scholarly journals A framework for systemic sustainable construction industry development (SSCID)

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
William Gyadu-Asiedu ◽  
Adwoa Ampadu-Asiamah ◽  
Alfred Fokuo-Kusi
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Human Resource Development ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Systems Engineering ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Industry Development

AbstractThe quest for construction industry (CI) development in developing countries has met with several challenges. These challenges are numerous and varied. The study aimed to provide a framework by which the construction industry development agenda in developing countries could be prosecuted through a more structured and systemic approach. The qualitative research approach was adopted for the study. This approach was employed within the constructivist epistemological paradigm. Regarding information gathering, the study used the integrative literature review approach to elucidate the construction industry’s nature and its proper systemic context. Complexity, interconnectedness, fragmentation, culture, and informality were found to be common challenges inherent in most CIs. Concerning the development of the industry, the approach was to (1) consider the industry as a system of systems (enabling the use of the principles of systems thinking and systems engineering), (2) apply the concepts of sustainable development as considered within the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and specified in the triple-bottom-line (TBL), i.e., the economic, environmental, and social dimensions, (3) identify the components of CI development (eight components were identified), which are: technology development, corporate development, human resource development, institutional development, material development, documentation, practice and procedure, and operating environment), and (4) Integrated studies. A conceptual framework was modelled from all the identified constructs. Based on this model, it was possible to propose a framework for assessing the maturity level of a country's sustainable construction industry development  and, thereby,  monitor its systemic development.

scholarly journals Embracing Sustainability in Shipping: Assessing Industry’s Adaptations Incited by the, Newly, Introduced ‘triple bottom line’ Approach to Sustainable Maritime Development

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fasoulis ◽  
Rafet
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Integrated Management ◽  
Triple Bottom Line ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Integrated Concept

Increasing environmental, social and economic problems, born by unceasing economic growth, have transformed our approach to the development concept. The 1980s saw the appearance of the sustainable development term and, during the 1990s, sustainability notion was implicitly framed as an integrated concept, frequently, termed as the ‘triple bottom line’ approach. Among several initiatives and efforts to balance our economic and societal pursuits with environmental challenges the, lately, introduced United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) refer to a remarkable evolution, which came to strengthen and establish sustainability conception as an integrated social, economic and environmental triptych. International shipping, as the major carrier of world trade and significant contributor to environmental degradation has, definitely, a vital role to play in facilitating the UN’s sustainability venture. Although there is a great amount of legislative instruments, codes and guidance to address sustainability in shipping, though, limited research has been devoted to identify how the tanker and dry bulk maritime sector has responded to such recent cohesive attitude to sustainable maritime development. Through a quantitative research approach this empirical study aimed to investigate maritime industry’s insights and attitudes in relation to the, newly, introduced triple bottom line approach to global sustainable development. Research data were collected via a questionnaire survey conducted to 50 tanker and/or dry bulk shipping companies. Pearson’s chi-square test of independence and Spearman’s correlation coefficient measures were utilized to test our three formulated hypotheses. Findings highlighted increasing awareness and adaptation of the maritime sector to the triple bottom line approach and, subsequent, sustainability absorption under the auspices of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) business model. Introduction of sustainable development in an integrated manner appears to have influenced the extent that statutory maritime regulations occupy to the formulation of marine safety management systems. To sum up, the integrated management system model turned out to be the most rated tactic to manage sustainability and, as such, a conceptual CSR framework was proposed to facilitate such an objective.

scholarly journals Redefining the Use of Sustainable Development Goals at the Organisation and Project Levels—A Survey of Engineers

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Mansell ◽  
Simon P. Philbin ◽  
Efrosyni Konstantinou
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Project Success ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Business Skills ◽  
Creating Shared Value ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Local Impacts

