The barrier of implementation of sustainable construction in hong kong in contractor perspective

Contractors in the Hong Kong construction industry are supposed to ensure that sustainable construction is followed at all times. This paper investigates the barriers that contractors face when trying to implement sustainable construction in Hong Kong. In the findings, 64% of the contractors find it difficult to implement sustainable construction due to limited funds. Funds that are allocated by organizations for sustainability are often not enough. 56% of the contractors also felt that there was little education or training of employees to adopt and use sustainable construction practices in their lines of work. 1 Background 1 1. 2 Aims and Objectives of the Study 3 1. 3 Research Methodology 4 1. 4 Main Achievements 5 1. 5 Summary 5 Chapter 2: Literature Review 6 2. 1 Introduction 24 3. 2 Research Design 24 3. 3 Population and Sample 25 3. 4 Sampling Design 25 3. 5 Data Collection 26 3. 1 Introduction 39 5. 2 Conclusion 39 5. 3 Recommendations 41 5. 4 Recommendations for Future Research 42 5.

5 Limitations of the Study 42 References 43 Appendix 47 Appendix 1 Questionnaire – Hong Kong 47 List of Figures Figure 1: Waste Management Pyramid 17 Figure 2: Response Rate 29 List of Tables Table 4. 30), sustainable development has been described as development that provides basic social, economic and environmental services to members of a community without affecting the availability of resources to the future generations. As a way of commitment to better living environments, the government of Hong Kong started promoting sustainable construction ideas and concepts in the late 1990s. Sustainable construction has been viewed as a means through which the construction industry can contribute to fulfilling the goals of sustainability (Vale et al. According to Shen et al. , sustainable construction is the creation and responsible maintenance of sustaining environments based on environmental principles and resources efficiency (2008, p.

The issues range from building materials, energy efficiency to construction pollution and environmental qualities. HK-BEAM is an independent assessment and certification scheme that encourages stakeholders in the construction industry to collaborate and achieve common environmental goals as outlined by sustainable development (Lee et al. , 2007, p. Performance appraisal under this method allows developers and contractors to construct buildings in the path of sustainable development. Standards of building construction are clearly outlined and contractors seeking evaluation under this method have to abide by them. It also the objective of the study to determine how contractors maneuver around the barriers in their quest to deliver sustainability in the construction industry. Detailed objectives of this study are: 1. To identify how contractors’, define and apply sustainable construction in their activities.

To identify the major barriers towards sustainable construction among Hong Kong contractors 3. To recommend ways of overcoming the barriers faced in the implementation of sustainable construction among contractors 1. 4 Main Achievements This study will contribute heavily to academia as it will be used as a baseline for future research on the topic. The information contained in this research will provide important knowledge to people in the construction industry. Recommendations of this research will work to aid contractors in the construction sector learn how to maneuver and overcome the barriers that hinder the implementation of sustainable construction. 5 Summary Sustainable construction is well aligned with sustainable development. It focuses on ensuring that the environment is well taken care off while at the same time using natural resources in the right manner.

1 Definition of Terms a) Sustainability According to Jamil & Fathi (2016, p. 635), sustainability is the state that will allow for the continued existence of people. Survival of human beings, however, is not enough as certain qualities of life are also expected to meet their hierarchy of needs. Ideally, the state of sustainability is expected to allow people to live healthy, safe and productive lives in harmony with nature and the values they hold deep. To achieve this state, people’s relationships with the biophysical environments together with their socio-economic relationships are supposed to meet certain requirements (Jullien, 2013, p. This was during the first international conference on sustainable construction that took place in Tampa, Florida, the USA in 1994 (Glass & Dainty, 2011, p. The definitions of sustainable construction have been changing over the past three decades.

However, the definitions have all revolved around common features. These features include a commitment to: i) Environmental sustainability. This calls for prevention of harmful and irreversible environmental effects by enhancing in careful use of naturally available resources, reducing waste, and protecting the environment (Yates, 2013, p. Majority of the respondents stated that sustainable construction resulted in economic feasibility. The respondents, who were owners of buildings and structures in China, stated that they were able to receive better returns on their investments after adopting sustainable construction. According to the findings from Gan et al. (2015, p. 65), the demand for buildings and structures that are in line with the requirements of sustainable construction has been increasing in China. Goh further investigated the sustainable construction maturity model in terms of its design and application (2014, p.

The design of the model focused on the important areas of sustainable construction and included: performance, culture, management capacity and capability, and research and development (p. Proper application of sustainability in the construction of buildings was termed as essential in ripping the benefits of sustainable construction which are better performance of investments, adherence to culture, and innovations from successful research and development (p. Contractors and stakeholders in the building industry understand the value of adopting sustainable construction principles when coming up with designs and structures of buildings. From this study, it’s clear that sustainable construction is highly regarded by contractors and stakeholders in the building industry. When exposed to sustainable development at an early stage, students are able to grow up with the ideas in their minds and some might take an active role in championing its specific goals.

