Assessment of the types of public building maintenance contracts in Saudi Arabia

The study revealed that Fixed Price, Cost Plus and Purchased Labour contracts are the top three maintenance contracts adopted whilst Unit Price, Cost Plus A Percentage Fee contracts are alternatives used in the Kingdom. Some other types of maintenance contract were thought to be inappropriate by ministry departments.     

Common Interface Problems among Various Construction Parties

The objectives of this paper are to identify and assess the interface problems among the various construction parties. The methodology used in this research consists of two phases. In the first phase, a literature review and interviews with various construction professionals were conducted in order to identify the interface problems among them. This resulted in the identification of 19 common interface problems, which were classified into four categories: financial problems, inadequate contract and specification, environmental problems, and other common problems. In the second phase, a questionnaire was developed that included the identified interface problems obtained from the first phase. This survey was then randomly distributed to selected samples of 102 various construction professions consisting of owners, designers, general contractors, subcontractors, and maintenance contractors from Saudi Arabia to evaluate the severity of the 19 identified interface problems. The relative severity of the categories and their related problems were determined and then ranked according to a severity index. Three categories were found to have a “severe” effect, while the remaining category was rated “moderately severe.” Fourteen of the detailed common problems were evaluated as “severe,” while the remaining five were evaluated as “moderately severe.” Furthermore, this study presents additional common problems obtained from the survey.     

Clinical profile of patients admitted to the coronary care unit with possible myocardial infarction without diagnostic ECG and/or enzyme changes

Concern has been expressed about the cost-effectiveness of the Coronary Care Unit (CCU) and solution options offered on account of the large number of patients admitted to the CCU who turn out not to have acute myocardial infarction. In a prospective study over four years, we studied a group of patients admitted to the CCU with suspected myocardial infarction but who did not have diagnostic ECG and/or enzyme changes for the causes of their chest pain. We compared the clinical profile of these patients (Group A) with that of a random sample of patients with confirmed myocardial infarction (Group B). Gastrointestinal disorders, musculoskeletal chest pain, panic and anxiety disorders were the major causes of chest pain in Group A patients. A normal ECG and a normal creatine phosphokinase (CPK) within the first 24 hours, a normal initial random blood sugar, a younger age and absence of coronary risk factors effectively separated Group A patients as low risk from Group B patients as high risk for acute myocardial infarction. These simple parameters will assist physicians providing CCU care in most hospitals in early decision making and in the judicious use of the CCU.     

Factors affecting the relationship between contractors and their sub-contractors in Saudi Arabia

Delay in contract progress payment, lack of construction quality, errors and delay in shop drawings and/or approval of sample materials were ranked highest as interface problems, whilst legal disputes, scheduling conflicts amongst sub-contractors, geological problems and weather conditions were ranked lowest.     

Factors effecting construction contractors' performance

A number of interesting and important aspects have been achieved in this research; in particular, that quality of work should be of major concern to contractors and could become a pre-requisite in any selection process by the client body. Contract documentation should be clear and should not include ambiguous clauses and contradictory documentation, as this only leads to problems for all parties during the contract and a low performance rating from the contractor.     

The effect of faulty construction on building maintenance

Saudi Arabia is a rich developing country with huge capital resources and is developing quickly in every area, including building construction. Public and private sectors have initiated large and complex construction projects on tight completion deadlines which in some cases have led to errors and defects occurring that will result in later high maintenance costs.     

Load and energy requirements in residential buildings in Saudi Arabia: A comparative study

The load and energy requirements in residential buildings vary according to a number of factors. One of these factors is the geographical location in which the building is situated. Using a detached single-family house, the DOE2.1C load and energy analysis program was used to investigate the effect of the geographical location on the load and energy requirements. Four different cities, namely Dhahran, Riyadh, Jeddah and Khamis-Mushayt, representing four different climatic locations, are considered in this study. The analysis shows that the building parameters having the greatest impact on load are conduction through walls and roof, glazing area and infiltration level. The capacity requirements of the equipment and the total energy requirement for year-round air conditioning were calculated for a house in each city. A comparison shows that the city of Khamis-Mushayt has the lowest energy consumption and Jeddah has the highest energy consumption. The equivalent uniform annual cost (EUAC) method was also used to compare the economic performances of typical houses in the four cities. The comparison shows that the district of Khamis-Mushayt has the lowest EUAC, but the difference between the other cities is not significant. Furthermore, it shows that there is a significant difference between the government's and customers' EUACs.     

Design — Construction interface problems in Saudi Arabia

During the last decade the construction industry in Saudi Arabia employed 15% of the total labour force and used 19% of energy consumed in the country. Abdulmohsen Al-Hammad and Sadi Assaf discuss the results of a survey which identified the interface problems in design and construction, and document the lessons to be learned from that boom period     

Public versus private sector's assessment of problems facing the building maintenance industry in Saudi Arabia

In the last two decades the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has witnessed vast growth in many areas, not least in the construction industry and as a consequence the construction maintenance industry is substantial. This paper draws a number of conclusions covering, technical problems, management and administrative problems, financial problems, human-related problems and the important aspect of training. The authors conclude that the public and private sectors generally agree on the rankings described.     

Energy conservation measures on residential buildings in Saudi Arabia

The effect of energy conservation measures for a typical two-storey residential building in Saudi Arabia are studied. The analysis shows that insulating the walls and the roof (15 mm-thick insulation) results in a significant reduction in the peak cooling load (>23%) and the annual energy consumption (>27%). Hence, a significant saving in customer and government equivalent uniform annual cost (EUAC) will be observed. The effects of additional measures, such as reducing the glazing area and the infiltration rate, are also reported.