Design Aspects in Green Commercial Buildings: A Sustainable Approach

This report delves into the design aspects of green commercial buildings, emphasizing their role in mitigating environmental impacts within the construction industry. It highlights the increasing demand for green buildings due to rising environmental awareness and stricter waste management practices. The research explores strategies and methods for sustainable building design, including the integration of HVAC systems with a holistic approach. It reviews the concept of green buildings, their importance in reducing carbon emissions, and their economic benefits, such as reduced lifecycle costs and enhanced natural resource conservation. The report also touches upon the investment trends in green buildings, particularly in Singapore, where stakeholders recognize both tangible and intangible advantages. It contrasts traditional building projects with green building initiatives, showcasing the growing popularity of green building materials and projects, especially for office purposes.

Running head: GREEN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
WHAT ARE THE DESIGN ASPECTS IN GREEN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS?
Name of the students
Name of the university
Author note

1GREEN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
Table of contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................3
1.0 Introduction and background.................................................................................................3
1.1 Problem statement.................................................................................................................3
1.3 Aims and objectives...............................................................................................................4
1.4 Limitation of the research......................................................................................................4
1.5 Summary................................................................................................................................5
Chapter 2: Literature review............................................................................................................5
2.0 Introduction............................................................................................................................5
2.1 Concept of green building.....................................................................................................5
2.2 Importance of green building.................................................................................................7
2.3 Green building investment and demand................................................................................8
2.4 Theoretical explanation of green building...........................................................................11
2.4.1 SOR model....................................................................................................................13
2.4.2 The green building purchasing matrix..........................................................................14
2.5 Economic benefits of green building...................................................................................15
2.6 Summary..............................................................................................................................16
Chapter 3: Research methodology.................................................................................................16
3.0 Introduction..........................................................................................................................16

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3.1 Research Philosophy............................................................................................................16
3.2 Research approach...............................................................................................................18
3.3 Research purpose.................................................................................................................19
3.4 Data collection process........................................................................................................19
3.4.1 Data sources..................................................................................................................19
3.4.2 Data analysis techniques...............................................................................................20
3.5 Sampling technique.............................................................................................................20
3.6 Accessibility issue...............................................................................................................21
3.7 Ethical consideration...........................................................................................................21
3.8 Research limitation..............................................................................................................21
3.9 Gant chart:...............................................................................................................................22
Figure: Gant chart..................................................................................................................23
3.10 Summary............................................................................................................................23
Reference list.................................................................................................................................24

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Chapter 1: Introduction
1.0 Introduction and background
The term green building indicates the construction or operational process, that play an
important role in case reducing the negative impact on the environment (Mi et al. 2015).
Through the green building initiative, the .positive impact can be introduced in the environment.
In the current situation, due to the active participation of Governmental and non-governmental
organizations in different awareness programs, demand for green building among the customers
have increased (Alwan, Jones and Holgate 2017.). In this situation it has been identified that
people have become concern regarding the population and waste management practices. With
the changing needs of the customers, importance of green building designing has become
necessary. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that due to changing demands of the customers
and their awareness regarding the environmental consideration in the designing process, have
become necessary for the current industry. In this chapter the research back ground will be
discussed.
1.1 Problem statement
Due to excessive carbon emission and increasing pollution from the construction projects, the
global climate change has become the major concern for the construction industry. In the words
of Nejat et al. (2015), in case of the construction industry, near about 5% of the total carbon
dioxide emission comes from this industry. It has been identified that due to increasing
environmental pollution, the demands for the alternative products in the industry has increased.
On the other hand, it cannot denied that due to active participation of both the governmental and
non-governmental organizations for increasing the awareness regarding increasing
environmental pollution, the demands for green building has increased (Gao et al. 2015). It is