The United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to deliver an improved future for people, planet and profit. However, they have not gained the required traction at the business and project levels. This article explores how engineers rate and use the SDGs at the organisational and project levels. It adopts the Realist Evaluation’s Context–Mechanism–Outcomes model to critically evaluate practitioners’ views on using SDGs to measure business and project success. The study addresses the thematic areas of sustainability and business models through the theoretical lens of Creating Shared Value and the Triple Bottom Line. A survey of 325 engineers indicated four primary shortfalls for measuring SDGs on infrastructure projects, namely (1) leadership, (2) tools and methods, (3) engineers’ business skills in measuring SDG impact and (4) how project success is too narrowly defined as outputs (such as time, cost and scope) and not outcomes (longer-term local impacts and stakeholder value). The research study is of value to researchers developing business models that address the SDGs and also practitioners in the construction industry who seek to link their investment decisions to the broader outcomes of people, planet and profit through the UN SDGs.

scholarly journals An Application of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for Sustainable Procurement of Construction Equipment: Multicriteria-Based Decision Framework for Malaysia

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Waris ◽  
Shrikant Panigrahi ◽  
Abdullah Mengal ◽  
Mujeeb Iqbal Soomro ◽  
Nayyar Hussain Mirjat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Life Cycle Cost ◽  
Construction Projects ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Construction Equipment ◽  
P System ◽  
Bottom Line ◽  
Sustainable Procurement ◽  
Selection Framework ◽  
Hierarchy Process

Sustainable procurement is an emerging theme in the construction industry across the globe. However, organizations in the construction industry often encounter impediments in improving environmental performance in construction projects, especially in procurement. Besides its other facets, procurement of construction equipment is inherited to be capital-intensive and vital for managing environmental concerns associated with built environment projects. In this regard, selection criteria in such procurement processes are generally supportive of considering cost and engineering specifications as key parameters. However, sustainability apprehensions in today’s Malaysian construction industry have mounted pressure on industry professionals to rethink their equipment acquisition strategies. The notion of green or sustainable procurement is still infancy for the Malaysian construction industry and facing challenges for embedding it in the current procurement practices. This research aims to address these apprehensions by considering six main criteria, namely, life cycle cost (LCC), performance (P), system capability (SC), operational convenience (OC), environmental impact (EI), and social benefits (SBs), and their 38 subcriteria towards procurement of sustainable construction equipment. A multicriteria-based equipment selection framework on the triple bottom line of sustainability in the context of the Malaysian construction industry has been developed and tested. The application of analytical hierarchy process (AHP) established the sustainable procurement index with a consistent sensitivity analysis results. As such, the proposed procurement index shall help decision-makers in the process of the acquisition of sustainable construction equipment in Malaysia.

scholarly journals Environmental and Social Sustainability in UK Construction Industry: a Systematic Literature Review

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 100
Author(s):  
Fotios Misopoulos ◽  
Vicky Manthou ◽  
Zenon Michaelides
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Systematic Literature Review ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Community Sustainability ◽  
Bottom Line

Research on sustainability in the construction industry is common in construction journals addressing the potential adverse effects conventional practices have in the construction community. Sustainability is addressed through the environmental, social and economic impacts in literature and researchers and practitioners always drive the need for an equal attention on these three dimensions, but not so successfully at present. Sustainability covers a broad content with various suggested approaches arising from different countries all over the world. Previous studies have investigated sustainable construction issues as a global concept and in individual developed countries such as the US, Australia, and China. The aim of this research is to investigate the extent of coverage, by academia, of the sustainability concept in UK construction industry, with a focus on the environmental and social aspects of sustainability, based on the Triple Bottom Line framework. The researchers conducted a systematic literature review, searching relevant articles with predefined criteria in two major bibliographical databases, which offer great coverage of the existing academic journals in social sciences. The study utilised the PRISMA reporting approach and the search resulted in thirty-one suitable articles. The findings revealed that environmental sustainability receives much more attention than social sustainability. Added emphasis is given to green buildings and materials used. Government regulations seem to be the leading driver for adopting sustainable practices, while lack of knowledge/awareness of sustainable best practices is the leading challenge.

