What is Sustainable Construction?

Construction is one of the major sectors of the economy and it is also one of the major responsible factors for pollution. Excessive utilization of raw materials for the construction may lead to draining of all the assets and they may also be depleted for the future generations. Therefore, it becomes a threat to the environment such that issues like ecological imbalance, environmental pollutions and climate changes are often experienced (Bebbington & Gray, 2010). Use of sustainable materials in construction can limit the raw material utilization and also in return reduce the impact on environment. This helps in controlling the pollutions.

Many of the nations have started the use of sustainable materials in the development of the ventures (Egmond & de Vries, 2012). The main target or the objective of this report is to distinguish the applications of sustainable practices among countries. This also explains the more reliable approaches in both economical and environmental aspects. But what is ‘Sustainable construction’? Now, Sustainable practices as defined by Yao (2011) entails integration of best practices in environment, economy and social aspects such that there is value addition in terms of prudent resource use, adoption of more renewable energy generation technologies, waste reduction, recycling and reuse so as to create a self-sustaining ideal world system where outputs from one process nearly become inputs in another process. Notably, the frontiers of sustainable construction practices include: renewable energy use, efficient water use and disposal, carbon emissions reduction, recycling of construction materials among others. In Germany, for instance, there is a body known as German Sustainable Building council (DGNB) whose core mandate is promotion of sustainable building practices such that there is efficient energy use, efficient use of natural resources, and user comfort. In fact, the council has ensured that almost all residential buildings are built with green roofs, there is mandatory use of solar panels on every building and most new buildings are prefabs hence providing an opportunity for use of sustainable building materials. In a nutshell, all these actions are striving towards creation of sustainable and green environment within the residential zones (Cole, 2015). Universally, the sustainable development goals were developed to address the social, economic, ecological and political challenges both in the developed and developing countries. To unlock opportunities in the construction sector, there will be need for aggressive implementation of sustainable plans by the respective governments (Fuerst, 2009). In fact, countries all over the world are expected to roll out programmes that are in tandem with the sustainable development goals with most relevant ones in the sector include: Good health and well being; clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy; decent work and economic growth; sustainable cities and communities; action on climate, and responsible consumption and production. In this paper, our focus is on the international construction practices that advance the concept of sustainability. The construction industry in developed countries is more technologically driven than in developing countries. However, there is nearly similar pattern being exhibited in terms of the construction cycle such that certain factors are common in both cases. In this regard, our aim is to explore and defend the argument that: sustainable construction practices add more value in the socio-economic and ecological spheres of the world system (Hemphill, McGreal, & Berry, 2012). Therefore, we consider an in-depth discussion of the internationally visible case studies in selected countries namely Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, China, and selected African countries of Kenya and Nigeria). Additionally, we make some vivid comparison in performance of sustainable building practices by focusing on the three facets of sustainable building constructions, that is: ecological, economical and social sustainability KPIs (CIB, 2014).

The Importance of Sustainable Practices

The importance of SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES is presented and is contextualized within the selected countries. Besides, the reader is made aware of different practices in times of all the events which are happening during operation of construction in different countries. We also state few of the United Nation Sustainable Development goals in this report; which helps in ensuring the availability of natural resources for future needs and reducing environmental impact like global warming, ozone depletion, climate change among others (Calantone and Gross, 2009).

In this case, I analyzed 2 case studies in sustainable practices context in the developed countries. One case delivered its intended objectives whereas other case did not (for the developing country). I mainly look over the United Nation sustainable goals in the presented cases. Then I discussed the reasons behind the success and failures for each case in different countries. The different methodologies of various countries which depend on the financial and environmental aspects were highlighted. The approaches in residual countries were also additionally suggested. The advantages and disadvantages in respect to this aspect were also considered.

