Bartlett, H V (2006) Understanding the implementation of sustainability principles in UK educational building projects. PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, UK.
Abstract
The need for sustainability (or sustainable development) is widely recognised, and the case for it rarely disputed. There is a particular need for action within the construction industry because of the nature and scale of its activities. Commentaries and statistics on the impacts of the industry abound. Nevertheless there continues to be confusion about the application of sustainable development to construction and the built environment. Using an inductive approach, which follows the roadmap set out by Eisenhardt (1989) for building theories from case studies, four UK educational buildings (the Education Resource Centre at the Eden Project, the Centre for Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge, the Oxstalls Campus at the University of Gloucestershire and the Great Notley Discovery Centre) have been investigated as case studies to address three research questions: What is sustainability in relation to the built environment? Why is it taken into account? and How is it taken into account? Hypotheses have been shaped from analyses of the case studies and evaluated in relation to the literature. It is proposed that for sustainability to be successfully taken into account in a building project there must be a client-driven agenda, an appropriate culture, clear definitions, a means of measurement and the use of tools. It is suggested that this can be undertaken within any contractual form. However, definitions of sustainability in relation to building projects need to be broadened beyond those aspects currently given prominence in the literature.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | built environment; client; education; measurement; sustainable development; UK; university facilities |
| Index terms: | inductive approach, science, sustainable development, educational building, case study, university facility, construction industry, implementation, statistics, built environment |
| Subjects: | contractual arrangements, specialized education, construction type, data collection methods, mathematical modelling, industry analysis, infrastructure and transport systems, health safety and environment, research methods |
| Topics: | Education, Health and Safety, Procurement, Urban Studies, Research Practice, Construction Technology |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
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