits towards the industry, together with the provision of training programmes on construction partnering to the industrial practitioners, as launched by domestic professional bodies and academic institutions, are conducive and essential to attempting partnering practice at the initial stage. 7.3 Combined use with other contemporary procurement strategies With respect to the strategy for adopting the partnering model in the Chinese construction industry, the interviewees also advocated that improvements in the practicality and feasibility of partnering could be achieved through the combined use of the partnering approach with other contemporary project management strategies, which are relatively mature in the construction industry in Mainland China. The interview results also suggested targeting some large-scale and specific types of construction projects to implement partnering in Mainland China wherever mutual and long-term collaboration amongst project participants is essential in achieving win-win outcomes for the contracting parties. The possible strategies for facilitating partnering implementation in Mainland China are generalised as follows: . Initiation of the implementation of partnering by virtue of practising unstructured partnering processes where collaborative partnership exists amongst project participants. . Motivation of the client’s intent to adopt the partnering approach. . Collaboration between academics with a substantial knowledge of partnering and large-scale real estate developers during the project pre-qualification period. . Start with large-scale and specific types of construction projects to implement and generalise partnering in Mainland China. . Combined use of partnering with other contemporary project procurement strategies (e.g. design-bid-build, design-build, target cost contracting, build-operate-transfer, value management, etc.), which are relatively mature in the construction industry in Mainland China. . Effective propaganda and specific training in the implementation of partnering and the introduction of its potential benefits to domestic industrial associations. As generally viewed by the representative experts, the Chinese building and construction sectors have been developing towards a more regulatory and collaborative industry. The fragmented and highly dynamic nature of the industry, which has lasted for decades, is encountering transfer or change and amelioration with a more systematic regulatory system, as well as more focus and reliance on long-term collaboration amongst business partners. With substantiated evidence from previous industrial practices, partnering undoubtedly meets the market orientations, and thus is perceived to be promising for the Chinese construction industry in the future.

8. Discussion and implications for the construction industry in Mainland China Though faced with difficulties ranging from the organisational/industrial culture to national regulations, the application and generalisation of partnering in Mainland China is still brilliant at large. The major impediments to partner practice in Mainland China predominantly lie in the poor recognition of the partnering implementation model and processes, a lack of government initiative to promote the use of the partnering approach in construction projects and the existing non-cooperative working relationship amongst the major contracting parties, while the restrictions to the implementation of partnering arising from project procurement regulations could be mitigated by some effective measures introduced from the client side. In retrospect to the process for assessing the applicability of construction partnering in Mainland China as shown in Figure 2, the impeditive effects on partnering practice in Mainland China are perceived as insignificant and could be mitigated or even evaded through some effective measures. Furthermore, the costs associated with the promotion of the application of partnering in Mainland China are viewed as short-term oriented, which could be counterbalanced by the potential benefits reaped through partnering practice within a short period of time. Hence, it is discerned that partnering is applicable and appropriate in the construction industry in Mainland China for achieving better value for money in the long term. In consideration of the potential impediments to the implementation of partnering in Mainland China, appropriate training on and due recognition of partnering concepts and their associated benefits is the first and most important step because a change in people’s mindset is critical in facilitating the acceptance of new things. With respect to the initiative of government agencies in facilitating partnering practice, Hong Kong, as a neighbouring region of Mainland China, can provide valuable experience for future partnering practice in Mainland China. Within the Hong Kong construction industry, the earliest formal partnering arrangements were exclusively applied to hospital projects in 1994 (Skues, 1996), with the two pioneering proponents being the the Hospital Authority and Hsin Chong Construction Co, Ltd, a leading Hong Kong based contractor. As the largest public housing provider, the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA) is by far the leading government organisation to have adopted the practice of partnering extensively (Chan et al., 2002). Active support from the HKHA has widened the coverage of project partnering in the construction industry in Hong Kong (Chan et al., 2002). Partnering is best when led by the client organisation and it has a better feel to it (Mason, 2008), indicating that the client is seen as pivotal in bringing partnering into practice. Targeting typical clients (e.g. real estate or property developers) can provide an effective source to initiate and facilitate the implementation of partnering within the construction industry. In view of the client’s role in facilitating partnering practice, it is recommended and practicable to stipulate the use and experience of partnering as one of the key criteria for selecting project partners, i.e. major contractors, at the stage of tender invitation. The European Construction Institute (1997) categorised partnering types as including post-award project-specific partnering (PAPSP), as well as project partnering and strategic partnering. In this type of partnering arrangement, the contract is subject to a normal competitive process, and partnering starts after the contract has been

