The quest towards sustainable development, both nationally and globally, puts the construction industry in the foreground as the main consumer of natural resources. The industry has profound economic, social and environmental impacts. Sustainable construction is one of the most important challenges faced by the construction industry today. In the UK, sustainability is being driven and enforced by the government through stringent fiscal policies and regulations, voluntary initiatives combined with naming and shaming strategies. Stakeholders are becoming more aware of the global challenges and are using their power to exert pressure on companies. Increasingly, construction clients are demanding that their business partners submit: their corporate sustainability policies with tender packages to demonstrate their performance in dealing with opportunities and risks stemming from economic, environmental and social aspect of sustainability. However, the lack of understanding of the concept and its practical application has been a recurrent problem. The conceptual confusion; its vagueness and ambiguity, the complexity of the myriad of challenges and fluidity of the sustainability concept, compounded with the myopic attitude of the industry, lack of clear-cut and practical framework are causing frustration in the construction industry. Consequently, a number of sustainability management frameworks have been proposed. There are probably more than one hundred frameworks for sustainable business strategy. However, the majority of these are either complicated to implement or lack sound theoretical base, effective change management and completeness. These, therefore, do not make the situation any easier. Many are still baffled as to what they should do and how they should go about affecting change. Corporate sustainability in the construction industry is a challenge to many companies. The industry is still under-performing in each of the key themes of sustainable construction and this has lead to a 'blame culture' where each sector of the industry allocates responsibility for its current failings to others (CIRIA C563, 2001). Such a situation poses a need for a comprehensive, practical and easy to use tool that would aid the implementation and management of sustainability at the core of business process. The tool will complement the existing frameworks, which breaks down the strategic and management issues into manageable components. This will enable companies to focus on individual areas and identify actions needed to facilitate change. The problem is that such a tool is virtually non-existent. The main focal point of this research is the development of a tool to facilitate the implementation, management and integration of sustainability issues at the strategic level and promote wider uptake of the concept in the construction industry. This requires a thorough understanding of the concepts of sustainable development, sustainable construction and related issues as well as drivers, benefits, barriers and enablers for achieving corporate sustainability. It also demands an examination of existing management frameworks and collation of case studies from the early adopters to establish critical factors for strategic and management issues involved in achieving corporate sustainability. Through, diverse research epistemologies (quantitative, qualitative and triangulation methods), the research established four main critical factors and thirty-six sub-critical factors for achieving corporate sustainability. These factors underpinned the development of a web-based prototype software (ConPass). This thesis presents the development and evaluation ConPass Model and the prototype software.

Current water shortages in the United States and Texas are expected to only worsen so that by 2050, approximately 40% of both U.S. and Texas residents will live in areas of water scarcity (U.S. House Committee, 2003; Texas Water Development Board, 2003). In response to these grim projections, both lawmakers and environmentalists are calling for conservation measures so that future shortages or costly new supply initiatives are avoided. One area where substantial consumption decreases could be made is the municipal sector, which is projected to account for 35% of all water consumed in Texas by 2050 (Texas Water Development Board, 2002). Both organizations and voluntary programs have been established to reduce water consumption in this area. One of the largest and most innovative programs in the state is the Austin Green Building Program (AGBP). It was the first program of its kind in the U.S. that rates new homes and remodels in regards to five categories related to sustainability: energy efficiency, water efficiency, materials efficiency, health and safety and community (City of Austin, 2001). This research identified the factors (weather, home size, lot size, appraised value, and existence of a pool) that effect water consumption for residences qualifying as "Austin Green Homes", and identified those green features or designs that had the greatest effect on water consumption, that were most commonly included, and the reasons why contractors incorporated them. Non-green features such as temperature, rainfall, home and lot size, appraised value and a pool seemed to have the greatest impact on water consumption, from an analysis of R2 values, albeit a positive relation for each variable. When green features were investigated, findings showed that different features were effective in reducing water consumption for different builders and in many cases, water-conserving features actually led to increased use. Finally, results showed that large builders incorporated fewer water-related green features in their homes and achieved lower star ratings in general than small green builders.

