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This paper deals with the materials flow to the building site and how to make it meet the requirements of right quality, quantity, time and place. It offers a way to systematically map materials flow to the building site and send the right information to the supplier in order to get the right materials to the building site.

The research project called “Designing a building material relational database management system for Turkish construction sector”, aims to join “supply side” and “demand side” in the same environment that works on the subject of building material information in the Turkish construction sector. The paper aims to discuss the project findings.

Data were gathered from the information supplied and demanded from the points of sources, levels and frequency of updating by the help of the questionnaires conducted. The data gathered were integrated into the pre‐construction stage and used in the analysis of the process as to how this information was used by the “demand side” for building material information. IDEF‐0, a structured methodology for functional process analysis, is used to figure out building material evaluation and selection processes in the pre‐construction stage.

Material evaluation and selection process for the pre‐construction stage is figured out. Behaviors and requirements of demand‐side and supply‐side in building material information is studied. Difficulties in supplying and presenting building material information in Turkey are evaluated.

Although the subject of the paper is well‐known, Turkish practices and problems are evaluated, and an alternative model is suggested for the Turkish construction sector.

The purpose of this paper is to research the ecological properties of building materials used in some traditional buildings in Turkey and discuss the environmental benefits thereof.

Building materials used in some traditional buildings are investigated by a field study in the selected area. In this investigation, after the usage aims of the building materials are explained, the ecological properties and environmental benefits are discussed.

According to the results of the study, it is found that these materials being obtained from totally natural, local and renewable resources have source‐efficient and energy‐efficient features. They have significant ecological characteristics since they are easily recyclable and re‐usable, utilize agricultural wastes and do not produce any wastes.

In almost every part of Turkey, there exist a large number of traditional buildings with ecological properties which were built at various times in history. However, it is impossible to give examples from each one of them in this study. Therefore, this study is designed to cover the buildings located at the rural area of province Kirklareli, Thrace zone. In further studies, it is possible to compare them with building samples from other region of Turkey and the World.

This study researches the ecological properties of building materials used in some traditional buildings. It is considered that these data would provide guidance for the building designs of today. In the rural areas where population increase rates are not so high, it is possible to use such materials for the buildings. A widespread use of these materials will prevent the environmental problems that arise out of buildings from getting higher in Turkey and in the world.

The increased awareness of global environmental threats like climate change has created an upsurge of interest in low embodied carbon building materials for green building delivery. Though the literature advocates for the use of hemp-based building materials, there is no evidence of studies to explore its potential use in Ghana. Therefore, this study explores the potential factors that limit the adoption of hemp as an alternative sustainable material for green building delivery in Ghana.

A structured questionnaire was used to solicit the views of built environment professionals operating in construction, consulting and developer firms. The questions were developed through a comparative review of the related literature and complemented with a pilot review. Data were analysed via descriptive and inferential statistics.

On the average, the majority of the respondents showed a moderate level of awareness of hemp and its related uses in the construction industry. Also, certain key factors like the perceived association of hemp with marijuana, lack of expertise in the production of hemp-related building materials, farmers not getting the needed clearance for the cultivation of hemp, lack of legislation by the government in the legalisation of hemp and the inadequate knowledge of consumers on the benefits of hemp-based building materials were identified as potential limitations to the adoption of hemp as an alternative sustainable material for green building delivery.

The findings from this study provide insights into a less investigated area in sub-Saharan Africa and further provide new and additional information to the current state-of-the-art on the potential for the use of hemp in the building construction sector.