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awarded. Post-award project-specific partnering is a variation of project partnering that is more suited to the public sector (Koraltan and Dikbas, 2002). As also initiated by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT), the post-award project-specific partnering approach can be resorted to for collaboration under the partnering relationship. After taking account of the requirements of public competitive tendering in the current construction industry in Mainland China, this type of partnering approach is deemed to be most suitable for those industrial practitioners to implement partnering after awarding the project contract to the winning contractor. As advocated by Lenard et al. (1996) experimental partnering may be another alternative. Project participants adopt this approach either because they are uncertain of the partnering process, or they are cautious about their dealings with other project stakeholders (Lenard et al., 1996). In view of the suitability for testing the partnering process (and their potential partners) under this approach, it is recommended for practitioners in the Chinese construction industry to adopt experimental partnering first, so that a trial run of partnering can be conducted without entering into long-term commitments. By referring to the suggestions of Smith (2008) on the most appropriate project types for launching partnering, it is generalised that partnering is likely to be adopted in the following circumstances: . on complex projects where user requirements are difficult to specify; . for organisations requiring similar facilities repeated over time, giving scope for continuous improvements in cost and quality; . for projects where construction conditions are uncertain, solutions are difficult to foresee and joint problem solving is necessary, for example, where the land is contaminated; and . for individual projects or a series of projects where there are known opportunities to eliminate waste and inefficiency from the construction process. Moreover, several research studies undertaken by Chinese academics proposed to initiate the adoption of partnering in some specific types of project at the outset to underpin more extensive applications within the construction industry. These types of projects may be of high quality, complicated design, great significance or hold potential for long-term collaboration between the client and the contractor. Despite the challenges inherent in the local construction industry, the potential for the application of partnering has been demonstrated in virtue of the favourable context and witnessed by representative experts in Mainland China. 9. Concluding remarks Judged from the cultural, economic, juristical and technical perspectives, this study has systematically elaborated the current practices of partnering (both formal and informal), potential barriers to and effective strategies for the implementation and generalisation of a structured (formal) partnering approach in Mainland China. The archival research findings echoed and supported the expert interview results, which implied that there is a great potential for the application of partnering in the Chinese construction industry. The study unfolded a series of endeavours that are essential for the development and application of partnering, which are underpinned by the

stimulation of clients’ interest and government support of the partnering approach either during or after the project procurement stage. The favourable background in terms of cultural and economic needs has paved the way for the adoption of partnering, while the perceived impediments for application could be alleviated or even evaded through a series of effective strategies such as frequent training, and industry-wide promotion of partnering concepts, processes and associated benefits. In general, the partnering approach is regarded as applicable and suitable for the construction industry of Mainland China. The research findings provide a solid platform for industrial practitioners, with the initiative to adopt the partnering approach, to recognise, identify and overcome possible impediments to partnering application and success. It has also set the scene for future empirical studies to determine and analyse the perceived benefits of and barriers to partnering success in the construction industry in Mainland China. Ultimately, it is anticipated that better overall project performance can be achieved through the successful implementation of partnering in both the West and the East. Acknowledgements The authors wish to acknowledge the organisations and expert interviewees who kindly participated in the interview meetings and provided their valuable opinions and necessary project information to facilitate this research study. Moreover, special gratitude is extended to the Department of Building and Real Estate of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University for providing financial support to this research study. Heartfelt thanks are also given to the Guest Editor of this Special Issue (Dr Xiaoling Zhang) and several anonymous reviewers for constructive comments and valuable suggestions to improve the quality of the manuscript before publication. References Allen, S., Matthews, J., Towlison, G. and McDermott, P. (1999), “A review of partnering drawing upon experiences from the United Kingdom, Hong Kong and South Africa”, in Bowen, P.A. and Hindle, R.D. (Eds), Customer Satisfaction: A Focus for Research and Practice in Construction, Proceedings of CIB Joint Triennial Symposium, Cape Town, Vol. 3, pp. 1229-39. Black, C., Akintoye, A. and Fitzgerald, E. (2000), “An analysis of success factors and benefits of partnering in construction”, International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 423-34. Bond, M. (1987), “Chinese values and the search for culture-free dimensions of culture: the Chinese culture connection”, Journal of Cross-cultural Psychology, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 143-64. Bresnen, M. and Marshall, N. (2000), “Partnering in construction: a critical review of issues, problems and dilemmas”, Construction Management and Economics, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 229-37. Butterfield, F. (1983), China: Alive in the Bitter Sea, Bantam Books, New York, NY. Chan, A.P.C., Chan, D.W.M. and Ho, K.S.K. (2002), “An analysis of project partnering in Hong Kong”, research monograph, October, Department of Building and Real Estate, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. Chan, A.P.C., Chan, D.W.M. and Ho, K.S.K. (2003a), “Partnering in construction: critical study of problems for implementation”, Journal of Management in Engineering, Vol. 19 No. 3, pp. 126-35.

