Identifying Barriers of Sustainable Construction: A Nigerian Case Study

Abstract

Sustainable development has become an important part of the lives and aspect of enterprises operations globally. There is a global trend to enhance sustainable practices in all sectors and most especially the construction sectors, this study discusses the factors that best prevent the implementation of sustainable construction in the Nigeria construction industry. The study further explores and determines the reliability of how sustainability should be measured in the Nigeria construction industry. The study used both primary and secondary data to meet the set objective. The primary data were gathered through the use of a questionnaire distributed to construction professionals, contractors and clients. Indicative findings arising from the study revealed that; Building regulations and financial incentives are found to be the main drivers of sustainable construction in Nigeria and Lack of client demand and awareness and a general perception that adopting sustainable construction is expensive. The research concluded by recommending that government help with building policies to help push construction firms towards sustainable construction and also awareness campaigns should be carried out so that clients would demand and be aware of the benefits of sustainable construction

Optimising the Awareness of Benefits of Sustainable Construction Practices in Nigeria

“…However, while developed nations have keyed into the benefits of implementing sustainable construction practices through invention and use of new technologies, developing countries are lagging behind and are grappling with fundamental social and economic issues (du Plessis, 2002). Many scholars have identified lack of awareness as a major barrier to implementing sustainable construction practices in the developing countries (see, e.g., Abigo et al, 2012;Abolore, 2012;Afolayan & Tunde, 2014;Chan et al, 2018;Darko & Chan, 2017;Davies & Davies, 2017;Djokoto et al, 2014;Ifije & Aigbavboa, 2020;Nduka & Ogunsanmi, 2015;Ojo et al, 2014). Specifically, Lam et al (2019) identified lack of awareness of benefits of sustainable construction as a barrier to implementing sustainable construction practices.…”

Factors Influencing Clients’ Commitment to Sustainable Construction Practices

“…Code Sources Factors CCP1 [12,21,39,41,45] End-user/client perception and preference CCP2 [11,12,19,21,23,41,42,[46][47][48][49][50] Client knowledge and awareness CCP3 [41,[51][52][53] Level of stress and uncertainty CCP4 [19,51,54,55] Economic value and return on investment CCP5 [19,21,23,12,54,56] Cost implication and mechanism of financial involvement CCP6 [57][58][59][60][61][62][63] Health and safety implications CCP7 [21,34,41,46,64] Availability of resources CCP8 [41,54,56,65] Prevailing economic and political condition CCP9 [66]…”

“…Furthermore, in this era of innovative changes in construction processes, the construction projects are expected to satisfy the economic objectives of the clients while preserving the natural environment and protecting the social wellbeing of the occupants [29]. However, different factors are militating against the construction industry's sustainability initiatives [30][31][32][33][34][35][36]. The extant literature shows that most of these factors are client-related [21,[37][38][39].…”

Model for promoting green certification of buildings in developing nations: a case study of Nigeria

“…In Nigeria, there are related studies such as Dalibi et al (2017), Onososen et al (2019) and Ifije and Aigbavboa (2020) but not concerning GCB. Dalibi et al (2017) investigated the capabilities of engaging green building features in Abuja buildings and identified some of the features such as energy efficiency systems, building envelope, water efficiency systems, among others to satisfy the users and the developers.…”

“…Dalibi et al (2017) investigated the capabilities of engaging green building features in Abuja buildings and identified some of the features such as energy efficiency systems, building envelope, water efficiency systems, among others to satisfy the users and the developers. Ifije and Aigbavboa (2020) examined the barriers of sustainable construction and found inadequate customer awareness, extra building costs, lack of understanding of the advantages of sustainable construction, cost overrun misconception, lax in cost overrun coordination, among others as the barriers to sustainable construction. The authors’ findings validated Onososen et al (2019) and Karji et al (2020) that identified green building development implementation barriers.…”