Over the last eight years, the Middle East has experienced a series of high profile conflicts which have resulted in over 5.6 million Syrians forced to migrate to neighbouring countries within the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region or to Europe. That have exerted huge pressure on hosting countries trying to accommodate refugees in decent shelters and in quick manner. Temporary shelters normally carry a high environmental burden due to their short lifespan, and the majority are fabricated from industrialised materials. This study assesses the carbon impact for a minus carbon experimental refugee house in Sweden using life cycle assessment (LCA) as tool. SimaPro and GaBi software were used for the calculations and the ReCiPe midpoint method for impact assessment. The results show that using local plant-based materials such as straw, reeds and wood, together with clay dug from close to the construction site, can drastically reduce the carbon footprint of temporary shelters and even attain a negative carbon impact of 226.2 kg CO₂ eq/m². Based on the results of the uncertainty importance analysis, the overall global warming potential impact without and with sequestration potential are mostly sensitive to the variability of the GWP impact of wood fibre insulation.

The methodology is designed to calculate the GWP impact of the refugee house over its entire life cycle (production, operation and maintenance and end of life). Then, the sensitivity analysis was performed to explore the impact of input uncertainties (selection of material from the database and the method) on the total GWP impact of the refugee house with and without sequestration. The ISO standards (International Standard 14040 2006; International Standard 14044 2006) divide the LCA framework into four steps of Goal and scope, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation.

This study has shown an example for proof of concept for a low impact refugee house prototype using straw, reeds, clay, lime and wood as the principle raw materials for building construction. Using natural materials, especially plant-based fibres, as the main construction materials, proved to achieve a minus carbon outcome over the life cycle of the building. The GWP of the shelter house without and with sequestration are found to be 254.7 kg CO₂ eq/m² and -226.2 kg CO₂ eq/m², respectively.

As there are still very few studies concerned with the environmental impact of temporary refugee housing, this study contributes to the pool of knowledge by introducing a complete LCA calculation for a physical house prototype as a proof of concept on how using low impact raw materials for construction combined with passive solutions for heating and cooling can reach a minus carbon outcome. The GWP of the shelter house without and with sequestration are found to be 254.7 kg CO₂ eq/m² and -226.2 kg CO₂ eq/m².

The purpose of this paper is to quantify the carbon emissions emitted by two different typical apartment units representative of two different construction periods in Kosovo due to main construction materials as a consequence of embodied energy.

The present study uses a three-step (bottom-up) process-based life cycle analysis of the construction material set for two different apartment units. The current study uses material analysis. Embodied CO₂ is estimated by multiplying material masses with the corresponding ECO₂ coefficients (kg CO₂/kg). Due to the lack of a comprehensive Kosovo database, data from an international database are utilized. The results provide practical baseline indicators for the contribution of each material in terms of mass and embodied CO₂.

Results of quantitative research find that apartment unit representative of the old communist-era construction produces 50 percent more embodied CO₂ emissions than an apartment unit that is representative of modern construction in Kosovo. The study finds that this difference comes mainly because of the utilization of larger quantities of steel, concrete, and precast fabricated concrete in the apartment unit that is representative of the old communist era.

The calculation of embodied CO₂ emissions for major construction materials in typical apartments in Kosovo can help in the development of national databases in the future. The availability of such databases could help the construction industry in Kosovo to open up to new sustainable design approaches since such databases and evaluations performed in the national context in Kosovo could help the builders in selecting, assessing and using environmentally friendly materials during the design or refurbishment stage of a building.

This paper is the first investigation of the embodied carbon emission in two different typical apartment building structures in Kosovo.

The construction, use and demolition of buildings carry enormous environmental burdens. As one step to reduce a building’s environmental impact, green building design guidelines and certification programs, such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Cradle to Cradle and the Whole Building Design Guide, promote the specification of alternative, non-traditional building materials. Alternative materials carry a variety of potential benefits: reducing the amount of energy and other resources needed to create building materials; creating healthier indoor and outdoor environments; diverting or reducing waste from landfills; reducing the use of scarce, critical or economically volatile materials; and spurring innovation in the building industry. However, a lack of clarity surrounds alternative materials and creates a barrier to their usage. The purpose of this paper is to review definitions of alternative materials in various design guidelines in order to provide context to their specification and usage.

