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This study investigates the barriers and drivers of using green methods and technologies (GMTs) in supportive educational buildings (SEBs) in South Africa, and assesses their impact on the circular economy (CE) in achieving net-zero carbon goals. While there has been extensive literature on green building technologies, there is limited research on the barriers and drivers of using GMT in SEBs, as well as their impact on the circular economy (CE) in achieving net-zero carbon goals.

This study adopts an interpretivist approach with an ontological basis, using an overarching case study of a SEB at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Semistructured interviews were conducted with executive UCT management, and a field survey of a UCT supportive education building was performed.

At UCT, multiple GMTs have been installed across various buildings to enhance monitoring and management of water and energy consumption. Moreover, initiatives to positively influence student behavior, such as water and energy-saving campaigns around UCT premises, have been introduced. The findings further indicate that UCT has recently emphasized the implementation of GMTs, resulting in improved resource efficiency, CE practices and progress toward achieving net-zero carbon targets for supportive education buildings and the university as a whole.

This research highlights the positive impact of GMTs on a SEB’s CE and net-zero carbon operations. As a result, facility managers should consider incorporating GMTs when planning the development or refurbishment of SEBs.

Sustainable/Green building materials (SBMs/GBMs) offer a wide range of benefits which cut across the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability. The incorporation of these materials in construction projects in most developing countries is still low owing to some factors. This study assessed the major barriers to the incorporation of SBMs in the delivery of construction projects in developing countries, with Nigeria as a case in point.

The well-structured quantitative questionnaire was used to gather data from the key players in the construction industry, using the snowball sampling method and electronic means of questionnaire administration. Frequencies, percentile, relative importance index, Kruskal–Wallis H test, Kendall's coefficient of concordance and exploratory factor analysis were used to analyse the gathered data.

The study revealed that the major constructs of barriers to SBM adoption in construction projects are: (1) resistance and information barriers (Eigenvalues = 5.237; % of V = 23.806), (2) regulation and funding of R&D (Eigenvalues = 2.741; % of V = 12.457), (3) cost and market barriers (Eigenvalues = 2.223; % of V = 10.105), (4) government incentive and suppliers' availability (Eigenvalues = 1.728; % of V = 7.852) and (5) GB experts and labour barriers (Eigenvalues = 1.307; % of V = 5.942).

This study assessed the view of construction experts in the five states of the south-eastern geo-political zone of Nigeria, particularly as regards the barriers to the incorporation of sustainable building materials in construction projects in the region.

Though alternative building technologies (ABTs) have been encouraged to address accessible and affordable issues in low-cost housing (LCH) provision, their adoption is still overwhelmed with encumbrances. The encumbrances that hinder ABT adoption require an in-depth study, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. However, studies regarding ABT and its role in improving Nigeria's LCH to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 are scarce. This research investigates encumbrances to ABT adoption in Nigeria's LCH provision and suggests feasible measures to prevent or reduce the encumbrances, thereby improving achieving SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities).

This research utilised qualitative research and adopted a face-to-face interview as the primary data collection. The interviewees comprised ABT practitioners and end users in Nigeria who were chosen by a convenient sampling technique. The study's data were analysed manually through a thematic approach.

This study shows that stakeholders should embrace ABT in LCH provision to improve achieving SDG 11 in Nigeria. Also, it clustered the perceived 20 encumbrances to ABT adoption in LCH provision into government/policymaker, housing developers/building contractors, ABT users and ABT manufacturers-related issues in Nigeria's context. This study suggested mechanisms to mitigate encumbrances to ABT adoption in LCH provision, thereby improving achieving SDG 11.

This research adds to the limited literature by analysing ABT adoption encumbrances in Nigeria's LCH provision, which could assist policy formulation for the uptake of ABT in LCH provision and improve achieving Goal 11.

Sustainable building design suffers from a lack of reliable life cycle data. The purpose of this paper is to compare life cycle costs of sustainable building projects, examine the magnitude of various cost drivers and discuss the implications of an emerging shift in cost drivers.

This paper is based on data from 21 office buildings certified in Denmark according to the sustainable certification scheme DGNB.

The paper supports previous findings that construction costs and running costs each roughly make up half of the life cycle costs over a 50-year period. More surprising is the finding that the life cycle costs for cleaning are approximately twice as high as the supply costs for energy and water.

The data set is based on actual construction costs of office buildings constructed in 2013-2017. Although all running costs are calculated rather than measured, they are based on a more detailed, specific and industry-supported set of calculation assumptions than is usual for life cycle costing studies because of extensive collaborative work in a number of concomitant national research and development projects.

Authorities, clients and building professionals heavily emphasise energy-saving measures in new Danish buildings. The paper suggests redirecting this effort towards other more prominent cost drivers like cleaning and technical installations.

This paper provides a notable contribution to the academic understanding of the significance of different cost drivers as well as the practical implementation of life cycle costing.

This study aims to examine the challenges for green retrofitting implementation in existing residential buildings to lower the running cost and achieve a better energy-efficient system.

This study adopted a qualitative approach by interviewing conveniently selected 16 construction professionals, made up of architects, quantity surveyors and engineers. Data received were analysed using the content analysis method.

