<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

The main aim of the study was to model stakeholders’ capacity for urban housing development from a developing country’s perspective, using Zambia as a case study. The study used a quantitative methodology and recruited 214 respondents from various organizations concerned with the planning and development of human settlements in Lusaka, Zambia. The structured questionnaire used for data collection contained nine indicator variables informed by literature. The collected data was analysed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and goodness-of-fit was utilized to assess the acceptability of the model using a two-index technique. The findings revealed that stakeholders’ capacity is explained by four variables, namely: ensuring adequate staffing levels in institutional stakeholders; community empowerment in planning practices; development of essential construction skills; as well as provision of technical support to communities on housing. The paper recommends, among other things, the need to fully engage and build the capacities of communities so that they can effectively participate in housing development. The findings have practical implications for improving housing in the global south. It advances the promotion of capacity building as a prerequisite for driving housing development in line with the new urban agenda.
</abstract>

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering

Modelling Stakeholders’ Capacity for Urban Housing Development: A Developing Country’s Perspective

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The notion of smart buildings is becoming a global trend. The smart concept is spread not only via buildings but also through cities, transportation, and communication. Many difficulties human beings face can be solved by smart building technology. For example, environmental contamination and resource depletion, such as water and fossil fuels. In Sri Lanka, smart building adoption was at a low level. As a result, the purpose of this research is to assess user comprehension of smart building service preferences and adoption from a Sri Lankan viewpoint. A questionnaire survey is used to obtain data from the community as part of the data collection approach. To achieve the objectives stated above, the data will be analysed using principal component analysis, multiple regression analysis, and Pareto analysis. Results indicated that the majority of Sri Lankans do not grasp smart building technologies. Using principal component analysis, eleven major service preferences were determined. Multiple regression analysis is used to identify the factors that influence service preference. The most essential elements impacting smart building adoption are competency to utilize new technology, preference for smart building attributes, and user satisfaction. This study would be an excellent resource for the future adoption of smart building technologies in Sri Lanka.
</abstract>

Factors Influencing the Adoption of Smart Building and Service Preferences in Sri Lanka

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Considering the trend towards climate neutrality and energy efficiency at the global level as well as the problem of high energy poverty at the national level, the issue of housing renovation was inevitable for Latvia in 2023. The main objective of the study is to analyse the situation in Latvia, its problematic aspects and opportunities for the government, as well as to propose possible methods for solving the problem of low rates of housing renovation in Latvia. The main methods used were PESTLE analysis to identify problems and cluster analysis to compare financial opportunities in each country. The main results of the study are the conclusion that the financial aspect of renovation in Latvia is at a satisfactory level and is not the main reason for the unpopularity of renovation, but the main problem is energy poverty. The main conclusion is that renovation in Latvia requires a new approach that can improve the energy efficiency situation in Latvia, and providing such a method in the form of building renovation based on private-public partnership is the possible approach.
</abstract>

Implementation of the Long-Term Energy Efficiency Program in Households in Latvia

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In today’s world, sustainability practices are critical to every industry including the construction sector. This has come into being because of the pressure exerted on organisations and their supply chains by different stakeholders who demand ethically produced goods and services as well as responsible service delivery methods. The purpose of this research was to assess the relationship between sustainability practices and the benefits that sustainability offers organisations. This study employed cross-sectional descriptive design with a quantitative approach. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire with closed-ended questions from 67 respondents who were purposively sampled from building construction companies registered with the National Council for Construction (NCC) in grades 1 to 4 and operating in the Copperbelt province of Zambia. These included senior management employees involved in various projects. The collected data was analysed using exploratory factor analysis and regression analysis. The findings revealed that economic sustainability practices had a significant influence on delivering sustainability benefits, whereas social and environmental sustainability practices had no significant influence on delivering sustainability benefits. The research further revealed that the period a company was in operation significantly contributed to its ability to realise sustainability benefits, and to the contrary, that awareness and stakeholder participation did not. The researcher thus recommended that companies in the construction sector should develop and implement sustainability policies in order to meet the expectations of several stakeholders and secure long-term competitive advantage.
</abstract>

Department of Construction Economics and Management, School of the Built Environment

Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

Benefits of Adopting Sustainability Practices by Construction Companies: Developing Country’s Perspective

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 12 (2024): Issue 1 (January 2024)

Volume 11 (2023): Issue 1 (January 2023)

