A framework for achieving sustainability by overcoming the challenges of the construction supply chain during the design process

Mentzer et al. (2001) identified three different types of supply chains based on the level and the number of organisations involved as follows.

Basic (direct) supply chain consists of an organisation, an instant supplier and an instant customer, which are directly linked via one of the upstream and downstream flows of products, services, finances and information (see Figure 2).

Fig. 2

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Fig. 4

The concept of SCM is originally developed in the manufacturing industry. Due to the unique nature of the construction industry, Cox and Townsend (1998) criticised many authors and practitioners in the construction industry for copying the ideas of supply chain partnering from Japanese and Western automotive industries without considering the distinctive nature of both industries. To cope with this difference in nature, great effort was devoted in construction literature to develop an understanding of the SCM in the context of construction. There are several statements and perspectives that defined SCM and explained its contents and objectives, which agreed that the SCM is the system of suppliers and contractors producing, delivering and installing materials for construction projects (O’Brien and Fischer, 1993). It is the establishment, co-ordination and maintenance of an optimised supply chain that operates effectively, fulfilling all its preconditions and goals optimally, and involving all its stakeholders (Vrijhoef, 1998). SCM is the management of all the processes that are required to deliver a service or a product for a customer through a network of organisations with minimum waste and maximum value. It is the practice of a group of companies and individuals working collaboratively in a network of interrelated processes structured to best satisfy end-user needs while rewarding all members of the chain (Arbulu and Tommelein, 2002; Elfving et al., 2005).

Vrijhoef (1998) mentioned that the SCM plays a pivotal role in providing improvement opportunities for all problematic issues in the construction industry. It provides strong mechanism for enhancing the cohesion and controllability of the CSC as a whole. It helps optimising the material and information flow in construction projects by means of measurement, redesign and reengineering of the chain process. Moreover, it brings up possibilities to enhance operations, logistics and materials management, and intensify collaboration and communication across the supply chain. Greenwood (2004) proposed that managing the CSC through collaborating has a powerful effect on the areas of cost and cost predictability. It is expected to save approximately 31% of the tender price. Furthermore, he pointed out that more than 70% of the project cost is associated with the supply chain (suppliers and subcontractors) rather than the main contractor. This means that effectively managing the supply chain opens up an opportunity for significant reduction in the project’s costs. This argument is supported by Edum-Fotwe et al. (1999), who claimed that competition within the construction industry in the next decade or two will be between supply chains, and not among individual companies.

Vrijhoef and Koskela (2000) introduced four major areas of focus of SCM in construction. a)

The first focus is on the impacts of the supply chain on site activities, with the goal of reducing costs and durations of site activities. The main concern is to ensure the flow of materials and labour to the site to avoid disruption to the work-flow. The main contractor is in the best position to adopt this focus.

In a broad sense, sustainability is the capacity to endure. It aims to create and maintain the social, economic and environmental conditions that enable humans to exist with nature in ‘productive harmony’ in the present and the future (USEPA, 2009). There are more than 200 different definitions for sustainability (Parkin et al., 2003). This emphasised its importance and showed the efforts made by various academic and practical disciplines to define and understand its implications to their fields. However, all these definitions agree that it is necessary to develop innovative solutions to meet the needs of the present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987; Boyko et al., 2006). It promotes a balanced approach by taking account of the need to continue in business, but does not seek profitability at the expense of the environmental or societal needs (MaSC, 2002). Despite the valuable contribution of the construction industry towards social development and economic growth, it is a very large consumer of non-renewable resources. It is a substantial source of waste and pollution to air and water as well as land dereliction (Friends of the Earth, 1995; Roodman and Lenssen, 1995). Anink et al. (1996) stated that the construction sector is accountable for 50% of the material resources taken from nature, 40% of energy consumption and 50% of total waste generated. The increasing awareness of sustainability worldwide and its contribution towards saving the environment, prospering economy and enhancing society called for the construction industry to think sustainable (Addis and Talbot, 2001; Abdellatif and Othman, 2006).

Sustainability has three main aspects, namely environmental, social and economic. The interaction between these aspects generated three new aspects, namely social-environmental, environmental-economic and economic-social, which revolve around the rights of all individuals to have a fair share of the natural resources of the environment at national and international levels. This ensures that these environmental resources are not exploited by a portion of the society leaving the rest with needs that cannot be met by the remaining resources (see Figure 5; Rodriguez et al., 2002; Karlsson, 2009; Valdés-Rodríguez and Pérez-Vázque, 2011; Othman et al., 2014).

Fig. 5

The application of sustainability in construction is reflected in every aspect of the construction process. It includes, for instance, sustainable design, sustainable planning, sustainable architecture, sustainable landscaping and sustainable construction. By applying the concepts of sustainability in the construction industry, a number of benefits will be achieved. Environmentally, sustainability helps in reducing the use of non-renewable resources, minimising environmental risks and uncertainty, reducing waste and pollution and increasing the reuse and recycling of building materials (Kim, 1998). Socially, sustainability focuses on identifying stake-holders’ requirements and ensuring that the developed project fulfils their needs and meets their expectations. Moreover, it encourages involvement and getting feedback from all parties affected by the built environment, ensuring the health and safety requirements are achieved, considering people with special needs and providing support and adding value to communities and the supply chain. Economically, sustainability supports growth in the construction industry through increasing GDP, providing more job opportunities, raising the client’s profit and investment return (Chen and Chambers, 1999; Addis and Talbot, 2001; WS Atkins Consultants, 2001).