Through a survey of green building programs and guidelines, existing literature on alternative materials, and life-cycle assessment using multiple inventory databases, this study tackles the following questions: what constitutes an alternative building material; what are the current barriers to their specification; how are they specified in the most common design guidelines; and do alternative building materials present a “greener” alternative?

These results show that while often alternative materials do in fact show promise for reducing environmental impacts of the built environment, by how much can be a challenging question to quantify and depends on a variety of factors. While many green building guides and certification systems provide recommendations for use of alternative materials, the sheer diversity and uncertainty of these systems coupled with the complexity in understanding their impacts still present a significant barrier to their specification. Much work remains in a variety of disciplines to tackle these barriers. A clear emphasis should be on better understanding their environmental impacts, particularly with respect to the context within the built environment that their specification will provide energy, resource and emission savings. Other key areas of significant work include reducing costs, removing regulatory and code barriers, and educating designers, consumers, and end-users.

Alternative materials are defined and specified in a diversity of contexts leaving the design and construction communities hesitant to promote their use; other work has found this to be a key barrier to their widespread usage. By compiling definitions, barriers and design guidelines instructions while also exploring analytically the benefits of specific cases, this work provides a foundation for better understanding where new, more sustainable materials can be successfully specified.

This paper aims to consider the embodied energy of building materials in the context of greenhouse gas emission mitigation strategies. Previous practice and research are highlighted where they have the potential to influence design decisions. Latest embodied energy figures are indicated, and the implications of applying these figures to whole buildings are discussed. Several practical examples are given to aid building designers in the selection of building materials for reduced overall life cycle greenhouse gas emissions.

The purpose of this paper is to develop the empirically tested framework about the knowledge and perception about sustainability of building materials in Prishtina, Kosovo from the perspective of users, construction industry and facility managers.

A survey of representative sections of the population was designed and carried out in the capital city of Kosovo to determine the knowledge and perception of the population about the sustainability of building materials and to determine the main criteria of selection of sustainable building materials. The study may be used as guidelines for sustainable real estate developers in Prishtina during the materials selection process. Qualitative interviews were conducted with architects, consulting engineering companies, construction companies and facility managers from the region of Prishtina with open-ended questions also being used.

Results of quantitative research find that embodied energy, durability and low energy consumption are used as key criteria that influence the materials selection process on the part of users. The results of the cross-case analysis of qualitative measure the perceptions of construction industry and facility managers, according to which durability to a large degree is the main criterion for selection of sustainable building materials followed by embodied energy and low energy consumption.

The study of measurement of level of knowledge and perception about sustainability of building materials in Kosovo focuses only on one pilot city; hence, further research is needed throughout Kosovo to validate the empirically tested tool within other geographical settings in Kosovo.

This survey represents the first quantification of knowledge and perception regarding the sustainability of building materials among users, construction sector and facility managers.

In a circular economy, the goal is to keep materials values in the economy for as long as possible. For the construction industry to support the goal of the circular economy, there is the need for materials reuse. However, there is little or no information about the amount and quality of reusable materials obtainable when buildings are deconstructed. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to develop a reusability analytics tool for assessing end-of-life status of building materials.

A review of the extant literature was carried out to identify the best approach to modelling end-of-life reusability assessment tool. The reliability analysis principle and materials properties were used to develop the predictive mathematical model for assessing building materials performance. The model was tested using the case study of a building design and materials take-off quantities as specified in the bill of quantity of the building design.

The results of analytics show that the quality of the building materials varies with the building component. For example, from the case study, at the 80th year of the building, the qualities of the obtainable concrete from the building are 0.9865, 0.9835, 0.9728 and 0.9799, respectively, from the foundation, first floor, frame and stair components of the building.

As a contribution to the concept of circular economy in the built environment, the tool provides a foundation for estimating the quality of obtainable building materials at the end-of-life based on the life expectancy of the building materials.