Building Economics: Theory and Practice

Building Economics: Theory and Practice

Author: Rosalie Ruegg

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-11-11

Total Pages: 492

ISBN-13: 1475746881

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We no longer build buildings like we used to nor do we pay for them in the same way. Buildings today are no longer only shelter but are also life support systems, communication terminals, data manufacturing centers, and much more. Buildings are incredibly expensive tools that must be constantly adjusted to function efficiently. The economics of building has become as complex as its design. When buildings were shelter they lasted longer than their builders. The av erage gothic master mason lived 35 or 40 years. Cathedrals took 3 or 4 hundred years to build. Cost estimates were verified by great great grandchildren of the original designer. Today, creative economics has become as important as creative design and creative building. The dient brings builder, contractor, architect, and facilities manager to account in their life time. The cost of building can therefore no longer be left to chance or act of god. Solutions are no longer as ingeniously simple as those proposed by a Flor entine builder early in the 15th century. He proposed to center the dome of S. Maria deI Fiore on a great mound of earth mixed with pennies. When the job was done street urchins would carry away the dirt in their search for the pennies. This was a serious suggestion offered by an early construction manager before Brunelleschi solved the problem more sensibly.


The Economics of Construction

The Economics of Construction

Author: Stephen L. Gruneberg

Publisher: Economics of Big Business

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9781788210140

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The construction of housing, commercial property, and infrastructure projects--roads, bridges, tunnels, railways, airports--for both the private and public sectors is one of the biggest industries in the world. It contributes around 10 per cent of world GDP, employs 7 per cent of the global workforce, and consumes around 20 per cent of the world's energy (and generates a third of the world's CO2 emissions). So important is the contruction industry that it is widely seen as the best indicator of a national economy's health. Stephen Gruneberg and Noble Francis, two of the UK's leading construction economists, present an up-to-date analysis of the construction industry's business model and the risks and challenges the industry faces in the twenty-first century. The book explores the many distinctive features of the economics of the industry, such as how firms use cost-reduction rather than profit maximizing behavior, the processes of tendering and procurement, and the often cyclical nature of demand. Some of the issues touched on include the nature of the government-client relationship, the difference between commissioned and speculative construction development, operating as well as building infrastructure, the advantages of off-site construction, the demand for green and sustainable construction, and the competition from government-backed Chinese companies in major infrastructure projects. As well as examining industry-wide issues, the book looks at how individual projects are costed. These can range from the construction of Dubai's Yas Island or Heathrow's third runway, to the construction of a local hospital, or a residential housing estate. Finance, cash flow, cost overruns, and labor relations are all shown to be fundamental to completing a project on time and within budget, regardless of size. The book offers authoritative analysis and expert insight to provide a survey suitable for students in both business schools and departments of architecture and the built environment.


Building Economics

Building Economics

Author: Ivor H. Seeley

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 1996-11-11

Total Pages: 520

ISBN-13: 134913757X

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This comprehensively rewritten, updated and extended new edition of this established text focuses on what has become the most important single facet of the quantity surveyor's role - cost management. The scope of the book has been broadened to take account of the widening and more sophisticated cost management and control service that clients now require. The book examines the factors influencing building costs and how the precontract costs can be estimated, analysed and controlled, to ensure that buildings can be completed within the agreed budget and timescale, and be of acceptable quality, function effectively and provide value for money. A new chapter on value management has been added, together with an introductory chapter on cost modelling; the chapter on life cycling costing is extended, while the sections on energy conservation and occupancy costs are expanded. Throughout the text many new case studies, with supporting tables and diagrams, are included in order to enhance the value of this book to the student and the practitioner.


Building Economics for Architects

Building Economics for Architects

Author: Thorbjoern Mann

Publisher: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13:

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Details the procedure by which architects can make informed decisions on the economic feasibility and performance of any building project, and calculate the economic impact of design decisions, especially in the early phases. Includes topics such as where funding for a building comes from, and using.


Building the New Economy

Building the New Economy

Author: Alex Pentland

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2021-10-12

Total Pages: 475

ISBN-13: 026254315X

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How to empower people and communities with user-centric data ownership, transparent and accountable algorithms, and secure digital transaction systems. Data is now central to the economy, government, and health systems—so why are data and the AI systems that interpret the data in the hands of so few people? Building the New Economy calls for us to reinvent the ways that data and artificial intelligence are used in civic and government systems. Arguing that we need to think about data as a new type of capital, the authors show that the use of data trusts and distributed ledgers can empower people and communities with user-centric data ownership, transparent and accountable algorithms, machine learning fairness principles and methodologies, and secure digital transaction systems. It’s well known that social media generate disinformation and that mobile phone tracking apps threaten privacy. But these same technologies may also enable the creation of more agile systems in which power and decision-making are distributed among stakeholders rather than concentrated in a few hands. Offering both big ideas and detailed blueprints, the authors describe such key building blocks as data cooperatives, tokenized funding mechanisms, and tradecoin architecture. They also discuss technical issues, including how to build an ecosystem of trusted data, the implementation of digital currencies, and interoperability, and consider the evolution of computational law systems.


Building Chicago Economics

Building Chicago Economics

Author: Robert Van Horn

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-10-17

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 1139501712

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Over the past forty years, economists associated with the University of Chicago have won more than one-third of the Nobel prizes awarded in their discipline and have been major influences on American public policy. Building Chicago Economics presents the first collective attempt by social science historians to chart the rise and development of the Chicago School during the decades that followed the Second World War. Drawing on new research in published and archival sources, contributors examine the people, institutions and ideas that established the foundations for the success of Chicago economics and thereby positioned it as a powerful and controversial force in American political and intellectual life.


Modern Construction Economics

Modern Construction Economics

Author: Gerard de Valence

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-11-10

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1134153686

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Traditional building economics has primarily been concerned with issues around project appraisal and cost management techniques. On the other hand, modern construction economics has a wider focus with stronger links to mainstream economics, reflecting an increased interest in a range of theoretical issues in construction economics, both at the macro and micro level. In Modern Construction Economics: Theory and Application, a variety of approaches are used to present a coherent vision of synthesis between industry economics and project economics. Topics covered include: developing construction economics as idustry economics competition and barriers to entry in construction innovation in construction theory testing in construction management research collusion and corruption in the construction sector. Including contributions from academics in the UK, Sweden, Hong Kong, and Australia, this is a truly global review of a core issue for the construction industry worldwide. The result is a unique book that will push toward the development of a comprehensive theoretical framework of construction economics. This is a must-read for all serious students of construction economics, and all practitioners looking for a deeper understanding of their industry.