How public owners communicate the sustainability requirements of green design-build projects

The design/build (DB) system is regarded as an effective means of delivering sustainable buildings. Specifying clear sustainability requirements to potential contractors is of great importance to project success. This research investigates the current state-of-the-practice for the definition of sust...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xia, B., Skitmore, M., Wu, Peng, Chen, Q.
Format: Journal Article
Published: American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2014
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3997
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author Xia, B.
Skitmore, M.
Wu, Peng
Chen, Q.
author_facet Xia, B.
Skitmore, M.
Wu, Peng
Chen, Q.
author_sort Xia, B.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The design/build (DB) system is regarded as an effective means of delivering sustainable buildings. Specifying clear sustainability requirements to potential contractors is of great importance to project success. This research investigates the current state-of-the-practice for the definition of sustainability requirements within the public sectors of the U.S. construction market using a robust content analysis of 49 DB requests for proposals (RFPs). The results reveal that owners predominantly communicate their desired level of sustainability through the leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED) certification system. The sustainability requirement has become an important dimension for the best-value evaluation of DB contractors with specific importance weightings of up to 25%. Additionally, owners of larger projects and who provide less design information in their RFPs generally allocate significantly higher importance weightings to sustainability requirements. The primary knowledge contribution of this study to the construction industry is the reveal of current trends in DB procurement for green projects. The findings also provide owners, architects, engineers, and constructors with an effective means of communicating sustainability objectives in solicitation documents. © 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-39972017-09-13T14:33:01Z How public owners communicate the sustainability requirements of green design-build projects Xia, B. Skitmore, M. Wu, Peng Chen, Q. The design/build (DB) system is regarded as an effective means of delivering sustainable buildings. Specifying clear sustainability requirements to potential contractors is of great importance to project success. This research investigates the current state-of-the-practice for the definition of sustainability requirements within the public sectors of the U.S. construction market using a robust content analysis of 49 DB requests for proposals (RFPs). The results reveal that owners predominantly communicate their desired level of sustainability through the leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED) certification system. The sustainability requirement has become an important dimension for the best-value evaluation of DB contractors with specific importance weightings of up to 25%. Additionally, owners of larger projects and who provide less design information in their RFPs generally allocate significantly higher importance weightings to sustainability requirements. The primary knowledge contribution of this study to the construction industry is the reveal of current trends in DB procurement for green projects. The findings also provide owners, architects, engineers, and constructors with an effective means of communicating sustainability objectives in solicitation documents. © 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers. 2014 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3997 10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0000879 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) restricted
spellingShingle Xia, B.
Skitmore, M.
Wu, Peng
Chen, Q.
How public owners communicate the sustainability requirements of green design-build projects
title How public owners communicate the sustainability requirements of green design-build projects
title_full How public owners communicate the sustainability requirements of green design-build projects
title_fullStr How public owners communicate the sustainability requirements of green design-build projects
title_full_unstemmed How public owners communicate the sustainability requirements of green design-build projects
title_short How public owners communicate the sustainability requirements of green design-build projects
title_sort how public owners communicate the sustainability requirements of green design-build projects
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/3997