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Passive solar systems are often designed primarily with efficiency in mind, and research efforts are concentrated towards gaining an increase in performance. However, due to the multiple materials used, their manufacturing processes, a lifespan that is usually shorter than that of buildings that these systems are applied to and the waste generated when they have reached the end of their useful life, a more holistic approach to the design and performance of these systems should be adopted. This paper reports on the environmental impact of a unique integrated collector–storage solar water heater design, experimentally tested under Scottish weather conditions, considering circular economy and reuse potential. As such, the material flows and components used are mapped against the life-cycle stages of existing European standards while ensuring an optimal efficiency. End-of-life considerations and design for disassembly and reuse are assessed and discussed. Energy payback times of 4·5 and 4·6 years can be realised for a circular and a linear approach, respectively. Operational carbon dioxide savings, which far outstrip the embodied carbon dioxide, demonstrate carbon dioxide payback times of just 7 months, when replacing an electric system. The results show that a holistic design, which promotes circular economy principles, does not compromise efficiency and economic viability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings contribute to significant carbon dioxide emissions over their life cycle. The prefabrication approach has been promoted and increasingly integrated into building engineering and construction, which has attracted increasing research into the life-cycle carbon assessment (LCCA) of prefabricated buildings. However, there exist challenges. This paper examines the challenges and, through rethinking their theoretical fundamentals, proposes solutions with the aim to enhance the reliability and validity of research into the LCCA of prefabricated buildings. The challenges are found to be implicit system boundaries of prefabrication and LCCA: inconsistent methods, models and units of analysis of estimating buildings' life-cycle carbon dioxide emissions and LCCA being a labour-intensive process with limited accountability. The proposed solutions are a regression model of relating buildings' LCCA to 12 system boundaries, expressed by the system boundaries' inconsistency ratio (IR), which shows the level of difference between any two system boundaries; a five-level framework of units of analysis consisting of material, component, assembly, flat and building; and a smart-technology-integrated approach for automatic LCCA. The solutions are important and timely to help reduce buildings' life-cycle carbon dioxide emissions effectively for achieving long-term sustainability of society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new 182 km Bretagne–Pays de la Loire high-speed rail line in France has pioneered the use of an environmental mitigation hierarchy, leading to significant sustainability benefits. As this paper describes, the project has gone beyond regulatory obligations and contractual provisions for sustainability, particularly regarding biodiversity and carbon dioxide emissions. It has opened up a more sustainable way of conceiving and building transport infrastructure, with extensive collaboration, innovative organisation, technical and operational tools and a long-term, efficiency-based offsetting approach. Early adoption of the mitigation hierarchy principle on this project enabled the worksite footprint to be reduced by 8% and avoided the emission of 4·5% of greenhouse gases associated with the line's construction. It also accounted for biological cycles during work planning and secured the ecological offsetting sites before construction started, which in turn ensured their functionality over a 20-year period to ensure no net loss of biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oman, like other Arabian Gulf countries, depends on oil and gas to produce electricity. However, these resources are not guaranteed to last forever and constitute one of the energy security issues in the country. This paper explores the potential of using biomass energy resources for electricity generation in Oman. Energy from biomass resources is counted as a type of renewable energy, which means that its availability is not affected by the lack of sources and the increasing price of fossil oil. The review of biomass energy shows that waste from different sources such as wood and woody plants and their wastes, agricultural crops and residues, municipal solid organic wastes, animal wastes, sewage, waste from organic industrial processing and food processing, and aquatic plants and algae can be used for electricity generation. Biomass from animal manure and waste water are reported as having potential for electricity generation. The results show that a total of 2651·81 GWh/year electricity can be produced from animal manure and waste water, which corresponds to 10% of the total electricity consumption in Oman. Although there is potential to use biomass for sustainable electricity generation, several environmental, social and technological factors associated with biomass energy need to be considered before adopting such resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introducing the SUE-MoT (metrics, models and toolkits for whole-life sustainable urban development) series, this paper highlights some of the barriers that need to be addressed if the vision for holistic assessment is to be realised. The complexities of sustainability assessment raised in this paper will be further discussed in detail in the SUE-MoT series of papers that will be published in forthcoming issues of this journal. This paper highlights the priorities to address when assessment tools are presented to decision makers of urban development projects. This discussion is limited to the issues, values and solutions in the UK context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the social dimension (or 'social sustainability') has gained increased recognition as a fundamental component of sustainable development. This paper explores the notion of social sustainability and its main assessment methods, together with the pioneering social sustainability framework devised by the City of Vancouver, Canada. The paper illustrates how there is no consensus on the definition of social sustainability because this concept is currently being approached from diverging study perspectives and discipline-specific criteria, making a generalised definition difficult to achieve. In addition, traditional 'hard' social sustainability themes such as employment and poverty alleviation are increasingly being complemented or replaced by emerging 'soft' and less measurable concepts such as happiness, social mixing and sense of place. Within this context, the paper looks at how Vancouver's local authorities have approached urban social sustainability and discusses the importance of the selection of sustainability principles, objectives, themes, assessment techniques and indicators from a social perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2000, a UK government white paper promoted the prospect of an urban renaissance in the UK to be developed through a series of urban renewal initiatives to create better places for living, working and recreation. Eight years on, there continues to be a policy drive promoting better quality environments through integrative design, social inclusion and public participation. However, whether urban renewal can succeed without a progressive integration of multi-functional green spaces into the urban matrix is still uncertain. This paper proposes that green infrastructure can play a pivotal role in urban renaissance by providing a complementary green matrix of