A Risk-Based Analysis Approach to Sustainable Construction by Environmental Impacts

Abstract

Sustainable construction is a comprehensive process of balancing the natural and built environment by applying sustainable development concepts. The golden triangle in the construction of time, cost, and quality should also assess risks from a sustainable perspective and investigate the environmental dimensions of the project. However, proper risk assessment for green sustainability is challenging, resulting in project management conducted under uncertain conditions. This study proposes a procedure based on Monte Carlo Simulations to improve the assessment of critical risk factors associated with construction activities. The AHP method was applied to rank environmental impact indicators, and the EMV approach was used to calculate the effects of the expected outcomes. The current study shows that air, water, and land pollution, water consumption, and solid waste are the most critical indicators. The results indicate that the equipment breakdown significantly impacted the duration of (and increase in) environmental issues. The evidence suggests that attention should be paid to sustainability risk factors during construction activities, e.g., the unavailability of materials had the most significant impact on the cost of the construction phase. The results suggest that the inadequate control of sustainability risk factors can lead to poor performance and tough decisions in a construction project.

Keywords

• sustainable construction
• risk assessment
• environmental impacts
• Monte Carlo Simulations
• AHP ranking