The report is a result of qualitative research work where interviewing and questionnaires’ were the main data and information collection methods (Berg, 2017). I interviewed the industry professionals to capture their thoughts and opinions on the current state of sustainability in the construction industry. Prior to the interviews, formal letters were sent requesting for their time and effort in attendance. My interviewees were mostly leaders in the construction industry drawn from both private and government construction agencies. Besides, the construction workers were also engaged in the interview (CIB, 2014).The second portion of the information collection was in conducting literature review where written texts were perused and these included: peer reviewed journals, professional construction magazines, government publications and other professional articles. The review was done to uncover some of the startling sustainable construction projects in the selected countries such as Australia and China. A number of practices were identified and analyzed through a comparative approach. Various sustainability codes and standards were also perused. For example, in the United Kingdom, they have LEEDS which governs the promotion of green building concept (Fuerst, 2009). Lastly, questionnaires were administered among the construction workers to find out the level of satisfaction with the current construction technologies and if they are within the precept of sustainability (Hemphill, McGreal & Berry, 2012). However, it should be noted that the research work mainly adopted qualitative approach and therefore quantitative data is not included in the report.

Qualitative Approach

The world is becoming more environmentally-aware thanks to the sustainable development goals developed by the United Nations. In this section, a number of sustainable construction practices are analyzed for the selected countries. As mentioned earlier, the selected countries include: Australia, Germany, United Kingdom, China and Kenya. The last one is a developing country. Therefore, the analysis hereinafter provides an interesting outlook across the selected countries. Additionally, this section sets the tone for a comparative performance analysis of the sustainability approaches for the selected countries based on common criteria:

These are blueprints that have been adopted by the United Nation to address some of the incessant problems bedeviling the planet earth hence it is the responsibility of the member states to ensure that their respective governments achieve the ambitious plans as set out in the package containing a total of 17 SDGs (sustainable development goals). In a nutshell, they include: ending poverty from the face of the earth, The second one is on elimination of hunger to zero levels; promoting good health and well being; provision of quality education; providing clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy; decent work and economic growth; promoting innovation, infrastructure and industry; reducing the inequalities amongst gender, race and other social stratifies; building and maintaining sustainable cities and communities; responsible production and consumption; action on climate change; maintaining life below water; maintain quality life on land; ensuring peace, justice and strong institutions are established; and lastly, to wrap it up, extending partnerships for the goals. It should be noted that all of these goals are interrelated and are in perfect harmony (Datta, 2010). Attaining any of the goals will require that the other goals be pursued as well. For example, a properly educated society with good health and well being will very likely fix the economic problems hence leading to improved social life and economic prosperity. Admittedly, the sustainable construction practice is embedded in the listed goals as it involves maintaining high standards of interdependence among the three sustainability facets, namely: social, economical and ecological balance (Datta, 2010). The problems of today must be solved by the current generation and not be passed to the future generation. It is quite intriguing that most governments, especially those in the industrialized league, have adopted and ratified the goals such that they are accommodated in their respective legal and policy frameworks (Egmond & de Vries, 2012). However, developing countries such as Kenya are still lagging behind in terms of implementation of the SDGs. There is often common perception that it is expensive to implement these goals; however, the benefits are long term such that the next generation will be reaping the benefits. For instance, environmentally sustainability is supposed to be top in the agenda for a successful implementation of the SDGs (CIB, 2014). Germany, for instance, rolled out ambitious environmental sustainability recovery plan by the year 2030 and it is right on course based on the assessments that have been carried out.

Discussion on Sustainable Practices

The section hereinafter analyzes how sustainable construction practices have been pursued in the selected countries and also pinpointing of the challenges that are arising in the course of implementation 

Australia has made great strides in driving the sustainability agenda. In the energy sector, there have been a number of legislative reforms in order to make it more conducive for the growth of the renewable energy sector (Australian Government, 2010). In the recent past, the country was hit by an energy crisis which forced the government to look into other sources. Australia’ energy demand is expected to skyrocket. A section of the country strongly believes that fossil fuels should continue being harnessed as the renewable sector is less efficient in terms of available production capacity. However, with increased funding on the renewable sector, the country is expected to meet her energy demands (Egmond & de Vries, 2017). Reduction in carbon footprints was a key concern some years back. However, since it touches the core of the Australian society, it can never escape the political effects. Waste reduction in Australia has stayed at a low of 35% only marginally ahead of China according to Harty (2017). There is over 40 million tons of waste being produced every year with a population of about 23 million; the country is therefore lagging behind in terms of waste reduction and recycling (Datta, 2010). As mentioned earlier, this has been mainly hampered by the different governments that come to power as they tend to reverse the gains made by the predecessors through policy changes and repeal.  According to the Harty (2017), the following recommendations are made in matching forward with the agenda: that the general public shall be notified of the implementation plan currently underway as far as sustainable construction practice is concerned; all stakeholders in the industry must understand the legal implication of failing to abide by the industry best practice; benchmarking shall be used as a tool to gage the performance of the local construction industry at the international level (Egmond & Vries, 2002). 

