1. Message from the Director

The 2021 year marked notable achievements for the Center on collaborative research work, industry partnerships and successful grant applications, organization of international seminars and workshops, including a well-received students’ competition on leading-edge research adjudicated by a panel of experts from industry and academia. Thanks to the active role of the members and affiliate members of the Center and to the support received from members of the Center’s Advisory Board. Thanks, are also due to the support of Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science and its 4th Space.

Below is a summary of those achievements:

(I) Collaborations

Brainstorming sessions were initiated and hosted by the Centre, which led to the formation of a workgroup on ‘Circularity of Construction and Built Environment’ with three (3) main research clusters, composed of faculty members from within and outside the Center. Collaborations among the members of this workgroup resulted in co-authoring three papers, hosting a workshop, and starting an industry partnership with a research grant, as will be explained later in the document.

Research clusters at CICIEM:

1. Smart Material
2. Data Analytics
3. Policy Making & Asset Management

(II) Organization of Workshops and International Events

1. Workshop on: Smart Management of Construction Waste

2021-05-20 · An initiative taken by one of the Centre’s three research clusters, titled ‘Asset Management and Policy for Long Term Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure’ was organizing a workshop, hosted jointly with Concordia University's 4th Space, entitled "Smart Management of Construction Waste". Dr. Rebecca Dziedzic moderated the workshop, which was divided into two parts, a panel and specialized discussion. The panel brought together the perspective of 5 professionals from different areas, Nicolas Bellerose from Recyc-Québec, Dr. Abdu Lofty from LafargeHolcim, Stephanie Dalo from Dialog, Michel Bouchard from Devimco and Dr. Ahmed Soliman from CICIEM. The subsequent specialized discussions were carried out in breakout rooms and focused on three areas: 1.Design, maintenance, rehabilitation and deconstruction; 2. Recycling & reuse at the material level; 3. Environmental impacts and management of CRD (Construction, Renovation, and Demolition) waste. Discussions identified key barriers to the smarter management of CRD materials, as well as opportunities for future research. A recording of the workshop is available through 4th Space YouTube Channel, as is a summary of the event.

2. Workshop on: Digital Transformation of the Construction Industry

2021-12-08 · Continuing with CICIEM Workshop Series, CICIEM and AACEI Montréal (International Association for Advancement of Cost Engineering) held a panel discussion on digitalization and digitization of the construction industry. Panelists from different sectors of the industry met and discussed with representatives from academia, the current outstanding questions ahead of the construction industry, through its digital transformation. Those included the best (and worst) practices; main challenges, opportunities and needs; the current return on investment for digitalization and digitization; and the immediate, medium and long-term expectations of the industry from academia (and vice versa) to support the digital transformation of the construction industry. The industry panelists included Andy Hares, Global Director of Information Management at HATCH, as a representative of consultant; Darren Nelson, the CTO of AedoAI as a representative of construction project management digitalization companies; and Dr. Mani Golparvar, the CTO and co-founder of Reconstruct, to represent digital twinning in construction. The panelist from academia included the Centre founding director, Dr. Osama Moselhi; the cent director, Dr. Amin Hammad; and the co-director, Dr. Mazdak Nik-Bakht, who moderated the panel. The event was hosted in a hybrid format, by Concordia 4th Space, and was attended by about 150 online audiences (from Canada, the US, East Asia, and the Middle East) as well as 15 in-house attendees (reduced capacity due to the Pandemics HSE provisions). The recording of the panel, accessible through YouTube channel of 4th Space, has been viewed several times following the event.

