SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY CONSIDERATIONS DURING PLANNING AND DESIGN: A FRAMEWORK OF PROCESSES FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

With increased awareness of issues such as global resource shortages and climate change, sustainability efforts are becoming more common in the construction industry. While these efforts often consider economic and environmental factors, a truly sustainable construction project also needs to include such social considerations as its impact on the surrounding community and the safety, health, and education of the workforce. For the construction industry, social sustainability requires integrating processes for improving safety, health and well-being over the project life cycle. However, an empirical and comprehensive framework defining these social sustainability processes in construction projects has yet to be clearly delineated. To address this need, this study identifies these processes and categorizes them into a framework for integrating and evaluating social considerations in construction projects. These processes focus on the planning and design phases because they offer the greatest potential for influencing project performance. A concept mapping research method was applied to identify and categorize social sustainability processes based on the input of 25 experts from academia, industry and government. These experts contributed to process identification and then clustered and rated the processes based on similarity and importance, respectively. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis was applied to organize the experts\u27 input into six categories defining social sustainability in construction projects: Stakeholder Engagement, User Considerations, Team Formation, Management Considerations, Impact Assessment, and Place Context. The primary contribution of this research to the knowledge in the field is the expert-based social sustainability framework. Practitioners can benefit from the framework, which will enhance existing sustainability assessment methods and help address the challenge of developing truly sustainable projects. This framework also provides educators with a tool to teach students about social sustainability for construction projects. While this research advances understanding of social sustainability for construction projects, the framework was not validated for every type of construction project and construction project stakeholder. Given the differences between construction projects and between stakeholder perspectives, future research to validate the framework with other expert groups would be useful. In addition, future research suggested by this project could include the development of metrics based on the processes included in the framework. Beyond the framework itself, a secondary contribution to the field is the method for applying the concept mapping research method in the construction industry

Guidelines for the implementation of BIM for post-occupancy management of social housing in brazil

This study presents an analysis of the potential uses of BIM for managing the maintenance and refurbishment of existing housing assets to propose thermal comfort and energy efficiency guidelines for future social housing projects in Brazil. To do so, a case study analysis of a residential development with social–environmental certification in the city of Garanhuns, Pernambuco, Brazil was performed, and a literature review on the use of BIM for residential unit maintenance was conducted. The standard house in the residential development was found to be noncompliant with the Brazilian standard for ventilation openings (NBR 15.220). Therefore, three alternative layouts were created and analyzed to meet the requirements of the standard as well as the needs of the residents. The authors recommend that socio-environmental certifiers use BIM models so that energy performance and other simulations can be carried out. The study also proposes guidelines for BIM implementation in future government housing projects. These guidelines were grouped into five categories: BIM encouragement, energy efficiency, maintenance management, user requirement management, and continuous improvement. The significance of this study is in providing a path for the gradual implementation of BIM for maintenance and post-occupancy management in the Brazilian housing program.Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior grant number 001, by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico grant number 317511/2021-1, by Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia de Pernambuco (FACEPE) grant number IBPG-1526-3.08/20, and by Escola Politécnica da Universidade de Pernambuco (POLI/UPE) grant number 0040608793.000171/2022-68 (CI n° 109/2022). And The APC was funded by Programa de Fortalecimento Acadêmico (PFA) of University of Pernambuco (UPE) through the Programa de Extensão PG18-DESS@POLI, Edital 01/2021

Implementing a collaboration activity in construction engineering education

Collaboration skills are increasingly necessary in today’s construction workforce. However, classroom activities that incorporate collaboration skills, ones involving interactive work among individuals towards a common goal, are underrepresented in many construction classes. This research documents and illuminates implementation of a team activity where groups of interdisciplinary students were asked to build a structure using the provided (paper and tape) resources with the objectives to create a structure that stands at least 4” tall and supports as much weight (under textbook loading) as possible. Two rounds of activities were performed with differing levels of role definition provided to the students. Team interactions and performance were recorded, along with student self-assessments, and reporter observation. The implementation of this collaboration activity continues to provide valuable lessons, which informs the integration and assessment of collaboration activities in construction education.Non UBCUnreviewedFacultyOthe

Implementation of the Global Reporting Initiative Social Sustainability Indicators: A Multi-Case Study Approach Using Brazilian Construction Companies

This study aims to assess the applicability and adherence to social sustainability indicators by large and medium-sized construction companies in Pernambuco, Brazil. The study measures the importance and influence of these indicators in companies’ decision-making processes. The social indicators from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) were selected as they come from a globally recognized and widespread organization. The research focuses on nine companies by conducting semi-structured interviews, site visits, and data validation through observations. The results indicate that most of the indicators were considered to have a high level of importance. However, these indicators are not as influential in decision-making as their importance suggests they should be. Currently, only 26% of the indicators are being measured by the companies, covering only three of the 19 GRI categories. The categories reported are occupational safety and health, local communities, and customer privacy. Most companies would be able to report the other 16 categories with minimal additional effort. A prioritization matrix is presented according to the importance and influence of the indicators and the effort to implement them. Overall, this study reveals that companies could easily measure most social sustainability indicators, making it possible to implement more sustainable decisions with less effort