In The Name of God

Integration between Sustainable Design and Constructability

Presented By: Seyed Meysam Khoshnava

(Master student ,MA101111)

Faculty of Civil Engineering

University Technology Malaysia

Introduction:

Today, complex problems such as climate change, air pollution, global warming, and so forth are shared and impact environment and urban sprawl.
Sustainability has been proposed not only to reduce environmental hazards; but also integrate social-economical requirements without compromising the welfare of future generation. The concept of constructability has been offered as a project management technique in order to review construction from beginning to the end to identify obstacles and utilize some methods like innovation for achieving overall project objectives.

Therefore, integration between constructability and sustainable design could provide conditions that efficient resource utilization as well as wastages reduction. In other words, integration of sustainable design and constructability as two components of an efficient design and construction could result in sustainable economic, environment, and society. The purpose of this paper is examination of synergies between sustainability and constructability and their contribution in the quality of buildings and consequently a sustainable word.

Concept of Constructability: Concept of Constructability emerged and surfaced in 1970s. Constructability by Construction Industry Institute (CII in 1986) defined as: the optimum usage of knowledge, skills, and experience in planning, engineering, procurement and field operation to achieve overall objectives. Constructability has two aspects in the construction Phase: The direct transfer of design constructability concepts to construction phase which suggested particular concepts of constructability. The implementation of site constructability concepts both before work commences and during the construction work on site, which address organization and management attributes to improve constructability onsite.

Constructability Principles: Conceptual planning, design and procurement, and field operations (CII, 1986). Also, CII underlined: developing through project plans; detailing site layout; and considering alternative principal of construction methods as three aspects of conceptual planning phase that could aid in improving constructability in this phase. Beside, CII examined the effective utilization of construction knowledge and experience during the engineering and procurement phases of projects. 12 mainly principles which are mapped on to the procurement process:
Integration, Construction knowledge, Team skills, Corporate objectives, Available resources, External factors, Programmer, Construction methodology, Accessibility, Specifications, Construction innovation, Feedback.

Constructability Programs and Implementations: Roadmap developed by CII (1993) is a useful tool in constructability program implementation that provides direction in the planning, development, and implementation of constructability program.

In this regard, CII consider six categories through over viewing of constructability process:
1-Commit to Implementing Constructability 2-Establish Corporate Constructability Program 3-Obtain Constructability Capabilities 4-Plan Constructability Implementation 5-Implement Constructability 6-Update Corporate Program.

Constructability Benefits: Russell et al., (1994) classified benefits as: Qualitative benefits: improving problem avoidance, improving safety, reducing rework, better communication, increasing commitment from team members and motivational aspects among groups. Quantitative benefits: reducing engineer cost, shortening of the schedule duration, and reducing construction cost. Constructability also can brings measurable and pragmatic physiological and psychological benefits for the construction team members. High levels of constructability leads in cost saving: The Business Roundtable (BRT) in 1982 estimated that constructability improvements saved at least 10-20 times cost of constructability attempt.

Sustainability Concept: Sustainability is basically a concept about the interconnectedness of the environment, the economy, and social equity. It is a journey-a path forward-through which we demonstrate responsibility for our future legacy. The basic objectives of sustainability are reducing consumption of nonrenewable resources, minimizing waste, and creating healthy and productive environments. Sustainability also describes a design philosophy that values the natural environment as an integral factor in creating new products or modifying old ones.

Sustainable Design: Sustainable design seeks to reduce negative impacts on the environment, and the health and comfort of building occupants, by improving building performance. Sustainable design covers not only environmental considerations, but also integrates environmental issues with cost, schedule, operations, maintenance, and worker/employee considerations. Sustainable building designs consider larger settlement and industrial developments patterns and attempt to make them healthier, less wasteful, and with fewer impacts on the natural environment through site choice, building design, choice of building materials, and building operations.

Sustainable Design Principles: Economy of Resources: Energy conservation, Water conservation, Material conservation Life Cycle Design: Pre-building phase, Building phase, Post-building phase Humane Design: Preservation of conditions, Urban design & site planning, Design for human comfort To enhance environmental sustainability, a building must holistically balance and integrate all three principles Sustainable Design, Economy of Resources, and Life Cycle Design in design, construction, operation and maintenance, and recycling and reuse of design resources.

Sustainable Design Benefits: Energy efficiency reduces operating costs Water conservation reduces operating costs Buildings are more durable and last longer Construction/operational waste reduction and recycling efforts lower disposal costs Indoor air quality and day lighting measures create healthy and productive work environments and reduce absenteeism Communicates positive community relations Natural resources are conserved for future generations. Most important one is lower operating costs: sustainable design features target
energy efficiency, resulting in lower costs for heating, cooling, and lighting your building. However, some features have higher first costs, but the payback period for the incremental investment often is short and the lifecycle cost typically lower than the cost of more traditional buildings.

Integration between Sustainable Design & Constructability:

Constructability Concepts and Guidelines 1. Use performance specifications Sustainable Design Principles and Guidelines Use environmental performance based contracting
Optimize use of universal sizing (standardize rooms/ workstation sizing, use modules of material sizes) Where practical specify and use locally harvested, mined and manufactured materials and products Recognize the least costly, least time consuming and most environmentally preferable design Optimize the use of engineered materials (i.e. trusses and composite materials). Maximize the use of reusable, renewable, sustainably managed, bio-based materials

Common Objective Focus on encourage innovation performance characteristics that

2. Straightforward designs; avoid unnecessary complexity

Standardize designs to maximize advantages of repeatable construction; Back to Basics

3. Design concepts should be consistent with those generally specified within the geographical region of interest. 4. Design for Construction efficiency

Consider local and environmental conditions in design decisions and product selection Product design should account for production means and efficiency Use systems that minimize field fabrication and associated inefficiencies in labor and material

5. Specify the most efficient system/material to achieve a given purpose

Common Conceptual Themes between Sustainability and Constructability

(Developed from: CII (1993), Zeigler (2002), and High Performance Building Guidelines (1999))

Pentagon building , Best example of Integration between Sustainable Design & Constructability: On this case integration constitute ISDC Team (Integration between Sustainable Design and Constructability Team) that lead in managing renovation project and achieving important result between two methods, including:
Simplifying trade interfaces Design for standard elements & precut items Design for prefabrication & modularization Maximize straight piping and ductwork runs Simple connection details Reuse building materials Align Space dimensions with building materials Design for adaptability Design open floor plans Minimize material use Use local materials and methods Ensure proper sizing of materials/ components

Conclusion: Based on what discussed it can be concluded that sustainability knowledge can be effectively managed by integrating in to constructability process. Constructability practices have been effective mechanisms for managing construction knowledge during design as well as managing sustainable building knowledge. It is suggested that project teams can use these practices and principles to manage sustainable design knowledge on green building projects.

The End

With wishes for a Green World

Thank you for your attention

Faculty of Civil Engineering University Technology Malaysia