Enablers for Sustainable Lean Construction in India

Abstract

Sustainability and Lean practices are two modern philosophies that are wielding influence in the construction industry. Researchers have observed that Sustainability and Lean implementation go hand in hand and there are benefits in implementing them together as 'Sustainable Lean Construction' (SLC). However, it was observed through a literature review that the contractors' top management support for implementing sustainable practices was not as evident as that of Lean implementation. In the Indian construction scenario, with the Sustainability initiatives and Lean implementation in preliminary stages, time is ripe for viewing them as concepts that complement each other and look for its widespread application as a combined credo. Commitment by owner organizations, compatibility with an existing contractual framework, design ability, constructability, government policy support, financial attractiveness, long-term relationship and increased market penetration are among the enablers that support the implementation of SLC in Indian conditions. The identified enablers and action points, therefore, pave the way for achieving the benefits of lean implementation and sustainable construction practices for fostering SLC practices in Indian construction.

Integrating lean construction with BIM and sustainability: a comparative study of challenges, enablers, techniques, and benefits

“…Regarding LC and sustainability, exploring their synergistic effects by addressing their interfaces is one of major aspects which have been studied by different scholars (Ahuja, 2013; Benachio et al , 2021; Cunha and Lima, 2017; Daniel and Pasquire, 2019; Watkins and Sunjka, 2020). Another major aspect has been discovering enablers, challenge and benefits for realizing lean and sustainable construction (Aslam et al , 2021; Bajjou et al , 2017; Jagannathan et al , 2018; Pandithawatta et al , 2019; Wijerathne et al , 2019).…”

Combining Green Building and Lean Construction to Achieve More Sustainable Development in South Africa

“…First, the literature emphasised the importance of the preparation and design phase of a development, especially in minimising waste and establishing a strong foundation for the subsequent stages [33][34][35][36][37], [40]. In support of this, the implementation of lean construction and green building principles and practices must be done as early as possible in the project life cycle [37], [41].…”

“…Lean can assist in controlling and smoothing the number of activities in this phase to reduce waste, while green building principles can assist in integrating environmental considerations in reducing that waste further in an environmentally friendly manner [47][48][49][50]. And the two working together can significantly enhance the economic and social dimensions of the construction phase [38], [36], [48], [51].…”

Lean and Sustainable Project Delivery in Building Construction: Development of a Conceptual Framework

“…Analyzing the literature on LC reveals certain themes which have been studied considerably. These topics include, but are not limited to, LC and BIM (e.g., [33][34][35][36][37][38]), waste and value (e.g., [39][40][41][42][43]), LC and sustainability [44][45][46][47][48][49], design and planning (e.g., [50][51][52][53]), LC implementation barriers and enablers (e.g., [54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61]), and implications of LC application (e.g., [3,[62][63][64][65]). LC-BIM and LC-sustainability themes are explained and discussed further in the following text, as they are closely connected to the purpose of this study.…”

“…Regarding LC and sustainability, exploring their synergetic effects by addressing their interfaces is one of the major aspects which have been studied by different scholars (e.g., [44,46,[66][67][68]). Another major aspect has been discovering enablers, challenges, and benefits for realizing lean and sustainable construction [17,25,[46][47][48]. Regarding LC and BIM, the mentioned patterns for LC-sustainability studies can be also recognized here, meaning that LC-BIM, as a research topic, has been studied from different aspects, which include the barriers, enablers, and benefits of the joint-application of LC and BIM [2,4,18,21,[34][35][36]69], interfaces and synergies between LC and BIM [22,[70][71][72], and their integration [9,33,[73][74][75].…”