spaces that offer multi-level benefits for human populations. Green infrastructure can also be viewed as simultaneously providing natural resource sinks to assist urban climate control, water management and provide important green networks in an increasingly urbanised Britain. Due to the potential of green infrastructure to be 'retrofitted' into most environments, this paper argues that green infrastructures can be delivered across diverse urban environments in the UK to promote sustainable communities and landscape management. Overall, this paper will address how green infrastructure can be planned within urban environments to promote increased human integration, ecological sustainability and economic regeneration. Finally, it is suggested that the broader implications for climate control and economic regeneration delivered by green infrastructure integration will, in the long term, provide a base for a continued urban renaissance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the guidelines framed by the Indian government, there is non-compliance with site waste-management plans (SWMPs) as well as recycling at construction sites. This paper identifies the existing barriers and potential benefits and enforcement measures for implementing SWMP and recycling of construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Data gathered by means of a questionnaire survey, structured interviews and case studies are analysed using the beneficial index value (BIV) and relative mapping approach. From the results, it is concluded that factor B4 ('no guidelines are available in the company') has the highest BIV (6.70) and is the major barrier in implementing SWMPs. Factors BF4 (BIV: 7.42) with an efficient SWMP ('there will be conservation of natural resources) and MI8 (BIV: 7.32) ('legal requirements on environmental protection') are the most significant benefit and enforcement measure for SWMP implementation, respectively. Probable behavioural, legal, technical and marketing barriers for enforcement of recycling are identified, and the suggested measures for efficient recycling are as follows: (a) behavioural – enforcement of construction in government projects using recycled materials; (b) technical – development of code provisions for acceptable quantity of recycled construction waste (CW) in various building components; (c) legal – higher landfill charge with strict penalties for illegal dumping; and (d) marketing – increasing sales outlets for recycling material. Also, successful European C&D waste-management practices are compared with Indian initiatives to improve the CW management status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainability strategy for delivering the £15 billion Crossrail cross-London railway project in the UK sets out the key sustainability themes that are material to delivery of the project and identifies key performance indicators to be used to track performance. The strategy adopts a holistic approach, taking a balanced view on environmental, social and economic performance. Whereas many projects have focused on the environmental aspects of sustainability, Crossrail is addressing issues of supply chain and small and medium enterprise engagement, supply chain risk management, local employment, skills and training, and ensuring that opportunities are not confined to the southeast of England. This paper will be of particular interest to client organisations responsible for national infrastructure but also provides valuable information for designers and construction professionals. The paper starts by providing a brief description of the scope of the project then describes how sustainability has been built into the delivery of the project, the governance structure and how performance is measured. Examples are provided of some of the key enablers and tools used on the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of, and need for, universities to create and promote a holistic approach to engineering is a key part of developing sustainability literacy among future engineers. This paper reports on three different, but linked, exercises that teach undergraduates the complexity of sustainability in civil engineering. In the first exercise, students prepared a written commentary on an exploration of their campus locale to identify typical civil engineering issues such as construction trends over time and set these against economic and social demands and impacts at a city scale. The second exercise asked students to rank the importance of components of sustainable communities as a civil engineer, and then rank them separately as a citizen. In the third exercise, ten groups of approximately ten students were led through a discussion around a holistic approach to engineering and the impact of civil engineering infrastructure development. These exercises provide students with an understanding of hard-to-measure boundary conditions, more informally 'context', which can surround the technical excellence at the heart of civil engineering systems. The paper reports student feedback and discusses implications for teaching sustainability. The exercises and experiences presented in this paper can be utilised by other civil engineering degree providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education represents a key intervention point in encouraging the emergence of a professional engineering ethos informed by a sustainability ethic. In terms of establishing an appropriate relationship between sustainability and education, many would contend that incorporating sustainability as merely add-on material to already overcrowded curricula is insufficient. Instead sustainability should actually be a leading principle for curricula. Traditional reductionist models of engineering education seek to extinguish context and uncertainty and reduce complexity across socio-economic and ecological domains. They therefore constitute a wholly inadequate response to the need for fit-for-purpose, twenty-first century graduates required to address broader sustainability issues. This paper presents research from an undergraduate module at University College Cork, Ireland. The module is aimed at developing students' conceptions of complexity, uncertainty, risk, context and ethics as foundational bases for productively engaging with sustainability. The paper also highlights some problematic issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oil and gas and extractive industries face the constant challenge of locating new resources in remote parts of the developing world. Skill shortage, inhospitable locations and outdated engineering practices and technology characterise these projects. Companies operate under fixed-period concessions, which place huge time pressures on the exploration and production cycle. Construction of the associated civil engineering infrastructure is often on the critical path. These projects typically use pools of foreign skilled workers and large volumes of imported materials and equipment. The cost and carbon dioxide emissions associated with logistics alone are enormous. Overcoming these challenges calls for a critical rethink in the way traditional civil engineering construction practice is undertaken. This paper reports on the implementation of a sustainability management and resource training framework by a foreign consulting and advisory firm. The framework examines in-country labour skill sets, natural resource and technology relevant to project needs, identifying constraints and knowledge gaps. Innovative engineering solutions that maximise use of local workforce, materials and technology are subsequently designed in line with project timelines. Case studies from Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa, demonstrate that the framework is an effective tool for human resource development and sustainability management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper