Factors Affecting Sustainable Building Design and Construction in the United Kingdom - Research Proposal Example

Factors Affecting Sustainable Building design and construction: A case study of the United Kingdom Students Name Institution Supervisors Name Date Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction 3 Aim 5 Objective 5 2.0 Literature Review 6 3.0 Research methods 8 4.0 Ethical concerns 14 5.0 Costing and time considerations 15 6.0 Project milestones 15 References 16 1.0 Introduction All over the world, the business environment in which the construction industry operation has continued to evolve day by day. This is because most organisations fail to adopt and respond the changing environment of the construction industry and the experience with regard to industry’s survival challenges. Contractors now need to be capable to continuously improve their performances on the basis of environmental awareness, user requirements limited resources and high competition that is ever growing in the construction business all over the world. The construction industry is not like other industries, it is very complex and comprises of different shareholders, consultants, regulators and contractors themselves. And with this type of complexity it is important for the industry to revolutionize itself in terms of development and achievement of what it stands for in the society, this is because as it currently stands in the united Kingdom, the construction industry contributes to 10% of the country’s Gross National Product. This means that the United Kingdom local construction industry is one of the country’s main economic engine sectors. There is need for the country’s construction projects to review itself for a better performance in terms of availability of materials, design and drawings, coordination among participants, leadership and cost effectiveness. Other factors such as the social and political will also play a great role to revolutionalize the industry to what it should become[Ste12]. Performance of construction projects thus is measured and evaluated by use of several performance indicators which can be related to different dimensions like construction cost, satisfaction of clients, performance of businesses, health and safety needs of the construction areas. Other factors such as time frame and quality of the final project are very important evaluation measures of the projects[Kib10]. Another interesting way in which experts evaluate construction projects will be through Sustainable Building design and construction cost estimation and the real for completion of project. Sustainable Building design and construction thus becomes one of the areas that most project fail to look at whenever designing a project. Sustainable Building design and construction is usually related first to the owner, stakeholder, user and the general public, and secondly most important, it will look at the contractor, these are the people who will analyse the construction project in to the minor details, their performance is usually influenced by different project characteristics, costs of project does not only relate to monetary value but also the labour, time, infrastructure, managerial among other cost factors[Ber12]. For example, David (2012) found that the time and design of a project will always be influenced by the characteristics of the project, the team performance, procurement procedure, characteristics of the contractor, representation of the client, external conditions and the characteristics of the design team. Also Charles (2010), found out that there are many factors that influence Sustainable Building design and construction performance of projects which will include the competency of the contractor, management support, coordination during construction monitoring and evaluation of the project. Other factors will also include the social, political, technological and environmental conditions of the geographical area of the site. With this regard, it is found that cost is a poor predictor of time performance of projects. This is why Paul (2011) introduced a performance evaluation model for construction companies so as to provide the company owners with a proper tool for construction and funding agencies evaluation. With this regard, this project investigates factors affecting construction cost performance in construction project with a case study of the United Kingdom construction companies. This paper will thus be able to shade some light on how construction companies in the united kingdom conduct their day to day activities with regard to time Sustainable Building design and construction. Aim The Aim of this proposal will be to investigate factors affecting Sustainable Building design and construction with a case study of the United Kingdom. Objective The Main objective of this project will be to identify the main causes of Sustainable Building design and construction in construction projects through survey and review of related literature. Other objectives of the project will be: 1. To identify different means of ensuring sustainable building and design with regard to construction projects. 2. Examine reasons for poor building and designs by looking at various case studies in the united Kingdom and other parts of the world. 3. Analyse information from the survey and literature review to so as to come with further recommendation and suggestions of making the construction industry Sustainable and effective. 2.0 Literature Review Sustainable building design and construction is growing to become one of the most important factors to consider when implementing a design of a new development structure. This means that more and more research unfolds it making it more apparent that more should be done in order to improve the environment and those first growing concerns with regard to the destruction of the environment[Mar112]. As the development towards this direction continues to be an area of interest, it is important that we integrate the new technologies in to design so as to help in reducing consumption of energy in building so as to reduce the CO2 levels in order to help the environment. Sustainable building design and construction is often thought of as the same subject however this is different. The topic on Sustainable building design and construction is very wide and almost impossible to have a constructive argument with regard ways of minimizing the negative environmental impact of building through enhancing moderation and efficiency in the use of materials, development and energy, according to David (2011), the main reason for Sustainable building design and construction is to get rid of environmental impact through skillful design. Sustainable architecture came about from issues largely relating to the demise of the worlds environment & the need to help reduce energy consumption, CO2 emissions, & recycle rather than will be goods to help aid both environmental & political issues around the world. On the whole sustainable architecture aims to reduce / minimize the negative environmental impact of developments by enhancing efficiency of materials & reducing energy consumption[Iss13]. David (2011), states that sustainable development requires the simultaneous implementation of the following themes; Economic sustainability, Social