A builder's duty of care - When should it apply to the directors and employees of companies involved in the creation of defective buildings?

<p>This thesis considers the issue of when a tortious duty of care to prevent economic loss should be imposed on the company directors and employees who stand behind the complex structure of companies and contracts involved in the creation of a defective building. Set against the background of the leaky building crisis, and what are (it is argued) unfair litigation outcomes, the thesis traverses the emergence and development of the principles that underpin liability for negligence and negligent misstatement in respect of defective buildings. A review of the cases confirms that the concepts of control and general reliance are the basis of New Zealand law in this area. There follows a discussion of the difficult relationship between company law principles and negligence principles, and the role of assumption of responsibility in the law of negligence and negligent misstatement, including a discussion of developments in the leaky building litigation. The thesis advanced is that, in respect of the creation of defective buildings, the approach to the issue of whether to impose a duty of care on company directors and employees would benefit from placing significant weight on the factor of de facto control of the inputs that dictate the outcome of a building project, and on the lower level factor of a direct or indirect financial interest in the outcome of the project. It is argued that the approach to imposing a duty of care should be the same for directors and employees and in respect of statements and actions. In cases where the evidence establishes that the financial interest factor is not present, this should give rise to an inference that the company director or employee does not have control of the inputs that dictate the outcome of the project, so that no duty of care arises. This would enable a director or employee to exit litigation by way of an application for summary judgment. This is intended to discourage the practice of joining minor parties to litigation for the purpose of extracting a precautionary settlement. If control of the inputs that dictate the outcome of a project can be established by inference from the existence of the financial interest factor, or by the other evidence, then the two stage approach to the imposition of a duty of care would require a consideration of other factors that might negate the duty, such as the contractual matrix.</p>

A builder's duty of care - When should it apply to the directors and employees of companies involved in the creation of defective buildings?

<p>This thesis considers the issue of when a tortious duty of care to prevent economic loss should be imposed on the company directors and employees who stand behind the complex structure of companies and contracts involved in the creation of a defective building. Set against the background of the leaky building crisis, and what are (it is argued) unfair litigation outcomes, the thesis traverses the emergence and development of the principles that underpin liability for negligence and negligent misstatement in respect of defective buildings. A review of the cases confirms that the concepts of control and general reliance are the basis of New Zealand law in this area. There follows a discussion of the difficult relationship between company law principles and negligence principles, and the role of assumption of responsibility in the law of negligence and negligent misstatement, including a discussion of developments in the leaky building litigation. The thesis advanced is that, in respect of the creation of defective buildings, the approach to the issue of whether to impose a duty of care on company directors and employees would benefit from placing significant weight on the factor of de facto control of the inputs that dictate the outcome of a building project, and on the lower level factor of a direct or indirect financial interest in the outcome of the project. It is argued that the approach to imposing a duty of care should be the same for directors and employees and in respect of statements and actions. In cases where the evidence establishes that the financial interest factor is not present, this should give rise to an inference that the company director or employee does not have control of the inputs that dictate the outcome of the project, so that no duty of care arises. This would enable a director or employee to exit litigation by way of an application for summary judgment. This is intended to discourage the practice of joining minor parties to litigation for the purpose of extracting a precautionary settlement. If control of the inputs that dictate the outcome of a project can be established by inference from the existence of the financial interest factor, or by the other evidence, then the two stage approach to the imposition of a duty of care would require a consideration of other factors that might negate the duty, such as the contractual matrix.</p>

Building Optimization through a Parametric Design Platform: Using Sensitivity Analysis to Improve a Radial-Based Algorithm Performance

Performance-based design using computational and parametric optimization is an effective strategy to solve the multiobjective problems typical of building design. In this sense, this study investigates the developing process of parametric modeling and optimization of a naturally ventilated house located in a region with well-defined seasons. Its purpose is to improve its thermal comfort during the cooling period by maximizing Natural Ventilation Effectiveness (NVE) and diminishing annual building energy demand, namely Total Cooling Loads (TCL) and Total Heating Loads (THL). Following a structured workflow, divided into (i) model setting, (ii) Sensitivity Analyses (SA), and (iii) Multiobjective Optimization (MOO), the process is straightforwardly implemented through a 3D parametric modeling platform. After building set up, the input variables number is firstly reduced with SA, and the last step runs with an innovative model-based optimization algorithm (RBFOpt), particularly appropriate for time-intensive performance simulations. The impact of design variables on the three-performance metrics is comprehensively discussed, with a direct relationship between NVE and TCL. MOO results indicate a great potential for natural ventilation and heating energy savings for the residential building set as a reference, showing an improvement between 14–87% and 26–34% for NVE and THL, respectively. The approach meets the current environmental demands related to reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions, which include passive design implementations, such as natural or hybrid ventilation. Moreover, the design solutions and building orientation, window-to-wall ratio, and envelope properties could be used as guidance in similar typologies and climates. Finally, the adopted framework configures a practical and replicable approach for studies aiming to develop high-performance buildings through MOO.

