Implementing LEED v4 BD+C Projects in Vietnam: Contributions and Challenges for General Contractor

Abstract

Sustainable construction addresses both rising housing demand and the need to reduce energy consumption, but is not yet widespread in Vietnam, although the number of Green Building Certified projects has increased significantly since 2015, especially those with LEED certification. Certification adds value to the project but also incurs additional costs and implementation challenges for general contractors (GCs) and other stakeholders. The growing popularity of LEED buildings requires GCs to understand their role in fulfilling the LEED requirements. We therefore conducted a thorough review of the previous research on LEED v4 guidelines and their local equivalents to determine what is expected of GCs working on LEED v4 BD + C projects in Vietnam. A survey of 72 experts, engineers, and architects working in the construction sector identified the LEED tasks where Vietnamese GCs lack experience and suggested solutions to address this shortfall were developed. In particular, Vietnamese GCs lacked experience in implementing their sustainable roles. These results provide a useful foundation for Vietnamese GCs seeking to expand the scope of their LEED work and identified necessary training. Our findings will also guide future research to help GCs in Vietnam adapt to LEED’s sustainability requirements and support sustainable construction in Vietnam.

Using PLS-SEM to analyze challenges hindering success of green building projects in Vietnam

“…This means that more conflict of interest among stakeholders, more unforeseen circumstances, longer green construction practices, more alteration and variation during the construction process, more communications and collaboration among project team members and more complex construction documents and reports are significant challenges to general contractors in executing GB projects in Vietnam. This result is consistent with the previous studies' findings, such as Pham et al (2019), Hwang and Ng (2013), Li et al (2011). As mentioned, the Vietnam GBTs market lacks green construction materials/equipment; and such green products also often lack of necessary green performance certificates.…”

“…This finding is consistent strongly with the Table 7. Bootstrapping results of the structured model JED results of Pham et al (2019), Hwang et al (2015), Li et al (2011), and Robichaud and Anantatmula (2010). Pham et al (2019) showed that Vietnamese general contractors lack experience in selecting and documenting the purchasing of LEED materials.…”

“…Quangdung et al (2019) conducted a SWOT analysis of the GBTs market development and found that the unique characteristics of the context including “the system of technical codes, standards, guidelines is insufficient”; “green R&D activities are not paid appropriately attention by the industry”, and “it is lacking of competent contractors to execute green building projects”. The study of Pham et al (2019) identified challenges for general contractors in implementing green building projects in Vietnam, including general contractors lack experience in implementing almost LEED credits; lack experience in selecting and documenting the purchasing of LEED materials, regulations and standards do not have such strict requirements compare to LEED requirements. Besides that, Pham et al (2020) also found incompetence of project managers, limited green construction materials and technologies, reluctance to change toward sustainability, lack of government incentives and low implementation level of sustainable practices were the five most significant barriers to sustainable construction.…”

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“…LEED protocol was introduced in 1993 aiming at minimizing environmental impacts of built environment starting from design phase up to its use and decommissioning, through energy/resources efficiency actions [15]. LEED plays a significant role among green building certification systems [16][17][18][19][20][21] and most of the green building projects are based on it [22].…”

An Investigation of the Selection of LEED Version 4 Credits for Sustainable Building Projects

“…By the end of 2019, over 146,400 projects had been registered with LEED [11]. By providing technical guides to help users balance environmental protection, energy performance, and financial benefits, LEED promotes these values in its building projects [1,2,12,13]. In addition, green building projects often gain additional financial support as a result of policies that create further advantages for developers working on green building projects [14].…”