Sustainable Practices in Construction

This assignment delves into the crucial topic of sustainable practices within the construction sector. It examines the various challenges and opportunities associated with implementing sustainable building practices in construction projects. The focus is on understanding how these practices can be effectively integrated to minimize environmental impact, promote resource efficiency, and enhance overall project sustainability.

Dissertation Outline Proposal
Name: “Greener or sustainable construction practice – Implications
and insight to project management”.
Introduction
Proposed Area of Study:
This paper will discuss considering the study of construction project management. It has been widely acclaimed that
the construction industry is responsible for a major contribution to climate change. In the same time, it is also
responsible for half of the estimating percentage for greenhouse effect. In addition, it is also responsible for
consumption of 40% of the materials involved in the global economy. As the increase in the modern times is
associated to the increase in the population in the global world, the increase in the constructional activities will be
directly linked to the increase in carbon dioxide emissions leading to increased global warming. The increase in the
carbon dioxide emissions is an increasing impact which must be reduced and mitigated (Hwang & Ng 2013). For
mitigating such construction based practices, the government of the United Kingdom is responsible for enforcing the
presence of various amounts of laws and standards which will be used to provide a state of reference and in turn
lead to the formation of sustainable development in the construction management practices.
This has not only led to a widespread adoption of standards but has also led to the formation of a global question
that whether these will be able to satisfy the requirements. In case of failing to meet the criteria set by the
government of the United Kingdom can lead to the formation of grave mistakes in the construction based activities
(Jiang et al. 2018). Moreover, in the recent age, it is been considered that the utilization of green buildings in the
construction management activities is not being able to fully satisfy the required global warming criteria. It is thus,
further needed to look for other prospective in this area such that the utilization of construction practices can be
done in an efficient and effective way. For this reason, all the stakeholders and the community associated must play
an important part in this.
Aim(s):
The main aim of this research paper is to analyze and evaluate the impacts and effects of green or sustainable
development in construction related practices. In addition, the aim of this research paper is to undertake a holistic
approach in the construction based practices sp that the economic and the environmental concerns can be reduced.
This will be done by identifying the drivers for attaining sustainability in the greener construction practices,
identifying the contents involved in the sustainable construction practices and identifying the development
processes involved in sustainable building practices
Objectives:
 To specify the advantages related to the adoption of greener construction practices in construction activities
 To discuss the consequences of implementing greener construction technologies
 To find the associated parameters of the Green Construction practices
 Finding out the components embodied in greening the construction industry.
Research questions:
1. What are the advantages of greener construction?
2. What are the consequences of greener construction?

3. What are the associated parameters?
4. What are the components in construction industry?
Methodology:
Introduction:
This section of the research paper discusses mainly about the involved processes that will be used in collecting the
information associated to the topic. The research methodologies are considered to be a sequential process of logical
data collection which is termed to be impartial in their manners. This section of the paper includes the research
approaches, research designs, research philosophies, sample size, data collection and data analysis. Lastly, the issues
related to the topic are also discussed in this section.
Research approach
The procedure involved in collecting the data is termed as the research approach. This section of the paper lists
several broad assumptions that will be utilized in making the analysis of the study. In addition, the methods will also
explain the collection and analysis of the information (Knobe and Nichols, 2013). The approach is normally divided in
two different sections, the data collection aspects and the data analysis aspects. There are basically two different
methods of research approach. They are the inductive and the deductive approach. The main point of difference
between the two is that in case of deductive approach, the information is collected and analyzed from existing
scientific sources while in inductive approach, new theories are made constantly. In this paper, the deductive
approach is utilized for analyzing the relevant sources.
Figure 1: Research Approach
(Source: Knobe and Nichols, 2013)

Research design
The research design is considered to be a strategy which is involved in collecting data by integrating various related
components in a coherent way. The research design is basically used to ensure that the research related problems
are effectively addressed so that an effective map for data collection and analysis process can be set up efficiently.
There are three different types of research design processes, the explanatory process, exploratory and descriptive
research design processes. In case of the explanatory design process, the research analysis helps in making a
connection among the cause and effects of variables involved. In addition, the exploratory research design process
involves discussing about the issues related to the research that have not been addressed. Lastly, in the descriptive
research design process, an observation based study is involved in analyzing the various results from the population
involved such that the effects of the variable are successfully analyzed. For the analysis made in this research, the
use of descriptive research design is involved. The researcher has made an observational task for analyzing the
information and the associated investigations such that a numerical path is accepted. In addition, the most
important utilization of the descriptive research design is that an in-depth data analysis from both the qualitative
and quantitative sources can be done which will further help in the associated data analysis.
Figure 2: Research Design
(Source: Mackey and Gass 2015)
Research philosophy
The concept which is adopted in the utilization of data collecting aspects and analyzing them is termed as the
research philosophy concepts. The data and information that is gathered must correspond to a phenomenon which
will then encompass two various beliefs of information collection. They are the doxology and epistemology. With
reference to the applied concept of research philosophies, there are three different types of it. They are realism,
interpretivism and positivism (Silverman, 2016). The adoption of realism is mainly done to implement the human
mind independence by utilizing a scientific approach to methodologies. In case of interpretivism philosophy, the
utilization of social science is applied this opposes the way and methods of natural sciences. Lastly, the utilization of
positivism is mainly adopted for considering the analysis of data by considering the scientific justifications of them.
This paper has utilized the positivism philosophy due to the fact that the utilization of scientific approaches for
collecting and analyzing data will be adopted in this paper. Furthermore, the utilization of the positivism research

