Alyami, S (2015) The development of sustainable assessment method for Saudi Arabia built environment. PhD thesis, Cardiff University, UK.
Abstract
Our built environment is responsible for some of the most serious global and local environmental change. The construction industry, therefore, faces pressure to increase the sustainability of its practices reflected in the development of stringent regulations and sustainability assessment methods, designed to mitigate such negative impacts. However, the well-established methods (e.g. BREEAM, LEED, SBTool, and CASBEE) have not originally been designed to suit developing countries (including Saudi Arabia). This study therefore proposes to customize an adapted Saudi Environmental Assessment Method (SEAM). This study, to begin with, investigates the most important and globally widespread environmental assessment methods: BREEAM, LEED, SBTool, and CASBEE. It identifes areas of convergence and distinction in order to enable the consolidation of environmental criteria into new potential schemes. As sustainable and ecological context are usually regarded as multi-dimensional, scientific evidence proposes that a technique based on consensus is most appropriate for the establishment of inclusive and efficient building environmental assessment schemes. Therefore, a consensus based approach is used to deliver: (a) applicable assessment categories and criteria for the Saudi Arabia context and (b) its weighting system. Hence, the Delphi technique and analytic hierarchy process are selected and conducted in four successive systematic consultation rounds, involving world-leading experts in the domain of environmental and sustainable assessment schemes, as well as professionals and highly-informed local experts from academia, government and industry. These two stages resulted in the development of SEAM criteria and its weighting system.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | analytical hierarchy process; building environmental assessment scheme; delphie technique; developing countries; Saudi Arabia; prototype development; sustainability |
| Index terms: | environmental assessment, evidence, Delphi technique, regulation, face, BREEAM accreditation, prototype, sustainability assessment, developing country, analytical hierarchy process, construction industry, environmental change, built environment, academia, building environmental assessment, Saudi Arabia |
| Subjects: | modelling and simulation, data collection methods, educational institutions, infrastructure and transport systems, industry analysis, political science, psychology, environmental policy, evaluation and assessment methods, environmental impact, climate science, decision-making and optimization, sustainability assessment, Geography, development economics |
| Topics: | Engineering Principles, Geographical Context, Sustainability, Education, Research Practice, Governance, Urban Studies, International Construction, Organizational Design |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
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