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Re-considering sustainable building and design: A cultural change approach

About the project

The Australian construction industry generates more than 16.6 million tonnes of waste each year and accounts for 38 per cent of all waste (ABS 2010). There is minimal research on building and design decisions in the Australian construction industry with regard to the efficient use of resources and elimination of waste. The notion of 'designing out waste' (ie zero waste) is not well-understood or adopted in regard to embodied energy of materials, ecological footprint and the link with cost saving. This project will uncover how the whole procurement teams might design out waste whilst reducing energy, water, land and materials consumption, and minimising cost across the lifecycle of construction projects.  The project will help reduce the 38% of all Australian waste that is produced by the construction industry by addressing the role of the building procurement team in reducing resource usage and eliminating waste.

New building  

The aim of the proposed research is to develop a clear pathway to take building procurement teams (i.e. the client, architects, designers, planners, engineers, building contractors and facility managers) from present levels of knowledge and practice in the minimisation of resource usage and waste reduction towards international best practice and total waste elimination. There is minimal research on the causality of design and construction decisions in the Australian construction industry with regard to the efficient use of resources and elimination of waste. What research there is in this area can be classified into three levels.

Our aim will be to develop a model for procurement teams to follow in construction projects. We will explore how the procurement team (e.g. client, designer, contractor, facility manager) might work collaboratively to minimise waste across the life cycle of projects. In this sense we will be seeking a model that will promote a cultural shift among the whole procurement team by increasing their appreciation of resource efficiency, the need to gain optimum value from the resources embodied in materials and components over their lifecycle, and encouraging the adoption of waste elimination strategies.

The current state of knowledge has yet to provide a framework that is capable of linking team culture and eco-efficiency principles whilst maintaining the capacity to consider the specific nature of the construction industry and construction projects.

Project themes and stages

Based on the critical review of the literature outlined as above, three research themes have been identified:

  1. A cultural shift in the building design team towards encouraging zero waste practices;
  2. Environmental, social and economic sustainability issues associated with resource efficiency and waste elimination; and
  3. The regulatory framework for building design and its capacity to address zero waste

Our project has four stages; 1) conceptual design to establish a working guide, 2) consultation with the industry to develop the model, 3) field testing, 4) data triangulation to complete a zero waste best practice model.

The project will be completed according to the following timelines:

Year 1: the conceptual model completed and participants in the charrettes identified and recruited.

Year 2: charrette workshops, plenary and a draft zero waste guide to building and design completed.

Year 3: public consultation, data analysis and development of the final model with guidelines that can be used by procurement teams to ensure the best practice waste minimisation model is completed.

Project funding

This project is funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project scheme for three years (2011-2013); Australian Institute of Building (AIB), Australian Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS), Campbelltown City Council SA, Hodgkison Architects, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Shenzhen Jianyi International Engineering Consultants Ltd, Zero Waste SA

Personnel

Project partners

Contact information

If you have would like any further information about this project or might be interested in collaborating, participating in or contributing to the research, please contact Keri Chiveralls or George Zillante.

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