Volume 10 (2022): Issue 1 (January 2022)

Volume 9 (2021): Issue 1 (January 2021)

Volume 8 (2020): Issue 1 (January 2020)

Volume 7 (2019): Issue 1 (January 2019)

Volume 6 (2018): Issue 1 (January 2018)

Volume 5 (2017): Issue 1 (November 2017)

Volume 4 (2016): Issue 1 (November 2016)

Volume 3 (2015): Issue 1 (December 2015)

Baltic Journal of Real Estate Economics and Construction Management

The journal is published by RTU in collaboration with two partner universities in the Baltic Region - Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia) and Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (Lithuania).  The objectives of the journal are to extend the fundamental knowledge of real estate market and civil construction and to provide information that would help the industry practitioners and entrepreneurs, as well as academic staff to increase the efficiency, productivity and competitiveness of real estate and construction market. We invite authors publish their articles in the journal, reflecting the topical research that would be useful for making business decisions in such areas as sustainable development and management of sound environment, devoting special attention to real estate and construction market analyses and assessment.  Peer review process  All manuscripts are subject to double-blind peer review by two internationally recognised experts. Article undergoes the double-blind peer review process after the evaluation of article according to the general requirements of the BJREECM Journal and after passing the CrossCheck plagiarism test procedures.  Peer review process may take up to one month (average). The average term, given to the reviewer, are two weeks, but, some delays are possible. In case the topic of the article is very specific, and delay in the review process may happen, but the aim is to provide the review results to authors as soon as possible – in one month, or earlier. Fees for reviewers are not practiced.  Reviewers should make reviews objectively. Personal criticism of author(s) should be avoided. Information received in the review process is confidential from scientific, legal and ethical points of view.  Corrections to the article can be suggested to the author also before the peer review stage by the Editorial Team. Resulting evaluation of the article can be as follows: accept, accept with minor corrections, accept only after corrections and repeated review, refuse. If not sufficient corrections have been done by authors after receiving the review, where some corrections to the article were asked, the Editor-in-Chief has the right to reject the article.  The Editor-in-Chief makes a decision on the article publication based on minimum two referee reviews. Documents, such as a preface etc., should not be peer-reviewed.  The confidentiality of authors and reviewers is ensured in the double-blind peer review process.  Post-publication discussions and corrections  Post-publication discussions and correction opportunities are in the process of development and discussion. Technical corrections in affiliations, ORCID iD numbers and some other information (spelling mistakes etc.) are possible. Post-publication discussion can be done by contacting the corresponding author directly or the Journal editors by bjreecm@rtu.lv. The opportunity to add supplementary files after online publication of an article (e.g., publication of additional files with data), is not practiced yet in the Journal.  Why subscribe and read  The journal articles reflect diverse research results concerning real estate sector, related sectors and interacting branches of science in the context of contemporary market development, which allows classifying the journal in the category of interdisciplinary scientific journals. The Baltic Journal of Real Estate Economics and Construction Management covers the following research directions:   built environment;  real estate valuation and development;  real estate policy, investments and management methodology;  legal framework of real estate and construction industries;  trends in residential management;  energy efficiency and performance of buildings;  renewable energy sources, engineering systems and novel indoor climate solutions;  sustainability and circular economy in real estate and building industry;  information and smart technologies in real estate and building industry;  urban engineering and economy;  urban landscape and smart built environment;  development and cost estimation in civil construction;  social, economic and political aspects of built environment;  innovative building designs and materials;  land use management;  other related fields.   Why submit  All manuscripts are subject to double blind peer review by two internationally recognised experts. The journal has neither article processing charges (APCs) nor article submission charges.  Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process.  Journal history  Currently known as: Baltic Journal of Real Estate Economics and Construction Management (2013 - current).Vol. 2019 (7), Vol. 2018 (6), Vol. 2017 (5), Vol. 2016. (4), Vol. 2015 (3) are available at content.sciendo.com/view/journals/bjreecm/bjreecm-overview.xml?tab_body=toc-68871 (Issues)Vol. 2014 (2) is available at bjreecm-journals.rtu.lv/issue/view/60/showTocVol. 2013 (1) is available at bjreecm-journals.rtu.lv/issue/view/32Formerly known as: Building Entrepreneurship and Real Estate Development, ISSN 2243-6030 (2011 - 2012) 