According to Berardi (2012, p. 412), sustainable construction is in line with the sustainable development goals of effectively and efficiently managing our limited natural resources. Population growth across the world has resulted in an overstretching of resources. The process of constructing buildings and structures should not drain the existing natural resources. 59), the policy, which was introduced by the government to promote a greener environment, has not been successfully implemented. The findings of this study were supposed to be used to advise the Hong Kong government on the reception and application of the green building policy. According to the findings, the respondents were less optimistic about its application as most of the stakeholders in the construction industry cited not being thoroughly informed about how it was to be applied.

The findings further stated that the government of Hong Kong had done little to educate contractors on the ways of incorporating the policy requirements in construction. The green building policy in Hong Kong was introduced as part of the sustainable development and sustainable construction goals (Chen et al. Lam et al. (2013, p. 26) highlighted that most of the firms that are willing to uphold sustainability face trade-offs in terms of quality and cost of construction. The cost of construction in sustainability is always high. Smaller construction firms and contractors often face a challenge in trying to deliver on the needs of sustainability. However, the cost of achieving the best ratings was high. The findings further explained that the costly nature of going green in construction was less than the long-term benefits.

The benefits included better economic incentives and more approval from the government and the public. The high costs often threatened the overall existence of certain firms and most needed time to adjust and adapt to the industry. Moreover, Hasan & Zhang (2016) conducted research to determine the critical challenges and barriers that existed in the implementation of green construction in the China region. The decision-making process determined the urgency and level of importance the firms placed on sustainability requirements. Budget allocations for green construction implementation also proved to be vital for organizations. Organizations that allocate adequate resources for green construction have a higher chance of successfully implementing the needed activities (Hasan & Alsherrawi, 2017, p. Training and expertise of staff is also an important determinant factor in the successful implementation of green construction.

The existence of employees who have vast experience with sustainable development and construction goals makes it easier for the green construction processes to be implemented. The firms may have put across the specific measures that contractors ought to use to come up with buildings but poor implementation was a big challenge. Sustainable construction could be advocated for by contractors but the process of managing the waste in the final stages of the construction could prove difficult. Presence of so much waste after construction (even though the construction process was sustainable) proved that the entire process was not effective. From this study, it is clear that waste management is a major issue that hinders the successful implementation of sustainable construction in the Hong Kong area.

Contractors are willing to incorporate sustainable construction mechanisms in the process of construction but fail to account for wastes, which is an important area of sustainability. Moreover, the findings indicated the respondents, who were mostly from the construction and demolition sector, were less educated about sustainable construction in the industry (Wong & Yip, 2004, p. This made it difficult for contractors and other key stakeholders in the construction industry to fully implement or abide by the requirements of sustainability. In a study conducted by Yuan et al. (2013) to determine the evolution of construction waste sorting on site, it was discovered that different types of wastes were highlighted. The authors stated that the wastes kept on changing based on the method of construction applied by the builders.

The authors purposed to examine the effectiveness of the scheme by the government. The results of the study showed that there was a significant improvement in waste in landfills since the scheme was in place. However, wastes at construction sites were cited as the main issue affecting most of the stakeholders in the industry (Hao et al. , 2008, p. This proved to be a major hindrance to the goals the scheme had in trying to promote sustainability and cleaner environments throughout Hong Kong. Figure 1: Waste Management Pyramid Source: (Deng et al. , 2008, p. 2) The first priority of any waste management plan is to avoid or eliminate wastes from existing (Deng et al. , 2008, p. Should wastes be difficult to avoid, they must then be reduced.

Majority of the respondents indicate that there were insufficient incentives to stakeholders from the private sector who were keen on incorporating waste management principles in their lines of work (Mou, 2008, p. From the study, it was also clear that there was little attention from the government of Hong Kong to reduce wastes at the planning and design stage. Respondents indicated that the government was only concerned with controlling wastes after they had been created (Mou, 2008, p. 4 Building Environment Assessment Method (BEAM) The HK-BEAM was introduced in 1996 in order to ensure that buildings are constructed or brought up using sustainable means (Lee et al. , 2007, p. Over the past few years, the building ratings or codes have become tighter with the criteria for achieving the credits being set on a higher standard than the code building (Chen et al.

