Dangana, S (2015) A decision support framework for selecting innovative sustainable technologies for delivering low carbon retail buildings. PhD thesis, University of Plymouth, UK.
Abstract
There is an urgent need to adopt innovative sustainable technologies (ISTs) to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions whilst improving process efficiency of existing retail buildings, due to rising energy prices and the impacts of retail buildings on the environment. Despite their reported advantages, exhibited performance and numerous policies and legislations that encourage their adoption, there is a slow uptake of ISTs in the retail sector. This is due to the fact that the majority of stakeholders consider the task of selecting ISTs as a complex multi-attribute, multi-valued problem involving a large number of stakeholders with numerous, often conflicting objectives. To overcome this problem, the thesis develops a Decision Support Framework to assist stakeholders in the selection of ISTs for delivering low carbon retail buildings. Firstly focusing on the wider retail construction industry, followed by an in-depth case study of a leading UK retail contractor, the drivers and barriers faced by stakeholders in the retail construction industry during the selection of ISTs were identified. The underlying cause to the slow uptake of ISTs (complex decision-making problem) and the need to optimise the use of ISTs were investigated. The results identified the lack of a Decision Support Framework for the selection of ISTs for stakeholders in the retail construction industry. To address the problem, the research developed a Decision Support Framework to assist stakeholders in the complex decision-making task of selecting ISTs. The developed Decision Support Framework was first validated with a leading UK retail contractor and proved favourable; facilitating the decision-makers in the selection process and resulting in the successful selection of eight ISTs. A more general validation was conducted to ensure the Decision Support Framework was applicable to the wider construction industry. The results indicated that the framework was an effective mechanism to optimise the selection of ISTs by improving the decision-making process; it could be used by other stakeholders and also transferable to other building types for selecting ISTs. The thesis contributes to the knowledge related to decision-making and construction management research by developing a Decision Support Framework to assist stakeholders in the selection of ISTs to deliver low carbon retail buildings. In addition, it identifies the drivers for and barriers to selecting ISTs for existing retail buildings; key stakeholders in the selection of ISTs, a set of selection criteria used by clients/developers and designers/constructors and a database of ISTs that can be implemented by stakeholders to achieve low carbon retail buildings.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | case study; conflict; decision support; developer; energy consumption; legislation; stakeholders; UK |
| Index terms: | selection criteria, construction industry, energy consumption, low carbon, database, designer, retail construction, decision-making process, case study, carbon emission, efficiency, validation, decision-making, management research, retail building, decision support, legislation |
| Subjects: | data collection methods, profession, research design and methodology, energy systems, professional development, performance management, industry analysis, data management, decision analysis, climate science, construction type, legal systems, sustainability assessment, tendering, building construction |
| Topics: | Procurement, Sustainability, Risk Management, Quality Management, Legal Issues, Research Practice, Information Management, Construction Technology, Roles and Professions, Design Practice, Digital Applications |
| 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