philosophy helps in collecting the data from present sources and analysing them using the qualitative and the
quantitative methods. In addition, the utilization of the positivism philosophy is involved in analyzing the quantifiable
data from sources which helps in the formation of statistical data analysis.
Figure 3: Research Philosophy
(Source: Silverman, 2016)
Data collection techniques
Data collection methods involve the utilization of various methods which will be utilized in the processing of
collecting data from various sources. These data will be collected in a systematic way such that the research will be
effectively done. The research proposed in this current paper consists of both of the primary and secondary research
data collection techniques. This paper will involve the utilization of primary data collection methods which will
involve the utilization of surveys and interviews which will then collect the raw data from the sources involved. The
secondary data collection methods consists of investigation of data and information present in various journals,
research based articles and websites which are related to green construction activities (Hwang, 2013). Furthermore,
this paper is also going to collect various other information and data which are related to the research objectives of
this paper. These will be collected from the various construction based companies and their associated annual
reports and technical publication reports. This information will be taken for analysis of the hypothesis involves such
that the research will be effectively carried out. For data collection related to the specific research objectives,
primary research related investigation will be aimed at stratified probabilistic industry samples across the country.
Data analysis
The utilization of various methods and processes for making a successful analysis of the related data is termed as the
data analysis process. This is basically utilized to investigate the data involved and documenting it such that an
effective research paper is developed. There are two different types of data analysis processes, the qualitative and
the quantitative data analysis process. In case of the qualitative data process, interviews and observations are used
for making an analysis. Whereas in case of the quantitative based analysis, the utilization of surveys are done which
helps in analyzing the quantity of the information and data involved. Various designs of surveys and questionnaire
forms will be developed which will be deployed for the sole process of information collection. The analysis will be
directed at personnel from different positions holdings in the organization (Mohammadi, 2016). For this reason, the
typical employees at decision making posts, middle level employees, top level employees and other associated
stakeholders, both in the internal and the external level, will be contacted for collecting the information required.

Sampling technique
The number of devices used and the instrument involved in collecting the data is discussed in this section of the
paper. For this paper, the researcher has utilized both the primary data collection methods and the secondary data
collection methods. The number of respondents will be 50 employees which can include both employees and labour
contractors. This paper will use both the qualitative and the quantitative method of data analysis. The surveys will be
aimed at the lower and the middle level personnel while the top level personnel of the organization will help in this
research through the use of interview questions.
Ethics
As the analysis uses in this research paper is involved with various human participants, various complex and ethical
issues will be raised. In addition, all the required ethical norms that have to be followed will be abided by this
research analysis. The primary that will be collected will only serve the purpose of this research. The information and
data that will be collected from the respondents will not be sold or shared with any other persons and this standard
will be maintained by the utilization of the Data Protection Act. This shows that this paper will respect the associated
privacy of the respondents. Lastly, there will not be any breach of ethics as well there is no deviation from the moral
rights during the execution of the research process.
Risk Assessment
The construction sectors are subjected to various risks in the industry. There are basically two different types of risks,
the engineering and the non-engineering risks. In case of the non-engineering risks, there are various factors which
make up the aspects. The first is the government and the political risks which poses an impact in the projects. The
next is the environmental and hazardous risks which are being caused by them. Lastly, the compliance requirements
also pose risks to the buildings. The engineering based risks are the client risks which can change the course of the
project. The next is the design and the project risk which much is thought before considering the project. Lastly, the
tendering and the contracting requirements pose risks to the system. The main risks considered in the project are
mainly about the risk related to environmental destruction from traditional or conventional construction project
management practices.
Literature:
This section of the research paper discusses about the associated literature of the topic. In addition, this section will
also discuss the main concepts of the topic.
Sustainable concepts
As commented by Kibert,(2016), the term sustainability refers to the construction and development of the society
and environment without destroying the future aspect of the society. The sustainability factor helps in minimizing
the damage to the environment by proper use of the resources required for the development and construction. In
this context, the construction industry has been facing problems in maintaining the sustainability in the development
of buildings and complexes. The use of the sustainability helps in mitigating issues in the sustainability. As
commented by Dadhich, Genovese, Kumar and Acquaye(2015), construction project needs to be sustainable to
minimize the use of resources naturally. The sustainable development of the society helps in creating a healthy
environment in the society. The use of the factors that are responsible for the development of the society helps in
maintaining a sustainable growth in the construction industry.

