Sustainability has become a driver of innovation in the built environment, but the affordability of sustainable building remains a significant challenge. This book takes a critical view of the real cost of green building. It provides readers with a non-biased evaluation based on empirical construction cost data and sheds light on the affordability of sustainable buildings.
Chapters are presented in three parts. The first part lays the foundation to demystify the perception of green buildings being expensive to construct by providing empirical evidence that green buildings, even net-zero buildings, are not necessarily more expensive to build than conventional buildings. The second part presents empirical evidence, common misperceptions of a higher green building construction cost are debunked. The author offers a new framework to explain the construction cost drivers and differences of sustainable buildings: the project characteristics and project team characteristics (human factors). The third part directs the readers’ attention to the important role that human factors play in controlling and reducing construction costs, with a focus on the project design team. A lack of skills, expertise, and experience during the design phase is likely to be the biggest contributor to higher construction costs. Empirical analysis, case studies on LEED-certified buildings, and interviews with project teams are used to present a pathway to more affordable green building at the end.
This will be a crucial resource for students and professionals in architecture, engineering, construction management, and planning and energy policy.
Author(s): Ming Hu
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 196
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Part I: Looking Back and Perceptions
1 Introduction
1.1 Motivation Behind this Book
1.1.1 Practice and Research Experience
1.1.2 Market Trends
1.1.3 Overarching Goals of this Book
1.2 Description of the Knowledge Gap
1.2.1 Contradictions between Drivers and Perception
1.2.2 Lack of Studies on Construction Cost
1.2.3 Lack of Consistency in Construction Cost data Collection
1.2.4 Differing Definitions of Sustainability
1.3 Project Design team’s Influence
1.3.1 Theoretical Foundation of Design Decision’s Effect on Construction Cost
1.3.2 Proposed Conceptual Model
1.3.3 Project Characteristics
1.3.4 Project Team Characteristics
1.3.5 Level of Sustainability
1.3.6 Construction Cost
1.4 Organization of Book
2 Existing Research
2.1 Research Development of the Green building Construction Cost
2.1.1 Phase 1: 1980–1990
2.1.2 Phase 2: 1991–2000
2.1.3 Phase 3: 2001–2010
2.1.4 Phase 4: 2011–2022
2.1.5 Summary of Research Activities
2.2 Changes in Definition of cost Categories and Components
2.2.1 Direct Costs Versus Indirect Costs
2.2.2 Variable Costs Versus fixed Costs
2.2.3 Hard Costs and Soft Costs
2.2.4 Initial Cost and life Cycle Cost
2.3 Knowledge Gaps in Construction cost and Estimation
2.3.1 Misuse of Cost and Price
2.3.2 Lack of Cost Estimation Transparency
2.4 Current Research Status of the Sustainable Building Construction Cost
2.4.1 Literature Selection
2.4.2 Findings and Conclusion
2.4.3 Primary Issue
2.5 Proposed Cost Components Definition for Sustainable Building
2.6 Chapter Summary
3 Meta-Analysis Findings
3.1 Meta-Analysis Results
3.1.1 Differences in the SCS per Building Type
3.1.2 Differences in the SCS per Continent
3.1.3 Differences in the SCS per LEED Certification Level
3.1.4 Differences in the SCS per Construction Cost Data Source
3.1.5 Differences in the SCS between Studies by industry Experts and Academic Researchers
3.1.6 Summary of Meta-analysis Findings
3.2 Influential Cost Factors of the SBCC Derived from the Meta-Analysis
3.2.1 Grouping of Construction Cost Factors
3.3 Project Characteristic Variables
3.3.1 Technical Complexity
3.3.2 Supply Chain Issues
3.3.3 Building-Specific Characteristics
