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This study aims to explore the critical application areas of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology for sustainable buildings.

The quantitative research approach was adopted through a structured questionnaire administered to relevant stakeholders of construction projects. The data collected were analysed with the exploratory factor analysis, relative importance index (RII) and fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE).

The study’s results have categorised the crucial areas of application where construction industry stakeholders should focus their attention. These areas are divided into four categories: management technologies, production technologies, sensing technologies and monitoring technologies. The findings from the FSE indicate that monitoring technologies represent the most significant category, whereas management technologies rank as the least significant. Moreover, the RII analysis highlights that tools management stands out as the most important application of RFID, while dispute resolution emerges as the least significant RFID application.

The study establishes the core areas of RFID application and their benefits to sustainable buildings. Consequently, it helps stakeholders (consultants, clients and contractors) to examine the RFID application areas and make informed decision on sustainable construction. Furthermore, it provides systematic proof that can aid the implementation of RFID in developing countries.

The study provides an insight into the possible application areas and benefits of RFID technology in the construction industry of developing countries. It also developed a conceptual frame for the critical application areas of RFID technology in the construction industry of developing countries.

This paper aims to investigate the level of awareness about, adoption of and willingness to adopt light steel (LS) for building projects. It also assessed the benefits, challenges and solutions to the challenges of adopting LS for building projects.

The quantitative (questionnaire) research method was used for the study. The research design was survey in nature. The whole-population cluster sampling technique was adopted. The clusters were the LS buildings from two (Western Cape and Gauteng) out of the eight provinces in South Africa. The respondents were the construction organizations that have executed LS building projects in the selected provinces. Hence, 56 firms filled and returned the questionnaire. Data analysis was done with frequency, mean scores, t-test and analysis of variance (normality of data distribution assumed).

Results indicated that, out of the 29 areas of application of LS identified in literature, respondents were aware of 11 areas, adopted LS for seven areas and were willing to adopt LS for six areas. Respondents also noted that 18 of the 25 identified benefits of LS were relevant to South Africa. Despite the benefits, few developers embrace it, it is a threat to suppliers’ and contractors’ businesses and it delays building approval due to low awareness.

The implication of the results is that there is low awareness about, adoption of and willingness to adopt LS for building projects in South Africa, and this may be due to the identified challenges. To boost the awareness about, adoption of and willingness to adopt LS, LS technologies need to be imported, LS warehouses should be provided in all cities and it must be ensured that LS building projects are cheaper than conventional buildings.

The value of the study is that the adoption of LS for building projects will improve the capacity of sustainable development.

The need to improve sustainable construction with the appropriate technology adoption in the fourth and fifth industrial revolutions cannot be overemphasized. This study modelled the adoption of Internet of things (IoT) technologies in the construction industry to improve sustainable construction. Consequently, the study would assist construction stakeholders and policymakers in achieving sustainable construction through concerted efforts toward improving IoT adoption.

The study obtained the IoT technologies and the challenges of IoT adoption in the construction industry through a literature review. Subsequently, the awareness (knowledge of the existence and uses) of IoT technologies, the significance of the challenges and the level of adoption of the IoT technologies were tested on construction stakeholders in Kigali with a structured questionnaire. Consequently, a structural equation model of IoT adoption was developed.

The structural equation model indicates the relationship between the awareness, challenges and adoption of IoT technologies. It equally describes the effect sizes of the awareness and challenges of IoT on the adoption of IoT technologies.

This study is beneficial to construction stakeholders as it portrays the exclusive impacts of the awareness and the challenges of IoT technologies on the adoption of IoT. The study also benefits the government and policymakers as it provides a basis for intensifying efforts to create awareness and mitigate the challenges of IoT adoption for sustainable construction. The study also provides a basis for future studies on IoT adoption in the construction industry.

There are several studies on the adoption of IoT. There is however scarcity of studies on how the awareness and the challenges of IoT technologies impact the adoption of IoT in the construction industry. Thus, this study bridges the gap by modelling the adoption of IoT technologies for improved sustainable construction.