Evaluation of sustainability performance of common construction materials in the U.K.

Abstract

Despite rapid increases in the building industry’s contribution to resource depletion, waste generation and energy consumption, the creation of built environment remains vital to a country’s economic development. This makes the building industry a prime candidate for sustainable development. Tools that help estimate the environmental suitability of building products can advance the cause of sustainable development.”(Emmanuel, R., 2004) Following this line, the present dissertaion attempts to develop a sustainability rank of the most commonly used building materials in the United Kingdom (brick, concrete block, plaster board and plaster for walls and timber and PVC for windows). It attempts to evaluate factors such as their carbon, energy, life-cycle cost and sustainability performance in order to gauge the suitability of each building material. The final objective of this study is to develop a method of compareson and provide support for decision making. This will enable professionals in the building industry to make rational decisions, considering not only economic premises, but also taking into account environmental consequences, thus reducing the environmental impact to a greater degree.