Statistical or inferential analyses are performed to determine the significance of research findings in relation to the larger population from which the sample is drawn (Sarantakos, 2013). They are classified into two main categories: the test of significance and measure of association (May, 2011). Testing for significance allows the researcher to analyse the extent to which the results can be generalised from the sample to the entire population. The measure of association on the other hand, provides an indication about the level of relationship between the variables. Although they are usually used to test hypotheses, they can also be used to examine research questions and theoretical models of the research (Saunders et al., 2009). The most commonly tests used to determine the level of significance and a measure of association include: Chi-Square, Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis tests, Spearman’s rank correlation tests and Pearson’s moment-product correlation coefficient tests (Sarantakos, 2013; Fellows and Liu, 2008). These are the types of parametric and non-parametric tests which are normally employed if the researcher is interested in measuring the strength and direction of association between the variables, which is also known as a correlation analysis (Nardi, 2006).
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In addition to the above analyses, an attempt was also made to ascertain if there was a significant relationship between the extent to which practitioners were involved in these types of sustainable regeneration projects (housing, and public sector and private sector commercial projects) using a Chi-square test. Since the interview results and the questionnaire survey (descriptive) results have indicated differences in practitioners’ levels of involvement between these three types of sustainable regeneration projects. The results obtained in Table 4.5show the chi-square value of 64.591 for housing development, 139.047 for public sector projects and 41.741 for private sector commercial projects. At a significant level of alpha value of 0.05, it can be seen that the extent of practitioners’ levels of involvement tested for the three sustainable regeneration project types are significant, as the Asymptotic Significant value obtained is .000 in each case. Therefore from these results, it can be said that there is a significant association between practitioners’ levels of involvement with respect to the three types of sustainable regeneration projects. This could also mean that some practitioners who were involved in the delivery of housing regeneration projects were also involved in the delivery of the two other types of sustainable regeneration projects, and therefore highly ranked their involvement in the three types of projects. The results can also be said to be a true reflection of the target population from which the questionnaire survey samples were taken for the study (Sarantakos, 2013).
Table 4.5: Chi-square test of level of practitioners’ involvement in regeneration projects Test Statistics
Housing Development
Public Sector project Private Sector Commercial project Chi-Square 64.591a 139.047a 41.741a df 4 4 4 Asymp. Sig. .000 .000 .000
a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The minimum expected cell frequency is 38.6.
4.6 Summary
The requirement to deliver successful regeneration projects places enormous responsibility on the construction industry practitioners. While the concept of sustainable regeneration has being a big industry in the UK (SDC, 2003), and also being in operation within the construction industry over the years, it can be said that its achievement has been hampered and determined by numerous factors. One such factor which has affected and continues to
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affect and determine the outcome of regeneration projects, are the key practitioners who are tasked with the responsibility of delivering such regeneration projects.
Drawing from the findings, it can be observed that the frequency of the levels at which practitioners, have been involved in the delivery of the different types of regeneration projects and also at different stages of the projects’ delivery vary significantly. Various factors are said to have accounted for these varied levels of involvement. These include the projects requirements and the types of regeneration projects practitioners’ organisations were involved in. These factors have played a major part in determining the key practitioners who were needed to help deliver those projects’ requirements. In terms of their general level of involvement in all types of regeneration projects, the findings from the interviews and questionnaire survey showed that all the key practitioners have had some level of involvement in delivery of the sustainable regeneration projects. The findings from the interviews revealed that clients’ representatives and architects were the most frequently (always/very often) involved practitioners during the early stages of the projects. The questionnaire survey findings on the other hand, revealed that clients’ representatives, commercial managers and architects were the most frequently involved practitioners during the early stages of the projects. It was further observed from the interview findings that, clients’ representatives’ frequent levels of involvement were consistent throughout the three main delivery stages of the projects. The frequent and early involvement of clients’ representatives, architects and commercial managers was attributed to their particular roles and responsibilities in making sure that planning and preparation of the projects achieves certain specific objectives for the clients. A further observation also made from the findings in relation to the early stage of involvement, suggested that the delivery of many regeneration projects were/are still following the traditional projects’ delivery and management methods in which architects and clients’ representatives are largely seen as key practitioners and tend to play leading roles during a project’s early delivery stages, as evident in both the interview and questionnaire survey findings of this study.