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Further reading Flanagan, R. and Li, S.R. (1997), International Construction: A Perspective of China, Chartered Institute of Building, Ascot. Industry Research Institute (2010), Chinese Construction Market Analysis and Investment Consultation Report (2010-2015), Industry Research Institute, Chinese Investment Consulting, Beijing. National Construction Law (2011), China State Council, Beijing.

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Appendix. List of interview questions for exploring the applicability of construction partnering in Mainland China (1) Are there any projects implemented with the partnering model (with structured partnering process)? Are there any projects embracing some key elements of partnering philosophy such as efficient communication and co-ordination, mutual trust, effective conflict resolution, teamwork culture, among construction participants (especially between the client and the contractor)? Please list and brief introduce some examples. (2) What are the major benefits from the employment of relationship-based contracting approaches like partnering? (3) Is there any kind of pressure or restriction to partnering from the macro/micro control measures and regulations of local government? (4) The construction laws and regulations in Mainland China regulate some specific types of projects for adopting tendering and bidding as a project procurement strategy. Do you think if there is any substantial restriction to adopting partnering under the existing construction laws and regulations? (5) Will the application of partnering influence or impair the established and stable system of gaining and sharing benefits among the business partners? Is such consideration a critical factor impeding the adoption of partnering from the viewpoint of the clients and contractors? (6) As partnering is relatively a new concept to the Mainland Chinese construction industry, is the lack of background knowledge about partnering a major barrier for the construction participants to adopt the partnering approach? (7) Does the Chinese culture in general support the philosophy of partnering and facilitates the progress of the implementation of partnering in China? Or does the competitive environment seem to be the main theme of current construction industry development in China? (8) What is the future prospect of implementation and future development of such kind of project procurement and management mode within the construction industry of Mainland China? (9) Will the traditional construction procurement and management mode (such as design-bid-build, BOT, etc) still dominate the construction industry for a long-term period or will some new construction procurement forms and management modes (such as partnering, PPP, etc.) emerge to take the place of those traditional approaches in the future in the construction industry of Mainland China? If partnering emerges, How will it be developed in Mainland China? Will it be implemented with the combination of the traditional modes or will it independently survive with the gradual extinction of the traditional modes?

Corresponding author Yuming Hong can be contacted at: [email protected]

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Book review Managing Complex Projects Harold Kerzner and Carl Belack Wiley 2010 ISBN: 978-0-470-60034-4 (Hardback) 416 pp. £26.99

Book review

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This book comes from the author of numerous books on project management (PM), PM metrics, PM strategy and PM best practice (including perhaps the most widely-used graduate text on PM), Harold Kerzner. The co-author is a practitioner and a consultant in the field. Managing Complex Projects is aimed at practitioners and individuals who may want to familiarise themselves with what constitutes project management. The book is handy, uses a large font, with each idea explained on a separate page (hence the size of the book) complemented by flowcharts, checklists, and highlights of the various concepts presented. It is a simple text, but one firmly based on the nine knowledge areas of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), the global PM standard providing guidelines, rules and characteristics of the project management profession. Anyone familiar with PM would appreciate the fact that the book touches upon all the various important aspects of projects. Having first distinguished between traditional and non-traditional i.e. complex projects, the book explains the various aspects of cost, time, quality, risk and human resource management in simple, straightforward terms. Apart from these usual areas, the business case for complex projects and stakeholder management (which is extremely important for complex projects) is explained in tandem with the use of an effective communication strategy during complex projects. Readers are made aware of the Project Management framework, but the book essentially focuses on the practicalities of running complex projects and clarifies what each concept means in practical terms. Definitely not an academics’ book, Managing Complex Projects nevertheless has use for practitioners in terms of being a very handy, easy-to-browse guide. It is easy reading, and is likely to come handy when a particular area of project management needs to be quickly looked up prior to a meeting or a planning exercise. Zehra Waheed School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK

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