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The main goal of this study was to determine how students at Ho Technical University (HTU) viewed green construction approaches and the benefits green buildings may provide to Ghana's tertiary institutions to enhance quality of life.

The institution's 350 participants were chosen using a random selection method. A standardised questionnaire was used to gather data, which was analysed using SPSS v.20 and presented in tables using descriptive statistics such as Likert scale analysis, weighted mean and relative importance index (RII).

The study revealed that awareness of the green building principle is comparatively low amongst the survey participants. Participants agree that the University's green building adoption is high. Students cited decreased utility expenses, improved occupant productivity and cheaper operational costs as important benefits of green construction. Students' thoughts on hurdles to implementing green construction ideas at the University were the enormous price tag of green building technology (RII = 0.89), ignorance of demonstration projects and ignorance of information on green building principles (RII = 0.81).

This is one of the first papers to study Ghanaian students' views on green buildings. This study adds to our understanding of students' thoughts on green building ideas. In addition, it sheds insight into their present awareness, which can help the university administration in Ghana design new paths for green building implementation.

The current fire protection measures in buildings do not account for all contemporary fire hazard issues, which has made fire safety a growing concern. Therefore, this paper aims to present a critical review of current fire protection measures and their applicability to address current challenges relating to fire hazards in buildings.

To overcome fire hazards in buildings, impact of fire hazards is also reviewed to set the context for fire protection measures. Based on the review, an integrated framework for mitigation of fire hazards is proposed. The proposed framework involves enhancement of fire safety in four key areas: fire protection features in buildings, regulation and enforcement, consumer awareness and technology and resources advancement. Detailed strategies on improving fire safety in buildings in these four key areas are presented, and future research and training needs are identified.

Current fire protection measures lead to an unquantified level of fire safety in buildings, provide minimal strategies to mitigate fire hazard and do not account for contemporary fire hazard issues. Implementing key measures that include reliable fire protection systems, proper regulation and enforcement of building code provisions, enhancement of public awareness and proper use of technology and resources is key to mitigating fire hazard in buildings. Major research and training required to improve fire safety in buildings include developing cost-effective fire suppression systems and rational fire design approaches, characterizing new materials and developing performance-based codes.

The proposed framework encompasses both prevention and management of fire hazard. To demonstrate the applicability of this framework in improving fire safety in buildings, major limitations of current fire protection measures are identified, and detailed strategies are provided to address these limitations using proposed fire safety framework.

Fire represents a severe hazard in both developing and developed countries and poses significant threat to life, structure, property and environment. The proposed framework has social implications as it addresses some of the current challenges relating to fire hazard in buildings and will enhance overall fire safety.

The novelty of proposed framework lies in encompassing both prevention and management of fire hazard. This is unlike current fire safety improvement strategies, which focus only on improving fire protection features in buildings (i.e. managing impact of fire hazard) using performance-based codes. To demonstrate the applicability of this framework in improving fire safety in buildings, major limitations of current fire protection measures are identified and detailed strategies are provided to address these limitations using proposed fire safety framework. Special emphasis is given to cost-effectiveness of proposed strategies, and research and training needs for further enhancing building fire safety are identified.

Buildings and their use is a complex process from design to occupation. Buildings produce huge volumes of data such as building information modelling (BIM), sensor (e.g. from building management systems), occupant and building maintenance data. These data can be spread across multiple disconnected systems in numerous formats, making their combined analysis difficult. The purpose of this paper is to bring these sources of data together, to provide a more complete account of a building and, consequently, a more comprehensive basis for understanding and managing its performance.

Building data from a sample of newly constructed housing units were analysed, several properties were identified for the study and sensors deployed. A sensor agnostic platform for visualising real-time building performance data was developed.

Data sources from both sensor data and qualitative questionnaire were analysed and a matrix of elements affecting building performance in areas such as energy use, comfort use, integration with technology was presented. In addition, a prototype sensor visualisation platform was designed to connect in-use performance data to BIM.

This work presents initial findings from a post occupancy evaluation utilising sensor data. The work attempts to address the issues of BIM in-use scenarios for housing sector. A prototype was developed which can be fully developed and replicated to wider housing projects. The findings can better address how indoor thermal comfort parameters can be used to improve housing stock and even address elements such as machine learning for better buildings.

The purpose of this paper is to outline an early adopter “low energy” domestic dwelling, one of the social houses built by a collaboration between a university, the local council. The origins of this project are from the early days of interest in sustainable housing, the 1970s. The dwellings were innovative and built to what became known as “the Salford design” which performed to unusual specifications, using approximately 75 per cent less energy than the UK average for space heating and over 40 per cent less than for houses built to what were then the standard building regulations.

A qualitative and interpretative stance was deemed to be the most appropriate. Within that lens, interviews were chosen as the primary research instrument.

A marked feature of the results is the variation in energy consumption by different households. A Salford-designed house could be habitable throughout the year without any space heating at all, comfortable at 10 per cent and very comfortable at 25 per cent of normal consumption.

As there continues to be interest and commitment to reducing energy – not just from the United Kingdom but also on a worldwide scale – the United Nations Conference of the Parties known as COP 22 (2016) met in Morocco to take forward many of the initiatives outlined in the Paris Agreement 2015. It is of interest, then, that the latest set of interviews showed that the houses built to the innovative and original 1970s’ Salford design principles, protected by highly insulated well-sealed envelopes, are even presently functioning at a relatively low energy threshold.

This study investigates the performance of Indiana’s new principals per the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) and the Indiana Content Standards for building-level leader preparation. Using quantitative survey methodology, information was collected from Indiana superintendents regarding the effectiveness of principals who had recently completed university administrative preparation programs. Analysis of responses revealed that superintendents viewed their new principals as “proficient” in almost every area, with the highest mean observed in the category of Integrity. In contrast, the mean response for “financial management” was found to be in the “basic” range, creating implications for an area of potential development in school leadership education in the state.

This study aims to explore the challenges associated with the integration of resilience and sustainability, and propose a workable solution that ensures resilient and sustainable buildings. Recent research outcomes suggest that the number of natural hazards, both environmental and geophysical, will increase due to the effect of global warming. Various approaches have been investigated to reduce environmental degradation and to improve the physical resilience to natural hazards. However, most of these approaches are fragmented and when combined with cultural barriers, they often result into less-efficient assessment tools.

The primary source of information used to develop this paper has been research publications, policy papers, reports and tool guidelines. A set of questions were developed to guide the review which was complemented with information distilled from the HFA 2005-2015 to develop an integration process to evaluate 10 international sustainability appraisal tools.

The major finding of this research is that, from a technical point of view, resilience and sustainability could be integrated. However, it requires a long and thorough process with a multidisciplinary stakeholder team including technical, strategic, social and political parties. A combination of incentives and policies would support this process and help people work towards the integration. The Japanese model demonstrates a successful case in engaging stakeholders in the process which led to the development of a comprehensive appraisal tool, CASBEE®, where resilience and sustainability are integrated.

Although data have been sought through literature review (i.e. secondary data), the research is expected to have significant impact, as it provides a clear theoretical foundation and methods for those wishing to integrate resilience within current sustainability appraisal tools or develop new tools.

This paper provides original concepts that are required to reduce fragmentation in the way resilience and sustainability are addressed. It sets up a new research agenda which has the potential to have a strong impact due the fact that sustainability and resilience are getting higher on the political priority scale.

This paper provides findings of an original idea to reduce fragmentation in the way resilience and sustainability are addressed. It sets up a new research agenda which has the potential to have a strong impact due the fact that sustainability and resilience are getting higher on the political priority scale.