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Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia
ScienceDirect
Procedia Engineering 208 (2017) 160–165

2nd International Joint Conference on Innovative Solutions in Construction Engineering and

Management: 16th Lithuanian-German-Polish colloquium and 6th meeting of EURO working
group Operational Research in Sustainable Development and Civil Engineering 24 May- 2nd
International Workshop on flexibility in sustainable construction, ORSDCE 2017, 24-26 April
2017, Poznan-Puszczykowo, Poland

Innovative solutions in engineering of construction projects

Anna Sobotkaa*
a
AGH University of Science and Technology, 30-059 Kraków, Al. Mickiewicza 30, Poland

Abstract

The issue of innovation in engineering of construction projects (ECP) is considered. The nature of the ECP and the issue of
application of innovations is multidimensional, therefore the problem ought to considered in vertical and horizontal aspects.
Attention was paid to the imperatives of innovation. The entire subject is considered in the context of Professor O. Kapliński’s
jubilee.

© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of ORSDCE 2017.

Keywords: engineering of construction projects, innovations, tendencies

1. Multidimensional character of the issue

The concept of engineering of construction projects (ECPs) embraces preparation, organisation, execution and
operation of various construction systems within the framework of investment activities, i.e. a multitude of
interdependent activities aimed at meeting the needs of the investor with respect to construction or the needs of the

*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +48 501287737.
E-mail address: sobotka@agh.edu.pl

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of ORSDCE 2017.

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of ORSDCE 2017.
10.1016/j.proeng.2017.11.034
 Anna Sobotka / Procedia Engineering 208 (2017) 160–165 161
2 Anna Sobotka / Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000

owner of a building.
The character of ECP is varied, ranging from design, engineering, through technology, economics, decision
making, to organisational solutions and efficient management. Hence the concept of multidimensional nature of the
engineering of construction projects. These issues have been well described, also in O. Kapliński’s publications [1].
This author introduced two concepts: multidimensionality in the vertical aspect and multidimensionality in the
horizontal aspect. Thanks to these concepts, the importance of innovation in ECP is easier to grasp.
Multidimensionality of ECP issues in the vertical aspect may be viewed at three levels:
 macro (national economy, legislation, organisation of the investment process),
 meso (the company, venture)
 micro (construction processes).
A draft of the three levels is shown in Fig. 1. The effect of macro level on meso and micro levels is evident,
while the reciprocal impact on the other side is negligible.
Multidimensionality of ESP in the horizontal aspect can be seen in terms of time dimension, sequences,
decision making, and costing in the building's life cycle. It is a wide range of methods and problems, such as
scheduling, discounting methods, sustainability certificates, EU Directives. Today, costing of a building in the
horizontal aspect, or life-cycle cost (LCCA), is a paradigm of design, implementation and operation. It is important
to meet the requirements of a nearly zero energy building ("nZEB").

NATIONAL ECONOMY

SYSTEMS OF THE INVESTMENT PROCESS ORGANIZATION

Controling of enterprises
potential
PROCESS
MANAGEMENT
Integrated design & Integrated IT
management systems BIM
Systems for monitoring construction, technological
processes and cost

Mechanization, automation Construction economics

Fig. 1. Three-way division in engineering of construction projects. Imperatives of innovation (source: acc. O. Kaplinski
[1])
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Anna Sobotka / Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000 3

2. Innovation achievements in ECP speciality and the jubilee

The ORSDCE 2017 conference is partly related to Prof. Oleg Kaplinski’s jubilee, a celebration of his 75th
birthday. It has also been 50 years since its first academic publication.
The jubilarian is a member of academic staff of the Poznań University of Technology, member of the Civil
Engineering Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Summary of the jubilarian's scientific publications up to 2012 are in the following works:
• in the area of applications of the theory of reliability, organisation of construction processes in stochastic and
uncertain conditions, risk management [2],
• publications reflecting the jubilarian's historical, evolutionary interest in the research subject, development of
methods, and international co-operation in the Lithuania - Germany - Poland triangle in the following articles:
[3, 4],
• in the area of network planning, harmonisation of cyclical production processes, decision making theory in [5].
In the period up to 2012 (i.e., when working at the Faculty of Civil Engineering), the following problems were
in Prof. Kaplinski’s area of interest:
- Organisation and modelling of construction processes,
- Modelling phenomena, including waiting phenomena and phenomena of equilibrium,
- Decision making aiding methods,
- Reliability of production systems,
- Risk management,
- Value engineering,
- Applications of artificial intelligence,
- Standardisation of management in the organisation of the investment process and implementation of
construction projects.
After 2012, having begun to work at the Faculty of Architecture (also Poznań University of Technology), the
following issues prevail:
- Integrated design, architectural research methods [6],
- Integrated management, budgeting, financial risk [7-10],
- Sustainable development [11, 12],
- Life cycle of a building [13],
- MCDA, usability theory, BIM, digitisation of design and implementation of construction projects [14-20],
- Problem syntheses, review papers, including: strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of socio-economic
systems [21], development of MCDA Methods [22, 23], normalization methods [24].

All listed items have a serious charge of innovation, especially in the horizontal aspect.
The jubilarian has always been interested in searching for and explicating phenomena, including clarifying
mechanisms in these phenomena, such as causes of interference, how to reduce them and, above all, the impact on
the efficiency of production systems. For the needs of the conference on risk management, which takes place every
year in Ciechocinek, he coined a slogan:
"We do not create phenomena, we try to identify and measure them."

