Environmental assessment schemes for non-domestic building refurbishment in the Malaysian context

The increase in global warming, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions has gained attention in various regions. In Malaysia, the government announced a voluntary commitment to reduce 40% of CO 2 emissions by 2020 and to refurbish 100 government buildings. Existing buildings make a large contribution to energy consumption and CO 2 emissions, therefore refurbishing existing buildings is an essential strategy to achieve the commitment. There is no single assessment scheme for building refurbishment in Malaysia and hence, this study aims to develop a comprehensive list of assessment themes and sub-themes for building refurbishment purposes. It examines and compares 10 assessment schemes from various countries: BREEAM, LEED, CASBEE, BEAM Plus, GBLS, Green Star, HQE, Green Mark, GBI and MyCrest. The findings revealed fourteen themes that were considered for assessment: management, sustainable site, transport, indoor environmental quality (IEQ), water, waste, material, energy, pollution, innovation, economic, social, culture and quality of services. Energy and IEQ are dominant themes in all assessment schemes. Most of the schemes are considered relatively weak in evaluating economic and social aspects, in comparison to environmental aspects. The assessment of quality of services is overlooked in most of the schemes, including GBI and MyCrest in Malaysia. Outcomes from this paper will form the baseline for a new environmental assessment scheme that aimed at non-domestic building refurbishments in Malaysia. A new model is proposed for the development of an environmental assessment scheme in the further stage

Factors influencing BIM adoption in emerging markets—the case of India

This paper studies the adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in emerging markets. The factors responsible for the adoption of BIM are studied in the context of Indian architectural firms. The mechanisms of diffusion of BIM are analysed through a questionnaire survey based on the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework which broadly categorises the influencing factors along these three dimensions. Data were collected through a web-based questionnaire survey. The 184 valid responses were analysed using descriptive statistics. The study found that full potential of BIM has been explored but not realised by many in the Indian construction sector. Findings of the study are analysed and compared with other emerging and developed markets. Based on the survey results, recommendations for increasing the BIM adoption are provided. Further studies and learnings from mature markets can help Indian construction sector develop effective BIM implementation strategies

Green building project management: Obstacles and solutions for sustainable development

10.1002/sd.492Sustainable Development205335-34

Computational Fluid Dynamics for Urban Design: the Prospects for Greater Integration

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has always been used in the field of architecture, urban design and urban planning to understand the patterns of wind flow through the built environment. Its analysis is important to evaluate whether the natural ventilation through a site is adequate to mitigate heat and pollutant to achieve better human comfort in dense urban environments. However, given the complex operational requirements, the response to wind flow is not always done early enough to support planning and design. This paper seeks to illustrate how CFD analysis can aid planning and design of urban areas and investigates the workflow requirements, in the hope of making the CFD simulations more accessible to the practices and contribute to design decisions. It also looks at the present technological advancements and future prospects to assess the scenarios where emerging technologies can make CFD simulation more readily available with affordable and even mobile hardware installations