Identification and assessment of sustainability performance indicators for construction projects

Abstract

Improving the sustainability performance of construction projects is essential to the sustainability of regions, nations, and the world as a whole. Sustainability key performance indicators (KPIs) can play an essential role in advancing the practice of sustainable construction. Despite the numerous studies on sustainability indicators, there is still a gap in identifying applicable sustainability KPIs that can be used during the execution phase of construction projects for contractors. This research aims to identify and assess KPIs for monitoring and evaluating the sustainability performance of construction projects during the execution phase. Twenty-two sustainability indicators were identified and shortlisted based on a comprehensive review of related literature. The indicators were grouped into two groups environmental and socio-economic. A survey was then designed and sent to construction professionals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Thirty-one respondents evaluated the importance of indicators using pair-wise comparison using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results highlighted that the use of renewable energy indicator was ranked as the most important with a global weight of 0.164 (environmental group). In contrast, the construction site safety indicator was the most important, with a global weight of 0.093 (socio-economic group). This research is important as it fills the identified research gap. Additionally, this study benefits contractors in identifying the most appropriate sustainability indicators for their construction projects to assess sustainability performance during the construction phase.

Keywords

• Construction sustainability
• Key performance indicators
• KPIs
• Analytic hierarchy process
• Construction management
• Sustainability