Environmental Engineering Report: Alternative Construction Strategies

This report delves into the critical need for alternative construction strategies in the face of the construction industry's significant environmental impact. It begins by outlining the detrimental effects of conventional construction on the built environment, including resource depletion, pollution, and climate change. The report then examines the influence of social and economic factors on construction practices, highlighting how these elements shape building design and sustainability efforts. It traces the evolution of construction methods, contrasting traditional, environmentally conscious techniques with modern, synthetic material-based approaches. A central focus is on exploring and evaluating alternative construction methods like radiant wall systems, rammed earth, and green terraces, assessing their potential for reducing environmental harm. The report also analyzes the impact of government policies on building design and construction practices, emphasizing the role of regulations and incentives in promoting sustainable building. Finally, the report offers design proposals that incorporate alternative construction methods to minimize environmental impact and promote sustainable building practices.

Alternative Construction
Strategy

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1) The construction industry has an impact on the built environment......................................1
P2) Social and economic factors have an effect on the construction industry............................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P3) The development of alternative construction methods using historic precedents................3
P4) Alternative construction methods which can be used for commercial or domestic use.......4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................5
P5) Government policies have had an impact on building design..............................................5
P6) The health & safety considerations associated with alternative construction methods........6
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................6
P7) Design proposal of utilising alternative construction methods...........................................6
P8) A design proposal that utilises alternative methods of construction....................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Construction is an essential activity of the ever growing modern world. For this
construction either deforestation is being done for the green field construction site or the brown
fields are used for this purpose. With the construction company harming the environment
because of the chemicals and deforestation process, it is very important to use alternative
construction construction strategies (Bai and et. al. 2020). This report includes about the impact
that construction companies has on environment along with different alternatives that can be
effectively. The different fields are different on the efficiency and requires different amount of
work to be done for theory development. In this report discussed is the alternative methods of
construction along with the government policies that have and impact on the construction
industry. The purpose of this report is to bring out a healthy and sustainable construction
alternative that could have wither least negative or a positive impact on the environment.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
P1) The construction industry has an impact on the built environment.
Built-environment refers to the part of the land or surrounding that has been modified by
the human civilisation for the routine life activity. Construction which has been an essential
activity of human civilisation has been impacting the built-environment negatively. Some studies
suggest that construction uses half of all the non renewable resources that mankind. Because of
these resources environment is affected on various levels such as Depletion of productivity rich layer of soil: when a construction is done on a green field
the layer of the soil which is considered rich for the agriculture purpose is destroyed in
the process, not just the land that Is being used but also the area surrounding it because of
the heavy load on that area. Pollution and hazard: construction creates a lot of hazardous that are mostly not
disposed of with a proof of not harming the nature and hence they pollute the land, river
and seas all in a orderly process. Heat and warming of environment: With growing construction leading to reduced
natural green land area the heat from the sun reflects back to the nature with could have
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been absorbed other wise (Meguro and et. al., 2019). Due to this reflection the local
environment is heated directed as the heat gets trapped in that particular region. Flooding: It is again because of the reduction of the forest and green land that the natural
land for the absorption of rainwater is decreased that directly result the dependency
towards the drainage system. Even these drainage system drain the water in river which
have limited water flow capacity, hence resulting into flooding.
 Air-conditioning and artificial environment: In almost every corporate or commercial
building the use of air-conditioning is common with complete ignorance towards its side
effects. Used for maintaining desired temperature and optimum humidity the air
condition have just the opposite impact on the environment because of the principles it
works upon.
All these side effects of construction directly impact the build environment in ways that
the urban area can clearly be felt warmer than outskirts of the cities or forests (Xing and et. al.
2019).
P2) Social and economic factors have an effect on the construction industry
Just like every other industry, construction industry is also affected majorly by the social
and economical state of the any region. The working and the quality of the construction is
influenced by the earning and mindset of the people inhibiting the nation.
Social factors: Social factors include wealth earning, religious practices buying habits
etc. and density of people decided the constitution rate and type for that region. It is based on all
these factors the construction is done for example. An area where the population density is high
and most of the place is already occupied then the constriction has to carried on the a brown field
or multiplex in order to accommodate more people in limited area. In such circumstances the the
safety protocols and environmentally aware steps are generally ignored because of the high cost
associated with it. At the same time but in different circumstances where the earning is higher
and popular density is low, much spacious houses of commercial places can be build because of
the availability of the resources.
Economical factors: Economic factors include the governmental influence and laws for
the particular area and other such factors like interest rates, tax rates, construction policies and
governmental regulations etc. The construction of any regions is heavily influenced by such a
factor as well; because construction is no small activity and involve a lot of official works which
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in turn include fiscal management (Liang and et. al. 2019). Hence the construction industry and
its progress towards environment friendliness depends on the support of government. For
example in many parts around the globe, the government appreciates different models of making
constriction environment friendly and further provides subsidiaries on other wise expensive
resources.