The findings revealed that the main barriers to incorporating green retrofitting in the existing residential buildings as the nature of the existing structures, limited knowledge, not being a priority and high costs involved in the process. Moreover, other factors influencing property developers’ decision to apply energy-efficient principles in a residential home include cost (initial capital and maintenance), level of knowledge, nature of the climate in the area, local legislation, more independence and increasing the property’s market value and environmental aspect.

This study is limited to South Africa; thus, the literature available was limited.

People’s perceptions, either wrong or correct, affect their ability to make an informed decision to adopt green retrofitting principles, thereby denying them the opportunity to reap the associated benefits. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the construction industry stakeholders and government to increase educational opportunities for property owners on the importance of green retrofitting.

This study provides the occupants with the possible barriers and problem areas with implementing these principles. They will thus make an informed decision when implementing sustainable design methods.

In responding to global issues of creating sustainable development, the Indonesian government has enacted regulations (i.e. Ministry of Public Works and Housing No. 05/PRT/M/2015) on the implementation of sustainable construction in infrastructure project execution. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the means of implementing sustainable principles in the execution of infrastructure projects in Indonesia by the main construction service providers and their partners. A lesson-learned is presented as a source of knowledge to underpin the extensive implementation of sustainable principles in the construction of infrastructure projects leading to an integrated approach in creating a sustainable infrastructure that fulfills the requirements of sustainable development.

The method used is questionnaire surveys with Indonesian construction practitioners who are working on building construction, road and bridge construction, water facilities construction and house and settlement construction.

From the results, the practices of sustainability principles by construction service providers in infrastructure project execution are imperative from the project procurement phase. The evaluation continues to the phase of construction project execution, which reveals the inconsiderable performance of sustainability indicators due to current constraints on the implementation of sustainability principles.

This research looks into the existing gaps between sustainable construction principles and their practical implementation in Indonesian infrastructure projects. This will foster a holistic approach in the practice of undertaking sustainable procurement processes, thus reinforcing project management techniques in the phase of sustainable construction project execution. This also strengthens the interrelated roles and responsibilities of project stakeholders by taking into account principles of safety, balance and the harmony of infrastructure and the environment.

This study aims to examine the concept of innovative technologies and identify their impacts on the environmental sustainability of commercial properties in South Africa. This slow adoption is attributed to South Africa’s energy building regulation, SANS 204, which does not promote energy-conscious commercial property development. Furthermore, it was observed that buildings waste significant amounts of energy as electrical appliances are left on when they are not in use, which can be prevented using innovative technologies.

The researchers attempted to evaluate the impact of innovative technologies through an overarching constructivist mixed-method paradigm. The research was conducted using a multi-case study approach on green buildings which had innovative technologies installed. The data collection took the form of online, semi-structured interviews, where thematic analysis was used to identify emergent themes from the qualitative data, and descriptive statistics was used to evaluate the quantitative data.

It was found that implementing innovative technologies to reduce the energy consumption of commercial buildings could achieve energy savings of up to 23%. Moreover, a commercial building’s carbon footprint can be reduced to 152CO2/m2 and further decreased to 142CO2/m2 through the adoption of a Photovoltaics plant. The study further found that innovative technologies improved employee productivity and promoted green learning and practices.

This research demonstrated the positive impact innovative technologies have on energy reduction and the sustainability of commercial properties. Hence, facility managers should engage innovative technologies when planning a commercial development or refurbishment.

As one of the five concrete actions recommended for implementing sustainable development at universities (internal operations, institutional framework, research, education and capacity building), capacity building has received the least research attention. Although capacity building can be a tangible implementation of outreach that offers empowerment to universities, it is currently unclear how capacity building can be operationalised in concrete activities and which parties represent the university and the community. The purpose of this study is to provide the idea that capacity building can be organised through student training projects.

To provide support for our suggestion that student training projects can act as an implementation method for capacity building, an illustrative case study is presented. The case study concerns an academic consultancy training project for students in the domain of sustainable development.

The case study analysis reveals that, as an implementation method, student training projects can provide benefits for both universities and communities. It appears that student training projects do not depend on individual engagement, on individual university staff members or on research grants and that they provide community members with access to resources, expertise and experiences of academics. Moreover, student training projects overcome the major challenges of both power distance and continuity.

To summarise, student training projects may provide a new, promising avenue as an implementation method for capacity building that provides substantial benefits and overcomes the challenges of other methods mentioned in the existing literature.

This article introduces the Special Issue on Sustainable Management of Heritage Buildings in long-term perspective.

It starts by reviewing the gaps in knowledge and practice which led to the creation and implementation of the research project SyMBoL—Sustainable Management of Heritage Buildings in long-term perspective funded by the Norwegian Research Council over the 2018–2022 period. The SyMBoL project is the motivation at the base of this special issue.

The editorial paper briefly presents the main outcomes of SyMBoL. It then reviews the contributions to the Special Issue, focussing on the connection or differentiation with SyMBoL and on multidisciplinary findings that address some of the initial referred gaps.

The article shortly summarizes topics related to sustainable preservation of heritage buildings in time of reduced resources, energy crisis and impacts of natural hazards and global warming. Finally, it highlights future research directions targeted to overcome, or partially mitigate, the above-mentioned challenges, for example, taking advantage of no sestructive techniques interoperability, heritage building information modelling and digital twin models, and machine learning and risk assessment algorithms.