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also true that with increasing uses of nonrenewable sources in the commercial place, the
environmental pollution as well as the expenses has also been increased. On the other hand, it is
true that increasing environmental pollution is creating obstacles for maintaining the sustainable
environment. In this situation, green building has become important for maintaining the waste
management and improving the quality of life. The importance of green commercial building has
become important as in this process the waste reduction has become easier to measure. By using
the water and natural resources are the energy sources, the cost reduction process has become
easier. It is also true that with this initiative, the recycling of the products can help to maintain
the environmental friendly atmosphere.
1.3 Aims and objectives
The aim of this research is to understand the strategies and methods in case of mitigating the
environmental impacts on the current construction industry.
 To understand the strategies and the methods for mitigating he environmental impacts
on the construction of building
 To understand the design strategies for building an effective and a green building
system
 The ways about how the HVAC building designs integrated with holistic approach
helps to build a sustainable environment
1.4 Limitation of the research
It can be assumed that in case of analyzing the entire research project, it can be assumed
that budget can create challenge for the researcher for conducting the research. It is true that in
case of conducting the research on the global green commercial building, proper budgeting is
important as it is a large field. In case of buying the paid journals, the researcher may face the

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challenge. On the other hand, if only 7 months will be allocated for conducting the research, it
may create tough situation for the researcher as with in such limited period, it will be harder to
complete the entire data collection process.
1.5 Summary
In this chapter it has been discussed that problem statement of the study and the
background of the research are very important for next process. By setting the aims and
objectives depending on the identified problem, the structure of the research plan has been
developed.
Chapter 2: Literature review
2.0 Introduction
Green commercial building is known as high performance building that is needed to
maintaining environmental sustainability. The chapter will shed light on designing the aspects of
green commercial building by highlighting different theories and models. By reviewing different
journal, here the literature gap will be identified.
2.1 Concept of green building
Green building is being considered as the effective method by following which high
quality and energy efficient commercial buildings can be constructed. It is beneficial in term of
reducing the negative impact on the environment for maintaining the standard quality of life. It
has been identified that green designing pays an important role in case of maintaining the
balance between the low environmental impact and high quality of construction (Borkovskaya
2014). Green bulling is an initiative that is required in case of maintaining the sustainability in
the environment. In case of green building, the green globe system is being considered as the

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important management tool that helps to develop the economic and environmental sustainability.
It has been identified that with the increasing pollution in the construction, the concept of green
building has become popular among the people. Through the initiative of green building, the
healthy indoor environment can be developed with the minimal pollution. In case of the green
building, the uses of renewable energy can help to reduce the cost of energy consumption. By
reducing the water uses, the green building helps to maintain the water supply.
Figure: An overview of the Green building concept
(Source: Borkovskaya 2014)

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In the above diagram, six major elements of the green building initiatives have been
highlighted. It has been shown in this diagram that green building initiative can help to improve
the indoor quality, maintain the uninterrupted water supply chain, beauty & freshness, increase
the uses of renewable energy sources and also introduce the environmental friendly non-toxic
construction material. In the words of Radwan et al. (2017), for designing, planning, constructing
and operating a project by reducing the negative impact on the environment, the green building is
an innovative initiative. By introducing the classical building design, the durability, utility and
comfort are being introduced in the construction industry. The green building concept has been
developed by US green building council. It has been identified that productivity and health of the
users can be influenced by the green building initiative. As stated by Gunawardena (2017), green
building initiatives is being considered as the combination of environmental up gradation and
economic sustainability. It has been identified that in case of the natural building the smaller
trends and scale natural materials are being used in the projects. In case of the developing the
green architecture and sustainable design, the green building concept is very important. The aim
of the green building initiative is to bring the sustainable development so that the energy crisis
can be managed (Ragheb, A El-Shimy and Ragheb 2016). With the increasing energy
consumption in the current construction industry, it has been analyzed that with the long run the
energy crisis can create the difficult situation for the people. In order to maintain the supply, the
alternative initiative has become important in the industry. On the other hand, it has been
identified from the report of 1970 that due to increasing the environmental pollution and energy
crisis, the sustainable development has become necessary (Wong and Zhou 2015). Therefore, it
can be said that with modern sustainability initiative, environmental friendly construction
practices can bring the revolution in the construction industry.