TASK 2
P3) The development of alternative construction methods using historic precedents
The construction industry has come a long way with years of existence. From using
natural and biodegradable raw materials for building houses and structures to using man made
not so degradable materials for the purpose of strength and durability. It is because of this reason
that the construction industry continued to shift towards more and more synthetic materials
because of the better purpose of stability (Li and et. al. 2019). Concrete, gypsum metallic frames
etc. became the replacement of the earlier used natural raw materials. With the development of
technology and advancement in the comforting methods like appropriate temperature, humidity
and lighting; the construction company ignored the side effects of the its methods.
Earlier, building structures were made looking at three key necessities, ventilation,
lighting, and temperature in the stricture be it a house in old times or a fort. With these three
necessities being fulfilled by the technology the building structure saw a huge shift in its
materials. Now that the built environment is heavily affected by the methods of construction
industry it is a necessity to look for alternatives through the historic methods. The alternatives
must looked through the basic construction techniques, at the place of using raw material that
heats the entire structure and then using the air-conditioners the natural structure should be made
keeping the temperature effect in mind so that synthetic cooled environment should be used as
less as possible. At the same time the construction company should use the raw materials that are
least harmful to the environment, as in the earlier times the houses were build of mud and wood
and other such naturally and biodegradable materials, their modern times replacement can be the
recycled products that do not harm the environment rather help in effective waste management.
P4) Alternative construction methods which can be used for commercial or domestic use
There are various alternative methods that exist in the market of construction industry
which can very well be put to an effective application so as to harm or affect the build
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environment as less as possible (Enshassi and et. al. 2019). The primary concerns of the built-
environment is the heating and waste management along with hazardous pollutant that are
released into the surrounding in the process of construction. Following are some of the
alternative to the otherwise conventional methods of construction.
Radiant wall system: This is technique of building walls of a structure that have better R-
value i.e. better insulation from heat. This technique is based on the fact that it is due to the walls
that do no provide insulation to heating force the entire building to survive on air condition which
directly causes global warming, Hence solving this through the very beginning of the structure of
the building. In this wall system, light and hollow concrete blocks that is deliberately filled with
foam sheets in between (Shao and et. al. 2019). The science behind it is that the foam is very
good insulator of heat. With such a wall system installed in the building there will close to no
necessity of air conditioner support for the temperature regulation.
Rammed Earth: In this method of construction the process of stacking and compacting a
mixture made by the damp that only includes naturally availability ingredients in the soil. This
alternative of construction is much suited for the domestic purpose. Using this technique,
following the architectural blueprints walls of the house or small compartment up to two or three
floors are erected using the rammed soil followed by the other structures required in the housing.
This method can be an effective alternative as the rammed earth has relatively much better R-
value and requires very low maintenance. Moreover, these structure looks nice in the housing and
gives a reflection of modern art contrasting to city looks of concrete and wooden houses.
Green Terraces: Majority of the physical disturbance in the environment is caused by
the city and man made structure continuously occupying more and more surface area of land.
This replaces the grassy and woody structure of the land with the concrete terraces of the
commercial buildings. One of the most effective and cheap solution to this environmental
problem is laying the layer of grass and green environment on the terraces and sidewall of the
building in order to compensate for the lost greenery. This would definitely be helping the
environment and directly and positively affecting the built environment.
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TASK 3
P5) Government policies have had an impact on building design
The government policies are usually influenced by the interest rate as with this rate of
borrowing is increases within the community of businesses (Ashworth and Perera 2018). It
affects the growth and working standards of business and through this sustained amount of
investments is induced so as to enhance working production with higher level of inflation. The
government has compelled with social landlords in which rent rate is reduced that is paid by
tenants. In this social housing within England is managed with 1% as from 2016. It underpins
with housing association in which business design and develop a plan as with this attractive
investment is induced with better proposition (Environmental legislation for building design and
construction, 2021). It has adverse impact on viability as well as development and for this rent
rate is reduced the associated pay for this affordable schemes and elements are offered with better
adequateness. There are different other policies as well that is developed by UK government
about impact on building design and that is as explained below as:
National planning policy framework NPPF: It was published by department for
communities and local government and followed by the coalition agreement that is consolidated
with the national planning framework (Mellado, Lou and Becerra, 2019). In this suitable
guidance about planning policy statement and policy guidance is revoked by effective policies.
For this basic principle is underpin that is based on decision making and plan making and offered
appropriate framework such as building a strong and competitive economy, ensuring about vital
town centres, promoting sustainable tourist, conserving natural environment and many other
prospect as well.