Current water shortages in the United States and Texas are expected to only worsen so that by 2050, approximately 40% of both U.S. and Texas residents will live in areas of water scarcity (U.S. House Committee, 2003; Texas Water Development Board, 2003). In response to these grim projections, both lawmakers and environmentalists are calling for conservation measures so that future shortages or costly new supply initiatives are avoided. One area where substantial consumption decreases could be made is the municipal sector, which is projected to account for 35% of all water consumed in Texas by 2050 (Texas Water Development Board, 2002). Both organizations and voluntary programs have been established to reduce water consumption in this area. One of the largest and most innovative programs in the state is the Austin Green Building Program (AGBP). It was the first program of its kind in the U.S. that rates new homes and remodels in regards to five categories related to sustainability: energy efficiency, water efficiency, materials efficiency, health and safety and community (City of Austin, 2001). This research identified the factors (weather, home size, lot size, appraised value, and existence of a pool) that effect water consumption for residences qualifying as "Austin Green Homes", and identified those green features or designs that had the greatest effect on water consumption, that were most commonly included, and the reasons why contractors incorporated them. Non-green features such as temperature, rainfall, home and lot size, appraised value and a pool seemed to have the greatest impact on water consumption, from an analysis of R2 values, albeit a positive relation for each variable. When green features were investigated, findings showed that different features were effective in reducing water consumption for different builders and in many cases, water-conserving features actually led to increased use. Finally, results showed that large builders incorporated fewer water-related green features in their homes and achieved lower star ratings in general than small green builders.

As sustainability increasingly becomes a concern to society, it is in state transportation agencies' best interests to embrace and adopt initiatives that will both educate their employees and the communities they serve on how transportation systems and system operations can be viewed within such a context. One of the strategies some state departments of transportation (SDOTs) have adopted for providing a more sustainable approach to highway design is a "green streets and highways rating system." Adopting a strategy such as the one proposed in this thesis for the Georgia Department of Transportation will enable an agency to compare projects based on sustainability goals and outcomes. Such a rating system can provide several benefits to a state department of transportation. As a public relations tool, publishing the sustainability rating results of completed projects can promote an "environmentally friendly" image of the agency. In some cases, this could be used to garner increased support for an agency's program. Comparing the ratings of proposed projects during the early programming process may also help in the selection of more sustainably effective and efficient projects. Additionally, a project in the project planning phase could use the green rating criteria to identify those areas where changes in design could result in more environmentally sensitive designs. A green streets and highways rating tool is an important means of fostering an environmental ethic in a transportation agency, one that could become more important in years to come.

Recognizing that green construction industry has begun to notify recently among Hong Kong citizens; people begin to concern about the environment protection practices in daily life. The government has introduced the green building development since 1996, however, the development and policy do not mature enough as other developed countries. The Hong Kong green development is lagging behind. In the context of this research will focus on the following objectives: i) to review the current status of sustainable construction and green technologies in Hong Kong, ii) to identify major barriers towards sustainable construction in Hong Kong, iii) to find out the priority of those barriers which affect the most to the industry. This research will investigate the views for green building of Hong Kong residential and the developers in five aspects, for instance, the financial cost, professional technology & knowledge, perception of users and government initiatives. Among various features of green building, this research will focus on the technology of energy and water conservation, which is the most common adopted green technology in Hong Kong. The building services of existing green building is going to study, in order to review the unpopular reason behind the current situation in HK construction industry. / published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

As concern for the environment has been dramatically raised over the recent decade, all fields have increased their efforts to reduce impact on environment. The field of construction has responded and started to develop the building performance strategies as well as regulations to reduce the impact on the environment. HVAC systems are obviously one of the key factors of building energy consumption. This study investigates the system performance and economic value of variable refrigerant flow (VRF) systems relative to conventional HVAC systems by comparing life-cycle cost of VRF systems to that of conventional HVAC systems. VRF systems consist mainly of one outdoor unit and several indoor units. The outdoor unit provides all indoor units with cooled or heated refrigerant; with these refrigerants, each indoor unit serves one zone, delivering either heating or cooling. Due to its special configuration, the VRF system can cool some zones and heat other zones simultaneously. This comparative analysis covers six building types—medium office, standalone retail, primary school, hotel, hospital, and apartment—in a eleven climate zones—1A Miami, 2A Houston, 2B Phoenix, 3A Atlanta, 3B Las Vegas, 3C San Francisco, 4A Baltimore, 4B Albuquerque, 4C Seattle, 5A Chicago, and 5B Boulder. Energy simulations conducted by EnergyPlus are done for each building type in each climate zone. Base cases for each simulation are the reference models that U.S. Department of Energy has developed, whereas the alternative case is the same building in the same location with a VRF system. The life-cycle cost analysis provides Net Savings, Savingto- Investment ratio, and payback years. The major findings are that the VRF system has an average of thirty-nine percent HVAC energy consumption savings. As for the results of the life-cycle cost analysis, the average of simple payback period is twelve years.

