Holistic assessment of the economic, environmental, and social impact of building construction. Application to housing construction in Andalusia

Abstract

Buildings, although increasingly efficient, currently lack a comparative analysis from a holistic perspective. A large part of the effort to increase their efficiency focuses on their direct consumption of water and energy through the design of more efficient systems, but another large part of the consumption is caused indirectly by the production processes and the construction itself. The present model evaluates the three dimensions of sustainability (economic, environmental, and social) from the construction site perspective by proposing an integration of social and environmental indicators assessment to the cost control in projects. Construction cost control is normally defined by classification systems of work units with a coding system. This allows incorporating the evaluation of the other two dimensions of sustainability to make a socio-environmental assessment. The environmental assessment is covered with the footprint family indicators while, for the social assessment, an indicator consisting of an evaluation of project occupational risks is proposed. This methodology allows the holistic evaluation of all the work units in the project. The model is applied to the construction of social housing in Andalusia, validating its versatility and allowing to simulate different scenarios. The five most impacting units out of sixty evaluated in the construction of a social housing multifamily building represent around 70 % of the total impact in each category. Slight changes to four of those work units by others commonly used can reduce up to 20% the impacts in various categories.