Analysis of the Control Effect and Influencing Factors of Urban Surface Deformation in Underground Coal Mining With Solid Backfilling

To solve the problems of surface deformation and destruction of buildings caused by urban mining and realise coordinated development of mining cities, the solid backfilling method was used to extract coal resources beneath the buildings of Tangshan. Based on surface deformation monitoring data of the continuously operating reference station (CORS) system for the past 5 years, the surface deformation process caused by solid backfilling was analysed. The final results revealed a maximum surface subsidence of 66 mm in the T zone coal area and 31 mm in the F zone area. Furthermore, the surface control effects of the caving method and the solid backfilling method were compared and analysed, and it was shown that solid backfilling could meet the surface building set-up requirements. Moreover, based on the probability integral method, the effects on surface deformation due to the surface length of the F zone, compression ratio, and coal pillar width were analysed, and the effects on the prediction results due to the subsidence factor, tangent of the major effective angle, and offset distance of the inflection point were studied. The results showed that the compression ratio is the main factor controlling the surface deformation and that it should be kept above 80% for solid backfilling of urban mines. The subsidence factor should be 0.82 and the tangent of the major effective angle should be 2.15 when the surface subsidence of solid backfilling is to be predicted. This paper provides a technical reference for realisation of urban mining with solid backfilling.

Digital Development Process for the Drive System of a Balanced Two-Wheel Scooter

Graph-based design languages have received increasing attention in the research community, because they offer a promising approach to address several major issues in engineering, e.g., the frequent manual data transfer between computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) systems. Currently, these issues prevent the realization of machine executable digital design processes of complex systems such as vehicles. Promising scenarios for urban transportation include an interconnection of mass transportation systems such as buses and subways with individual vehicles for the so-called “last mile” transport. For several reasons, these vehicles should be as small and light as possible. A considerable reduction in weight and size can be achieved, if such vehicles are tailored to the individual size, weight and proportion of the individual user. However, tailoring vehicles for the individual characteristics of each user go beyond a simple building set and require a continuous digital design process. Consequently, the topic of this paper is a digital design process of a self-balanced scooter, which can be used as an individual last-mile means of transport. This process is based on graph-based design languages, because in these languages, a digital system model is generated, which contains all relevant information about a design and can be fed into any simulation tool which is needed to evaluate the impact of a possible design variation on the resulting product performance. As this process can be automated by digital compilers, it is possible to perform systematic design variations for an almost infinite amount of parameters and topological variants. Consequently, these kinds of graph-based languages are a powerful means to generate viable design alternatives and thus permit fast evaluations. The paper demonstrates the design process, focusing on the drive system of the respective balanced two-wheel scooter and highlights the advantages (data integration and possibility for machine execution).

Building Extraction from High–Resolution Remote Sensing Images by Adaptive Morphological Attribute Profile under Object Boundary Constraint

A novel adaptive morphological attribute profile under object boundary constraint (AMAP–OBC) method is proposed in this study for automatic building extraction from high-resolution remote sensing (HRRS) images. By investigating the associated attributes in morphological attribute profiles (MAPs), the proposed method establishes corresponding relationships between AMAP–OBC and building characteristics in HRRS images. In the preprocessing step, the candidate object set is extracted by a group of rules for screening of non-building objects. Second, based on the proposed adaptive scale parameter extraction and object boundary constraint strategies, AMAP–OBC is conducted to obtain the initial building set. Finally, a further identification strategy with adaptive threshold combination is proposed to obtain the final building extraction results. Through experiments of multiple groups of HRRS images from different sensors, the proposed method shows outstanding performance in terms of automatic building extraction from diverse geographic objects in urban scenes.

The Development of the Catholic Cathedral Building-type at Bishoprics’ Towns on the Baltic Sea Southern Coast during the 13th – 14th Centuries

The oldest Catholic cathedral is the five-nave Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran erected in Rome, but the Lateran Palace (Latin: Palatium Apostolicum Lateranense) was given as a present to Bishop (Latin: episcopus) of Rome for his residence (from 4th until 14th cent.). The perimeter building set up the structural complex of L-shaped layout where the Lateran Castle and the Archbasilica were included. In Western Europe largest cities were also archbishoprics’ centres, in which neighbourhood Catholic church-states, or bishoprics were founded. Local conditions and relationships between the ruler and inhabitants determined the development of Christianity centres. Its main structural objects included in the fortified building complex were the Catholic cathedral which altarpiece (Latin: presbyterium) by the main altar was turned toward the east facing the rising sun, headquarters of the Canonical Chapter (German: Domkapitel) and Bishop's strong fortified residence resembled a lower tower, or a palace separated from the town, or built outside the town. In the late 12th century, bishoprics began to establish on the Baltic Sea southern coast at subjugated lands of the Balts and the Baltic Finns. At bishoprics’ centres Bishops’ fortified yards (German: der Bischofshof) were formed. A housing combined with a sacral structure was included in the perimeter building around the spacious court and integrated into the unified defensive system of the structural complex. In Riga, the Germans established centres of secular and spiritual power, as well as the main military economic base for the Baltics’ expansion. The political and economic dualism was created. The representation of civil authority became the third alternative force. Each of centres characterized by its own structural elements. The main cult building for city inhabitants was the church of citizen’s parish. Research problem: the development of the Catholic cathedral building-type in bishoprics’ towns on the southern bank of the Baltic Sea during the 13th – 14th centuries has been studied insufficiently. Research topicality: the impact of cathedral building complexes on formation of medieval urban structures on the Baltic Sea south coastal lands during the 13th – 14th centuries. Research goal: analysis of the structure and layout of Catholic cathedrals in Livonia and the Prussians’ lands to determine common and diverse features. Research novelty: evolution of the layout and structure of Catholic cathedrals on lands inhabited by the Baltic ethnic groups have been analysed in regional and European context. Results: study formation of the Catholic cathedrals’ layout and structure on the Baltic Sea south coastal lands during the 13th – 14th centuries. Main methods: inspection of cathedrals in nature, analysis of archive documents, projects, cartographic materials.

