Achieving sustainable building education the case of polytechnics in Ghana

The construction industry in Ghana is suffering a number of problems at all levels with regards to materials, machinery, personal organization and information. This has its consequences for the production of buildings and amongst them housing. One of the solutions is thought in improving the technical education of the new staff for the construction industry. This paper reports of a successful (NPT) Nuffic project whereby the TU/e worked closely together with the two Ghanaian partners the Polytechnics in Sunyany and Cape Coast and the Kwame Nkruma University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi. The approach of improving education was at different levels: a) The development of a new curriculum. b) Upgrading of laboratories and workshops at both polytechnics. c) The staff could follow upgrading courses to get a graduation of Bsc or Msc level. d) Some ((Msc) level) staff members were allowed to leave the country for a phd study in one of the specific teaching areas at the TU/e. The main point was to involve the construction industry in both the curriculum development and in the practice of teaching and apprenticeships. In December 2006 was a mid-term review as the project is half way. A number of promising results can be reported. Although some financial input is required in our view this way of approaching a problematic construction industry will bear its fruits in the nearby future. Already in September 2007 the new curriculum will be launched so that the industry will be reinforced with staff of a higher quality. The sustainability is guaranteed as the upgrading project was fully embedded Ghanaian context with full support of all parties involved

The stakeholder requirements of building systems for coastal low income housing concerning safety and adaptability

Many coastal settlements in humid tropical developing countries face the burdens of risks due to their location as well as due to a rather low quality of housing that does not meet the requirements of sustainability. An important aspect is that the provided building systems for coastal houses in some developing countries (DCs) do not cater for the stakeholder requirement of building safety and adaptability in the coastal area. This paper describes the results on stakeholder requirements and preferences of building systems for determination and adaptation of the performance of low cost housing in HTCCs towards improved sustainability concerning safety and adaptability. Keywords : stakeholder requirements, sustainability and lifespan, building systems, humid tropical coastal cities , safety and adaptabilit

The stakeholder requirements of building systems for coastal low income housing concerning safety and adaptability

Many coastal settlements in humid tropical developing countries face the burdens of risks due to their location as well as due to a rather low quality of housing that does not meet the requirements of sustainability. An important aspect is that the provided building systems for coastal houses in some developing countries (DCs) do not cater for the stakeholder requirement of building safety and adaptability in the coastal area. This paper describes the results on stakeholder requirements and preferences of building systems for determination and adaptation of the performance of low cost housing in HTCCs towards improved sustainability concerning safety and adaptability. Keywords : stakeholder requirements, sustainability and lifespan, building systems, humid tropical coastal cities , safety and adaptabilit

Activities and space use for enabling local economy in coastal low income housing : towards a methodologycal approach

Many low income households are supported by Home Based Enterprises (HBE) for their income generation. However, settlements in coastal areas have physical problems related to the corrosive land and climate condition, as well as the possibilities of natural hazards such as flooding (ADB, 2003: UNHABITAT 2003). The rapid growth of cities especially in developing countries (DCs) contributes to social problems, serious burdens for human health and the environment. In order to improve the quality of human life in the coastal cities, some local governments decided to remove some settlements to the inland area such as problems in some big coastal cities in Indonesia. In many cases, many resettlements of housing failed to meet community’s and user’s requirements. To reduce and avoid sustainability problems, it is necessary to have more insight and understanding of the used of space in coastal low income housing. This paper describes user’s activities and methodological approach used in order to determine user’s requirements in coastal low income housing (LIH). Keywords: coastal settlements, low income housing, home based enterprises (HBE), user’s activities, space design

Metabolism of materials by the construction sector in developing countries : Costa Rica as a case study

Production practices require large amounts of materials and are not likely to be sustained without large implication for the environment. Materials and energy are put together in order to produce goods and the total of these physical processes have been referred by Ayres and Simons as "Industrial Metabolism", which was defined as "the whole integrated collection of physical processes that convert raw materials, plus labour, into finished products and wastes in a (more or less) steady-state condition". A good understanding of societal metabolism is likely to contribute to more sustainable production and consumption. The construction industry and its related materials, service, and supply feeder industries are jointly considered to be both the world's largest industrial employer and the largest natural resources consumer as well as a great waste producer. In developing countries, construction waste is becoming a serious environmental problem due to the continuing growing population and urbanization, which demand material resources, water and energy. Information and data about the sector in those economies is scarce and some of the information found can't be compared with other data. An assessment has been done in Costa Rica in order to understand how construction materials are metabolised (transformed) by the sector. The study provides an idea of the amount of waste generation and its composition. It also shows the causes, which are related to design, procurement, material handling, operation, residual and others

Applicability of LCA tool for building materials produced from construction and demolition waste : case of Tanzania

It is estimated that about 10 million tonnes of construction and demolition (C&D) waste is generated annually in Tanzania. This waste is expected to increase even more because of population increases, urbanization, industrialization and commercialization which results in more utilization of natural resources as well. The stock of material resources (raw materials) decrease worldwide and any excessive material extraction puts pressure on natural resources, including ecosystems which depend on this resource for survival. This justifies the research to find a proper technology for recovery (reusing, recycling and upcycling) of C&D wastes which would alleviate the excessive extraction and utilization of natural resources. The research aims at solutions to use the C&D waste to produce building materials (for example concrete blocks) which is a commonly used building material in Tanzania. To ensure the sustainability of such building materials, the environmental, social and economic parameters have to be assessed by using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tool. Life cycle assessment is a technique for assessing the environmental impacts associated with a product over its life cycle. Currently, most of Life Cycle Assessment tools applied are developed in developed countries such as SimaPro (Netherlands), INVEST (United Kingdom), BEES (United States) etc. Their direct applicability is limited due to the fact that they are developed in countries with different environmental conditions as well as economic status. Therefore, this research paper discusses the identification of an appropriate Life Cycle Assessment tool which can be applied in research to determine the extent to which building products resulting from construction and demolition waste are sustainable in ecological sense

Towards sustainable infrastructure development in Africa : design principles and strategies for lifespan-based building performance

Societies and economies the world over develop on the wheels of infrastructure. In Africa, it accounts for about one-third to one-half of all public investment (Kessides, 1993). Significant about infrastructure in general, however is the fact that they have very long lives. Consequently, their impact on capital investment, resource utilization, the quality of the environment and overall quality of human life can be very significant. It is important therefore that they meet performance requirements in terms of economic, ecological and social sustainability. By the same token, their long lifespan fraught the design task with enormous amount of uncertainties, compounding the already ill-defined nature of design problems. Given that change is importune, and the fact that it is impracticable to foresee all the changes that will occur over time, a defining characteristic of all infrastructure will be the capacity to respond to change. Focusing on the case of buildings, this paper presents a discussion on some design principles and strategies which assure responsiveness to change and hence sustainable performance. Although the concepts have been advocated for over half a century now, studies show that they still remain marginal to the design profession. To clarify the concepts for research questioning and extension of knowledge, this paper seeks to examine their basic tenets with the view to harmonize the core principles and strategies. A literature review method is used with examples from field observations where necessary. The paper first attempts to review and harmonize these principles, and highlights the practical usefulness. It then highlights the implications for research and development in building technology as well as technology capacity building for sustainable infrastructure development in Africa