A holistic systemic model for decision support in sustainable construction

Sustainable development and construction is now a strong sector of the economy, but still poses challenges to construction professionals on a day to day basis.  Efforts to safeguard the environment have been extended to more and more areas of society. The environmental problems people face cannot be solved simply by developing new technologies or adjusting existing systems.  Research to promote sustainable development must encompass the social sciences alongside the engineering profession and seek to enhance people’s understanding of behaviour patterns, value systems and the ways societies are organised.

This thesis illustrates research to integrate a range of aspects in order to model different types of stakeholders within and outside of a construction project and understand how they affect a project and how they are affected by the various linkages.  Surveys and questionnaires were used to collect the data required.  A case study (The Avenue Project) was used to gather specific project data.  A comparison of the most widely used sustainability rating and assessment tools in the construction industry proved to be a very powerful tool in order to understand the links between various stakeholders within a construction project. Soft systems methodology was used as a preliminary model to show the inter relationship of the elements considered.  This preliminary model was further developed using hard systems theory.  The model was validated and calibrated against information obtained from the questionnaires and interviews.

The results of the model simulations suggest that this model can be a useful tool for a construction professional who seeks to understand how the elements work within the project.  The model enables a decision maker to see the effects of different management strategies on the selected indicators.  This allows the decision makers to evaluate a range of management strategies.