Purpose Construction industry hesitates to associate Green concepts on building projects mainly due to its high initial investment cost. Even if it is economical in the long run, often the benefits are suppressed with the costs generated through non-value-adding activities in the construction process. Lean construction principles have proved to eliminate such waste while enhancing the construction process. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore the applicability of the integration of Lean and Green concepts in the construction industry. Design/methodology/approach The fundamental principles of both Lean and Green construction were evaluated through an extensive literature survey. A qualitative approach was adopted, and thus, based on the literature findings, expert interviews were conducted with professionals having experience in both Green and Lean concepts. Furthermore, the findings were validated through experts to analyse the adaptability of the integration. Content analysis technique was utilised with NVivo software programme to analyse the findings. Findings The integration of the Green concept was found to alter the traditional application of Lean concept, considering the social and environmental aspects without limiting to economic considerations. The study revealed that the perception of the Sri Lankan stakeholders towards the application of integrated Lean-Green concept is focussed on a positive direction. As a result, the identified enablers to implementing the integrated concept supersede the barriers by confirming the appropriateness of the application in the local construction industry. Originality/value A framework was developed through the findings to guide the implementation of integrated Lean-Green application in Sri Lankan context.
The construction of pile foundation is a multifaceted activity among rest of the construction activities that are performed by heavy machines, materials, and energy sources generating substantial amount of CO2 and greenhouse gases along with many other forms of environmental pollution. Sustainable piling construction guarantees that the whole piling process meets environmental sustainability and ultimately human health and wellbeing. Many countries around the world, including United States, China, the United Arab Emirates, are in the forefront of reengineering piling construction activities. Implementation of sustainable practices in piling construction Sri Lanka is still at a low level. Succinctly, several hindrances and barriers can be identified when adopting sustainable piling construction practices. Hence, the aim of this paper is to identify the environmental impact due to the current piling construction practices in Sri Lanka and to investigate barriers in implementing sustainable piling construction practices. A questionnaire survey was conducted among thirty (30) experts in piling construction. Significant barriers were identified using the relative importance index technique in data analysis. The findings revealed that among the ten (10) barriers identified, cost overrun and poor pile design, investment risk, lack of awareness of sustainable techniques and technologies as the top three (3) barriers in implementing sustainable piling construction practices. The study clearly identified the need for improving sustainability practices that can also enhance cost-effectiveness and performance efficiency. Findings of this study will be useful in formulating strategies to overcome the barriers and improve sustainability practices in the local construction industry.
The green wall concept has been introduced as one of the solutions to reduce energy demand for ventilation requirements while improving the natural vegetation in dense urban areas. Past studies revealed that the energy-saving of green walls can vary substantially, from 35% to 90% across countries such as United Kingdom (UK), Canada, Russia, Greece, China, Saudi Arabia, India, and Brazil. Given these differences in energy saving of green walls due to climatic conditions and other reasons, direct application of such findings to the Sri Lankan context is questionable. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the thermal performance of green wall applications in Sri Lanka through a case study analysis of an indirect green façade with a comparative conventional wall. The required data were extracted through on-site temperature measurements from different points of both the exterior and interior wall surfaces of each building in different time intervals per day for a period of fourteen days spanning from October to November. The analysis shows that the green walls contribute to 21% - 36% of temperature difference compared to the conventional wall. Eventually, this results in 0.06 kWh of energy-saving per m2 of wall area, and thereby green walls contribute to the 80% energy saving for ventilation requirements. Hence, the study recommends that the use of green walls can be considered as one of the energy efficiency solutions while improving natural vegetation in tropical climatic cities and absorbing other benefits of green walls.
The problem of schedule delay is a frequent and regular phenomenon in the construction projects. Road construction of Sri Lanka is no exception. Client as a key project participant has a control on duration of construction phases. This makes client a casual cause for schedule delay. However, contractor also is a major suffering party due to unprecedented delays. Therefore, this research is aimed at investigating the contractor's perspective of client's impact to the schedule delay in rehabilitation and widening road projects (RWRP) in Sri Lanka. Initially, a comprehensive literature review aided to identify types and effects of delay in road construction projects. Further, identified literature was refined in the sense of Sri Lankan context through three number of preliminary interviews. Next, six cases were selected considering RWRPs in Sri Lanka and steered a document review to investigate the influence of the involvement of the client for delays. Then, a questionnaire survey was carried out to examine the significance of client's causes for delay on contractor's perspective and to identify the client's best practices including suggestions to minimize the delays in RWRPs in Sri Lanka. The analysed data confirmed that delayed interim payments to the contractors due to monetary difficulties of the client, change orders by the client throughout the construction period, delay in land acquisition and delay in handing over the site for construction work as key client causative factors. This study request client to adhere with the identified best practices to mitigate schedule delays in RWRP in Sri Lanka.
As a result of increased attention towards sustainability worldwide, green concepts have become popular in the construction industry. Green roof is one of the essential elements in a green building that provide many advantages while creating a pleasant appearance for the total building. Green roofs play a major role in energy saving of a building. However, compared to a conventional roof, the initial and maintenance costs of a green roof is quite high due to the additional construction and high maintenance requirements. Thus, this paper compares the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) of a green roof with that of a conventional ceramic tile roof in order to determine the financial viability of green roofing. Findings were gathered from several cases and past researches under initial cost, maintenance cost and energy saving of green roofs and adopted to the selected case for the analysis. Findings of the study indicate that initial cost of the green roof was higher than conventional and represented 8.39:(-6.55) proportion of the total life cycle cost of the building. Similarly, maintenance, operational and replacement costs were also higher than the conventional representing 12.08:(-6.55) proportion of the total life cycle cost of the building. Green roof also had higher energy cost than the conventional, representing (-23.64):(-6.55) proportion of total life cycle cost of the building. As a result, it was found that 654.70)/m 2 net saving by a green roof is considerable despite of the high initial and the maintenance cost. According to the study, green roofing concept is financially and environmentally beneficial concept even though there are some barriers, like lack of knowledge, lack of techniques, lack of standards in implementing this concept in the Sri Lankan context. Hence, it is recommended to use green roofing in residential buildings.
With its numerous benefits, the concept of green walls can be used as one of the solutions to address global warming and climatic changes while improving the natural vegetation in dense urban areas. However, perception about the initial and maintenance cost of green walls along with lack of awareness about operational cost savings seems to influence the slow uptake of green wall applications. In that context, this research aimed to assess the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) of green walls in comparison to a conventional wall towards exploring the operational cost benefits which are the most convincing decision criteria for clients/investors. The study involved a case study analysis of an indirect green façade and a comparative conventional wall. The data required to perform the LCC analysis were collected through documentary reviews and on-site temperature measurements. The analysis shows that the initial cost of a green wall is 15% higher than a comparable conventional wall. However, operational and maintenance costs of green walls result in 64% and 25% savings due to potential energy cost-saving, and minimum external redecoration time interval, respectively. This results in an overall LCC saving of 45% over conventional walls with a reasonably expected lifetime of fifty years. As a departing point of previous studies, this study provides empirical evidence on the LCC of green walls in comparison to a conventional wall in a residential facility, from a tropical climate perspective.
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