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2.2 Importance of green building
Green building practice has become very important in the current business scenario
(Hwang, Zhao and Tan 2015). It has been identified that due to excessive amount of carbon
emission and increasing the uses of machinery products, the construction industry has played the
major role in case of bringing the global climatic changes. It is also true that due to increasing
fossil fuel burning, it can be assumed that in the long run the global citizen can face the energy
crisis. With the initiative of high-performance building native environmental impact can be
reduced. On the other hand, it is true that it can be beneficial in case of decreasing the lifecycle
costs. Through the green building initiatives, the natural environment can be enhanced. In the
words of Nguyen et al., (2017), the green building concept is an environment sensitive initiative
that helps to save the natural resource. By supporting this Hwang, Shan and Phuah (2018) stated
that green energy is an effective way to develop the model energy code. By reducing the rate of
fossil fuel consumption rate, it contributes in the global environment. Hence, it can be said that
in case of maintaining the uninterrupted supply of energy the green building plays a significant
role.
2.3 Green building investment and demand
Analyzing the perception of green building in Singapore, it has been identified that that
both the tangible and intangible advantages of green building have been agreed by the
stakeholders. As per the perception of the homeowners, it has been identified that near about
94% of the total population have agreed to invest more in case of constructing the green building
(Bca.gov.sg 2018). It cannot be denied that green building will attract those people who are
aware regarding the increasing environmental pollution. On the other hand, the green building
project also targets those people who prefers the health benefits rather than luxury. It cannot be

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denied that in case of green building projects the indoor air quality can be improved (Hwang,
Shan and Phuah 2018). Therefore, in the profitability perspective, it can be said that large
number of people in Singapore have admitted that the resale value of green building can be
profitable. It has been identified that the office tenants also agreed that green building initiative
can bring the wellbeing and health benefits. In the words of (), in a comparison on indoor
environment of non-Green Mark buildings and Green Mark buildings by NUS and BCA, it has
been identified that the green mark buildings provides the healthier environment than the non-
Green Mark buildings (Hwang, Zhao and Tan 2015). In a recent report, it has been identified that
the residents are satisfied with the indoor environment of the green mark buildings in such cases
the risks of fatigues, irritated skin and syndrome of unusual headache are very less.
Figure: Comparison between the Traditional and Green building projects
(Source: Qian et al. 2015)

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In the above diagram it has been identified that the popularity of green building projects
are quite higher than the traditional projects. It has been identified that after the introduction of
the green building initiatives in the global industry, the awareness regarding the environmental
pollution and its negative impact on the health have increased (Wood et al. 2016). In the above
diagram, it has been identified that among the green building constructions, most of the green
building projects are being done for the office purpose.
Figure: Green building material market trend
(Source: Khatib, 2016)
In the above diagram the growth trend in the green building material market has been
shown. In the diagram the gradual growth of the green marketing between the year, 2014 to 2020
have been mentioned. By analyzing the growth trend, it can be said that the demands of green
construction among the people has increased. In the current scenario, people have become
conscious regarding their health and environmental sustainability. Not only for the health
benefits, but also the green building can be beneficial in terms of gaining the cost benefits
(Darko, A. and Chan 2016). As it also the rate of energy consumption and the resale value of the

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green buildings is quite high due to its indoor environment, therefore, it can be said that the with
the increasing demands for the green building, the growth in the green building material industry
has been introduced. With the increasing growth it can be assumed that in the year 2020, the
growth rate will reach approx. 250.3 billion USD (Kibert 2016).
2.4 Theoretical explanation of green building
In this study, it has been identified that due to increasing demands of the green building
project the growth trend in the construction industry has changed. By following the current
construction industry trend, it can be said that in case of the green building the level of
satisfaction of the occupants regarding the green buildings still does not exceed the bench mark
of satisfaction in case of predictable structures (Bca.gov.sg 2018). In the current scenario, the
satisfaction is being measured depending on the post occupancy evaluation rate. It is true that
depending on the feedbacks from the occupants, the level of satisfaction is being measured. In
the words of Yang, Zou and Wang (2016), BREAM or LEED are the rating tools in the green
building projects. In case of the green products the target customers are those who prefers the
greed products due to their preference on reducing the impact of anthropogenic factors on the
environment (Bca.gov.sg 2018). In the words of Zhao, Hwang and Lee (2016), with the
increasing concern of people regarding the resource depletion and environmental degradation,
the architects have decided to derive their attention towards the resource efficient construction
practices. It cannot be denied that depending on the sustainable building, the economic, social
cultural and the ecological status can be improved (Si et al. 2016). In case of analyzing factors
that play an influential role in case of driving the human perspective have been highlighted in
this study. In the bellow puzzle, the factors which are interrelated in case of influencing the
human perception have been mentioned.