deals with the investigation of the suitability and sustainability considerations of sugarcane bagasse ash (SBA) for the development of cellular lightweight (CLW) bricks. SBA was characterised and found suitable as a pozzolanic or a cementitious material. Physico-mechanical, durability and thermal tests were conducted on CLW-SBA bricks and the results conformed to the Indian standard requirements. The comparison showed that CLW-SBA bricks were lighter in weight (43%) and higher in compressive strength (32%) and had lower thermal conductivity (70%) than commercially available fly ash (FA) bricks. The computationally developed CLW-SBA model (1 m × 1 m × 1 m) resulted in a 7% improvement in thermal comfort and a 29% cost saving as compared to the FA model room. The developed SBA bricks were found suitable for non-load-bearing wall construction with better physico-mechanical properties and more economic as compared to commercially available sustainable FA bricks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a critical review of studies that apply life-cycle assessment or life-cycle-based environmental analysis methods to geotechnical systems. The goal of this review is to evaluate the current state of practice for life-cycle assessment in geotechnical engineering and to identify critical gaps in current practice and key issues for future research efforts. Additionally, this review examines sources of variability and uncertainty across the studies and provides recommendations for best practice in future assessments. Aside from challenges in creating a practicable framework, many barriers to implementation exist - including the availability of region-specific data, the quality and granularity of data and challenges in comparing geotechnical systems due to spatial heterogeneity and design decisions, among others. Further research is needed to develop guidelines for life-cycle assessments tailored to geotechnical systems to establish common criteria and methods for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UN has defined Sustainable Development Goals, in which sustainable cities and sustainable transportation can be achieved. Traffic congestion with adverse environmental, social and economic side effects has been determined as a threat to sustainable transport. This issue is more evident in developing countries, particularly around large organisations. Thus, this paper aims to assess the impact of different variables on university students' mode choice in developing countries to propose countermeasures for shifting students' trips from private cars to sustainable transport modes and reduce traffic congestion. The Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman in Iran is considered the case study in this research. Structural equation modelling is used to evaluate the relationships between the probability of using a specific mode with human characteristics, transportation mode specification and environmental conditions. The model outputs indicate that cycling needs to be incentivised and the general attitude about women cycling needs to be changed. The regular bus timetable, driving style, service frequency and spatial coverage also need to be modified. Regarding taxis, the driving style must be changed, and more attention needs to be paid to the travel-time reliability of taxis. Currently, carpooling is not well known and organised. Thus, developing a web-based application is recommended to organise the use of carpooling and help students living nearby to find each other. Regarding passenger cars, a web-based application for parking management can be used to manage the requests and increase the utility of other sustainable modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With an increasing number of different materials, choosing the best one has become an arduous task. The vast domain of alternatives and decision criteria has led to the complexity of decision making in the conceptual phase for designers. On the other hand, due to the importance of environmental and energy concerns, considering the sustainability principles through the decision process is significantly important. Although sustainable material selection as a strategy leads to some general and main assessment criteria, identification of sub-criteria not only depends on general criteria but also pertains to the specific type of elements in buildings. Interior walls are one of those elements in construction with a complex decision making process due to their great variety of types and features. This paper aims to provide a sustainable multi-criteria decision making framework for choosing the proper interior walls in buildings. A qualitative research method using literature review, unstructured interviews and questionnaires was adopted to achieve the aims of this research. The initial data, including the criteria and sub-criteria, were collected through literature review. A framework consisting of four main components related to environmental, financial, social and technical aspects was finally developed and validated through unstructured interviews held with 23 experts in the construction industry in Iran. By dividing the main criteria into sub-criteria, in total, 23 sub-criteria were identified; to calculate their weight, questionnaires were distributed among 143 experts in the construction industry in Tehran and the analytic hierarchy process method was applied. High-rise residential buildings in Tehran were selected as a case to apply the framework, and finally the results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on 12 years of experience in leading engineering programmes for sustainability in a UK university, the authors take a wide view of the broad range of skills young civil engineers need to deliver more effectively the projects they are involved in. These include dealing with complexity, uncertainty, environmental limits, change, people, trade-offs, other disciplines and whole-life costs. In short, the paper asks: What education does the next generation of civil engineers need to act sustainability in what Schon has been memorably called 'the swamp' of professional practice? The paper examines the fundamental principles all engineers should be guided by, the optimum points to discuss such issues in engineers' educational formation, how sustainability in the curricula can be linked to civil engineering practice and specific examples of teaching strategies and pedagogies that the authors have found to be effective. A brief review of UK and international best practice in demonstrating the progress that has already been made towards these goals is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines building materials used in construction in Nigeria and asks whether local and conventional building materials are perceived by construction stakeholders to be more environmentally sustainable than innovative building materials. The reason for the investigation stems from a lack of clarity about which of these building material classifications is more environmentally sustainable. The study also aimed to establish whether stakeholders accept the claims made by manufacturers about the environmental sustainability of their building products. The environmental sustainability of the selected building materials was measured using indicators and metrics developed from the literature. The study established that there are no significant differences in the level of environmental impact among the four classes of building materials considered (local, conventional, recycled-content and innovative). In general terms, the cohort of innovative building materials/products is perceived to be 'greener' than local innovative building materials, which are considered to be environmentally better than conventional building materials. Based on the findings, this paper concludes that construction industry stakeholders do not