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Articles

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2014): December 2014

Constructability for Sustainability: A Waste Elimination Approach in Construction Projects

Submitted
March 3, 2016
Published
2016-05-05

Abstract

The limited and inefficient use of natural resources accompanied with the increasing rate of project waste, called for saving the environment and thinking sustainable. The augmenting demand for sustainable buildings is essential to enable current generations achieving their objectives without compromising new generations from accomplishing their own objectives. However, the task of delivering sustainable projects is not that easy, if project waste is not eliminated. The problem of this research stems from the need to eliminate the different unnecessary project wastes that are generated throughout the project life cycle. It is misunderstood that project waste is merely, waste generated during the construction process. In fact, waste has different types including: overproduction, waiting, unnecessary transport, over or incorrect processing, excess inventory, unnecessary movement and defects. All of which have direct impact on the project cost, duration and quality. This paper aims to investigate the role of the concept of constructability towards eliminating project waste as an approach to achieve sustainability in construction projects. A research methodology is designed to accomplish four objectives:
ï‚· Building an in-depth understanding of the research topic through reviewing the concepts of constructability, sustainability and waste.
ï‚· Presenting and analysing three case studies that used constructability to reduce project waste.
ï‚· Investigating the perception and application of constructability towards eliminating project waste through conducting a survey questionnaire with a sample of Egyptian design and construction firms.
ï‚· Developing a framework to facilitate the integration of constructability during project life cycle as an approach for eliminating project waste.
The value of this research stems from the need to study a topic that received scant attention in construction literature especially in the Egyptian context. In addition, adopting the developed model will help design and construction firms eliminating the different types of project waste and achieve sustainability in construction projects.
Keywords: Constructability, Sustainability, Waste Elimination, Construction Projects, Egypt.