Benefits for public healthcare buildings towards Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs): initial reviews

NZEBs concept has received incrementing attention especially since European Union Parliament are progressively moving towards regulation in which all new buildings to be “nearly Zero-Energy” Buildings by 2020. Even though this concept delivers promising benefits, previous studies found that the benefit of NZEB is still in vague to the Malaysian construction industry, mostly for healthcare buildings. The NZEBs concept implementation is critical in healthcare building as it seen as a key part of the needed transition towards sustainable development. This paper aims to define benefits of NZEBs practices through initial investigation among architects. Several existing energies works of literature and pilot studies by using semi-structured interviews were conducted. The findings divulge that, although the term ‘NZEBs design strategies’ is not being used largely across construction industry in Malaysia, some sustainable practices related to the design stage of construction has been implemented. The findings are also promising in growing awareness, practices and implementation of NZEBs design strategies by the practitioner in Malaysia. It is foreseen that the paper will provide a straightforward knowledge for future research in NZEBs design strategies practices for healthcare buildings construction in Malaysia

Assessing the level of community involvement in post-disaster housing reconstruction and current green design practices towards net-zero energy buildings

The post-disaster housing reconstruction (PDHR) is a process discrete from the construction of housing when circumstances are undisturbed because sensitive measures are put in place following disasters occurrence. Most of the time, the successfulness of emergency relief efforts are usually recorded but the same cannot be said of PDHR projects because they often fail to meet sustainability factors. These days, the topic of sustainable building has become a leading concern in the academic, construction industries, and governmental agencies. Sustainability in the building sector has shifted emphasis towards a new concept called net-zero energy buildings (NZEBs). Data collection was done through a self-administration of structured questionnaires to 257 flood victims involved in the reconstruction projects. Findings indicated that community involvement in resource mobilisation and reconstruction process was insignificant due to misplacement of reconstruction priorities. This is capable of determining the failure of the project as beneficiaries’ requirements were not considered, and the construction industry is still unaware of NZEBs. This study is vital as stakeholders beginning with flood victims will have a more resilient housing, the government will be updated with robust strategies to solving resourcing and reconstruction issues, and donors will have value for their money

Green House Project: Perception in Wilayah Persekutuan

Abstract: Green house is becoming a strong momentum in the construction industry after recognizing many negative environmental issues & and problems and potential social and economic benefits around the world. However, developers still using conventional way to construct the housing. This gives huge impact to our environment and also human health. Meanwhile, there are actually some barriers hindering developers to adopt this in their projects. In this study, the perception of stakeholders on green housing will be reviewed. This study shows alertness on environment and increase the green house project among developers. This study examines the perceptions of the developers in Wilayah Persekutuan on green housing sector for the next 20 years. The outline of Green house rating system, improvement of alertness and knowledge among the stakeholders, support from the government and local industry. Therefore, the current situation in rules and regulation, lack of public interest and demand, lack of interest of organization, local government enforcement and project cost escalation would delay a faster progress.     Keywords: Construction, green house, sustainabl