Moncaster, A (2012) Constructing sustainability: connecting the social and the technical in a case study of school building projects. PhD thesis, University of East Anglia, UK.
Abstract
This thesis traces the political interpretation of sustainability, and its translation into practice in English school building programmes during the period 2000-2010. Social power theory is used to analyse the complex network of decisions, and their consequences, through case studies of policy development and of building projects. The thesis describes how the control of appointments to task forces and of the issues considered allowed Government to manage the framing of the policy agenda while seeming to validate industry perspectives. The process led to a political interpretation of sustainability that translated into two main technical solutions: improved operational energy efficiency and low-carbon energy technologies. Within construction projects the potential power of professional experts to produce alternative solutions is also demonstrated, through the example of the successful introduction of cross-laminated timber to reduce embodied carbon. Outcomes are therefore shown to have been substantially influenced by the exercise of both political and professional power. The thesis also shows the unintentional power effects of procurement processes and design tools in defining and limiting possibilities, the restricting power of the professional systems within which the actors operate, and the power of numbers to provoke unreflective trust. These effects are shown to have led to some irrational solutions, with the thesis demonstrating that the energy technologies installed in three projects are likely to produce higher, not lower, carbon emissions. These multiple power effects have therefore constrained thinking and possibilities for the interpretation of sustainability for construction, have limited the subsequent translation into practical solutions, and have had a substantial and at times negative effect on the material performance of the resultant buildings. In addition the technologies and numbers have not only been used, and therefore governed, by the actors but also appear to have governed them, limiting their actions and understanding of sustainability.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction project; efficiency; government; policy; procurement; sustainability; timber; trust |
| Index terms: | school building, energy efficiency, carbon emission, procurement process, energy technology, framing, construction project, programme, exercise, embodied carbon, case study, efficiency, cross-laminated timber |
| Subjects: | project controls, data collection methods, health behaviours and lifestyles, sustainability and energy, innovation and technology management, contractual arrangements, construction type, conceptual models, environmental impact, production management, climate science, building materials, performance management |
| Topics: | Design Practice, Health and Safety, Construction Technology, Project Management, Procurement, Quality Management, Research Practice, Sustainability, Time Control |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
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