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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.

Recently, there has been a shift toward the embodied energy assessment of buildings. However, the impact of material service life on the life-cycle embodied energy has received little attention. We aimed to address this knowledge gap, particularly in the context of the UAE and investigated the embodied energy associated with the use of concrete and other materials commonly used in residential buildings in the hot desert climate of the UAE.

Using input–output based hybrid analysis, we quantified the life-cycle embodied energy of a villa in the UAE with over 50 years of building life using the average, minimum, and maximum material service life values. Mathematical calculations were performed using MS Excel, and a detailed bill of quantities with >170 building materials and components of the villa were used for investigation.

For the base case, the initial embodied energy was 57% (7390.5 GJ), whereas the recurrent embodied energy was 43% (5,690 GJ) of the life-cycle embodied energy based on average material service life values. The proportion of the recurrent embodied energy with minimum material service life values was increased to 68% of the life-cycle embodied energy, while it dropped to 15% with maximum material service life values.

The findings provide new data to guide building construction in the UAE and show that recurrent embodied energy contributes significantly to life-cycle energy demand. Further, the study of material service life variations provides deeper insights into future building material specifications and management considerations for building maintenance.

The purpose of this paper is to explore issues relating to imposing a ban on the importation of asbestos-contaminated building materials (ACBMs) in the Australian context to better understand the multiple accountabilities and consequences.

This study undertakes a qualitative content analysis of the multiple accountabilities and stakeholder expectations using the lens of actor–network theory. This study further explores the weaknesses and complexities associated with implementing a complete ban on asbestos, ensuring that only asbestos-free building materials are imported to Australia. This study uses data collected from 15 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, responses from the Australian Border Force to a questionnaire and 215 counter accounts from the media, the Australian Government, industry organizations, non-governmental organizations and social group websites during the period from 2003 to 2021.

This study reveals that stakeholders' expectations of zero tolerance for asbestos have not been met. This assertion has been backed by evidence of asbestos contamination in imported building materials throughout recent years. Stakeholders say that the complete prevention of the importation of ACBMs has been delayed because of issues in policy implementations, opaque supply chain activities, lack of transparency and non-adherence to mandatory and self-regulated guidelines.

Stakeholders expect public and private sector organizations to meet their accountabilities through mandatory adoption of the given policy framework.

This research provides a road map to identify the multiple accountabilities, their related weaknesses and the lack of implementation of the necessary protocol, which prevents a critical aspect of legislation from being effectively implemented.

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.

Although the adverse effects of construction activities on the environment and the need for sustainable construction practices are recognised in both research and practice, any significant shift in the selection and use of construction materials from the sustainability perspective has not taken place in many building projects. Still, conventional construction materials are widely used in building projects in both developed and developing countries. This study attempts to identify the main barriers to the use of sustainable materials in building projects in an advanced economy such as Australia.

This study adopted a questionnaire survey approach to examine the main reasons behind the low usage of sustainable materials in building projects. Based on the relative importance index, exploratory factor analysis and multinomial logistic regression analysis, the study examined the main barrier measures and barrier factors to the use of sustainable materials in building projects.

The findings reveal that critical barriers to the use of sustainable materials are related to cost and profit considerations, the unwillingness of the key stakeholders to incorporate these materials into building projects, lack of incentives and government policies. The factor analysis reduced the critical barrier measures into three factors: techno-economic considerations, cost and delay concerns and resistance to use. Furthermore, multinomial regression analysis based on the extracted factors identified techno-economic considerations as the main barrier factor to the use of sustainable materials in building projects.

The empirical results of this research can inform construction practitioners, organisations and policymakers on how to increase the use of sustainable building materials in the construction industry.

Identification of barriers to the use of sustainable building materials is a prerequisite to improve their uptake and use in the construction industry. The study fills a gap in the existing research on the use of sustainable materials in building projects in Australia.

While most efforts to combat climate change are focussed on energy efficiency and substitution of fossil fuels, growth in the built environment remains largely unquestioned. Given the current climate emergency and increasing scarcity of global resources, it is imperative that we address this “blind spot” by finding ways to support required services with less resource consumption.

There is now long overdue recognition to greenhouse gas emissions “embodied” in the production of building materials and construction, and its importance in reaching targets of net zero carbon by 2050. However, there is a widespread belief that we can continue to “build big”, provided we incorporate energy saving measures and select “low carbon materials” – ignoring the fact that excessive volume and area of buildings may outweigh any carbon savings. This is especially the case with commercial real estate.

As the inception and planning phases of projects offer most potential for reduction in both operational and embodied carbon, we must turn our attention to previously overlooked options such as “build nothing” or “build less”. This involves challenging the root cause of the need, exploring alternative approaches to meet desired outcomes, and maximising the use of existing assets. If new build is required, this should be designed for adaptability, with increased stewardship, so the building stock of the future will be a more valuable and useable resource.

This points to the need for increased understanding and application of the principles of strategic asset management, hitherto largely ignored in sustainability circles, which emphasize a close alignment of assets with the services they support.

Arguably, as the built environment consumes more material resources and energy than any other sector, its future configuration may be critical to the future of people and the planet. In this regard, this paper seeks to break new ground for deeper exploration.

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.