The scope of sustainability in Australia has been expanded to include a number of issues. For example, according to CIB (2014), sustainability should be redefined to include:  ‘socially acceptable’, economically affordable’ and reduced negative health and environmental impacts. This then means that policy reforms in the sector must be implemented to include the above facets. ABCB is mandated to provide leadership in this arena. Through its well established outreach programmes, the board has managed to penetrate the construction sector. This has been done through adoption and enforcements of sustainable policies. A series of workshops since the board was established has been undertaken with the aim of fine tuning and ensuring that the policies are acceptable among the stakeholders.  In one of the workshops, the board dwelt on issues centered on creation and maintenance of a sustainable future for the next generations. This means that there needs to

Sustainable Development Goals

In Germany, there is a body known as German Sustainable Building council (Beheiry, Chong, and Haas, 2016) whose mandate is to promote sustainable building practices including efficient energy use, use of resources efficiently and user comfort. For instance, the Green buildings are being promoted in the country where it is mandatory to use solar panels in every household. Besides, most new buildings are prefabs hence sustainable options are presented. Also, they have double glazing to boost user comfort. 

Admittedly, in Germany, the sustainability agenda is embedded in the national discourse making it to be one of the pioneering countries as far as Green building design is concerned. She has broadened the scope of sustainability to include the social aspects such as prudent use of public assets by curbing wastes through corruption and embezzlements. All government ministries are involved in driving the sustainability agenda under the umbrella of Green cabinet where leadership and guidance is provided by the Chancellor (Chiveralls et al, no year). There is an established state committee that is acting as the central coordinator for the sustainability development strategy. According to the committee, the guiding principle is that the current generation must solve all her problems so that the next generation will not inherit the problems created by the existing generation. However, Germany has not invested in public awareness campaign about the implementation strategy hence making it harder for a nation-wide strategy adoption (Hill, 2013).

As mentioned earlier, Germany has embedded the sustainability agenda in the national discourse. This is implemented through internationally recognized management policies. Among them include the following: That each generation must be able to handle its own problems and check through to ensure that the foreseeable liabilities are proactively handled so that they do not trickle to the next generation. Consequently, the sustainability cabinet has adopted various targets, goals, strategies and measures to manage this policy to success (Chiveralls et al, no year). Political and social implications are often considered in this management framework such that multifaceted approach is greatly encouraged. For instance, in the social sphere, issues like education, health and poverty are vehemently addressed in this discourse. Therefore, this gives rise to a new concept called: social sustainability in construction industry. In the said sector, the industry stakeholders are expected to implement best practices to cement sustainability. The modern building design has integrated fundamental social sustainability. For example, energy consumption per household has greatly been reduced courtesy of off grid power solutions such as solar and wind. Effective waste water treatment has also been included in the construction of sustainable buildings. For example waste water from washrooms can be treated and be used in irrigating the nearby vegetation during summer season. Additionally, to stay up breast with the happenings in the industry, the cabinet has invested heavily in the assessment of these endeavors.

Secondly, in the sustainability policy, everyone is called upon to be responsible of the future they would like to have. In other words, social and financial resources must be handled in great fairness and equality. Risks must be avoided and opportunities for a stable future created through the activities of the day. There are regional hubs that have been established throughout the country so as to penetrate the local and community organizations mandated with issues of sustainability in the construction industry. For instance, through regular community workshops, the society is made aware of the sustainable techniques that can be harnessed to sustain the agenda.

Nevertheless, there still needs to be accurate determining tools to be used in gauging specific performances of these policies.  