Sustainability, and Environmental sustainability. The loss of one dimension is likely to mean the loss of another. Conversely, environmental and economic gain should also lead to social gain. Society depends upon the resources and life support systems the environment provides[Kib10]. The economy relies on the environment for resources to make products and services for society to purchase. It is also believed that when we look at sustainable design in terms of architecture the use of sustainable products should be fully integrated within the design, they are not add-ons or supplements. Thus meaning that many different teams must work closely together from the client, to the product designers through to the architects at all stages of the project from site selection through to project implementation[Iss13]. Sustainable Building Design and construction principles It is the normal principles nowadays to ensure that all new homes are measured by use of a star rating based on the design stage of the building. The ratings are normally between 1 and 6 stars. At the same time the allocation of star rating is usually based on the performance of the home in 9 main areas. According to Hart (2009), it is possible to identify the overall environmental impact of the new proposal. The more star rating that a building will have, the better the recommendation. A star rating that is high also means that the building has passed regulations making it to be a environmentally friendly home. The first criteria for measuring the buildings sustainability is on energy and CO2 Emission. This will look at operational energy and resulting emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, all the two have minimum standards that should be met at each level of the code. The other areas to look at is water and surface water run-off, with this regard, we look at the Water H2O & Surface Water Run-off - The change in surface water run-off patterns as a result of the development- The consumption of potable water from the public supply systems or other ground water resources (each of which have minimum standards to be met at entry level). It is also important to look at the materials and how they are going to impact on the environment of construction materials for key construction elements(no mandatory minimum standards). It is also important to look at the will bete that is generated as a result of the construction process and facilities encouraging recycling of domestic will bete in the home (no mandatory minimum standards). Health and well being will also be looked at with regard to the effects that the dwelling's design and indoor environment has on its occupants (no mandatory minimum standards)[Kei12]. 3.0 Research methods Survey design will be used in this research. This is because the study requires description of what is happening and what has already happened. The characteristics of the design are none experimental and deals with variables in a natural setting. Hart (2009), states that survey research can be used to study large and small populations by selecting and studying samples chosen from the populations to discover incidence, distribution and interrelations of sociological and psychological variables. The design is recommended for educational and social research. That is, most research problems, social and educational do not lend themselves to experimental enquiry. According to Hart (2009), survey research or "what is" involves the survey, recording analysis and interpretation of condition that exists. It involves some type of comparison or contrast and attempt to discover relationships between existing and manipulated variables. According to Rana(2010), it is important to remember to have the research descriptive as it is concerned with "how", "what is" or "what exists" is related to some preceding events that has influenced or affected a present condition or event. Therefore, this design will be applicable to the study. Qualitative vs. Quantitative study During the study also, Qualitative methodologies will be used to describe, interpret, question, identify trends and qualitatively compare the effectiveness of treatments, the impact of conditions, the applications of particular performance models, etc. However, qualitative research will be not considered since it is largely unconcerned with proving or disproving speculated relationships, and even when it seeks to argue a point, it does so through logical, narrative debate which is still, ultimately, a matter of personal judgment. Quantitative research is particularly interested in analyzing and modeling hypothetical relationships between variables, to demonstrate how these might be manipulated and the knowledge gained preferably used to advantage. Research methods used- Survey questionnaire and interviews in Sustainable building design and construction Questionnaire Two sets of questionnaires will be developed, one for the architectural designers and the stakeholders in the construction industry. The questionnaire will be administered to the sampled population in person by the researcher. The questionnaire items will be developed to appropriately answer the research questions. The questionnaire will be adopted because it is free from the bias of the interviewer and answers are in respondent's own words, respondents have adequate time to give well thought out answers and respondents who are not easily approachable can also be reached conveniently. Information can be collected from a large sample and diverse regions therefore saving time. Since they are presented on paper format, there is no opportunity for interviewer bias and confidentiality is up held. However the following weaknesses are likely to be encountered, responses can be quite low, there is no direct contact so the researcher cannot deal with any misunderstanding that may arise. There is no opportunity to ask for further information related to the answers given and therefore no clear reason can be given for incomplete responses. To ensure effectiveness of the questionnaires a pre-test will be carried out. The questionnaire included both closed and open-ended questions. The process of developing the questionnaires will be done through extensive consultations with the researcher’s supervisors, other researchers and extensive documentary study of related research works. Interviews This is a face to face interpersonal role situation in which an interviewer asks the respondents questions designed to obtain answers pertinent to the research problems. This research shall adopt interpersonal interview. The interview schedule will be prepared in accordance with the research questions. The interview will be administered to the architectural designers and stakeholders of the construction Industry in the United Kingdom The interview schedule items will comprise both closed and open ended questions which will be tested on the knowledge on sustainable building design and construction in the United Kingdom[Ran09]. The chief merits of the interview method can be enumerated as follows; more information can be obtained and in greater depth, interviewer by his own skill can overcome resistance, if any, of the respondents; the interview method can be made to yield an almost perfect sample of the general population. Observation method can as well be applied to