acknowledge claims made by manufacturers about the environmental sustainability of their building materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores sustainability as it relates to the services, operations and management of engineering and design (E&D) consulting firms, revealing how sustainability has been adopted by the engineering consulting industry as a key influence on its business. The motivations behind sustainability as a business priority for E&D consulting do not appear to reflect a corporate belief or endorsement of sustainability principles, but rather a reflection of market, employee and government drivers. Through interview-based reporting, the implications of these motivations are the focus of this paper through an exploration of the meaning, understanding and operationalising of sustainability in engineering design, assessment of design and in-firm management and strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across sub-Saharan Africa, 238 million people live in slums or informal settlements. Because of rapid urbanisation and population growth, informal settlements have become a major challenge in the urban landscape, exacerbating issues related to poverty, inadequate infrastructure, housing and poor living conditions. As part of a collaborative interdisciplinary project ISULABANTU, this paper provides an overview of toolkits focused on informal settlement upgrading (ISU) in South Africa and presents the process of an integrated toolkit development for sustainable human settlements in Durban, which was informed by participatory action research and co-production strategies. A toolkit can be a valuable and effective way of engaging communities in the process of ISU and for community members to take full ownership of the process, designing strategies that best respond to their needs. The review of existing toolkits has revealed several critical gaps related to community-led practices, integrated approaches to housing and environmental management, and gender. The integrated ISULABANTU toolkit aims to fill these gaps and complement the existing resources. It provides a framework for action research, active involvement of and partnership building with local communities in upgrading practices required to achieve sustainable human settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This briefing addresses an urgent issue for engineering innovators, institutions and journals: how can the spread of infrastructure innovation for sustainability be speeded up? It discusses the challenges and the reasons why innovation can be hard and slow, and focuses on a key innovation sequence: doing the 'first use' project, and early reporting of it, which 'enables' the first copying of the idea - the 'first follower project'. This starts to validate the new idea for the sector. The briefing finishes with some suggested questions to be answered by a good report paper on a 'first use' case study; and calls for more such papers to be submitted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents building design strategies for reducing embodied energy and embodied carbon dioxide emissions as developed within the International Energy Agency's Energy in Buildings and Communities Programme. The design strategies are illustrated using three case studies of design optimisations of building elements, the building structural system and the whole building. The first case study shows the environmental optimisation of a curtain wall facade element using bio-based materials. The second case study presents the optimisation of the structural system for a residential building by lightening the floor structures through utilising ultrahigh-performance concrete and vertical elements with reduced cross-section. The third case study presents an alternative design for a passive-design family house in Prague in the Czech Republic, leading to hybrid construction of light prefabricated concrete elements, a timber frame and a timber-based building envelope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the energy efficiency of a large building stock, authority planners and designers need to identify which buildings consume most energy and why. For this purpose, this paper provides a data mining-based methodology for setting decision-making rules to identify patterns of energy consumption for a large data set of flats and evaluate the potential effects achievable by retrofitting actions. The calculated normalised primary energy demand ( E PDn) and the geometrical, thermo-physical and heating system attributes of 92 906 flats are analysed. Firstly, an accurate statistical description of the building stock and its main technological features is provided. Secondly, a supervised classification algorithm to rank flats as 'low', 'medium' or 'high' E PDn is developed based on the flats' attributes. To classify E PDn, reference threshold values are set between the attributes. These values will benefit authority planners and designers when setting performance objectives. Finally, the high- E PDn flats are analysed in depth through an unsupervised classification algorithm. Thus, intrinsic properties and hidden dependencies are discovered. Moreover, a manageable number of real reference flats representative of the entire high-consumption class are identified. These real reference flats can be used to study the causes of high- E PDn and propose different energy retrofit actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructure project sustainability assessment typically entails the use of specialised assessment tools to measure and rate project performance against a set of criteria. This paper looks beyond the prevailing approaches to sustainability assessments and explores sustainability principles in terms of project risks and opportunities. Taking a risk management approach to applying sustainability concepts to projects has the potential to reconceptualise decision structures for sustainability from bespoke assessments to becoming a standard part of the project decision-making process. By integrating issues of sustainability into project risk management for project planning, design and construction, sustainability is considered within a more traditional business and engineering language. Currently, there is no widely practised approach for objectively considering the environmental and social context of projects alongside the more traditional project risk assessments of time, cost and quality. A risk-based approach would not solve all the issues associated with existing sustainability assessments but it would place sustainability concerns alongside other key risks and opportunities, integrating sustainability with other project decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A life-cycle approach, integrating environmental, economic and social criteria, was developed focusing on motorway bridges. The methodology is described in a companion paper (part 1). The proposed approach has two major perspectives () an accounting and () a decision-making perspective. This paper presents the application of the developed approach to two case studies, referring to both perspectives. From the outcome of the case studies two major conclusions are drawn: () the stage of materials production and traffic congestion in work zones are of paramount importance in the life cycle of bridges; and () speed of construction and minimisation of maintenance activities over the bridge life cycle are two main requirements for bridge design in order to achieve a sustainable performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few years, the Building Research Establishment environmental assessment method (Breeam) has increasingly been used for building projects in the UK. This presents design teams with numerous challenges, not the least of which is the need to manage and accommodate the Breeam requirements in their design. This paper