Baloi, D (2003) Sustainable construction: Challenges and opportunities. In: Greenwood, D J (ed.) Proceedings of 19th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2003, Brighton, UK.
Abstract
There has been an increasing concern over the impacts of construction activity on the environment and measures haven been put into practice to mitigate them. These measures include legal frameworks, cultural, technological and managerial processes. The construction industry is under severe pressure in order to adopt environmentally friendly approaches and environmental responsibility is nowadays seen as a competitive advantage. However, implementing environmental management systems within construction organisations is not without significant constraints. Construction sustainability has therefore been a major dilemma for the construction industry. This paper reports initial findings of a larger research project on the implementation of sustainable construction in Mozambique. The paper presents and discusses the most important challenges and opportunities facing construction organisations in implementing environmental management systems in Mozambique. The data were collected through a case study of a construction project conducted from the client’s perspective. Construction organisations must devise robust and innovative environmental management strategies in order to comply with the sustainability requirements and take advantages of the opportunities arising from the implementation of such practices.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction; environment; sustainability |
| Index terms: | construction organization, environmentally friendly, competitive advantage, environmental management system, case study, sustainable construction, Mozambique, construction activity, strategy, construction project, construction industry, implementation, environmental management |
| Subjects: | sustainable construction, production management, sustainable design, Geography, management, sustainability assessment, industry analysis, market analysis, control systems, organization, data collection methods, contractual arrangements, construction operations |
| Topics: | Sustainability, Procurement, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Project Management, Geographical Context, Site Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here