Professor Niraj Thurairajah

Head Of School

School: Architecture and Built Environment

Niraj Thurairajah is a Professor in the Built Environment at Northumbria University and Co-Lead of the Sustainable Construction Futures research group, whose work sits at the intersection of economics, sustainability, resilience and digital transformation in the built environment. His research examines how economic frameworks, policy systems, organisational capability, and digital innovation shape sustainable and climate-resilient housing, infrastructure, and urban systems. He focuses on decarbonisation, sustainable retrofit, procurement and investment models, smart city technologies, and digitally enabled socio-technical transitions across construction and housing markets. He currently leads the Green Growth Skills – Sustainable Retrofit in the Housing Sector initiative, developing industry capacity and economically viable pathways for low-carbon housing transformation.

He serves as Coordinator of the CIB W55 Construction Industry Economics Commission, an international research network with United Nations consultative status, and has been an elected member of the ARCOM committee for ten years. Previously, he led the Digital Construction Centre at Birmingham City University and managed the MSc in Building Information Modelling and Management programme. Between 2007 and 2011, he served as Academic Coordinator at the UK Higher Education Academy’s Centre for Education in the Built Environment, leading national initiatives linking universities, industry, and professional bodies.

Professor Thurairajah has authored over 120 peer-reviewed publications and led multiple funded research and knowledge-exchange projects on sustainability, digitalisation, smart urban systems, and economic performance. He has worked with major industry and public sector organisations, including Willmott Dixon, Mott MacDonald, Rider Levett Bucknall, KPMG, North East Combined Authority and the UK Ministry of Justice, translating research into scalable practice and policy-relevant outcomes.

Campus Address

Room 108
Sutherland Building
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST

Email Niraj

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Professor Niraj Thurairajah’s research examines the built environment as a socio-technical and economic system, focusing on how organisations, markets, policy frameworks, and digital innovation shape sustainability, resilience, and performance outcomes. His work addresses the human, institutional, and process dimensions of technological and economic change, linking project-level practice with wider industry and policy transformation. In addition to applied project research, he undertakes system-level studies on housing, infrastructure, and smart urban development, including policy and market impacts on built environment stakeholders. He co-leads the Sustainable Construction Futures research group at Northumbria University. His principal research themes include:

Construction Economics and Procurement: His core research focuses on construction industry economics and value creation in project delivery. This includes procurement and investment models, value-for-money frameworks, Modern Methods of Construction, offsite manufacturing, and supply chain strategy. He studies economic decision-making and organisational dynamics in complex projects.
Digital and Smart Built Environment: He researches digital transformation in the built environment, including BIM, data-driven delivery, platform ecosystems, and smart city systems. His work examines organisational adoption and governance implications of digital technologies across housing, infrastructure, and asset management.
Sustainability, Resilience, and Decarbonisation: His research explores climate resilience, decarbonisation, and sustainable transition pathways, including sustainable retrofit, low-carbon housing, and adaptation strategies grounded in socio-technical and economic analysis.
Built Environment Education and Green Skills: He contributes to built environment education and skills development, leading funded green skills and retrofit programmes that strengthen workforce capability for sustainable and low-carbon delivery.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Affordance-led framework of understanding of BIM adoption, Jayasena, H., Thurairajah, N., Perera, B., Siriwardena, M. 2 Dec 2024, In: International Journal of Architectural Research: ArchNet-IJAR
Data-driven Approaches to Built Environment Flood Resilience: A Scientometric and Critical Review, Rathnasiri, P., Adeniyi, O., Thurairajah, N. 1 Aug 2023, In: Advanced Engineering Informatics
Sustainable Smart City Technologies and Their Impact on Users’ Energy Consumption Behaviour, Ramli, H., Mokhtar Azizi, Z., Thurairajah, N. 6 Feb 2024, In: Energies
Unexpected Challenges in the Modular Construction Implementation: Are UK Contractors Ready?, Thurairajah, N., Rathnasinghe, A., Ali, M., Shashwat, S. 16 May 2023, In: Sustainability
Digital Data Management Practices for Effective Embodied Carbon Estimation: A Systematic Evaluation of Barriers for Adoption in the Building Sector, Jayathilaka, N., Thurairajah, N., Rathnasinghe, A. 27 Dec 2023, In: Sustainability
A review on bioinspired strategies for an energy-efficient built environment, Shashwat, S., Zingre, K., Thurairajah, N., Kumar, D., Panicker, K., Anand, P., Wan, M. 1 Oct 2023, In: Energy and Buildings

Current and Recent Projects

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Green growth skills, Watson, R. (Principal Investigator), Thurairajah, N. (Co Investigator), North of Tyne Combined Authority, 01/04/23 - 31/03/26, £463,160.00

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: The 39th Annual ARCOM Conference 2023 2023
Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: The 38th Annual ARCOM Conference 2022: Build Back Wiser 2022
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: ARCOM Doctoral Workshop in Association with CIB Working Commission on Disasters and the Built Environment (W120) 2019
Other: Failure and learning in UK project-based organisations: A cross-sector examination of actor approaches, intentions, and behaviours 2018

PGR Supervision

Odoi Asare Developing an Approach to Artificial Intelligence-Enhanced Circular Business Model for Offsite Housebuilders. Start Date: 21/08/2024
Prangige Peiris Embedding Biodiversity and Ecological Value into Early-Stage Procurement Decision-Making for Housing Developments in England. Start Date: 01/10/2025
Nigamuni Geeth Anshumal Mendis Jayathilaka ??REDEFINING EMBODIED CARBON DATA MANAGEMENT: A SOCIO-TECHNICAL AGENTIC AI SOLUTION FOR THE BUILDING SECTOR? Start Date: 01/05/2021