examines the impact of the Breeam assessment process on the design of building projects in the UK using eight case studies. The main effects were found to be in the areas of building features, materials and water services. This impact varied from project to project depending on the building type, location, targeted/required Breeam rating, date of assessment and the assessor's role, as well as the team's knowledge of the assessment process. There were significant design changes in the cases aiming to achieve the highest Breeam rating. The results suggest in some cases that Breeam may limit design teams in their design by drawing their attention to achieving Breeam credits rather than the building in its entirety. For instance, Breeam tends to dictate design solutions rather than focusing on the intention - as an example, a designer may focus more on major leak detection than saving water. The paper also discusses potential incorporation of Breeam requirements into building regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several countries have introduced and several kinds of research have discussed the performance of building information modelling (BIM) as an information technology trend. Despite its potential impact on construction performance, this concept has not attracted the attention of many countries such as Morocco. Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) broke out when the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry was suffering from several shortcomings, mainly the poor technology exploitation cited in the literature. Although this has weakened the sector, it is a real opportunity to assimilate and understand the role of technology, particularly BIM. In this context, the main objective is to draw conclusions on the role of BIM during and after Covid-19 through the analysis of the AEC industry in Morocco and the benchmarking of BIM contributions during this health crisis. A qualitative approach was conducted, including the analysis of the pre-Covid-19, Covid-19 and post-epidemic phases and the benchmarking of the contribution of BIM. This study demonstrates the inevitability of adopting critical thinking when it comes to solutions about the evolution of the construction sector and the practical implications for a successful revival of the AEC industry post-Covid-19. It contributes to the body of knowledge on AEC in the face of this universal pandemic. The findings are relevant to all countries where information technology exploitation is absent or weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper explores the engineer's view and practical experience of social sustainability in infrastructure projects through a series of interviews. The focus is on the planning, design and construction phases of development, rather than the initial feasibility phase. The research was undertaken by a small group of sustainability consultants with 13 of their senior engineering colleagues in Australia and New Zealand. The research explored the engineers' experience of various social sustainability dimensions on projects, the level of importance placed on these and the degree to which the focus on these dimensions had changed over time. The authors suspected that the focus on social dimensions had changed over recent years but wondered if their engineering colleagues agreed? What unfolded through the research was a wider discussion on the value of community involvement in infrastructure development and on the evolving development of technical professionals through their experience in working in the field. The paper does not purport to develop universal truths that can be applied to the engineering professional generally; however, it does reflect that, at least within the experience of those interviewed, social sustainability issues had risen up the agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally viewed as a technically based exercise focused on assessing the sustainability performance of buildings, sustainability assessment is increasingly called upon to play a proactive role that supports the management of sustainability across the project life cycle. Calls are emerging for assessment to evolve as a tool that contributes to the predominantly subjective nature of decisions taken across the project life cycle and to achieve better integration between assessment and project activities. This paper aims to contribute towards this emerging understanding by considering an empirically based case study which follows a progressive approach to apply and integrate sustainability assessment with the life cycle stages of a university campus building project. The paper presents the findings of a mapping exercise that identifies the emerging phases and activities of the assessment in relation to the stakeholders involved and life cycle stages. By exploring an empirical context that is by nature forward thinking, some recommendations are drawn to facilitate the evolution of sustainability assessment towards the advocated approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the implications of treating sustainable development as a feature of the design and implementation of concrete technical projects, rather than as an abstract line of thinking about possible futures. In such ventures, human dimensions of sustainability, like managing conflicting interpretations and coping with divergent plans and perspectives, become core questions for the professionals involved. The paper describes four common dilemmas that shape this process and discusses their persistent influence on professional practice. The paper argues that confronting these problems will lead engineers to approach technical projects as arenas for learning and problem-oriented negotiation. The conclusion reviews practical strategies that engineers and other professionals may employ to cope with the complexities of integrating sustainability into their practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, engineers - particularly those working on sustainability-related initiatives - have increasingly turned their efforts towards under-served communities. This paper summarises the findings in Engineering and Sustainable Community Development (Juan Lucena et al., 2010) aimed at a diversity of these efforts which are grouped here under the term 'engineering to help'. These initiatives often exist under names such as community service, humanitarian engineering, and engineers without borders or activities such as the Institution of Civil Engineers' co-sponsored workshop 'Helping local communities to help themselves'. Although there has been a blossoming of engineering-tohelp- related programmes around the world, there is a lack of critical reflections of engineers' involvement. The book summarised in this paper attempts to fill that void. The paper concludes with an invitation to engineers to become critically involved in the complex world of sustainable community development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil engineering solutions are routinely responsive to the places where those solutions are going to be built and the physical aspects of places are integral to good design. Other characteristics of a place, in particular its social or economic geography, will affect the design, implementation and impact of many civil engineering projects. This paper attempts to summarise, from an early examination of limited literature and by linking to 'types' of civil engineering projects, how people who live in a particular location respond to such projects, and what is driving their response. The focus remains on what this means for the engineer rather than how the engineer might participate in or improve upon those processes themselves. The location of a project influences whether the impact of a project will be as intended by the designers, and whether it will bring social benefits to the communities affected. The paper