The purpose of this research study was to determine the impact of a sustainable design learning cycle on students’ reported attitudes, behaviors, and knowledge regarding sustainability. This research used a quasi-experimental design, employing a pre and post test within group design. Students in a high school construction course at small rural school in New York State were the subjects of the study. Subjects were given a pre test to measure their attitudes and behaviors regarding sustainability, then a treatment, consisting of a learning cycle regarding sustainable design in residential construction. Following the treatment, subjects took a post test identical to the pre test in order to compare changes in reported attitudes and behaviors. Also, during the course of the treatment, subjects made entries in a logbook which then underwent a content analysis for connections to the domains of sustainability and learning objectives. Given that this study was only conducted with one group of students in one school district, it should be noted that the results of this study cannot be generalized to the population. The results of this study show that there were no measured impact on students’ attitudes and behaviors regarding sustainability. / Department of Technology

As questões ligadas à construção sustentável têm se mostrado de grande importância entre as diversas considerações necessárias ao campo da arquitetura atualmente. Do enfrentamento destas questões o próprio processo de projeto pode beneficiar-se, nutrindo-se de novos dados e condicionantes que o enriqueçam e elevem o nível da produção edilícia. No contexto nacional especificamente, onde a urgência de suprimento das necessidades mais básicas, sobretudo na área social, coexiste com o desperdício e a improvisação no setor da construção, estudar como responder a essas questões passa a ser crucial para o bom desenvolvimento do setor da construção civil. Os possíveis benefícios alcançados na área da construção certamente têm um amplo alcance, inclusive social. Partindo da constatação de que o tema da construção sustentável ainda se mostra incipiente na prática construtiva no contexto brasileiro, é proposta neste trabalho a análise da conjuntura do setor da construção civil no Brasil, das ferramentas e instrumentos existentes, voltados direta ou indiretamente à implementação de práticas mais sustentáveis na fase de projeto, considerada neste trabalho como elo fundamental de toda cadeia produtiva de edifícios. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho é sistematizar as informações levantadas, compondo um estado da arte das questões ligadas à construção sustentável no Brasil, identificando possíveis gargalos durante a concepção do projeto e estabelecer possíveis referências para a implementação do conceito na cultura construtiva. As referências estruturam-se em experiências internacionais, referências normativas ou relativas à certificação, referências sobre a produção dos principais materiais de construção no Brasil e referências de experiências práticas realizadas recentemente no mercado nacional. Através do estudo destas diversas referências levantadas, as diferenças entre a dinâmica da cadeia da construção civil em países onde o tema da sustentabilidade se encontra em pleno desenvolvimento e a realidade brasileira se torna clara. Os resultados revelam um problema conjuntural no contexto brasileiro, marcado principalmente pela ausência dos setores governamentais na composição da cadeia da construção de maneira efetiva, seja na liderança das discussões, através do estabelecimento de planos e metas aos outros agentes, seja na criação de demanda, elevando os padrões de qualidade na produção de edifícios. Esta ausência governamental deixa espaço para respostas a curto prazo à nova demanda propostas pelo próprio mercado da construção, pela iniciativa algumas vezes isolada de profissionais e empresas, sem um planejamento efetivo para o desenvolvimento do setor na direção de uma forma mais sustentável de construir. / Questions about sustainable construction have been showing themselves of great importance among the various considerations needed by the architecture field nowadays. From the confrontation of these questions the proper process of project can benefit, nourishing itself of new data and factors that enrich it and raise the level of the building production. In the national context specifically, where the urgency of supplying the most basic necessities, specially in the social area, coexists with wastefulness and improvisation in the construction sector, studying how to answer these questions becomes crucial to the good development of the civil construction sector. The possible benefits reached in the construction area certainly have an ample reach, including the social one. From the evidence that the sustainable construction subject still reveals itself incipient in the brazilian´s constructive practice context, it is proposed in this work the analysis of the civil construction sector´s conjuncture in Brazil, of the tools and existing instruments, directly or indirectly related to the implementation of more sustainable practices in the phase of project, considered in this work as the basic link of the whole productive chain of buildings. Thus, the objective of this work is to systematize the gathered information, composing a state of the art of the questions related to the sustainable construction in Brazil, identifying possible problems during the conception of the project, and to establish possible references to the implementation of the concept in the constructive culture. The references are structured in international experiences, normative or certification related references, references about the production of Brazil´s main construction materials, and references of practical experiences recently made in the national market. Through the study of these various raised references, the differences between the dynamics of the civil construction chain in countries where the subject of sustainabilty finds itself in full development and the Brazilian reality become clear. The results disclose a conjuncture problem in the Brazilian context, mainly marked by the absence of the governmental sectors in the composition of the construction chain in a effective way, either in the leadership of the discussions, by the establishment of plans and goals to the other agents, either in the creation of demand, raising the quality standards in the production of buildings. This governmental absence leaves a space for short-term answers to the new demand proposed by the construction market itself, by the some times isolated initiative of professionals and companies, lacking an effective planning for the sector´s development in the direction of a more sustainable way to construct.

