The development of a sustainable-construction planning system

Abstract

Since construction is considered as one of the main sources of environmental pollution in the world, the level of knowledge and awareness of project participants, especially project managers, regarding the construction impacts on the environment are required to be enhanced. The aim of this paper is to develop a prototype of a Sustainable-Construction Planning System (SCPS) in order to mitigate the negative impacts of the construction industry on the environment. To achieve this aim, frequency and severity of known environmental impacts of construction process of residential buildings were investigated through interviews with a safety expert panel in Malaysia. Then, risk level associated with each environmental impact was calculated based on the relevant risk matrix. The SCPS extracts current construction activities from any computer-based schedule (Microsoft Project® in this study) and identifies sustainable strategies, and environmental impacts related to each activity as a report. The SCPS was presented to an expert panel who was asked to assess the reliability and usability of the SCPS. It can be concluded that the SCPS is efficient and helpful in mitigating construction related impacts on the environment. The practical implication of this study is to promote sustainable construction by promoting the project participants' knowledge and awareness of significant environmental impacts related to construction operations. This study could be a platform for developing automated sustainable planning systems that can be used broadly in construction projects.