explores the research questions that could be answered to improve sustainability performance, suggesting that engineers might consider the need for participative processes in design and implementation more systematically, and suggests that there is a need to acknowledge cultural attachments to landscapes and place in project design and implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local and urban authorities are increasingly seen as crucial in translating national and international agreements into locally applicable guidelines for the delivery of climate policy. It has been recognised that energy policy is a crucial area for bringing about emissions reductions, based on the close relationship between energy consumption and generation and greenhouse gas emissions. Against this background, this paper investigates how Barcelona and London are formulating urban planning policies that encourage the use of low-carbon and renewable energy technologies to meet the heating and electricity demands of new buildings and those undergoing major renovation. Drawing on theoretical insights from science and technology and urban studies, the paper contributes to the debate about changing patterns in urban energy provision, arguing that there are general aspects to reconfiguring energy patterns in the city, such as the technological choices involved in articulating more sustainable energy futures and socio-technical obduracies of established 'urban energy regimes'. It is recognised that place-specific features must be taken into account in the process of reorienting cities' energy trajectories onto more sustainable pathways, in particular with respect to the potential for carbon mitigation from the built environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use distribution represents a major sustainability indicator. It has cause and effect on transportation systems, time, energy consumption, and the location of source and destination stimuli for daily trips. Consequentially, it affects sustainable development plans. Arab cities demonstrate multiple layers of development through history. Over long periods of development, land uses have been adapted to suit inhabitants. This paper analyses the transformation and distribution of land use in Arab and Western cities. Conventional urban configurations were based on densities, mixed uses and bottom-up urban growth, reflecting people's daily needs. Although various theories have been presented to explain land use transformations, this research adopts the spatial configuration theory, which links spatial logic with social logic of movement. Modern Arab cities demand an accelerating increase in transportation mobility pursuant to inappropriate land use distribution. These requirements do not consider the current spatial morphology of the urban fabric, nor its role as a stimulus in successful locations. The paper highlights the differences between traditional and modern extensions for Arab city centres on the basis of sustainable land use location. It proposes a model framework for analysing current land use distribution and forecasting the success of any future intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability checklists are designed to provide practical tools (including indicators) that help with planning and measuring sustainability within new developments and redevelopment schemes. Unfortunately, a checklist - due to its very nature - tends to consider elements of sustainability in isolation, narrowing it to a set of individual tick boxes. Successful planning strategies for sustainable utility infrastructure require a more holistic approach that considers elements of water, energy and infrastructure in tandem rather than isolation, therefore suggesting that a checklist approach may not be wholly appropriate. By critically examining the 2007 version of the sustainability checklist for south-east England with respect to 12 questions that relate to sustainable utility infrastructure alone (five for energy, four for water and three for infrastructure provision) this argument is explored further. The thorough examination provided in this paper serves to analyse the framing of the questions used in the checklist and test the validity of the aims and scoring method used (including weightings). This paper also examines whether these questions can jointly form a successful holistic strategy for infrastructure, not least in terms of the ability to ensure that supply meets demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of an integrated data repository for urban sustainability analysis is presented; it aims to enhance quantitative analysis of urban sustainability on real statistical data with relevant geographic references. The method is complementary to qualitative and quantitative analyses of sample data, which are the main approaches adopted in conventional urban sustainability analysis. The paper highlights the background and importance of using statistical data for urban planning and analysis. Selected statistics sources and various geospatial objects relevant to the geo-references of the statistical data are reviewed. The conceptual model of the integrated data repository is described and the logical integration of statistics from different sources is illustrated. The detailed geospatial conceptual model shows the geospatial classes, main attributes and relationships between these geospatial classes. The paper details the procedure of setting up a server-based database to host both geospatial and non-geospatial data, and uses PostGIS query to interrogate geospatial information in the database, including how to convert the database tables from other formats. A geographic information system (GIS) is introduced as a user-side tool to reveal geospatial and non-geospatial data. Case studies of application of the database for urban sustainability analysis are described. Data maps generated for these case studies can assist planning and design professionals in analysing some urban sustainability issues. Potential applications in various sustainability analyses, barriers and future improvements are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many aspects of the performance of infrastructure slopes are affected by vegetation, but many are conventionally overlooked by engineers. This paper explores in detail the engineering aspects associated with vegetation on infrastructure slopes and the conflicts that must be managed in order to maintain safety and serviceability. It also examines the importance of roadside corridors as grassland habitats and the difficulties of managing and maintaining the diversity of species using safe and economic management practices. The biodiversity of roadside grassland habitats is discussed in this paper, but it is expected that these findings will offer general lessons for the vegetation management of infrastructure slopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the large number of buildings, energy consumption in the university campuses of Turkey may tend to increase over time. In this context, their potential energy savings need to be explored. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate energy savings in university campuses by applying different energy-efficient measures with simulation-based analysis. To do that, four buildings from the Balıkesir University campus were the focus of the present study. The energy billing data were used to calibrate and adjust the simulation models produced from the DesignBuilder software. The results showed that an energy reduction of over 60% in the examined buildings is possible with proper energy-efficient solutions, which is considered very effective. This means that the findings demonstrate a high potential for campus building retrofitting with passive, active and combined strategies. The energy-saving potentials calculated for each building can guide university authorities to determine feasible energy-saving techniques for buildings with large energy conservation potential and forecast future retrofitting planning development in campuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction industries are bulk generators of waste globally; improper management leads to environmental catastrophes. This paper identifies the significant factors through exploratory factor analysis and presents a novel approach to determining the causal relationships of various factors that lead to waste generation at construction sites by structural equation modelling. The analysis identifies maintaining and managing a site waste-management plan (SMP) as the top factor, with a path coefficient of 0·96. The impacts on waste generation of factors such as the operation stage (0·91), ordering and purchasing stage (0·84), hauling and handling stage (0·76), material handling stage (0·73), documentation (0·60) and culture (0·46) are quantified. Appropriate documentation provides the framework for SMP, on the basis of which other mitigation measures may be enforced, thus reinforcing the analysis results of SMP variables. Standardised documentation procedures for SMP need to be initiated and incentivised within existing green building performance rating frameworks, such as Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design–India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An integrated study based on the development of road infrastructure related to transport modes is one of the main methods to reduce both social and safety and pollution impacts. In this sense, optimal planning aims to reduce the use of private vehicles and reduce pollutant emissions and accidents. In general, the most successful cities have been those where different types of interventions have been applied in an integrated way to reinforce each other. This paper aims to show the impact of the existence of innovative public transport systems, such as the bus rapid transit. In particular, an unconventional urban intersection geometry – namely, the turbo roundabout – was chosen for investigation. The assessment of pollutant emissions was analysed by traffic microsimulation with the Vissim 9 software program, comparing different geometry scenarios with or without the presence of dedicated lanes and taking into account the ascent and descent areas that are reasonably far away from the typical manoeuvres of an urban at-grade intersection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the sustainability of civil infrastructure is critical to professionals, project owners, regulators, funding agencies and the public, little is done to link individual project sustainability to the UN's 17 global sustainable development goals for 2030. This paper not only provides some answers, but also exposes many questions that need resolution by the infrastructure sector. Using empirical evidence, the authors have identified a 'golden thread' between best-practice sustainability-reporting frameworks at the project level and those at the organisational level. In doing so, they have found that there is sufficient linkage to embed sustainable-development-goal impact targets into the design stage of an infrastructure project. This would provide a more robust investment appraisal at the project design phase, helping define project success more widely across the triple bottom line of economic, social and environmental outcomes and associated impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric vehicle timeshare rental is a form of sustainable transportation and is growing in popularity around the world. An analysis of the present situation is thus useful for transport management and planning. The study reported in this paper aimed to clarify the usage and operation of electric vehicle timeshare rental schemes in Beijing, China, including mobility patterns, pricing structure, willingness and factors affecting satisfaction through data analysis and questionnaires. The results showed that users had distinctive socio-demographic attributes. Mobility patterns represented a regularity in both time and space, and the pricing structure was a significant factor affecting the users' opinions. Eight factors, including age and cost, showed strong correlation with user satisfaction. It is concluded that electric vehicle timeshare rental is a promising travel mode that could replace private cars and promote the development of electric vehicles. The results of this study can contribute to programming and management of electric vehicle timeshare rental schemes in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A limited number of previous studies have explored the viability of energy recovery from storm water retention ponds and suggest that the potential for this is worth pursuing. This paper develops a novel screening tool for the evaluation of the energy recovery potential at a given storm water storage site and provides a new specific methodology for conducting a preliminary analysis to determine whether it is worth proceeding further in terms of subsequent detailed design and implementation. The application of the tool to two case studies highlights a number of critical dependent factors suggesting that energy recovery from storm water discharge is likely to be limited to locations that have abundant rainfall relatively evenly distributed around the year, a large contributing catchment and steep slopes. Scheme viability is judged by the revenue capable of being generated by the installation over a 20-year payback period. In both cases examined, the investment recovery was found to be low (3 and 14%). An envelope of where energy recovery might be feasible to provide a typical annual electrical output consistent with other viable micro-hydropower schemes is presented. The procedures can be of practical use to asset owners and local authorities where retention ponds are being planned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The success of sustainable buildings can help ease the adverse impact of climate change. For this reason, sustainable buildings are becoming a worldwide trend. While defining both critical success factors and success criteria is a prerequisite for achieving sustainable building success, very few studies have been conducted to identify the factors and criteria influencing the success of sustainable buildings. In this study, the structured questionnaire survey method was applied to identify the critical success factors for procuring sustainable building projects and success criteria for measuring the success of sustainable building projects in Hong Kong, China. The results show that top success criteria for sustainable buildings can be grouped into 'success of traditional project performance'; 'success of sustainability performance from an environmental, social and economic perspective'; and 'participants' satisfaction'. Meanwhile, a factor analysis reveals five principal component factor groups as 'top management and team competence'; 'project performance, continuous improvement and stakeholder benefits effectiveness'; 'life-cycle process management effectiveness'; 'integrated design and resource management effectiveness'; and 'budget and risk control effectiveness'. The findings of this paper should help improve understanding of the criteria for measuring sustainable building success and the critical factors leading to the success of these criteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Thames Tideway tunnel is a large sewer running up to 66 m below the tidal river Thames in London, UK. Its construction, started in 2016, was urgently needed to protect the tidal Thames from pollution due to the combined sewer overflows of untreated sewage that every year are spilled into the river. This paper reports on an exercise for evaluating the environmental impact associated with the construction process of the