, 2017, p. The code building is usually a baseline or zero credit where contractors and developers are expected to construct buildings that are within the ratings. A green building is supposed to exceed the baseline by significant margins for it to be described as ‘Green’ and under the HK-BEAM PLUS, over 298 codes of practice and reference standards for benchmarking and referencing building performance have been developed (Gou & Lau, 2014, p. Under the Hong Kong BEAM PLUS, contractors and developers are awarded points based on the ‘green’ nature of their buildings (Wong & Kuan, 2014, p. Under this category, factors such as lighting quality, air quality and noise impacts to the occupants are considered. The innovation category provides higher ratings for buildings that include innovative sustainable solutions in buildings that are not in use in Hong Kong or worldwide.

1 Challenges of Adhering to BEAM According to Ho et al. (2013, p. 7), the cost of complying with the BEAM PLUS rationales are high. Contractors who do not see the value in having it may ignore as there is no binding authority to have it. Certain contractors who have already registered under BEAM may fail to have some of their buildings assessed when they feel they haven’t met the required standards. This may also be due to reasons such as not being able to raise assessment funds or feeling there is no need to. In a study conducted by Hui et al. (2017) to determine the effect of BEAM PLUS certification on the prices of properties in Hong Kong, about 645 transactions of housing units were analyzed.

The BEAM society of Hong Kong has, however, not incorporated all the contractors. The higher fees that contractors have to pay for assessment creates an environment where those who are not registered under BEAM can disregard sustainability construction (Chan & Chu, 2005, p. They purpose not to be bothered since they won’t be rated. 5 Critical Evaluation The literature that has been reviewed in this section has provided lots of insights about the concepts of sustainable construction and the barriers experienced in trying to achieve it. Understanding the need to have sustainability and green building in construction is necessary. In the definitions, a connection between the three terms was developed to provide the importance of incorporating sustainable construction in the construction industry. The significances of sustainable construction and sustainable development have also been provided through a review of existing literature.

A specific application of sustainable construction in Hong Kong has included through a review of existing literature in green building construction and waste management. Furthermore, a review of existing literature on Building environmental assessment method (BEAM) has been done with a specific focus on Hong Kong. A critical analysis of the used literature is done to provide a basis and reason why research is needed to identify the barriers to implementing sustainable construction among contractors in Hong Kong. For a clear and conclusive analysis, the respondents have been required to answer a series of questions in the questionnaire. Interviews with a few of the respondents in the construction industry have also be conducted to get relevant information that supplements the findings from the questionnaires.

Through the descriptive research design, already existing ideas and concepts concerning barriers to the implementation of sustainable construction to a contractor perspective in have also been included. By design, the study has sourced for data from contractors in the Hong Kong construction industry. All the variable that has the potential to affect the final outcome of the study have been considered. According to Rahi (2017, p. 3), non-probability sampling is a technique where samples are selected in a process or activity that doesn’t provide all the participants in the population with an equal chance of being selected. This research was bound by time and workforce and because of these factors, not all the individual contractors in Hong Kong could provide information. Participants in this study were selected on the basis of their accessibility and by the purposive personal judgment of the person collecting the data.

This indicates that judgmental sampling was employed in the research. Once respondents approved to take part in the research, they were required to spend about 20 minutes providing information to the best of their knowledge. Contractors who are spread further away from the main location targeted for data collection were contacted mainly through emails. Copies of the questionnaires were sent to them via email and were allowed ample time to provide responses. 6 Data Analysis After the data collection process was done, a thorough analysis of the collected information was done in order to come up with deductive inferences. Qualitative research data collected has been analyzed through the use of content analysis. Figure 2: Response Rate Source (research findings, 2018). 2 Implementation of Methodology Used The study focused mainly on the use of a survey questionnaire to collect the intended data.

Questionnaires are known as a ubiquitous way of gathering information from a range of individuals who may have varying opinions or views about a concept. Through questionnaires, people are able to share their views or opinions independently without revealing their identity. Through questionnaires, a researcher is capable of collecting lots of information from a range of topics vital to a research topic. In these two categories, respondents were expected to provide information about their perceptions of barriers to the implementation of sustainable construction in Hong Kong. The potential respondents in this study were contacted through the construction and demolition firms located in Hong Kong. Twenty firms that dealt with construction and demolition activities in Hong Kong were contacted in advance to prepare and provide at least three contractors who would take part in the survey.

Depending on the flexibility of the firms, the questionnaires could be mailed to the firms sent back to the researcher or the researcher would avail himself in person with the questionnaires for manual filling (Holden & Lynch, 2004, p. Interviews with a few of the contractors in the Hong Kong construction industry were also conducted in order to shed more light on sustainable construction. Qualitative data collected through questionnaires was mainly used to complement the quantitative data being collected. 4 Analysis and Discussion 4. 1 Demographic Information The questionnaire was structured to collect the demographics of the contractors. One of the key demographics that was under investigation was the types of contracts the contractors’ firms had. Respondents were required to indicate whether their firms had private or government contracts.