scholarly journals Green building as a direction of sustainable development: essence, tasks, principles, benefits, prospects

2021 ◽  
pp. 64-71
Author(s):  
V. Bilotil
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Green Building ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Green Construction ◽  
Current State ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Impact

The construction industry plays an important role in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and reducing the impact on climate change through the introduction of green building principles. So the article has been devoted to this type of construction as an important area of sustainable development. The interaction of climate change and construction activities has been substantiated in the article. Tasks and principles of sustainable construction have been analyzed. The economic, ecological and social benefits of green construction have been studied. The difference between traditional and green construction has been described. The current state of development of sustainable construction in Ukraine and the world has been considered. Prospects for green construction in Ukraine have been identified. The urgency and necessity of its implementation in our country have been proved.

scholarly journals Sustainable Construction as a Competitive Advantage

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 5946
Author(s):  
Zhi-Jiang Liu ◽  
Paula Pypłacz ◽  
Marina Ermakova ◽  
Pavel Konev
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Competitive Advantages ◽  
Sustainable Business ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Macroeconomic Environment

Nowadays, sustainable construction (SC) is considered as a measure to support a healthy economy. The SC concept ensures quality of life and helps minimize the negative impact on the environment, human health, and biodiversity. SC fits into the modern sustainable development (SD) concept due to the ability to improve the environment, energy efficiency, and care for future generations. Despite numerous studies dedicated to the SC concept and implementation, practical matters related to SC including the importance of macroeconomic environmental sustainability are still insufficiently explored. The objective of this research is to study the practical issues of SC in the example of developing countries. Moreover, this work is aimed at determining the importance of the sustainable macroeconomic environment in ensuring SC. With the help of correlation and regression analysis effected for the purposes of the study, the direct connection and strong correlation between the GDP growth in the country and the number of large sustainable infrastructure facilities constructed and put into operation in the Russian Federation and China (correlation coefficient comprised 0.9987) were revealed. Within the current study, the experience of developing countries in SC is also discussed. It has been outlined that for emerging countries, the development of the construction industry environment within the framework of SC is possible in a sustainable business environment. The competitive advantages for SC are considered in social, economic, and environmental systems. Moreover, the models of formation and ensuring competitive advantages of the SC enterprise are presented. This paper reveals that the stability of the macroeconomic environment is a key factor in construction industry growth within the SC for developing countries.

Policy barriers to sustainable construction practice in the Nigerian construction industry: an exploratory factor analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayotunde Babalola ◽  
Nishani Harinarain
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Implementation Strategies ◽  
High Standard ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Regulatory Policies ◽  
Policy Barriers ◽  
Construction Practice

Purpose Sustainable construction practice is structured on regulatory and non-regulatory policies in developed and most developing countries. With the gradual uptake of sustainability concerns in the construction industry, this paper aims to identify the strategic need for clear-cut policies to improve sustainable construction practice. Previous studies have harped on the need for regulatory and industrial/organisational policies on improving sustainable construction practice within the Nigerian construction industry. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey was used to evaluate the perspectives of construction professionals on the policy barriers for sustainable construction practice in Nigeria, and 46 policy barriers were identified. A total of 249 questionnaires were returned and useable for analysis. Findings Factor analysis revealed four clusters in the policy barriers to sustainable construction practice in the following order of significance: implementation strategies for sustainable construction practice, owners/client inputs for sustainable construction practice, stakeholder’s policy barriers and governmental and regulatory policy barriers. Practical implications Mitigating the identified barriers through effective policies will require adequate inputs from all relevant policymaking stakeholders and ensure improved sustainable construction practice among stakeholders and policymakers in the industry. This will in turn set a high standard and promote the practice of sustainable construction. Originality/value This study goes a step further in identifying the policy issues needed to ensure a smooth implementation of sustainable construction practice. The research findings will serve as a guide for policymakers in developing countries that through mitigation of the identified barriers, sustainable construction practice will be promoted.

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