Figure 4: Concept of sustainability
(Source:Tan et al. 2015, pp.276)
The concept of sustainability includes various components including balancing economic value of the society,
societal benefits and environmental development. As arguedby Abuzeinab, Arif and Qadri(2017), sustainable
concept is not an intrinsic value in the construction industry. The use of the term has been integrated to the green
building construction for minimizing the pollution in the environment. The use of the sustainability in the
construction is an application towards maintenance of the societal benefits.
Figure 5: Interrelationships between the economic system and the environment in sustainable building
(Source:Wang, Toppinen and Juslin 2014, pp.353)

Green buildings
As commented by Brooks and Rich (2016), new building technologies can be termed as the sustainability
building. Modern technology has been focusing in the sustainability factor in the construction industry. The use of
the green materials has helped in maintaining the sustainability in the construction of buildings and complexes. The
implementation of the sustainability green building helps in minimizing the pollution and other waste materials from
the construction. The green building concept has been implemented in the UK for several years. The pollution rate in
the country has been minimized with the use of the green building concept. The sustainability building concept
include several components include light control, temperature control and increasing daylight for minimizing
electricity use (Clarke, Gleeson and Winch 2017). These factors help in maintaining the sustainability in the building
construction.
Green materials
The sustainability concept of construction includes green materials. The green materials are equities that are
used during the construction of the building and complexes. The national surplus needs to be minimized by the use
of the green materials. As commented by Palliyaguru, Karunasena and Ang (2018), these green materials are
renewable resources that include solar energy and rainwater harvesting system. The use of solar energy helps in
minimizing the use of coal use for generating electricity. However, rainwater harvesting system helps in recycling
therain eater and making into drinking water. These raw materials can be extracted from the natural sources that
minimize the pressure on other resources.
Benefits of sustainable building in construction
For a long time in history, the utilization of green buildings or sustainable development has been the perspective of
many people. In various huge cities, this concept is being effectively used such that the quality of life and health is
improved. This also helps in providing a better impact in the society and its economic perspective. Due to the
adoption of greener materials, better indoor air quality and the associated concepts are adopted which in turn will
lead to the formation of better products in the market. On the contrary, the non-green building is made of various
contaminants which leads to the formation of various amounts of health based diseases (Dadhich et al. 2016). In
addition, the chemicals involved will also be hazardous to the environment as they are non-biodegradable. The
adoption of new trends in the construction industry is abiding to a more environmental friendly initiative. The
manifestation of more environmental and people friendly projects are evolved with the collaboration of all the
stakeholders in the projects.
From the perspective of economic terms, the utilization of a green building is effective in terms of the initial
investment needed. The utility costs and the maintenance costs are also very low. This is mainly because the green
building is mainly made up of biodegradable products. After the utilization of such materials, the maintenance costs
are very much reduced. The association of construction planners, construction employees, suppliers and the
government regulators has made the development of a new initiation towards the construction possibility (Hwang,
2013). The adoption of greener construction is not only sustainable but is most needed in construction practices in
the modern generation. The utilization of greener construction is being adopted and promoted on a wide scale basis
across the globe. According to several studies, the utilization of sustainable development helps in reducing 65% of
electricity consumption and 36% of energy usages. It also helps in reducing 30% of greenhouse gas emissions.
The construction of the buildings is associated to play a major role in the modern times. The development of such
types of buildings help in reducing the environment based concerns of the government which in turn leads to
increased utilization of the concept associated. The current trends included in the industry are to decrease the
adverse impacts of the environment by adopting initiatives and practices (Monahan, 2014). These typical initiatives
include internalizing of cost, conservation of the space requirements, effective automation, mitigating construction

waste, restraining of natural resource consumption which are actually responsible for the betterment of the
sustainable construction industry (Mohammadi, 2016). Development of the safer and sustainable structures with
inherent usage of local and ecologically friendly building material is one of the outcomes of the sustainable and
greener construction project. Furthermore, the utilization of the materials in case of the sustainable buildings helps
in reducing the wastage from these buildings. This is mainly because the materials can be recycled which leads to the
formation of new products. As a result, in terms of economic perspective, the costing related to the development of
the building is reduced. This is also responsible for the adoption of a better number of greener buildings in the
market. Various cities and countries are also adopting them for these reasons.

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