Weather-Related Construction Delays in a Changing Climate: A Systematic State-of-the-Art Review

Steven J. Schuldt, Mathew R. Nicholson, Yaquarri A. Adams and Justin D. Delorit
Additional contact information
Steven J. Schuldt: Graduate School of Engineering and Management, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433, USA
Mathew R. Nicholson: Graduate School of Engineering and Management, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433, USA
Yaquarri A. Adams: Graduate School of Engineering and Management, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433, USA
Justin D. Delorit: Graduate School of Engineering and Management, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433, USA

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-25

Abstract: Adverse weather delays forty-five percent of construction projects worldwide, costing project owners and contractors billions of dollars in additional expenses and lost revenue each year. Additionally, changes in climate are expected to increase the frequency and intensity of weather conditions that cause these construction delays. Researchers have investigated the effect of weather on several aspects of construction. Still, no previous study comprehensively (1) identifies and quantifies the risks weather imposes on construction projects, (2) categorizes modeling and simulation approaches developed, and (3) summarizes mitigation strategies and adaptation techniques to provide best management practices for the construction industry. This paper accomplishes these goals through a systematic state-of-the-art review of 3207 articles published between 1972 and October 2020. This review identified extreme temperatures, precipitation, and high winds as the most impactful weather conditions on construction. Despite the prevalence of climate-focused delay studies, existing research fails to account for future climate in the modeling and identification of delay mitigation strategies. Accordingly, planners and project managers can use this research to identify weather-vulnerable activities, account for changing climate in projects, and build administrative or organizational capacity to assist in mitigating weather delays in construction. The cumulative contribution of this review will enable sustainable construction scheduling that is robust to a changing climate.

Keywords: climate change; construction; delay; impact; modeling; productivity; review; weather (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2861/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/5/2861/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:5:p:2861-:d:511926

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().