recording verbal answers to various. The interviewer can usually control which person(s) will be answer the questions[Ran06]. The language of the interview can be adapted to the ability or the educational level of the person interviewed and as such misinterpretation concerning questions can be avoided. The interviewer can collect supplementary information about the respondents’ personal characteristics and environment which is often of great value in interpreting results[Ber12]. But there are also shortcomings with the interview method. Mention has been made of the following; it’s a very expensive method especially when large and widely spread geographical sample is taken. There remains the possibility of the bias of interviewers as well as that of the respondents. This method is relatively more time consuming especially when the sample is large. For a successful implementation of the interview method, the researcher made prior arrangements through a workable work plan. Data analysis According to David (2009), Logistics in research refers to all those processes, activities or actions that a researcher must carry out to ensure successful completion of the study. Conducting research is a process, that needs careful planning, considering that research is a very expensive undertaking in terms of time, financial and human resource. Careful planning before starting the research process enhances reliability and validity of data. The researcher obtained a research permit Established a work plan, pre-test the instruments, sample the research unit, distribute the instruments and establish an efficient system of collecting the completed instruments. Since data will be not collected within a day, the researcher shall wait until all the questionnaires have been administered and returned. The completed and returned questionnaires will be first of all checked coded and edited for accuracy, completeness and uniformity. Then the open-ended questions and close-ended questions will be categorized into categories directly related to the following independent variables: Economic, political, legal, social, Technological, improvement in the industry. Then quantification of the categories will be done by assigning numerical values to the various categories in order to facilitate statistical representation of data[Ran06]. The five responses attemptives will be symbolized and ranked in the following way: Strongly agree (SA) 5, Agree (A) 4, Neutral (N0) 3, Disagree (D), 2 and strongly Disagree (SD) 1. The data will be then entered into the SPSS computer package. The first data analysis will employ the use of descriptive statistics – from these statistics frequencies and percentages and means will be computed to facilitate comparison of the proportions of response made by stakeholders and managers regarding strategic management and its impact in raising performance in the hospitality industry. The mean will be the measure of central tendency used. Sampling method According to Hart (2009), sampling is taking any portion of a population or universe as a representative of that population or universe. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques will be used in the study. Simple random sampling will be used so as to obtain a representative sample because the population from which the sample will be drawn does constitute a homogeneous group. Multi­stage random and stratified random sampling will be used to ensure that every participant in the sample has an equal chance of inclusion. Validity and reliability- triangulation Validity This refers to the "correctness, soundness of results of conclusion reached in a study". Validity is ‘the success of a scale in measuring what it set out to measure, so that differences in individual scores of can be taken to representing differences in the characteristics under study’[Mou09]. validity is the extend to which an instrument measures what it appears to measure. In this study the instruments will be rated in terms of how effectively it samples the significant aspects of the purpose of the study. content related validity of the instrument will be subjected to approval and amendment by the researcher’s supervisors, colleagues in class and other experts. Despite this cautionary approach, the questionnaires and the interview questions Will be also pilot tested for any unlikely yet possible item difficulty or ambiguity. Any item that offered ambiguous answers will be re-designed for proper response specifications[Mou09]. Reliability Reliability refers to the degree of consistency or whether it can be relied upon to produce the same results when used by someone else. To test the reliability of the research tools, the questionnaires and interview items will be pilot tested. Pilot Study This is a mini study that the researcher did to ‘pre-test’ the questionnaire. As mentioned above, researcher shall pre-test the questionnaire to a purposively selected sample of twenty (20) respondents. Respondents in the actual sample will not participate in the pre-test. The researcher shall ask the respondents to respond to the instrument twice, a second time being after a period of two weeks. The researcher then analyzed the few questionnaires to see if the methods of analysis will be appropriate. Questions which will be found to be vague will be revealed in the sense that the respondents interpreted them differently. The researcher in this kind of situation, had to adjust or rephrase the questions. Deficiencies in the questionnaire will be revealed, for example, unclear questions and wrong numbering will be revealed and corrected, thus improving the questionnaire[Ran06]. Comments and suggestions made by respondents will be also seriously considered and incorporated in the final questionnaire. 4.0 Ethical concerns Ethics has been defined as a branch of philosophy which deals with one’s conduct and serve as a guide to one’s behaviour.The participants will be clearly informed about the purpose and procedures of the research to enable them make informed choices and participate willingly and present the information required correctly. The participants will be assured of confidentiality and anonymity to protect them from any physical and psychological harm. Permission will be sought from all the concerns, the concerned authorities in the sampled regions. The officers and specialists selected, and the individual participants. The researcher exercised academic freedom, publish and hand over the findings of the study to the relevant authority. 5.0 Costing and time considerations Before the study, the assumptions that will be being made in this study are that the sample represents the population and that all respondents will be honestly give their responses truthfully. It will also be important for the researcher to conduct the study in the united Kingdom due to the budget allocated and time. 6.0 Project milestones ACTIVITY TIME Research proposal April Pilot study May Data collection May Data Analysis June Research compilation June Submission of Research paper July References Ste12: , (Cook, 2012), Kib10: , (Charles, 2010), Ber12: , (David, 2012), Mar112: , (R, DeMatteoDavid, & David, 2011), Iss13: , (Raja, Patrick, & Svetlana, 2013), Kei12: , (Moscow, 2012), Ran09: , (H, M, T, & L, 2009), Ran06: , (Kumar, 2006), Mou09: , (Hart, 2009), Read More