Engineering of Construction Projects in Poland is a name of the academic field which has replaced the previous
name: Construction Engineering and Management (CEM). The Jubilarian’s attitude has left a mark on those
changes. The CEM field of specialisation (in Polish: TOB) was experiencing quite a serious academic crisis of
stagnation (in the 70's 80's). 11 post-PhD (habilitation) dissertations were not accepted [3]. Then, the academic
community, acknowledging his scientific achievements, entrusted the Professor the mission of awakening this
specialisation from lethargy. It is rare for such a mission to have 100% support from the community. The four terms
of chairmanship of the CEM/ECP Section in the Polish Academy of Sciences and active work have yielded positive
results. The jubilarian may be satisfied that his name is associated with a number of Ph.D. and post-doctorate
dissertations in this academic field.
Today, when (especially) young academics pursue credits granted for scientific work, the Professor says that the
most important is the presentation of the results of one’s work at prestigious conferences, and less so in periodicals,
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sometimes second-rate. Position and prestige can be gained addressing the audience and presenting a synthesis of
one’s work. As the most important in the last three years, the Professor points out three papers presented at
conferences speeches:

• New paradigms in construction projects management – during the conference on “Scientific Problems in
Project Management” organised by The General Tadeusz Kosciuszko Military Academy of Land Forces (Faculty of
Management); May 27-29, 2015, Wrocław/Brzeźno. The conference was addressed to academic communities
representing humanities, economical and technical thought. The author outlined the specifics of ECP and new areas
of research.

• Architect’s attitude towards sustainable development, organised by the Faculty of Architecture, Poznań
University of Technology, Poznań, 29.09.2016. The text of the presentation has been published – see [11]. This
article presents the place and role of an architect in the implementation of multidimensional process of sustainable
development. It draws attention to the importance of knowledge, to a change in the paradigms of design, legislative
and organisational requirements. The text analyses the state of both public and architect’s own awareness of
sustainable development. It draws attention to low level of architectural culture in Poland, to educational needs,
ways of supporting implementation of new design paradigms through integrated actions.

• Multidimensional character of engineering problems in construction industry projects: the paper was written
for the problem conference of the Committee of Civil Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences and The
Building Research Institute. The scope of the conference is: Innovative challenges of building technology. The text
has been published in an extensive monograph [1]. In this paper, attention is paid to the specifics of engineering in
construction projects, including the entities making up these projects. Multidimensional character of the problems
are presented in vertical and horizontal aspects. Diversification and evolution of innovation criteria has highlighted
the importance of integrated systems (in design and management).
In his presentations, the Professor indicated the direction we should pursue in our efforts in science and
academic teaching. An important element in activities addressed to the academic community was, and is, to implant,
remind and impose standards for improving and perfecting the researcher's work, promotion and publishing in
accordance with the following principles:
THEORY - METHOD - APPLICATION.
The most important is answering three questions: what the scientific or engineering problem is (including the
theory); what the solution to the problem is (model, verification); how it can be applied - practical conclusions. The
questions not only provoked the reviewers, but also the authors of the papers, forcing critical outlook, raising
dissertation character of work.
Taking this into account, the Civil Engineering Committee entrusted him with the preparation and supervision
of the ECP thematic group at the prestigious KRYNICA 2017 Conference - Innovative challenges of building
technology. As a result, work on ECP multidimensional was created [1], on innovation in building technology,
including mechanics and automation [25], on the influence of innovation on enterprise competitiveness [26], on
digitisation and BIM [27]. The background of these considerations is this year's work on innovation in the
construction industry: Innovation and trends in the American construction industry [28] and Ideas shaping
innovation challenges of construction technology [29, 30].
The motto in Jubilarian's professional life is to promote organic work. What annoys him the most is a general
lack of reflection, even in the academic community.

3. Tendencies

In Prof. Kapliński’s work, several trends are very well highlighted. Let us mention just two groups of problems.
Remark #1: The evolution of quality in construction is particularly evident. Today, quality does not only mean
durability of materials, quality of finishing work, but reaching design parameters (fixed) and operational parameters
(variables), the sustainability certificates, design management (IPD), procedures supported by integrated
management, correct organisational structures and the quality of the entire building during its use - as a step towards
intelligent buildings, including, for example, Building Management Systems (BMS) and ASC (Air-Control System),
Access Management.
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Anna Sobotka / Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000 5

Remark #2: At present, the engineering of construction projects (especially in the world markets) is supported
by mass digitisation. This trend can be characterised by the term of Augmented Reality (AR). It is a system which
connects the real world with computer generated reality.
The scope of AR in the area of construction includes, for example, wireless monitoring systems (including
specific implementations, work safety, cost monitoring and production control). A large group of issues are
integrated IT systems. There is, for example, integrated management, Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), integrated
BIM and BLM so important today (Building Life Cycle Management), and increasingly more and more popular
Internet of Things (IoT) and other issues. Of course, nowadays one can not do without BIG DATA analysis, and the
cloud - see [14]. Collaboration is based on mobile devices (real-time mobile collaboration). This wave will reach our
companies in a few years. Nevertheless, flexible management, agile, smart, case-based reasoning solution are now
available.

4. Conclusions

The problem area of innovation in engineering of construction projects is multidimensional. It should be

viewed in vertical and horizontal aspects. Vertical interrelations have the most obvious impact on innovative
solutions. These include legislative affairs and organisation of the investment process. This means that vertical
interrelations stimulate (e.g., through competitiveness and economy) horizontal solutions, for instance, in the area of
broadly understood quality and progress in Augmented Reality.

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