3.4 Project team Characteristic Variables
3.4.1 Procurement and Delivery Method
3.4.2 Skills and Experience
3.4.3 Collaboration and Communication
3.4.4 Innovation
3.5 Chapter Summary
Part II: What Actual Data tells Us
4 Data Collection and Description
4.1 SBCC Composition and Data Sources
4.2 Data Collection from GSA
4.3 Construction Cost Database Descriptive Statistics
4.3.1 Project Cost Range
4.3.2 Cost Variance per Geographic Location
4.3.3 Cost Variance per Scope of Work
4.3.4 Cost Variance per Building Type
4.3.5 Summary
4.4 Project team Characteristic Data Collection
4.4.1 Procurement and Delivery Methods
4.4.2 Skills and Experience
4.4.3 Collaboration and Communication
4.4.4 Innovation
4.5 Project Characteristic Data Descriptive Statistics
4.5.1 Building Type
4.5.2 Building Age
4.5.3 Project Location Distribution
4.5.4 Project Level of Sustainability Achieved
4.5.5 Construction Type (Scope of Work)
4.6 Chapter Summary
5 Data Analysis
5.1 Regression Model Analysis
5.1.1 Relation Between the level of Sustainability and the Construction Cost
5.1.2 Construction Cost per LOS
5.1.3 Influential Factors: Soft Costs vs. Hard Costs
5.2 Structural Equation Model
5.2.1 SEM in Built Environment Research
5.2.2 SEM in Construction Research
5.3 SEM Research Methodology
5.3.1 Concept of SEM and use in the Proposed Work
5.3.2 Model Development: Measure Variables
5.3.3 SEM Model Estimation and Evaluation
5.4 SEM Analysis Findings and Discussion
5.4.1 Correlation Analysis
5.4.2 Exploratory Factor Analysis and Scale Reliability Test
5.4.3 SEM Fitness (GOF) and Negative Variance (Haywood Case)
5.4.4 SEM Model Specification
5.4.5 Relationship between the Project team Characteristics and the Sustainable Building Construction Cost
5.4.6 Relationship between Project Characteristics and the Sustainable Building Construction Cost
5.5 Differences
5.6 Chapter Summary
Part III: The Path Forward
6 Comparative Case Study
6.1 Comparative Analysis and General GSA Practice
6.2 Case 1: Wayne N. Aspinall Federal Building and US Courthouse
6.2.1 Technical Complexity
6.2.2 Sustainability
6.2.3 Procurement and Contract
6.2.4 Project Team Characteristics
6.2.5 Construction Cost
6.3 Case 2: Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building
6.3.1 Technical Complexity
6.3.2 Sustainability
6.3.3 Procurement and Contract
6.3.4 Project team Characteristics
6.3.5 Construction Cost
6.4 Case 3: Howard M. Metzenbaum US Courthouse
6.4.1 Technical Complexity
6.4.2 Sustainability
6.4.3 Procurement and Contract
6.4.4 Project Team Characteristics
6.4.5 Construction Cost
6.5 Case 4: Federal Center South Building 1202
6.5.1 Technical Complexity
6.5.2 Sustainability
6.5.3 Procurement and Contract
6.5.4 Project team Characteristics
6.5.5 Construction Cost
6.6 Case 5: Byron G. Rogers Federal Building and US Courthouse
6.6.1 Technical Complexity
6.6.2 Sustainability
6.6.3 Procurement and Contract
6.6.4 Project team Characteristics
6.6.5 Construction Cost
6.7 Case 6: George Thomas “Mickey” Leland Federal Building
6.7.1 Technical Complexity
6.7.2 Sustainability
6.7.3 Procurement and Contract
6.7.4 Project team Characteristics
6.7.5 Construction Cost
6.8 Discussion and Takeaway
6.8.1 Team Skills and Experience Were Key
6.8.2 Collaboration and Communication
6.8.3 Technical Difficulties and Complexity were not Always Related to Sustainability
6.8.4 Innovation
6.9 Chapter Summary
7 The Path Forward
7.1 Debunking the “Expensive” Perception
7.2 Origins of the Misperception
7.2.1 Lack of Empirical Data
7.2.2 Sustainability and Unconventional Luxury
7.2.3 Sustainability through a Visual Lens
7.3 Three Principles of a Path Toward Affordable Sustainable Building
7.3.1 Legislation: Sustainability as Mandatory (Universal)
7.3.2 Professional Requirement: Sustainability as a Design Baseline
7.3.3 Investors and Developers: Sustainability as Risk Management
7.4 An Example of a Path Forward
7.5 Lessons Learned
Index
