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Item Open Access Governance structures for real estate transactions: markets, networks and hierarchies in Windhoek’s urban low-income settlements(University of the Free State, 2012) Mooya, Manya; Cloete, ChrisEnglish: This article examines the relative prevalence of markets, hierarchies and networks in the governance of real-estate transactions under three property rights regimes in Windhoek’s low-income settlements. These governance structures are related to respective property rights regimes and to conjectures made about the implications for capital accumulation for the urban poor. It is found that network governance structures are the predominant modes of organising transactions under conditions of informal property rights, while hierarchical mechanisms predominate in the freehold and group categories. It is found that there is very little secondary market activity in all three rights categories. The article posits that, while networks provide access to real estate for the poor under conditions of informal rights, these are associated with tenure insecurity, and lock households in clusters based on ethnicity and kinship. Hierarchical structures, on the other hand, make freehold ownerships possible for the poor, but suffer from insufficient scale and create market distortions. It is concluded that a lack of secondary market activity in all the three rights categories severely limits the potential for capital accumulation.Item Open Access Infrastructure project performance in the South African construction sector: perceptions from two provinces(University of the Free State, 2012) Emuze, Fidelis; Smallwood, JohnEnglish: In recent times, project performance improvement, especially in developing countries, has captured the interest of a number of construction management researchers, as indicated in notable journals and conferences in the domain. The quest for excellence, waste elimination, and value creation underpins such research endeavours that encompass the interest of clients, consultants, and contractors so that cost overruns, low productivity, and poor quality can be reduced in the industry. The driving force behind this discourse is the need to examine management strategies that could engender performance improvement in infrastructure construction from the South African perspective. The survey was conducted among general contractor (GC) members of the South African Federation of Civil Engineering Contractors (SAFCEC), consulting engineer members of Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA), and selected public sector clients. Using inferential statistics such as Cronbach’s alpha, t test and Cohen’s d effect size measures for data analysis led to a range of findings. Such findings show that inadequate coordination between project partners may indeed result in high levels of defects, rework, and non-conformances in construction; poor interface between multidisciplinary designers could lead to delays in projects, and inefficient and unstable logistics management may, in fact, lead to haphazard processing of orders, storage of materials, and poor inventory management. In essence, it can be argued that being quality focused, managing construction logistics optimally and making sure that consultants who are working on a project are collaborating effectively offers significant scope for performance improvement in the construction of infrastructure projects in South Africa.Item Open Access Mitigating climate change by minimising the carbon footprint and embodied energy of construction materials: a comparative analysis of three South African Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations(University of the Free State, 2012) Hugo, Jan; Stoffberg, Hennie; Barker, ArthurEnglish: This article investigates the role that architecture can play in mitigating climate change by comparing the environmental impact of construction material use in two existing South African Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations in Johannesburg and Cape Town and a proposed BRT station for Tshwane. The article will generate guidelines to improve the resource efficiency of future BRT trunk-route stations. The climate change mitigation potential of BRT stations has been determined by analysing their carbon footprint and embodied energy over the cradle to gate1 period. The quantity of construction material used in each station was calculated, while the carbon footprint intensity and embodied energy intensity were determined by means of the Inventory of Carbon & Energy (ICE) carbon and embodied energy calculator. Calculations of embodied energy of structural systems and material use reveal that the Cape Town station is 36.5% more efficient in terms of carbon footprint intensity and embodied energy intensity than the Johannesburg station and 23.2% more efficient than the Tshwane station. The station base is the most energy-intensive component, contributing an average of 38% to the total embodied energy. It was concluded that steel contributes more than 50% to the total carbon footprint and embodied energy of each station. The analysis determines that lower scaled, spatially economical structures using low embodied energy materials will positively contribute to reduced carbon footprints and thus climate change mitigation strategies. The outcomes of the article also set a benchmark for prospective life-cycle assessments (LCA) and establish design guidelines for the design of future BRT stations.Item Open Access The potential of built-environment professionals’ contribution towards emerging contractor development(University of the Free State, 2012) Buys, Fanie; Ludwaba, DaluxoloEmerging contractors have enjoyed greater privileges since the advent of the new South African dispensation. The state has put many resources, ranging from enabling legislative laws and regulations to the funding of training and development programmes, to assist these contractors. The intended outcomes, however, seemed to be elusive in government-funded projects. The business environment still poses some challenges to the emerging contractors; hence the question: Can built-environment professionals contribute to emerging contractor development? The purpose of this article is to indicate to what extent built-environment professionals can contribute towards contractor development within the existing contractual parameters. Although built environment professionals ensure that there are open communication channels between them and emerging contractors, there is some cause for concern regarding the effectiveness of written and graphic communication. Built-environment professionals do not necessarily spend much time in training emerging contractors, but more than normal time is given in inspecting work done by emerging contractors, even though building contracts do not make provision for this. The value of the findings outlined could assist in improving success through collaboration between project role players at minimal input costs.Item Open Access Critical success factors influencing project success in the construction industry(University of the Free State, 2012) Garbharran, Hari; Govender, Jeevarathnam; Msani, ThulaniEnglish: The construction industry is one of the largest job creators in developing countries and is highly competitive. The high number of project failures suggests the existence of underlying critical success factors which have not been identified. This article assesses the perceptions of contractors and project managers on the critical success factors that lead to project success in the construction industry. This article is based on the four COMs model (comfort, competence, communication and commitment). A survey was conducted among 95 project managers and 61 active grade four contractors in Durban, South Africa. The findings reveal that both project managers and contractors strongly support the identified critical success factors as significant in achieving project success. There was no significant difference in their perception of critical success factors, based on the biographic characteristics. The recommendations presented may be used as a guideline for successful execution of construction projects.