On-site Architects' Offices in Major Construction Projects of Budapest in the Second Half of the 19th Century

During the 19th century, the most renowned architects considered a permanent presence on the site of their larger construction projects necessary. Some of them even maintained several on-site offices close to their construction sites, where architects and designers were contracted for the duration of the construction. This study presents two on-site offices in detail (office of the Palace of Justice and the Parliament Building) while outlining a further four examples in Budapest (office of the Parish Church of Lipótváros, the Ministry of Agriculture, the enlargement of the Royal Palace and the Technical University).There were three practices used to settle these offices: I. using an older building, before its demolition, near the site; II. in a temporary building set up for this purpose; III. in rented rooms in the surrounding buildings. Examples for the use of existing buildings are the building of the Palace of Justice (A. Hauszmann), the extension of the Royal Palace (A. Hauszmann) and the building of the campus of the Royal Joseph University (A. Hauszmann, Gy. Czigler, S. Pecz). St. Stephen's Basilica (M. Ybl), the Parliament (I. Steindl) and the Krisztinaváros wing of the Royal Palace (M. Ybl, A. Hauszmann) are examples where newly constructed buildings were used, and we assume rented apartments as on-site offices in the case of the Opera House (M. Ybl) and the Museum of Applied Arts (Ödön Lechner). The large public building's on-site offices have great significance in architectural history as well as being theoretical and practical workshops.

Model for Predicting Breast Cancer Risk in Women With Atypical Hyperplasia

Purpose Women with atypical hyperplasia (AH) on breast biopsy have an aggregate increased risk of breast cancer (BC), but existing risk prediction models do not provide accurate individualized estimates of risk in this subset of high-risk women. Here, we used the Mayo benign breast disease cohort to develop and validate a model of BC risk prediction that is specifically for women with AH, which we have designated as AH-BC. Patients and Methods Retrospective cohorts of women age 18 to 85 years with pathologically confirmed benign AH from Rochester, MN, and Nashville, TN, were used for model development and external validation, respectively. Clinical risk factors and histologic features of the tissue biopsy were selected using L1-penalized Cox proportional hazards regression. Identified features were included in a Fine and Gray regression model to estimate BC risk, with death as a competing risk. Model discrimination and calibration were assessed in the model-building set and an external validation set. Results The model-building set consisted of 699 women with AH, 142 of whom developed BC (median follow-up, 8.1 years), and the external validation set consisted of 461 women with 114 later BC events (median follow-up, 11.4 years). The final AH-BC model included three covariates: age at biopsy, age at biopsy squared, and number of foci of AH. At 10 years, the AH-BC model demonstrated good discrimination (0.63 [95% CI, 0.57 to 0.70]) and calibration (0.87 [95% CI, 0.66 to 1.24]). In the external validation set, the model showed acceptable discrimination (0.59 [95% CI, 0.51 to 0.67]) and calibration (0.91 [95% CI, 0.65 to 1.42]). Conclusion We have created a new model with which to refine BC risk prediction for women with AH. The AH-BC model demonstrates good discrimination and calibration, and it validates in an external data set.

Effects of structural irregularities on low and mid-rise RC building response

During the recent earthquakes, it has been observed that structural irregularities are one of the main reasons of the building damage. Irregularities are weak points in a building which may cause failure of one element or total collapse of the building during an earthquake. Since Albania is a country with moderate seismicity which has been hit by earthquakes of different magnitudes many times establishes the need to study the effect of irregularities is well-founded. The main structural irregularities encountered in Albanian construction practice consist of short column, large and heavy overhangs and soft story. In this study, these types of irregularities are considered in two different types of buildings, low and mid-rise reinforced concrete frame buildings represented by 3- and 6- story respectively. Pushover analyses are deployed to get the effect of structural irregularities on RC building response. A building set is chosen to represent the existing construction practice in the region; regular framed building and buildings with irregularities such as soft stories, short columns, heavy overhangs and the presence of soft story with heavy overhangs. The analyses have been conducted by using ETABS and Seismosoft software. Pushover curves of building set are determined by nonlinear static analysis in two orthogonal directions. Comparative performance evaluations are done by considering EC8 and Albanian Seismic codes (KTP-N2-89). From the obtained results, it is observed that low and mid-rise structures with soft story- two sided overhangs and short column are more vulnerable during earthquakes.