east section of the tunnel quantified by means of a life-cycle assessment, which not only primarily considered carbon dioxide emissions, but also took into account a wider series of impact categories. Operational and decommissioning impacts were not included. The results indicated the processes with the greatest effects on the environmental performance of the east sector construction and hence where alternatives on the design or materials used needed to be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blackburn Meadows is one of the largest waste water treatment works and landfills under Yorkshire Water's operation. The site treats sewage from over 450 000 people and produces more than 20 000 t of sludge annually, which requires disposal. The sewage sludge is disposed of by means of a number of methods, including incineration followed by landfilling of the ash and direct disposal to landfill. Between 2010 and 2014, the construction and restoration of landfills on the site required approximately 6000 m3 of gravels and 18 000 m3 of topsoil. This paper describes two sustainable examples of material recycling - redundant filter bed gravels from another local site were crushed for reuse in landfill construction and sewage sludge after in situ phyto-conditioning was reused for landfill restoration. Atkins designed the requirements for the reused materials to achieve the most cost-effective specification, which resulted in cost savings of more than 48% for the basal leachate drainage blanket and more than 79% for the restoration layer. Phyto-conditioned sewage sludge is demonstrated to be supporting vegetation on the restored landfills. The construction and restoration of landfills at Blackburn Meadows provided an outlet for approximately 24 000 m3 of materials that would otherwise require disposal by other means. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the energy efficiency of a large building stock, authority planners and designers need to identify which buildings consume most energy and why. For this purpose, this paper provides a data mining-based methodology for setting decision-making rules to identify patterns of energy consumption for a large data set of flats and evaluate the potential effects achievable by retrofitting actions. The calculated normalised primary energy demand ( E PDn) and the geometrical, thermo-physical and heating system attributes of 92 906 flats are analysed. Firstly, an accurate statistical description of the building stock and its main technological features is provided. Secondly, a supervised classification algorithm to rank flats as 'low', 'medium' or 'high' E PDn is developed based on the flats' attributes. To classify E PDn, reference threshold values are set between the attributes. These values will benefit authority planners and designers when setting performance objectives. Finally, the high- E PDn flats are analysed in depth through an unsupervised classification algorithm. Thus, intrinsic properties and hidden dependencies are discovered. Moreover, a manageable number of real reference flats representative of the entire high-consumption class are identified. These real reference flats can be used to study the causes of high- E PDn and propose different energy retrofit actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last decade has witnessed an urgency to adopt integrated and sustainable practices within construction manufacturing processes. With this in mind, this study examines individuals' experiences of the sector's uptake of BES 6001 to determine themes and propose methods for improving the process driving towards a sustainable future. Using a phenomenological methodology and a strategy for purposive sampling of architecture, engineering and construction industry professionals involved in the certification of products under the BES 6001 framework, semi-structured interviews (n = 6) were used to collect 'lived-experience' data. The key benefits of implementation include (a) management belief; (b) BES 6001 providing automated, transparent and accountable reporting; and (c) BES 6001 providing assurance to stakeholders. Meanwhile, the key barriers include (a) the complexity and cost of administration of the assessment; (b) access for small and medium-sized enterprises/small supply chain members being challenging; and (c) the perception of value. Based on the findings, the following recommendations are proposed: (a) there should be consultation and assessment of planned future revisions of the BES 6001 standard; (b) there should be analysis of evidence production for BES 6001 accreditation, with a view to provide in-depth support to organisations – such as a guidance manual or similar; and (c) a clear and integrated approach to responsible sourcing should be explored, considering multiple third-party accreditations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction industry contributes the highest carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, in which concrete production is one of the key components. Extracting and transporting raw materials such as limestone and aggregates contribute to habitat destruction and pollution. This study deals with the relative assessment of a group of commonly used concretes at varied strength levels using emergy analysis and life-cycle assessment (LCA). Six types of concrete are considered for evaluation: normal, binary blended, ternary blended, quaternary blended, alkali-activated and recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). Emergy analysis considers different qualities and quantities of inputs, providing insights on resource-based impacts through emergy indicators. LCA, conducted using the SimaPro software, evaluates the environmental impacts of concrete production using midpoint and endpoint indicators. From emergy analysis, it is observed that concrete with alternative materials such as fly ash, silica fume, ground granulated blast-furnace slag and recycled aggregate exhibits better results in terms of emergy indicators. RAC shows the highest value of emergy sustainability index in all strength ranges. In LCA, higher impacts are seen for normal concrete, followed by those for RAC. To obtain a more inclusive result, an integrated emergy–LCA index is proposed. The results from this index aid in improved decision making regarding the sustainability of the system considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementing and using environmental management systems (EMSs) in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sectors has received worldwide attention but never through a phenomenological lens. This study investigates the 'lived experiences' of experts who have implemented and used ISO 14001 in AEC organisations based in the UK. Using a qualitative research strategy of semi-structured interviews, extensive analysis of the conversations reveals several themes – namely, participants believe that ISO 14001 is not just an environmental business tool, ISO 14001 offers a means of delivering sustainability, ISO 14001 accreditation opens doors for business accruement and, moreover, ISO 14001 is more than a badge, rather it is a modern-day business necessity. The study also reveals that not all organisations asking for ISO 14001 have the accreditation themselves. Based on this evidence, and contrary to previous studies that have proposed that EMSs are chiefly implemented to save costs and comply with legislation, it seems that box ticking as part of the tendering process is now the major motivation for organisations to attain and maintain International Organization for Standardization accreditation. Further, concerns are expressed that some organisations are unwilling to state their sustainability objectives or embed their operations within an EMS that will be audited because it could emphasise their poor performance to stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]