The nature of these contracts in firms has played an important role in determining how they comply with sustainable construction goals. The number of employees in a construction and demolition firm also plays an important role in determining how effective it is in fulfilling and abiding by sustainable construction requirements. 2 Contracts and Construction Work From the questionnaires, 28% of the respondents indicated that their firms operated as design-build contracts. 14% of them indicated that they operated under cost-reimbursement contracts. These types of contracts entail the contractor firms footing the costs of construction or demolition and then being reimbursed by their clients once complete. The most common trades employed by the respondents’ firms were concreter, demolition worker, mason, plumber, floor layer, bricklayer, and heavy equipment operators.

The researcher also purposed to identify the nature of materials used in construction work. This was done by asking the respondents to provide the nature of materials that their organizations used on a regular basis. The purpose of this was to determine which firms were employing green building in their construction work. More than 50% of all the respondents indicated that they used wood, sand, steel and concrete/asphalt on a regular basis. The findings also indicated that 30% of the firms had a designated department that solely focused on waste management. 50% of the respondents strongly agreed that their firms had made efforts to recycle construction or demolition wastes. Lack of zeal and urge to recycle construction waste by Hong Kong construction firms was explained by 36% of all the respondents.

14% of the respondents agreed that their firms had made efforts to recycle waste emanating from activities they engaged in. The table below summarizes the responses of the respondents in terms of waste management by firms in the Hong Kong construction industry. From the study, it was clear that the current waste disposal practices pose a great challenge to Hong Kong. More than 60% of the respondents agreed that the if not properly controlled, Hong Kong would in the near future experience adverse environmental concerns. The study also indicated that landfills in Hong Kong were full of construction and demolition waste. More than 70% of the respondents agreed with the statement. Table 4. Majority of the respondents cited high costs, size of worksites, limited knowledge and issues within management as some of the factors hindering sustainable construction in the Hong Kong industry.

From the research findings, it is clear that contractors experience problems when trying to implement sustainable construction in their lines of work. One of the most evident factors from the study is the lack of planning by firms. Lack of planning results in no or less funding being allocated for sustainability in construction. Lack of enough funds limits the capabilities of contractors being able to perform their duties when it comes to following the policies that support green building or sustainable construction. From the data collected, its bee discovered that poor planning by management, lack of communication about green building policies and regulations by government, and the high cost of implementing sustainable construction are the main hindrances faced by contractors in the Hong Kong industry.

Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations 5. 1 Introduction In this section, a summary of the study findings has been provided. The section links the objectives of the study to the results as highlighted in chapter 4. It also provides the necessary recommendations and suggestions for further research on the same topic. One of the main barriers experienced by the contractors is the high cost of implementing sustainable construction. Contractors of all calibers, small or large, had to deal with the expensive nature of acquiring the needed materials necessary for sustainable construction. In addition, failure by the Hong Kong government to clearly lay out their stance on sustainable construction has created problems who have been confused with the rules or regulations they are supposed to follow.

From the study, it was clear that the global goals on sustainable development and sustainable construction keep on changing and the government needs to act steadfastly in informing or educating the key stakeholders in the construction industry. It was also clear that some of the rules contractors were following were outdated and helped solve sustainable construction goals of the last decade. To achieve this, the government can provide mandatory courses for all students in schools, making announcements through the media, and holding public forums throughout Hong Kong to educate and create awareness among the residents. Construction firms should engage in proper planning to help fulfill the requirements of sustainable construction. Proper planning ensures that enough funds have been allocated to finance the activities of sustainable construction.

When contractors have enough funds they need, they are able to effectively perform their duties. Management of construction firms should ensure that employees are properly trained in order to fulfill their obligations and duties. Those who agreed were still cautious of the nature of the information that was to be collected. This meant that the researcher was to reach a wider sample in the population in order to get the desired number. The study faced honesty and integrity issues. The research relied mostly on the information provided by the contractors. No mechanism was put in place to ensure that the information collected from the respondents was honest (Minkler, 2004, p. , Bryde, D. , Fearon, D. and Ochieng, E. Stakeholder Engagement: Achieving Sustainability in the Construction Sector.

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This survey is completely anonymous and information collected from you will not be shared by anyone. No personal information will be collected in this survey. The survey takes about 15 minutes to complete. SECTION A Part of the survey requires that you provide some information about your construction company or duties as a contractor. a) Waste Management 8. Does your organization keep a record of the quantity of waste you dispose of? ☐Yes ☐ No 9. Does your firm allocate money for waste management? ☐Yes ☐No 10. Does your firm have a designated department for waste management? ☐Yes ☐No 11. My firm has made an effort to recycle construction waste ☐Strongly Disagree ☐Disagree ☐Agree ☐Strongly Agree 12. It is easy to get environmentally friendly construction material ☐Strongly Disagree ☐Disagree ☐Agree ☐Strongly Agree 23.