3. 3MT Competition for Students in Construction Engineering & Management

2021-11-30 · The 2022 Concordia/AACEI 3 Minute Thesis (3MT) competition was performed in a collaboration between the Centre, the AACEI Montréal Section, and AACEI Montréal Student Board at Concordia University. In this year’s competition, thirty-two (32) candidates applied from top-notch graduate programs in Canada and the US, i.e. Concordia, ETS, University of Toronto, UBC, Texas A&M, Pennsylvania State Universities, Georgia Institute of Technology, etc. From this pool, twenty (20) finalists got qualified in two streams, i.e., the presentation (10 competitors) and the poster (10 competitors) competition. The presentations were hosted in a hybrid format at Concordia 4th Space, and covered a variety of topics including Cost Engineering, Project Planning and Control, Construction Automation and Robotics, and Sustainable Construction. The event was attended by around 50 online and in-home audiences, and the recording is available through 4th Space YouTube channel. The three top winners of the presentation competition, selected by the judging panel, were invited to the AACEI Montreal board for an extended technical presentation of their work, followed by a panel discussion in February 2022. Winners for both presentation and poster competitions received recognition and cash prizes, totaled at $3,850, sponsored by AACE Montreal, HATCH and SNC-Lavalin.

(III) Joint Publications

While CICIEM members continued to actively publish the results of their research works during 2021, there have been some publications that were specifically originated from the Centre’s initiatives. As a result of collaborations among the members of the three clusters, 3 papers on strategic directions in research were prepared, where each is expected to serve as a white paper, providing direction on major research questions needed to be addressed for each of the 3 areas stated above. Thanks to participating members and to the leadership of the senior authors of the following publications.

• Soliman, A., Hafeez, G, Erkmen, E., Ganesan, R., Ouf, M., Hammad, A., Eicker, U and Moselhi, O. (2022), “Innovative construction material technologies for sustainable and resilient civil infrastructure” Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2022.01.248 (in press).
• Dziedzic, R., Amador, L., An, C., Chen, Z., Eicker, U., Hammad, A., Nasiri, F., Nik-Bakht, M., Ouf, M. and Moselhi, O. (2021) “A framework for asset management planning in sustainable and resilient cities", IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS), 2021, pp. 1-10, doi:10.1109/ISTAS52410.2021.9629158
• Nik-Bakht, M., An, C., Ouf, M., Hafeez, G., Dziedzic, R., Han, S., Nasiri, F., Eicker, U., Hammad, A. and Moselhi, O.(2021) “Value Stream Mapping of Project Lifecycle Data for Circular Construction”, 2021 Proceedings of the 38th ISARC, Dubai, UAE Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2022.01.248 (in press).

Other joint publications, co-authored by the members of the Centre will be included in a separate report.

(IV) Industry Partnership & Research Grants

Liaising with the greatest and most active industry players in the areas of construction and infrastructure, the Centre has had successful research team grants during the years of 2020 and 2021.

This includes:

Construction workspace management under COVID-19 and forthcoming pandemics

Dr. Nik-Bakht(PI), Dr. Moselhi (Co-PI), SNC-Lavalin (Industry Partner), ReelyActive (Industry partner), NSERC

While many construction operations are considered essential services and must be maintained ongoing during (and following) pandemic, the health and safety for construction crews and site workers are of paramount importance. The restoration (and continuation) of construction operations under the crisis of COVID-19 pandemic required enforcement of specific Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) provisions in construction sites. This made essential changes to work processes and affected the production rate of various construction activities (particularly the labor-intensive ones). This collaboration advanced and extended the software tool formerly developed by the Co-PIs at Concordia University, to help with updating construction schedules with requirements of social/physical distancing, and other HSE provisions. A cloud-based Software and a hardware infrastructure were developed for tracking workers on construction jobsites, through Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) sensors and integrating the results in 4D BIM (Building Information Models). The team at Concordia partnered with two industry leaders: SNC-Lavalin, as one of the largest Canadian contractors with a wide presence in the international construction market; and ReelyActive, a pioneer in BLE-based human tracking. The proposed project trained three HQP and took 18 months.

Feasibility assessment of recycled aggregate use in Quebec roadway infrastructure

Dr. Soliman (PI), Dr. Dziedzic (Co-IP), Dr. An (Co-IP) and Dr. Nik-Bakht (Co-IP); Lafarge Canada (Industry Partner), Mitacs

The project focuses on construction, renovation and demolition waste, which represents about 30 - 35% of total solid waste worldwide, and examines the feasibility of using such wastes as recycled aggregate in Quebec roadway infrastructure. Four dimensions were considered (1) materials-structural performance, (2) environmental impacts, (3) circularity, and (4) financial and regulatory constraints. This detailed analysis will advance federal Canadian goals to make the Canadian construction sector more sustainable and resilient in the years to come. Furthermore, meeting performance-based standards and valorizing such recycled aggregate will lead to direct and indirect economic benefits. The project is an effective partnership with Lafarge Canada Inc and is co-funded by Mitacs for a period of 18 months (funding is expected soon).

