Exploring the Relationships between the Triple Bottom Line of Sustainability in the Construction Industry

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Oluwatobi Oluwalaiye ◽

Mehmet E. Ozbek

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Construction Industry ◽

New York State ◽

Triple Bottom Line ◽

Third Party ◽

Rating System ◽

Rating Systems ◽

Bottom Line ◽

Environmental Aspect ◽

Transportation Sustainability

The construction industry contributes a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions to the environment. This highlights the need for this industry to implement sustainable practices to mitigate its negative effects. Sustainability in the construction industry involves considering project development in terms of economic, social, and environmental aspects (triple bottom line). In the transportation sector of the construction industry, several transportation sustainability rating systems (TSRS) have been developed to measure and promote sustainability. However, studies show that these TSRS have not been developed within a consistent “sustainability scope”. This raises the question of the consistency of these TSRS in measuring sustainability of transportation projects. This study assesses three prominent TSRS to determine how each measures sustainability with respect to the triple bottom line. The TSRS that are in the scope of this study are: (i) Envision-a third-party rating system, (ii) INVEST-a self-assessed rating and, (iii) GreenLITES-an in-house developed self-assessed rating system for the New York State DOT. Results show that while these three rating systems provide different levels of credits/points with respect to the triple bottom line, they all place the highest focus on the environmental aspect.

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Leveraging effects of triple bottom lines business model on the building and construction small and medium-sized enterprises’ market performance

Acta Commercii ◽

10.4102/ac.v17i1.457 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Boniface Okanga ◽

Darelle Groenewald

Keyword(s):

Construction Industry ◽

Business Model ◽

Research Method ◽

Market Performance ◽

Triple Bottom Line ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Financial Sustainability ◽

Bottom Line ◽

Kwazulu Natal ◽

Operational Activities

Orientation: Embracement of triple bottom line reporting as a driver of a firm’s sustainability is a paradox puzzling most contemporary business executives.Research purpose: The purpose of this research is to examine how effective alignment of the triple bottom line business model with building and construction operational activities leverages effective market performance of the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the building and construction industry, so as to identify major paradoxes and the remedial business model that can be suggested.Research design, approach and method: The study uses interpretivist research paradigm and exploratory qualitative research method to explore the opinions and perceptions of 30 judgementally drawn participants comprising managers and supervisors from 30 building and construction SMEs in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. Thematic analysis was used in the evaluation and interpretation of the interview data collected using a semi-structured interview guide.Main findings: A seemingly greater preponderance to pursue profitability at the expense of people and planet bottom lines was found to be common among most of the SMEs during the initial stages of their establishments and growth because of the need to attain the usually essential initial financial sustainability. Even though on attaining financial sustainability, some of the SMEs strive to achieve all the three bottom lines, most of the undertaken initiatives are often only aimed at improving compliance with relevant building and construction legislations.Managerial implications: The study suggests a modified triple bottom line business model that the SMEs in the building and construction industry can replicate to effectively apply triple bottom line reporting as an edifier for effective market performance.Contributions: The study offers a new theory for measuring the leveraging effects of the triple bottom line business model on the building and construction SMEs’ effective market performance.

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Towards a triple bottom-line sustainability assessment of the U.S. construction industry

The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment ◽

10.1007/s11367-013-0545-9 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 18 (5) ◽

pp. 958-972 ◽

Cited By ~ 73

Author(s):

Murat Kucukvar ◽

Omer Tatari

Keyword(s):

Construction Industry ◽

Sustainability Assessment ◽

Triple Bottom Line ◽

Bottom Line ◽

The U.S

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Sustainability Identification of Steel and Concrete Construction Frames with Respect to Triple Bottom Line

Buildings ◽

10.3390/buildings11110565 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (11) ◽

pp. 565

Author(s):

Amir Oladazimi ◽

Saeed Mansour ◽

Seyed Abbas Hosseinijou ◽

Mohammad H. Majdfaghihi

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle Assessment ◽

Life Cycle ◽

Environmental Economic ◽

Construction Industry ◽

Triple Bottom Line ◽

Steel Frame ◽

Social Dimensions ◽

Bottom Line ◽

High Importance ◽

Concrete Frame

As one of the most prominent industries in developed and developing countries, the construction industry has had substantial impacts on different aspects of the environment, society, and economy. In recent years, sustainable construction has been introduced as an approach to evaluate the various construction phases based on environmental, economic, and social dimensions, also known as the triple bottom line (TBL). To conduct a sustainability analysis of the buildings in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, two conventional construction frames were selected, namely steel frame and concrete frame. In this research, three conventional approaches for the evaluation of the TBL, namely the life cycle assessment (LCA), life cycle cost (LCC), and social life cycle assessment (SLCA), were, respectively, used for the study of environmental, economic, and social impacts. The main results of the study are summarized as the following: Overall, based on the LCA results, the concrete frame led to almost 38% more environmental pollution than steel frame. In terms of the total prices of the buildings, considering their LCC and with respect to the present value (PV) method, the steel frame was almost 152,000 USD more expensive than the concrete frame. The quantified results of the social dimension by the SLCA method showed that concrete and steel buildings had a score of 0.199 and 0.189, respectively, which indicates that concrete had a slightly better social performance based on expert opinions. A multi-criteria assessment and sensitivity analysis of the results were conducted by a graphical tool, namely the mixing triangle, and showed that the overall preference of each alternative depends mainly on the importance weights given to each aspect of the assessment. However, one of the main findings of the research was that overall, giving a high importance weight to environmental dimension leads to sustainability preference of steel over concrete frame, while giving high importance weights to economic or social dimensions leads to sustainability preference of concrete over steel frame. Findings of the study are beneficial to decision-makers in the construction industry since they can decide on the best alternative among concrete and steel frames based on their strategies.

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The Overview and Tendency of Corporate Environmental Responsibility in the Construction Industry of China

MATEC Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/matecconf/201817504021 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 175 ◽

pp. 04021

Author(s):

Ying Jiang ◽

Xiaolong Xue

Keyword(s):

Corporate Social Responsibility ◽

Social Responsibility ◽

Construction Industry ◽

Stakeholder Theory ◽

Triple Bottom Line ◽

Environmental Responsibility ◽

Corporate Environmental Responsibility ◽

Bottom Line ◽

Classic Theory ◽

Corporate Social

Although the research on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) has attached increasing attention in recent years, the definition and measurement of CSR in the construction industry are still not sufficient. This paper reviewed previous literatures on the definition and measurement of CSR. Then, the study defined and constructed the index of corporate social responsibility in the construction industry based on the classic theory of triple bottom line and stakeholder theory. At last, the study put forward the further research of CSR in the construction industry of China.

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