A STUDY OF GREEN BUSINESSES IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Abstract

The year of 2007 may be judged as a critical turning point in how we thought about the earth and climate change. Due to undeniable empirical evidence, the 2006 report of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change and the Stern Report, a tipping point was reached. The IPCC, which draws upon some 2,500 well-reputed scientists and experts from over 100 countries, agree that humans are adversely impacting the global environment and accelerating climate change. Construction has a huge contribution to make to everyone's quality of life and in enabling the positive impacts of its work to be achieved in a more sustainable manner. Their construction, use, repair, maintenance and demolition consume resources and energy, and generate waste on a significant scale. Being responsible for 4% of Singapore’s GDP in 2006 and employing 300 thousand people as of December 2007, the construction industry can lead the way in considering sustainable development in all of its activities. This dissertation, as part of its objectives, attempts to highlight construction’s contribution to climate change, to promote awareness, understanding and benefits of sustainable construction/green building and to stimulate action by demonstrating the business case of sustainable construction. In addition, a qualitative-type questionnaire was conducted to achieve the following objectives: to find out the risks and opportunities climate change pose to the construction industry; to find out current industry perspective and efforts towards greening the built environment and to find out the challenges/barriers faced by the industry in moving towards sustainable construction. An open-ended questionnaire was sent to 45 private developers, 34 construction companies and 350 architectural firms. Out of the 429 questionnaires sent, a total of 5 responses were received, comprising of 2 construction companies and 3 architectural firms. Not a single response from developers was received. Another set of questions was constructed to probe further the five companies who have responded to the survey questionnaire. Its purpose is to find out and understand the business operations of the companies in the pursuit of sustainable construction. The findings show that the local construction has indeed moved towards the right direction of sustainability. Responses from the architects and contractors show that there is awareness of the problem of climate change as well as general understanding of the roles that the construction industry play in tackling it. Both parties acknowledge the risks and opportunities climate change pose to them and have taken steps to manage them. The architects cited how going green makes commercial sense and at the same time, helps mitigate the problem of climate change while the contractors have also gone green due to the many benefits accrued to it. Implications of the findings and recommendations are also proposed. The poor response of the questionnaire is the main limitation of this research. The omission of several key consultants such as quantity surveyors, who can look into the area of sustainable procurement, and building products suppliers/manufacturers in the questionnaire and analysis, is another limitation of the research. Nevertheless, this thesis has achieved its objectives in providing some knowledge and insight into the initial greening efforts of the local construction industry.