Construction Material selection based on Sustainability Principle: A Research in Surat City-India

Abstract

Sustainable construction materials mean the products which possess the environmental, economical and social merits maintaining the ecological impact. In this Research, the selection of construction material is focused based on the principle of sustainability. The sustainability criteria are framed in five dimension as General criteria, Economic criteria, Technical criteria, Environmental criteria and Social Criteria. A questionnaire survey was conducted in Surat city of Gujarat State that comprises of 41 criteria. A total of 144 questionnaires are received from various stakeholders of construction industry. The analysis was carried out for determination of the most effective criteria for the sustainable construction material in Surat city by Relative Importance Index (RII) and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). A correlation matrix is developed to relate the relationship between all these selected 41 criteria, from the data obtained through questionnaire survey. The results show that not only objective criteria but also subjective criteria impose a role in sustainable materials selection. The analysis of the results may assist in framing the specifications for the manufactures to focus these criteria and the developers to adopt these criteria for sustainable development.