Section: Overview
Overview
Key publications
Research funding
Supervising & teaching
Career

Key details

Areas of expertise

  • Sustainable materials
  • Carbon neutral construction
  • Building information modelling
  • Construction management
  • Smart Technology

Available to supervise research students

Available for media queries

About Malindu Sandanayake

Malindu Sandanayake is an Associate Professor in Built Environment with the College of Sport, Health and Engineering.

Malindu is a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng) of the Institute of Engineers Australia. Prior joining Victoria University, he worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at RMIT University. He is also currently an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering at RMIT University. Malindu has been awarded with several Sustainability Victoria grants both as the Lead Investigator and also partner investigator. He has also been a chief investigator in several projects, including a project funded through the Victorian Higher Education Strategic Investment Fund to investigate "Digital transformation of construction industry for improved quality and safety" and "Social Value Creation for Transport and Infrastructure" worth over $2.5 million.

He has research expertise in sustainable materials, green and sustainable construction, life cycle assessment, Building Information Modelling (BIM), smart technologies in construction and carbon neutral construction. Following his research contributions on sustainability in construction, he has been a finalist of the RMIT award for research impact and has been a recipient of the 2022 Vice Chancellor's Award in the "Sustainability" Category.

A/Prof Sandanayake has published numerous high quality journal papers, book chapters, conference proceedings and technical papers. He is also an experienced research supervisor and has supervision interests in building information modelling, green and sustainable construction, smart technologies in construction, circular economy and sustainable management in construction and waste to value research in construction. He has also delivered several Keynote speeches, research workshops and presented in conference proceedings.

Currently he is undertaking teaching responsibilities in the construction management field and has taught extensively in the areas of construction management, Building Information Modelling, High-Rise Building Construction, Construction Engineering and Research Methods.

Qualifications

  • PhD (Construction Management), RMIT University, Australia 2016
  • BEng in Civil Engineering (First Class with Distinction), National Institute of Technology Calicut, India, 2012
  • Graduate Certificate in Teritary Education, Victoria University, 2019

Key publications

Year Citation
2015 Sandanayake, M., Zhang, G., & Setunge, S. (150101). Toolkit to capture environmental emissions in construction phase of buildings in the Australian context In Raiden, A. ;. (Ed.), Paper presented at Proceedings of the 31st Annual ARCOM Conference (ARCOM 2015) (pp. 247-256). United Kingdom: Association of Researchers in Construction Management (ARCOM).
2015 Sandanayake, M., Zhang, G., Setunge, S., & Thomas, C. M. (150101). Environmental Emissions of Construction Equipment Usage in Pile Foundation Construction ProcessA Case Study (pp. 327-339). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

doi: 10.1007/978-3-662-46994-1_28

Year Citation
2018 Sandanayake, M., Gunasekara, C., Law, D., Zhang, G., & Setunge, S. (181210). Greenhouse gas emissions of different fly ash based geopolymer concretes in building construction. Journal of Cleaner Production, 204 (399-408).

doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.08.311

2018 Sandanayake, M., Lokuge, W., Zhang, G., Setunge, S., & Thushar, Q. (180401). Greenhouse gas emissions during timber and concrete building construction A scenario based comparative case study. Sustainable Cities and Society, 38 (91-97).

doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2017.12.017

2018 Sandanayake, M., Zhang, G., & Setunge, S. (180101). A comparative method of air emission impact assessment for building construction activities. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 68 (1-9).

doi: 10.1016/j.eiar.2017.09.003

2017 Sandanayake, M., Zhang, G., Setunge, S., Luo, W., & Li, C. Q. (170510). Estimation and comparison of environmental emissions and impacts at foundation and structure construction stages of a building - A case study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 151 (319-329).

doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.03.041

2017 Zhang, G., Sandanayake, M., Setunge, S., Li, C., & Fang, J. (170201). Selection of emission factor standards for estimating emissions from diesel construction equipment in building construction in the Australian context. Journal of Environmental Management, 187 (527-536).

doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.10.068

2016 Sandanayake, M., Zhang, G., Setunge, S., Li, C. Q., & Fang, J. (160815). Models and method for estimation and comparison of direct emissions in building construction in Australia and a case study. Energy and Buildings, 126 (128-138).

doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2016.05.007

2016 Sandanayake, M., Yenduri, A., Indira, P. V., & Zhang, G. (160701). Structural performances of self-curing concrete using recycled coarse aggregate - A comparative study. Indian Concrete Journal, 90(7), (19-26).
2016 Sandanayake, M., Zhang, G., & Setunge, S. (160101). Environmental emissions at foundation construction stage of buildings - Two case studies. Building and Environment, 95 (189-198).

doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2015.09.002

Research funding for the past 5 years

Please note:

  • Funding is ordered by the year the project commenced and may continue over several years.
  • Funding amounts for contact research are not disclosed to maintain commercial confidentiality.
  • The order of investigators is not indicative of the role they played in the research project.

Used textile and cardboard fibres as reinforcing-agents in structural concrete
From: Recycling Victoria Markets Acceleration Fund
Other investigators: Prof Zora Vrcelj, Prof Maurice Guerrieri, Dr Ehsan Yaghoubi, Prof Salvatore Fragomeni, Dr Paul Joseph
For period: 2022-2025
$250,355

Social Value Creation for Transport and Infrastructure
From: Victorian Higher Education Strategic Investment Fund
Other investigators: Dr Xiaocui Lou, Aspr Elmira Jamei, Dr Hing-wah Chau, Aspr David Goodwin, Prof Zora Vrcelj, Dr Riccardo Natoli, Dr Melissa Chan, Dr Jonny Bouras
For period: 2021-2022
$593,000
Digital transformation of construction industry for improved quality and safety
From: Victorian Higher Education Strategic Investment Fund
Other investigators: Prof Zora Vrcelj, Prof Yuan Miao, Dr Ayad Turky, Dr Le Li, Mr Nima Izadyar, Dr Hongen Lu, Mrs Shuo Chen, Dr Melissa Chan, Prof Hua Wang, Dr Hing-wah Chau
For period: 2021-2022
$1,249,911

Supervision of research students at VU

Available to supervise research students

Available for media queries

Currently supervised research students at VU

No. of students Study level Role
3 PhD Associate supervisor
2 PhD Principal supervisor

Currently supervised research students at VU

Students & level Role
PhD (3) Associate supervisor
PhD (2) Principal supervisor

Completed supervision of research students at VU

No. of students Study level Role
1 PhD Associate supervisor

Completed supervision of research students at VU

Students & level Role
PhD (1) Associate supervisor

Other supervision of research students

Malindu is currently supervising three PhD candidates as Principal Supervisor and two PhD candidates as Associate Supervisor. Currently he is also supervising one PHD student at RMIT University as an external supervisor. He has also supervised four PhD students towards completion and supervised over 50 final year undergraduate honours students.

Key academic roles

Dates Role Department / Organisation
Dec 2017 - Dec 2022
Course Chair of Construction Management
Victoria University
Dec 2016 - Jul 2017
Research officer
RMIT University
Jan 2021 - Present
Honorary Associate Professor
RMIT University
Dates Role & Department/Organisation
Dec 2017 -
Dec 2022
Course Chair of Construction Management
Victoria University
Dec 2016 -
Jul 2017
Research officer
RMIT University
Jan 2021 -
Present
Honorary Associate Professor
RMIT University

Awards

Year Award
2017

Research publication grant - RMIT University

2013

RMIT PhD Research Scholarhsip - RMIT Univeristy/ Multiplex

2015

Best Paper Award - International Symposium on Advancement of Construction Management and Real Estate, ChongQing, China (2015)

2022

Vice Chancellor's Sustainability Award - Victoria University

Show more awards

Professional memberships

  • Chartered Professional Engineer, Instituion of Engineers Australia
  • Member, Institution of Engineers Australia