Browsing by Author "Botchway, Seth Yeboah"

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    Key indicators for assessing sustainability during the construction phase of building projects in Ghana
    (KNUST, 2020-09) Botchway, Seth Yeboah
    The attainment of sustainable development would be elusive until due attention is given to sustainability performance assessment. Globally, there is a proliferation of methodologies meant to offer a means of evaluating sustainability performance. Nevertheless, the existing sustainability assessment tools focus more on design and operation issues at the expense of construction-related issues. The sustainability of the project delivery process is equally important, due to its considerable environmental, social and economic impacts. The context sensitivities exhibited by the sustainability concept requires that indicators are established for suitable local application. This study sought to examine key sustainability indicators (SIs) for assessing the sustainability performance of building projects during their construction phase. It specifically sought to assess the degree of familiarity of professionals with the sustainability assessment tools in the Ghanaian Construction Industry (GCI) and identify environmental, economic and social SIs. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey, following the comprehensive review of literature to determine the sustainability assessment tools that have been used in the GCI and identify the relevant candidate SIs, by adopting the purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Out of a total of 330 questionnaires administered, 167 responses were received and analysed. The data analysis consisted of descriptive analysis, reliability analysis, mean score ranking, normality testing and finally the Kruskal-Wallis and MannWhitney tests. In all, 28 sustainability indicators - 10 environmental, 9 social and 9 economic, were identified as critical for construction-phase sustainability assessment of building projects in Ghana. It was recommended that all stakeholders make a concerted effort to enhance the widespread uptake of sustainability practices within the GCI. Further studies can be undertaken to develop a full-fledged index for sustainability assessment, in consequence of indicator development.