Sustainable Building in Construction Industry

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SUSTAINABLE BUILDING
By (Student’s Name)
Tutor’s Name
Course
University
City
Date

Sustainability 2
Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary.................................................................................................................4
2. Objectives.................................................................................................................................4
3. Specific Objectives...................................................................................................................5
4. Background/Introduction..........................................................................................................5
5. Implementation of Sustainable Building within the Construction Industry.............................7
5.1. Resource Conservation.....................................................................................................8
5.1.1. Energy Conservation.......................................................................................................8
5.1.2. Material conservation..............................................................................................11
5.1.3. Water Conservation.......................................................................................................13
5.1.4. Land conservation.........................................................................................................15
5.2. Cost efficiency................................................................................................................15
5.3. Designing for human adaptation.....................................................................................16
6. Factors Influencing Building Professionals in Executing Sustainable Building....................18
6.1. Skills and experience of employees................................................................................19
6.2. Technology......................................................................................................................20
6.3. Design.............................................................................................................................21
6.3.1. Environmental construction and design factors.......................................................21
6.3.2. Social construction and design................................................................................22
6.3.3. Construction factors and economic designs............................................................23

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6.4. Sequencing and planning of work...................................................................................24
7. Findings...................................................................................................................................25
8. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................26
9. References...............................................................................................................................28

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1. Executive Summary
This paper gives a presentation of a conceptual framework that aims at the implementation of
sustainability principles within the construction industry. This framework works based on the
triple bottom line principle sustainability systems which generally is made of cost efficiency,
resource conservation and human adaptive designs. Through various kinds of literature, content
is produced with every principle is mostly seen to involve strategies, as well as methods applied
in a building’s life cycle, are presented and explained in clarity. In the adoption of these
frameworks, design teams have the ability to balance appropriately the social, economic and
environmental issues, in the process changing the technique used by building professionals in
thinking about the information used in projects, and facilitation of sustainable buildings. On the
other hand, there exist factors affecting the implementation of sustainable industrial construction.
Factors such as technology, design, worker’s experience and skills as well as work planning and
sequencing are discussed before defining the future challenge that is required on improving the
building designs in use.
Keywords: Triple Bottom Line, Sustainable Building, Human Adaptation, Cost Efficiency,
Resource Conservation
2. Objectives
In this paper, the construction industry is being brought under the microscope. Given that the
world is aiming to turn green, reduce its pollution, and become more conservative and cautious
in using its resources, the paper intends to show how the construction industry is dealing with
sustainability as the new trend.

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3. Specific Objectives
Within the concept of sustainability, the paper focuses on the construction industry and intends
to accomplish specific objectives once through. To begin with, the paper will identify how three
triple bottom line theory is implemented within the industry, it identifies the issues faced in the
triple bottom line theory, identifies ways sustainability is implemented in the construction
industry and how building professionals are coping with the suitability concept.
4. Background/Introduction
There is an estimation that when 2056 reaches, the activity within the world will be very high,
five folds (Visa, 2014). Additionally, the population growth within the globe is predicted to be
more than 50%, while global energy would have increased to almost three folds. Manufacturing
activities will not be less than three folds. Hence, in the globe, the construction industry is seen
as the industry with the most resource-intensive demand. When compared with different
industries, there is rapid growth in the building industry regarding the use of energy other than
finitely using fossil fuel resources (Wood & Safarik, 2014). Thereby, bringing in concerns
regarding difficulties in supply exhaustion of resources of energy as well as grave environmental
impacts. For example, carbon dioxide emission, depletion of the ozone layer and global
warming. Producing building material consumes energy, constructing buildings consumes
energy and operating in a completed building also uses energy. Therefore, buildings are major
environmental polluters. This brings the paper to an introduction of the principal issues that are
associating with the key themes in sustainable building. These issues are mapped out as well as
collated as seen in the table below (Lechner, 2014).

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TABLE 1 - ISSUES IN SUSTAINABLE BUILDING
Titles Key Themes Principal Issue
Economic sustainability Maintaining stable and high
levels of employment and
economic growth
Consistent profit growth,
supplier satisfaction,
Improved productivity and
delivering best value
providing services.
Environmental sustainability Effective environmental
protection
Pollution emission
minimization, environmental
improvement and habitat
creation and waste
elimination.
Prudent natural use of
resources
Lean construction and design
avoiding waste, use of
sustainability/recyclable
products and reducing energy
consumption and
Social sustainability Existing society progressing
towards recognition of
everyone’s needs.
Corporate citizenship,
minimal local disruption and
nuisance, equal opportunity
production and effective
appraisal and training
production.

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5. Implementation of Sustainable Building within the Construction Industry
In the achievement of a sustainable future within the building industry, this paper shows and
describes how the current building industry has tried implementing the construction of
sustainable buildings (Nymand & Fondahl, 2015). In this section, the paper describes a list of
general objectives that are shaping the framework as seen in figure 1. These frameworks are
derived while realizing the sustainability principles as well as their issues; environmental, social
and economic. The construction industry is implementing a sustainable concept using the
following objectives (Wilkinson et al., 2014);
I. Cost efficiency.
II. Resource conservation.
III. Design of human adaptations.
FIGURE 1 - SUSTAINABLE FRAMEWORK IMPLEMENTED WITHIN THE CONSTRUCTION
INDUSTRY

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5.1. Resource Conservation
In resource conservation, there is a target of achieving more using less. The concept entails
managing how human beings are using the natural resources for the provision of maximum
benefits to the recent generation other than maintaining the capacity to reach the future
generation’s needs (Ehmann, et al., 2014). This concept has grown in popularity to become a big
issue on sustainable construction. The construction industry is majorly using non-renewable
resources such as land, material, water and energy. Conserving these non-renewable resources is
vitally important for future sustainability (Magwood, 2014). Therefore, the construction industry
is employing resource conservation methods and strategies as designed in figure 2.
FIGURE 2 - METHODS AND STRATEGIES TO ACHIEVING RESOURCE CONSERVATION
5.1.1. Energy Conservation
The amount and kind of used energy during a building material’s life cycle straight from its
production process to its handling after the end life could be cut back by improving the
efficiency (Sayigh, 2013). With this effect, the emission of greenhouse gas is lessened and the
depletion of non-renewable resources is slowed down. With this realization, the construction