Zero carbon homes: It is interdependent over climate change act that is associated in UK
as with this adequate target is maintained to reduce carbon emission as by 80%. For this labour
government introduced code for sustainable homes and in this commitment is affirmed to build a
greener surround.
Green deal: It is also known as the Energy act 2011 that is provisioned by a department of
energy and climate change and also be take possible initiative about to offer sustained
mechanism for funding efficient energy improvements. In support of this scheme “green deal
provider” get finance about upfront cost, consumer supply of energy as with this adequate saving
is resulted with better measures (Babalola, Ibem and Ezema, 2019). In order to achieve better
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efficiency policy consist of loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, water source heat pumps, smart
meters, radiant heating and others prospect as well.
P6) The health & safety considerations associated with alternative construction methods
There must always be another challenge in the sight with every other new change and it is
with the overcoming of these challenges and to make these changes most effective than ever.
There are some of these challenges present in the alternative methods suggested. These are safety
and durability concerns related with the rammed earth method along with some of the
constructive issue like no of the stories that can be built with these methods. Following is the
little brief on the subject of considerations associated with the alternative construction methods.
Rammed earth concerns: In this method there are concerns about the number of storey
that can be made using this method because of the tensile strength associated with the nature of
the material used. Two to three storey buildings are recommended for this method's application
more than that can be an issue for the strength of the structure.
Radiant walls concerns: These walls are made of raw material like concrete and its
hollow nature give good strength. But the relocation of these walls are a problem as they cannot
be moved according to the future improvisation.
Green terraces: This method of alternate terraces in order to better the built environment
very positively affect the health of the people inhibiting (Sepasgozar an et. al. 2018). As such
structures helps increase the oxygen level of the surrounding and decreasing the toxicity and
pollutant level. The only concern is the maintenance of the building structure damaged by access
of water.
TASK 4
P7) Design proposal of utilising alternative construction methods
In order to bring out these changes in the construction company there must be appropriate
steps used. These steps comprises of following key points
Identifying the issue: For any change to be made the very step is the acknowledgement of
the existing problem. In case of the constriction industry, the issues caused by it are obvious
which are hazardous pollutants, soil erosion and global warming. There must be an immediate
implementation of changes.
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Finding an alternative: The alternative that exists in the market like use of plastic as road
raw materials and warehouses formation along with the mixture of concrete to give it more
rigidity, rammed earth methods, radiant walls methods and green terraces etc. are the effective
solution to problems of construction industry.
P8) A design proposal that utilises alternative methods of construction
No solution is complete without its execution, as knowledge is only half power. This
execution must be high priority in current times because mankind now possess all the technology
that execute the changes and science to be aware about the consequences of ignorance (Seymour
2019).
Executing the alternative methods: With enough support from the government both in the
form of subsidiaries and appreciation towards alternative methods the execution of the methods
can be made commercial and domestic structures as well. With enough awareness among the
people and just a slight efforts into the research and development department towards making
these alternative methods price effective and more durable, exists high possibly for the
construction industry to grow in the nature friendly direction.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the report that construction which is a necessary of the ever growing
world has various negative impact on the environment. From hazardous land to high depletion of
resources are all the side effects of the construction. Through this report it can be concluded that
there exist various alternatives to the conventional nature harming environmental methods. The
modern alternatives like radiant wall system and and recycled plastic as concrete offers solution
to the problems resulted by conventional constructions.
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REFERENCES
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framework for tolerance-based mitigation strategy decision support in modular
construction projects. Journal of Management in Engineering. 35 (4). p.05019004.
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Synthetic Aperture Radar (APSAR) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
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indolizine rings. Green Chemistry. 21 (15). pp.4025-4029.
Meguro, T., Chen and et. al. 2019. Modular Synthesis of Unsymmetrical Doubly-ring-fused
Benzene Derivatives Based on a Sequential Ring Construction Strategy Using
Oxadiazinones as a Platform Molecule. Chemistry Letters. 48 (6). pp.582-585.
Mellado, F., Lou, E.C. and Becerra, C.L.C., 2019. Synthesising performance in the construction
industry. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management.
Sepasgozar, S.M., Davis, S., Loosemore, M. and Bernold, L., 2018. An investigation of modern
building equipment technology adoption in the Australian construction industry.
Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management.
Seymour, H., 2019. The multinational construction industry. Routledge.
Shao, R., Niu, J., Zhu, F., Dou, M., Zhang, Z. and Wang, F., 2019. A facile and versatile strategy
towards high-performance Si anodes for Li-ion capacitors: Concomitant conductive
network construction and dual-interfacial engineering. Nano Energy. 63. p.103824.
Xing, Y. and et. al. 2019. Construction strategy for ratiometric fluorescent probe based on Janus
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ONLINE
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