Involvement and influence of construction professionals for environmentally sustainable design outcomes

Abstract

Environmental sustainability is concerned with protecting and conserving both biodiversity and the environment, by reducing waste, preventing pollution and using water and other natural resources as efficiently as possible. Environmental sustainable objectives can be achieved by making appropriate decisions at the design stage with the involvement of different design professionals. Therefore, it is vital to attain the environmentally sustainable design target with the concept of integration. Integration is the combination of involvement and influence for decision making by design professionals. This integration should have to be executed at each stage of the decision-making process to achieve environmentally sustainable design outcomes. Hence, the aim of this research study is to investigate the level of involvement and influence of construction professionals at the design stage in achieving environmentally sustainable design outcomes. Firstly, a literature synthesis was carried out to study the concept of integrated decision making. Subsequently, the process of decision making is identified from the literature synthesis. Then, a case study strategy was conducted to investigate the general involvement of key professionals for decision making in the design stage and to investigate the level of influence of professionals for decision making in the design stage The findings revealed that Architect is the key decision maker and the professional who has the highest influence on decision making. Quantity Surveyors and Engineers have the second and third highest levels of influence for decision making at the design stage respectively.