## 1 Introduction  
\"Risk is an uncertain event or conditions that, if it occurs, has a positive or negative effect on a project objective\" [1]; from that, construction projects are massively pervaded by risks due to the fact that they are planned and managed on the basis of uncertain forecasts [2, 3]. These uncertainties come from the 'variability' and 'ambiguity' in relation to performance measures like cost, duration, or quality and, according to [4], they can be grouped into five areas in relation to construction projects: The variability associated with estimates of project parameters, the basis of estimates of project parameters, design and logistics, objectives and priorities, and relationships between project parties. From the cited categories of uncertainty, some risks are inherently related to the project operating organizations and only they are responsible for managing them, while others are related to the economic, social, political, and technological environments [5].  
Hence, identifying and evaluating risks in projects is necessary and can play a very important role in achieving project objectives. Project management literature identified several techniques for identifying and assessing risks involved in the construction industry. For instance, it has been found that the main reference in risk identification is historical data, past experience, and judgement [6]. According to Chapman [7], risk identification methods can be grouped into three general categories: Identifying the risks by the risk analyst; risk identification by interviewing key members of the project team; and risk identification through brainstorming meetings. In this regard, research has shown that the questionnaire survey is the most frequently used technique for risk identification in the construction sector [8; 9]. However, despite the literature produced (see also [10; 11; 12; 13; 14]), few contributions (e.g., Tamosaitiene et al. [12]) have been dedicated to the risks in Commercial and Recreational Complex Building Projects (CRCBPs)--which comprise shops connected to each other with sidewalks that are designed and built alongside recreational, residential, office, hotel, restaurant, and cinema spaces [15; 16]. Among them, it is worth mentioning the work of Comu et al. [17] that, despite classifying risks for CRCBPs, has the drawback of diverging from a very extensive list of risk factors (i.e., 21; much less than the 82 included in this study). This is the gap addressed in this work and that can be synthesized in the following research question: _What are the most severe risks in commercial and recreational complex building projects (CRCBPs)?_  
To answer the above research question, the Delphi method is used to identify common risks of CRCBPs. Then, the qualitative method of probability of occurrence and the effect of risk on project objectives is adopted to identify CRFs of CRCBPs. Finally, a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method is employed, i.e., Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). This is another great advancement with respect to prior works that have been interested in CRFs of CRCBPs (i.e., [5]). As a result, the findings of this research are an unseen contribution to the original body of CRCBPs and the construction industry. Such an outcome would enable decision makers to make more informed decisions with regard to, for example, proper risk allocation, bid pricing, selection of the optimum procurement route, and evaluation of different construction projects.