The environmental aspect of sustainability is currently high on many agendas due at least in part to the issue of climate change, manifesting in the monitoring of C02 emissions from all activities within all industrial sectors, with construction projects being no exception. The concept of Whole Life Carbon (WLC) involves understanding the carbon impact of an infrastructure project from its beginning, through its serviceable life, to the end of its life. The WLC concept can be applied to future infrastructure projects to assist in decision making, to ensure the correct project is taken forward in terms of minimising carbon emissions across the life time of the infrastructure. The life cycle of a highway project comprises the planning, design, construction, operation, use and decommissioning phases. For a new 23km motorway project in the UK, when considering the construction and use phases, the C02 emissions from vehicles using the road comprised 91% over a 40 year period. With the majority of C02 resulting from the use phase, any measures taken to minimise the impacts of this could potentially significantly reduce the C02 over the lifetime of a highway. It is during the planning stage that decisions can be made to reduce the WLC; by forecasting the impact of different design options at the different future phases of the life cycle. This thesis considers the effect of highway alignment, which is a decision taken early in a project's life cycle. The gradient of a highway can have a significant impact on the fuel consumption (and hence C02 emissions) of the vehicles operating on it. To design the alignment around an optimum earthworks phase in terms of time, cost and carbon may result in a construction phase with a lower impact, yet the long term effect of the subsequent gradients on vehicle fuel consumption may yield a significantly higher level of C02 emissions than the amount saved during the efficient construction operation. Conversely, an intensive earthworks operation may result in a C02 intensive construction phase yet result in long term benefits throughout the life cycle, as the fuel consumed by the vehicles operating on the highway is reduced. To understand the effect of the vertical alignment through the life cycle, the C02 in both the construction and use phases has been calculated. A methodology to calculate the C02 from the earthworks operations has been developed. The instantaneous emission model, PHEM, has been used to calculate the C02 from the vehicles using a highway. Different vehicle types have been assessed over hypothetical terrains, with the application of varying fleet mixes and vehicle speeds enabling an understanding of the effect of alignment on typical vehicle flows. These alignments have been modified, requiring more C02 intensive earthworks operations, to understand the potential benefits the new alignment can bring to the use phase, and the overall life cycle. The methodology developed has been applied to an actual case study that had six very different horizontal and vertical alignments. A second real and current project was used to gain an understanding of the C02 impacts of choosing an embankment over a viaduct structure.

<p dir="ltr">Circularity or circular economy (CE) offers an approach to creating a closed-loop system toward minimizing waste and maximizing resource efficiency. Such a solution is vital in construction as it is known for its substantial resource consumption and waste generation. Despite the growing adoption of this framework in the construction industry, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lag behind their larger counterparts. This study examines the barriers to implementing circularity practices within SMEs in the United States (U.S.). Through a comprehensive investigation involving case studies comprised of company data and semi-structured interviews with industry professionals from three varying-sized construction firms, the research elucidates client preferences, financial constraints, supply chain fragmentation, and a prevalent skills gap as significant obstacles to the adoption of circularity in construction SMEs. Large enterprises with more resources exhibit a distinct set of challenges, particularly in aligning their established practices with the emerging paradigms of CE. Despite the hurdles, circularity's potential economic, environmental, and societal benefits motivate SMEs and large enterprises alike. The research contributes to the broader discourse on sustainable construction by identifying strategic, operational, and market-based factors stymieing CE adoption. It recommends financial incentives, regulatory support, and increased stakeholder collaboration to overcome identified barriers. The study also underscores the need for continued research to advance the understanding and practical application of circularity principles within the construction industry.</p>