In the UK construction industry, the following practices are being undertaken:

Minimizing damages to the social environment in the construction projects; recycling and reusing the construction materials; having value addition in the construction waste recycling and minimizing destruction of the limited natural resources like forests (Harty, 2017). The economic gain in ventures then translates to huge capital cost recovery. 

In UK, there is great demand for the industry to adopt the sustainable construction practice. They must embrace waste reduction and recycling, reuse of construction materials and reduction in fossil fuel dependency (Opoku and Fortune, 2013). This is often done via minimizing the damages during demolition of structures by using less harmful methods. Besides, the stakeholders are expected to possess above average knowledge in sustainability so as to chart the right course. In the social spheres, sustainable approaches are being adopted. For instance, in most businesses in UK an organization is not likely to conduct its operation without prioritizing the issue such that its operations can be of great significance to the clientele. Government interest in sustainability has also grown (Opoku and Fortune, 2013). Most energy reforms have been done under the cover of social and economic sustainability. Consequently, this has eliminated the impacts of poor construction methods that impact heavily on the environment. Besides, stakeholders are now being engaged more actively than ever before. However, the impacts of human activities on the ecological sphere have not been addressed vehemently. Nevertheless, more buildings in the UK are becoming more environmentally friendly. The UK government is also slowly recognizing the need to adopt the sustainable policies in all spheres not just in the construction sector (Opoku and Fortune, 2013). Meanwhile, the construction sector is still under great pressure to wholesomely adopt the sustainable construction practice so that the benefits can be tagged along.

Additionally, the concept has allegedly boosted the business competitiveness in the industry. However, this depends on how well a construction company sells itself by prioritizing the sustainable agenda. There is also increased value of the buildings being constructed. A building that is sustainable in design and performance would often utilize less and green energy and improve the occupants’ well being and productivity (Opoku and Fortune, 2013). At the organization level, this tool can be used to increase profitability as wastes are minimized in the process. However, UK still faces some challenges as far as sustainability is concerned. For instance, there is increased perception that higher capital costs are underpinned; there is lack of visible market value putting it on a collision course with the stakeholders and investors. Tendency of the industry to restrict changes (even though these are positive changes); there is lack of client demand for sustainable construction making it less attractive (Bebbington & Gray, 2010).  

• Developing countries
  • INDIA

India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. She has sufficient resources both manpower and natural resources. Due to that reason, it is currently classified as a rapidly developing country. The country is greatly committed to the implementation of sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the construction sector. For instance, the 3-year action plan initiated by the office of Prime Minister is greatly in line with the set SDGs which must be attained by the year 2030. It is focused on complete elimination of poverty, gender inequality and sustaining climate change programmes and prudent resource use. In fact, india is among the most active member states at the United Nation level where she actively contributes to UN’s policy formulation and direction. Currently, she has adopted ‘industry innovation and infrastructure’ as the major economic strategy. Therefore India places more emphasis on industry innovation and infrastructural expansion. Consequently, it is anticipated that the level of construction waste production will continue to soar and that control and management of the same must be up scaled. According to UN (2018), the economic growth rate of india slumped to 7.9% in 2016 from 7.1% in 2015. In eradication of extreme poverty, the country embarked on massive investments in the sectors of Agriculture and Manufacturing. These two are the major employers in a developing nation. The manufacturing and Agriculture sectors in India have collectively contributed more than half of the formal and informal employment opportunities both direct and indirect employment (UN, 2018). Recent performance indicates that the country is more inclined towards infrastructural expansion rather than focus on social protection programmes. However, many have argued that this could be among the best strategies since the country must first establish its infrastructure base before embarking on massive social protection programmes.  However, there are challenges that are bedeviling the implementation of the SDGs. India is a densely populated country; hosting about a third of the world’s population hence the available resources are strained. Besides, since it is still under the category of developing country, the problems of third world countries such as corruption, poverty and social inequalities are still common. Importantly, most of the programmes the government of India has embarked on are in tandem with the SDGs.  

