Future Trends of Sustainability Design and Analysis in Construction Industry and Academia
Publication: Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 19, Issue 1
Abstract
Because of the negative environmental and social impacts of built environment activities, several rating systems were developed in the last two decades to help professionals evaluate the sustainability of their design and construction decisions. A recent study revealed that industry leaders reported the shortcomings of these rating systems to provide accurate valuation of the return on their green investments. The study suggested the development of new evaluation processes that consider the triple-bottom-line (TBL) aspects (social, environmental, and financial) of project sustainability in a more holistic approach. Accordingly, this paper identifies the gaps between current practices and envisioned TBL-based practices through the following three main tasks: (1) surveying industry professionals to identify their current practices and required skills of sustainable design and construction; (2) surveying a sample of national academic engineering programs to identify current offerings of required sustainability courses; and (3) applying needs assessment to highlight the gaps and needed actions for achieving envisioned practices. It is proposed to implement a top-bottom action plan to develop new TBL-based processes that better inform sustainable/green investors and owners.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Athena Sustainable Materials Institute (ASMI). (2002). LEED Canada adaptation and BREEAM/Green Leaf harmonization study, Ottawa.
Bosch, S. J., and Pearce, A. (2003). “Sustainability in public facilities: Analysis of guidance documents.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil., 9–18.
Bowden, A., Lane, M., and Martin, J. (2001). Triple bottom line risk management: Enhancing profit, environmental performance and community benefits, Wiley, New York.
Building Research Establishment (BRE). (2012). “What is BREEAM?” 〈http://www.breeam.org/about.jsp?id=66〉 (Dec. 7, 2012).
CEEQUAL. (2013). “CEEQUAL–Introduction and what is new in version 5?” 〈http://www.ceequal.com/pdf/CEEQUAL%20Introduction%20+%20Whats%20new%20Version%205%20%28A5%29.pdf〉 (Nov. 19, 2013).
Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental Efficiency (CASBEE). (2012). “An overview of CASBEE.” 〈http://www.ibec.or.jp/CASBEE/english/index.htm〉 (Dec. 7, 2012).
Draheim J., and Berger L. (2012). “URS, sROI & RISQUE analysis—Transformational outcomes.” 〈http://livebettermagazine.com/article/urs-sroi-risque-analysis-transformational-outcomes/〉 (Nov. 19, 2013).
Engineering News Record (ENR). (2013). “ The 2013 top 500 design firms.” 〈http://enr.construction.com/toplists/Top-Design-Firms/001-100.asp〉 (Nov. 19, 2013).
Fink, A., and Kosecoff, J. (1985). How to conduct surveys: A step-by-step guide, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA.
Fowler, F. J., Jr. (1993). Survey research methods, 2nd Ed., Sage, Newbury Park, CA.
Galloway, P. D. (2006). “Survey of the construction industry relative to the use of CPM scheduling for construction projects.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 697–711.
Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). (2011). “Sustainability reporting guidelines, version 3.1.” 〈www.globalreporting.org〉 (Dec. 7, 2012).
Goodman, L. (2011). “The international green construction code could transform the development, operation and sale of real estate.” 〈www.Venable.com〉 (Dec. 7, 2012).
Gowri, K. (2004). “Green building rating systems: An overview.” ASHRAE J., 46(11), 56–59.
Greenroads. (2013). Greenroads abridged manual v1.5, 〈http://www.greenroads.org/366/download-the-manual.html〉 (Nov. 19, 2013).
Grierson, D. (2009). “Towards a sustainable built environment.” CIC Start Online Innovation Rev., 1, 70–78.
Gupta, K., Sleezer, C., and Russ-Eft, D. (2007). A practical guide to needs assessment, 2nd Ed., Wiley, San Francisco.
Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI). (2013). Envision rating system, 〈http://www.sustainableinfrastructure.org/rating/index.cfm〉 (Nov. 19, 2013).
International Code Council (ICC) (2012). “International green construction code.” 〈http://www.iccsafe.org/cs/igcc/pages/default.aspx〉 (Dec. 7, 2012).
Jackson, A., Boswell, K., and Davis, D. (2011). “Sustainability and triple bottom line reporting—What is it all about?” Int. J. Business, Humanities Technol., 1(3), 55–59.
Larson, N. (2012). “User guide to the SBTool assessment framework. The International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE).” 〈http://www.iisbe.org/sbtool-2012〉 (Dec. 7, 2012).
McGraw Hill Construction (MHC). (2010). “The business benefits of green buildings: Building and occupant performance driving green investment in existing commercial buildings.” SmartMarket Rep., Bedford, MA.
McGraw Hill Construction (MHC). (2012). “Determining the value of green building investment: A perspective from industry leaders on triple bottom line decision making.” SmartMarket Executive Brief, Bedford, MA.
Price, L., De la Rue du Can, S., Sinton, J., and Worrell, E. (2006). “Sectoral trends in global energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.” LBNL-56144, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Washington, DC.
Queeney, D. S. (1995). Assessing needs in continuing education: An essential tool for quality improvement, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Rasdorf, W., Grasso, B., and Bridgers, M. (2010). “Public versus private perceptions on hiring an external program manager.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 219–226.
Siemens. (2012). “A path to achieving higher building performance through retrofits and ongoing operational improvements.” 〈http://www.industry.usa.siemens.com/topics/us/en/btus/SiemensGreenBuildings/Documents/Siemens%20MGH%20Research%20Study%20Summary.pdf〉 (Dec. 7, 2012).
Skopek, J. (2005). “Green Globes emerges to challenge LEED.” 〈http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm?fileName=140304b.xml〉 (Dec. 7, 2012).
Smith, T., Fischlein, M., Suh, S., and Huelman, P. (2006). “Green building rating systems: A comparison of the LEED and Green Globes systems in the US.” 〈http://www.thegbi.org/gbi/Green_Building_Rating_UofM.pdf〉 (Nov. 8, 2013).
Stenzel, P. L. (2010). “Sustainability, the triple bottom line, and the global reporting initiative.” Global Edge Bus. Rev., 4(6), 1–2.
Stiltner, B. (1978). “Needs assessment: A first step.” Elem. Sch. Guid. Couns., 12(4), 239–246.
The White House. (2009). “Federal leadership in environmental, energy, and economic performance.” Executive Order 13514, Washington, DC. 〈http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ceq/sustainability〉 (Mar. 1, 2013).
United States Green Building Council (USGBC). (2010). “Annual report 2010.” 〈http://www.usgbc.org/resources/usgbc-annual-report-2010〉 (Dec. 7, 2012).
World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED). (1987). Our common future, Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K.
Xiaoping, M., Huimin, L., and Qiming, L. (2009). “A comparison study of mainstream sustainable/green building rating tools in the world.” Proc., Int. Conf. on Management and Service Science (MASS), IEEE Wuhan Section, Wuhan, China.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 25, 2012
Accepted: Jun 12, 2013
Published online: Jun 15, 2013
Published in print: Feb 1, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.