Human Settlements Review - Parliamentary Monitoring Group

subject. Definitions, principles and frameworks
have been suggested by, for example, Bowen
and Hill
Human Settlements Review, Volume 1, Number 1, 2010
(1997: 223-239), Shafii (2006: 29-44) and
DuBose et al. (1995: 1-15). The implication of
sustainability in the built environment in various
national and regional contexts has been
explored by, for example, Shen et al. (2008:
55-68), Ekanayake and Offori (2000: 1-6),
Ballard et al. (2003: 6-14), Du Plessis (2005:
405-415), Poon (2007: 1715-1716) and Tam
et al. (2007: 1471-1477). Building assessment
and the tools for that have been addressed
by, for example, Nelms et al. (2007: 237-
251), Adinyira et al. (2007: 1-8), Ding (2008:
451-464), Crawley and Aho (1999: 300-308),
Gibberd (2005), Sahely et al. (2005: 72-85),
Guy and Kibert (1998: 39-45), Mulavdić (2005:
39-52), Šaparauskas and Turskis (2006: 321-
326), and Cole (2000: 949-957). A range of
procurement and delivery systems and other
process issues have been well-covered by
Ngowi (1998: 340-350) and Rwelamila et al.
(2000: 39-50).
4.3 Principle issues affecting
sustainable construction
The summary of principle issues and the
rationale affecting sustainability in the built
environment are given in Table 1 (Shafii, 2006:
3). Bowen and Hill (1997: 227) divided these
principles into four pillars of sustainability, that
is, social, economic, biophysical and technical
– with a set of over-arching, process-oriented
principles, to be used as a checklist in practice.
Table 1: Issues and rationale affecting sustainable construction (source: Shafii, 2006: 3, Table 1)
Issues
Environmental-friendly construction
materials
Energy efficiency in buildings
Construction and demolition waste
management
Health in buildings
Sustainable architecture
Rationale
The building construction industry consumes as
much as 50% of all materials extracted from the
earth’s crust
The operations of the construction industry and
subsequent demolition of built facilities account for
about 40% of all energy used and a similar percentage
of greenhouse gas emissions
Construction and demolition waste account for 50%
of all waste generated prior to recovery
The quality of the internal environment of buildings
is an essential element to the health of its occupants
Urge for implementing principles and measures in the
design process leading to the overall performance of
buildings
Social impacts arising from construction
and the built environment
Sustainable construction can improve the living
context and relationship between citizens and their
environment and contribute effectively towards social
cohesion and job creation, and the promotion of
cultural and regional economic development.
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