Addressing global changes for a sustainable built environment: managing sustainable construction

Citation

Arif, M. and Syal, M. (2013), "Addressing global changes for a sustainable built environment: managing sustainable construction", Construction Innovation, Vol. 13 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ci.2013.33313baa.001

Addressing global changes for a sustainable built environment: managing sustainable construction

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Construction Innovation, Volume 13, Issue 2

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  Our planet has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed (Mahatma Gandhi).

Although Gandhi said these words at the beginning of the last century, they still appear to be relevant today. With the growing emphasis on reduction in CO₂ emissions and ways to tackle global warming, it is vital to look at ways to meet the needs for our growth and new infrastructure development in a sustainable manner. The construction sector has embarked upon a series of high profile initiatives in an attempt to address global concerns regarding the environment, energy efficiency, waste minimisation, and the reduction of carbon footprint. With challenges of global warming, climate change and increasing cost of fuel, a serious rethinking of construction is required. Adding to these global environmental and energy concerns is the growing demand for resources among upcoming economies such as, China, India, Brazil, and Russia. Therefore, a serious rethink is required in the construction sector to ensure that we can meet our future needs without further damaging the environment. This special issue is the first of a two-part series focussing on the management of sustainable construction. The second issue covers issues relating to the implementation of sustainable construction. This special issue “Managing sustainable construction” contains five papers, covering such issues as managing change, through to decision making.

The Brundtland Commission of the United Nations on March 1987 defined sustainable development as: “the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” At the 2005 World Summit on Social Development, the definition of sustainability was further expanded to include three dimensions: environmental, economic, and social.

Since the expansion of the definition of sustainability, the construction sector has also adopted this wider definition of sustainability and has attempted to incorporate all three dimensions. The environmental dimension has been partially addressed by: reducing on-site waste, process-waste throughout the supply chain, improved energy efficiency using materials such as structurally insulated panels, and providing better structural integrity as well as better air tightness. Economic sustainability has been achieved by the implementation of lean construction and more recently, the focus on integrated product delivery systems. The issue of social sustainability has been addressed by researchers investigating issues such as health and safety as well as gender equality in the construction sector.

This special issue has papers that deal with the management of all three dimensions. There are two papers that identify economic sustainability, one through innovation and the other by analysing development of an economic model for assessing cement capacity. One paper addresses social sustainability by looking at behaviour change, and two papers identify the different aspects of environmental sustainability, such as construction in hot and humid climates as well as selection of sustainable materials.

The first paper by Matti Sivunen, Lauri Pulkka, Jukka Heinonen, Juho-Kusti Kajander, and Seppo Junnila examines how commercial sustainability innovation projects in real estate and construction utilise the contemporary market-oriented innovation models based on the service-dominant logic. It addresses innovation elements based on the service-dominant logic, and presents some important insights into sustainability innovation.

The second paper by Erik Bichard and Nirooja Thurairajah describes a trial that tested a behaviour change strategy that combined three different influencing components designed to motivate home owners to invest in energy saving measures in the UK. Results noted that a combination of information delivered at key moments in the decision-making process, incentives, and norm-based influences had the potential to help motivate owners of domestic property to invest in energy-saving measures.

The third paper by Isabelina Nahmens and Claudette Reichel explores the adoption process of high performance building technologies, including alternative wall systems in hot-humid climate. Challenges faced by homebuilders adopting high performance building technologies, and resulting energy performance are discussed.

The fourth paper by Ernestine Fu, David Newell, Austin Becker, Ben Schwegler, and Martin Fischer analyses the impact of large-scale projects such as dikes and levees, on critical scarce resources. Since increasing production capacity of scarce products can be a challenge, understanding current potential capacity is imperative. A new method to assess cement capacity is presented, which provides economists, climate change scientists, government officials, investors, and other researchers a better understanding of capacity requirements.

The fifth paper by Laura Florez, Daniel Castro, and Javier Irizarry provides an analysis of sustainability impacts of construction materials. Sustainable materials are a potential resource to mitigate the impact on the environment and bring significant economic, social, and environmental benefits. This paper establishes how perceptions may affect decision-making to increase the understanding of issues affecting knowledge in product sustainability and through increased awareness of sustainable materials.

The wide spectrum of research and knowledge compiled in this special issue offers researchers and practitioners an opportunity to reflect on these findings, particularly through the identification of issues and future research areas in the management of sustainable construction.

Mohammed Arif, Matt SyalGuest Editors