The construction industry sector has been identified as a slow adopter of sustainability. What are some of the challenges specific to the construction industry that is hampering its progress? Are there any papers or evidence which discusses about this in the literature?
The construction industry seems to be slow in integrating sustainability into its projects. There is the inclination to think that many factors are at play as to why this is the case. Some of the difficulties or rather the challenges that the industry faces are related to the following:
(1) Sustainability requires the injection of resources to develop a knowledge base for its implmentation,
(2) This knowledge base requires training of project managers and other construction personnel,
(3) Supply chains develoment may be problematic in certain countries.
The construction industry is a complex one and sustainability in this industry is multifaceted.
The approach to sustainability needs to be addressed in a similar manner. Issues that deal with sourcing various building components from natural resources such as timber and deforestation can be dealt differently from sustainability in sand mining, etc. A multi-dimensional approach is recommended.
Generally, the awareness on sustainability is still lacking everywhere even to the construction personnel or building operators. Our research in 2010 was disclosed that more that 60percent of respondents was not able to describe the main terms on sustainablity such as Green Technology, Green Energy and even Sustainable Building. The research was interviewed 120 respondents from 4 academic institutions staff in Penang, Malaysia. After 4 years from the research, it is hoped that the awareness level is increase to support Sustainable Development. Regulatory and enforcements from the Policy Makers sometimes can helps but at the same time, the contradiction on interest conflict is really unpredictable.
Sometimes a good approach to start answering this question is to look at how specific large scale projects approach the issue. See the following link for a recent example from Ireland. http://ggda.ie/assets/GG_Sustainability_Strategy_Oct_11.pdf
I agree with Steven to a large extent and suggest that the cost-in-use and life cycle costs of a building are an essential ingredient for sustainability decision making.
I think that the LCA (LIfe Cycle Assessment) approach applied to builidngs since the design phase could be valuable tool to improve the sustainibily of the building sector.
Please have a look at my paper:
F. Asdrubali, C. Baldassarri, V.Fthenakis: “Life Cycle Analysis in the construction sector: guiding the optimization of conventional Italian buildings”, Energy and Buildings, 64 (2013), 73-89.
you can download it from Research Gate
At least for architects' and designers' perceptions, here is what a recent survey of sustainable design leaders in the US indicated:
Top challenge: Inertia/habits/established patterns
Runners up: Lack of commitment from clients, first cost of projects, insufficiently integrated design, schedule/time.
See resources of the attached publication.
Conference Paper What are the Sustainable Design Leaders thinking?
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