Kenya is on an ambitious economic growth plan initiated by the Government of Kenya. This has been coined as: “the BIG 4 AGENDA”. In the agenda list is the growth in the housing sector. Consequently, the construction industry is set to expand to accommodate these ambitious plans. In the process, more construction wastes are expected to be produced. Currently, the country has banned the use of plastic bags facilitating a smooth transition into environmental sustainability. For instance, at the Coastal region, craftsmen have employed appropriate technology to create a sustainable building; they use plastic bottles to make building walls (Hill, 2013). Additionally, the innovation has been extended in boat making hence lowering construction and oceanic wastes. This has boosted the beach cleaning initiatives as the wastes are now being utilized as raw materials elsewhere. The pressure on wood for boat building has also been lowered hence improvement in environmental sustainability (Bennett, and Crudgington, 2014).  Besides, to meet the demand for construction materials, she has ventured into use of low-cost materials which can easily be recycled as a result it expected that the sustainability agenda will be right on course (Hill, 2013) 

From the foregoing, it can be stated that sustainable construction practice in developed countries is technologically driven. This makes the implementation route to be at a higher grade than that in the developing countries. Most of the times, developing countries are likely to lose sight of the necessity to accommodate the sustainable principles in the industry owing to the fact that there is often lack of political good will to address the challenges in the sector (Bennett and Crudgington, 2014). Secondly, countries like Australia are better equipped infrastructurally enabling them to properly finance ventures that will catapult the sustainability agenda. The stakeholders are also a bit better in accommodating change although there is often fear of industry disruption.   

Evidently, countries that have pursued the sustainability path have greatly improved their economic, social and ecological situations. According to the author, complete sustainability would mean that the three facets are in a mutual and healthy relationship so that value addition is realized along the supply chain. For example, in the use of recycled construction materials, a country is likely to save on total energy expended, the amount of carbon foot prints, the cost of transportation, the damage that it will have on the environment among other direct benefits. Therefore, it is multifaceted as it affects several sectors of the economy (Baloi, 2013).

Based on the analyses above, the following were the common challenges identified:

• Lack of political good will

There is often laxity by successive political regimes to continue with the work initiated by the predecessors. Therefore, there is often a tendency to reverse the gains made hence hampering the progress on sustainability. This was mostly observed in Germany and Australia.

• Negative perception

Due to insufficient public and stakeholder awareness, negativity often rents the space. Majority are not aware of the sustainable development goals and sustainability as a concept. In fact, even some influential political leaders believe that implementing the concept could be a waste of resources and time since it is an ‘expensive’ route to pursue  (Beheiry, Chong and Haas, 2016).

• Lack of proper coordination

In most of these countries, there is often a missing link between local and national leadership as far as sustainable construction is concerned. This then sets them on a collision course resulting in unsuccessful outcome.

       4.2 Opportunities for future research

However, there is still an opportunity to make them right. In moving forward, the following are recommended for further pursuance:

There is need to establish a body within the respective implementation bodies that will have the mandate of dissemination of information for public consumption. They will also manage the technical communication both within and without the body so that the gains made can be packaged in a fashion that the general public can comprehend (Opoku  and Fortune, 2013).

Secondly, the legislators must ensure the reforms so far made in the sector are not eroded by the successive regimes lest there will be always a cycle of build and destroy causing stagnation in driving the sustainability agenda.

There needs to a proper coordination between the local community leadership and the national leadership so that issues specific to the region can be recognized and handled at the community level hence community groups and associations need to be promoted at the grass-roots.

Conclusion

The major areas of focus in the discussion of sustainable construction practice were economical, social and ecological factors involved.  As discussed, sustainable construction involves value addition at both national and local levels of construction. In this paper, the aim was to provide an in-depth discussion on the latest sustainable practices adopted by both developed and developing countries. The practices were analyzed through case studies that have successfully been developed across the identified countries. The developed countries that were considered include: Australia, United Kingdom, Germany and China while the developing countries considered was Kenya. Admittedly, developed countries are technologically ahead of developing countries hence the sustainability agenda is better implemented. The benefits so far accrued are visibly cutting across all spheres of life in the selected countries. It is therefore imperative that developing countries such as Kenya must promote more of these sustainable construction principles. 

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