Building and construction quality: systematic literature review, thematic and gap analysis

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine, review and analyse the current literature on building and construction quality and determine the related themes and gaps. Design/methodology/approach A systematic review approach was adopted on the building quality literature, and keywords such as construction or building; defect and quality or rework were searched through the Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases. A number of articles were found and filtered by title, abstract and keyword relevancy. Further articles were cross-referenced from these and again filtered by title, abstract and keyword relevancy. The time period for the search was 2000-2020. A total of 97 articles were found and analysed on the topic. Findings A number of recurring themes were found throughout the literature. They are safety, occupier satisfaction, cost, time, licensing, culture, training, software and building quality frameworks, classifications and recommendations. These themes were linked to display relationships between them from the literature. Based on the project lifecycle stages, an amalgamated classification system was developed and is presented here. The gaps in the current literature have been analysed and reported on. Originality/value A comprehensive descriptive, thematic and gap analysis was conducted on the available literature of building and construction quality. The emerging themes were discovered, their relationships were demonstrated and the research gaps were identified. A new classification system positioned in the project lifecycle stages is presented.

Automated summary

This study conducted a comprehensive descriptive, thematic, and gap analysis on the available literature of building and construction quality from 2000 to 2020. A number of recurring themes such as safety, occupier satisfaction, cost, time, licensing, culture, training, software, and building quality frameworks were identified, and an amalgamated classification system based on project lifecycle stages was developed.