(V) Invitation to join CICIEM and participate in its events

DISCOVER THE CICIEM - Concordia University

CICIEM promotes and initiates innovative research and knowledge-based solutions for improving quality, productivity, safety and competitiveness of the Canadian construction industry through awide range of advanced methods and technologies including: Automation and robotics in construction, Sensing technologies and Internet of Things (Iot) applications in construction/ infrastructure, and Optimization, computer simulation and visulaization.

Dr. Osama Moselhi

2. CICIEM News and Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

Welcome to the new members of CICIEM

Academia Members

• Dr. Po-Han Chen, Professor, Department of Building, Civil, Environmental Engineering, Concordia University
• Dr. Youjung Kim, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, Concordia University

Affiliate Members

• Dr. Sabah Alkass, Emritus Professor, Dept. of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University
• Dr. Mohamed Al-Hussein, Professor,  NSERC Industrial Research Chair in the Industrialization of Building Construction, Dept. of Civl&Environmental Nasseri School of Building Science and Engineering, University of Alberta
• Dr. Zhenhua Zhu, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Updated Membership in Advisory Board

• Mr. Éric Lessard, VP innovation and technology, Pomerleau.
• Mr. Tony Bégin, Senior Director, Canam Group
• Mr. Les McMullan, Global Director, Hatch Group
• Mr. Hagire Emrani, Senior Director, Infrastructure Construction, SNC Lavalin
• Ms. Marie-Josée Lambert, Chef de projets, HQ
• Ms. Chantale Germain, Chef optimisations et stratégies, HQ

3. Featured Member and Associated Research

• In preparation for next issue newsletter

4. Industry Collaboration & Research Grants

• Notwithstanding that collaboration cited in the Director’s message, ongoing collaboration will be reported in next issue newsletter.

5. Recent Publications

• Ahmed R., Nasiri, F., and Zayed, T. (2022). Two-Stage Predictive Maintenance Planning for Hospital Buildings: A Multiple-Objective Optimization-based Clustering Approach, ASCE Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, 36(1), 04021105.
• Rabiei, N., Nasiri, F., and Eicker, U. (2022). Multi-Stage Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Assessment: The Case Study of Montreal Metro Systems. ASCE Journal of Urban Planning & Development, accepted-in-press
• Xuelin Tian, Chunjiang An, Mazdak Nik-Bakht, Zhikun Chen, (2022). “Assessment of reductions in NO2 emissions from thermal power plants in Canada based on the analysis of policy, inventory, and satellite data”, Journal of Cleaner Production, 341.
• Hosny, M. Nik-Bakht, O. Moselhi, (2022). “Physical Distancing Analytics for Construction Planning using 4D BIM”, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, ASCE (Accepted for publication–January 2022)
• Yousefli, Z., Nasiri, F., and Moselhi,O.  (2021). Application of Multi-Agent Simulation for Maintenance Work flow Management and Resource Allocation in Hospital Buildings, ASCE Journal of Architectural Engineering, 27 (2),04021005
• E. Chan, M. Nik-Bakht, S. H. Han (2021). “Sources of Ambiguity in Construction Contract Documents, Reflected by Litigation in Supreme Court Cases”, ASCE Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction, 13(14).
• Chen, C., Zhu, Z., Hammad, A., Akbarzadeh, M.  (2021). Automatic Identification of Idling Reasons in Excavation Operations Based on Excavator–Truck Relationships, Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, 35(5):04021015.
• Osorto Carrasco, M.D. and Chen, P.H. (2021). “Application of Mixed Reality for Improving Architectural Design Comprehension Effectiveness.” Automation in Construction, Vol. 126.
• Delpasand, M., Erkmen, R.E., Ganesan, R. (2021) “A damage-detection procedure using spectral element method”, Proceedings of the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering Annual Conference, May 2021.

6. CICIEM Membership