The findings from the interviews and questionnaire survey also indicated that practitioners who have sustainability assigned to their roles and responsibilities (regeneration managers, sustainability managers, training/CSR managers) were the least frequently involved in all the three delivery stages of the projects. Their low level of involvement was also consistent throughout the three main delivery stages of the projects. Their low level of involvement was
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assumed to be because sustainability issues were not seen as the main priorities and considerations for the projects by most of their clients and their construction organisations.
One other reason attributed to the varied frequency of levels of practitioners’ involvement, was the nature and types of current building contracts employed to procure and deliver sustainable regeneration projects. The author was of the view that the emphasis and wording of the current building contracts such as the JCT and NEC were too limited to the contractual relationships between the client and the contractor. Therefore the author recommended a review of their contents to reflect the issues that affect the frequency of the level of involvement of key practitioners in the delivery of sustainable regeneration projects. Adopting such an approach, the author believes could help to ensure practitioners frequent (always/very often) level of involvement in the delivery of sustainable regeneration projects. It is also recommended that the review of such building contracts should ensure higher levels of involvement of key practitioners, with assigned sustainability roles (regeneration managers, sustainability managers, and training/CSR managers) to oversee their core responsibilities as outlined in section 4.3, in the delivery of the sustainability aspects of the projects.
In terms of practitioners’ levels of involvement in the types of sustainable regeneration projects, the findings from both the interviews and questionnaire survey have highlighted that housing-led regeneration projects was the type of regeneration projects the majority of practitioners were most frequently involved in delivering, while the least involved project was the private sector commercial regeneration projects. Their frequency of level of involvement in housing-led regeneration was attributed to the fact that housing was the predominant regeneration project practitioners’ organisations were involved in. In addition, the UK government’s regeneration policy, leading to heavy investment in social housing projects has also been seen to have played a significant part in this phenomenon.
It was suggested that the frequency of the level at which practitioners were involved in delivering sustainable regeneration projects could have a significant impact on practitioners’ knowledge and understanding of the socio-economic sustainability requirements of regeneration projects. The author also believes that the knowledge and expertise acquired through the delivery of these types of regeneration projects could be used to advise their organisations, policy makers and potential clients for future regeneration projects. Finally, it was observed that there have been a number of studies carried out on practitioners’ levels of
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involvement in the delivery of sustainable construction projects in general, however, none of these studies were focused on sustainable regeneration projects. Similarly, no study has also been conducted on practitioners’ levels of involvement in the delivery of the three main types of sustainable regeneration projects. Therefore, it is recommends that a further study be carried out to explore in more depth, the key practitioners’ levels of involvement at the three main delivery stages of sustainable regeneration projects and the types of sustainable regeneration projects. The next Chapter presents the data analysis and discussion on organisational social and economic sustainability drivers for sustainable regeneration projects in UK.
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THE ORGANISATIONAL SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC
CHAPTER 5
SUSTAINABILITY
DRIVERS
FOR
SUSTAINABLE
REGENERATION PROJECTS IN THE UK
5.1 Introduction
This Chapter presents the analysis and discussion on eight social and economic sustainability drivers identified to be driving practitioners to adopt and implement social and economic sustainability principles in their regeneration projects in the UK. It starts by providing a brief background literature which is followed by the initial analysis of the semi-structured interview results obtained from the 21 practitioners who participated in the interview phase of the study. It also presents the initial analysis of the questionnaire survey results obtained from the 193 practitioners who participated in the questionnaire survey phase of the study. It then goes on to provide the detailed analyses, discussions and findings of the semi-structured interviews, alongside the questionnaire survey for each driver. The Chapter also presents the analysis and findings from the Spearman’s correlation test of the top three drivers obtained through the analysis of the questionnaire survey. It finally presents the summary of the findings for the Chapter.