I wish to express my gratitude to Professor Martin Betts and Professor Luis\ud
Tadeu de Almeida, my joint supervisors, for their support and encouragement\ud
throughout the entire period of my research.\ud
My special thanks to Dr. David Eaton for his invaluable assistance, continued\ud
support, encouragement and patience.\ud
I would like to thank all staff from the School of Construction and Property\ud
Management of Salford University and from the Departamento de Engenharia e\ud
Gestão do Instituto Superior Técnico for their help during this period.\ud
My thanks to my colleagues in my Department in Lisbon and to my research\ud
colleagues in Salford. Their insights, opinions and support were of great value to\ud
my research and for myself.\ud
I would like also to express my gratitude to all that contributed to my research,\ud
making themselves available for interviewing and also providing material for my\ud
research.\ud
Thanks to my parents, all my family and friends for their support. Finally, a very\ud
special kiss to my sons and daughter: Luis Miguel, Maria Joana and Filipe\ud
Manuel for their love, encouragement and patience during this period as my time\ud
was short for them