Sustainable supply chain has taken multiple forms in literature under the terminologies of green management, green SCM, green supply chain, sustainability and sustainable SCM. The previous terms shared a common goal, which is the management of environmental, social and economic impacts, and the encouragement of good governance practices throughout the life cycles of projects and delivered services. Suppliers in the present-day business environment are taking more responsibility to effectively design, produce and recall their products because the construction industry is becoming more environmentally cautious and the government regulations are put in place accordingly. To achieve that, the CSC should not only act in its own interests but also in the interests of its stakeholders and the society at large (Sisco et al., 2010).

The rationale behind the CCSC occurrence is given below by a summary of literature and/or specific case study examples.

2.4.1.4

CCSC related to skills gap of qualified architects and design managers and non-compliance to building contracts, codes, regulations, laws and standards (CCSC 4, 8, 12 and 20)

Skills gap is one of the pressing problems that encounter the construction industry. It is either (1) skills shortage that appears when there are not enough people with skills to meet the demand of the industry or (2) skills mismatch that occurs when the employees have skills and do not meet the industry needs and agree to work under any condition (Richardson 2007; Othman and Sokkar, 2019). Skills gap of qualified architects and design managers is an obstacle to growth, innovation and delivering sustainable services and products. Closing the skills gap has a direct connection with improving productivity, human development and economic growth (Aring, 2012). In addition, contracts are tools designed to organise the relationship between different project participants and reduce the potential risks that may lead to project failure. Failing to adhere to carry out the work in accordance with contracts requirements will lead to unsustainable delivery of projects due to disputes, time delay, cost overrun, poor quality, environmental non-compliance and client dissatisfaction (Othman and Harinarain, 2009). Moreover, adhering to environmental requirements and regulations during the design process is an essential and integral part of delivering sustainable projects. Failing to consult supply chain professionals to consider environmental requirements and regulations will impact negatively on the sustainability of the delivered design due to the generation of waste and toxic materials, increasing green gas emission effluent that are harmful to human health (Othman and Nadim, 2010). Furthermore, project design must adhere to regulations and codes that are developed to protect public health, safety and general welfare as they relate to the construction and occupancy of buildings and structures. The building codes became law of a particular jurisdiction when formally enacted by the appropriate governmental or private authority (Ching and Winkel, 2016). Non-compliance to building codes, regulations, laws and standards affect the sustainability of the delivered project socially, economically and environmentally. A case study of Hyatt Regency Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri, confirmed these challenges. In 1981, the upper walkway fell on the lower walkway, and the two fell onto the crowded dance floor, killing 114 people and injuring over 200. The two walkways were supported above one another and suspended from the ceiling by hanger rods. The walkways were supported on box beams, which were made of two steel channels, welded together. In the original design, a single rod supported the two walkways as shown in Figure 6. The originally designed hanger detail for the two walkways was altered at the time of fabrication by the supplier. The designer did not check the changes made by the supplier. In addition, the designer did not communicate or called for a meeting with the steel supplier to further understand the changes of design. Finally, the designer agreed upon the requested changes without inspection or checking the calculations, which resulted in this vital error (Marshall et al., 1982).

Fig. 6

A total of 63.33% of respondents mentioned that they are aware of the concept of CSC. Respondents’ rated on a scale of 1–5, the influence that the different parties of the supply chain can play towards achieving sustainability in construction projects as follows: architect (37%), contractor (29%), client (22%), project manager (17%) and suppliers (13%) (see Figure 7). The high rank of architects as an important party to influence the achievement of sustainability is due to their role in providing the design with sustainable features, materials and systems. While respondents rated suppliers as the lowest influential party due to the nature of the traditional procurement approach that separates the design team from the construction and supply team (Azhar et al., 2014).

Fig. 7

Table 2 shows the measure of central tendency and dispersion of all challenges that affect the CSC towards achieving sustainability during the design phase identified from literature review on a scale of 1–5 (where 1 = least important and 5 = highest important). To further investigate the data, an RII was used to rate CCSC according to their importance. As would be expected, while some CCSC were highly rated, others do not (see Figure 8). Inspection of the results showed that CCSC could be classified into three categories: (1)

First, the high to very high importance CCSC with RIIs above 0.800, which includes:

Delayed design process

Fig. 8

For example, ‘delayed design process’ was ranked the highest affecting challenge with mean (4.9/5), median and mode (5/5), V (0.78), SD (0.88) and RII (0.98). These results are in line with literature review because delay in the project design leads to cost overrun, design team frustration and client dissatisfaction. In addition, it will prevent the client from launching the project on the defined date, which will affect the project profitability (Subramani et al., 2014).

Another example is the ’inappropriate material specifications’, which was ranked 9th with mean (4.26/5), median and mode (4/5), V (0.58), SD (0.76) and RII (0.85). These results are in line with literature review as lack of integrating suppliers in the design process leads to specify materials that either inappropriate to the project or no longer available in market that results in rework and increases the maintenance and operation costs (Othman et al., 2014). Finally, ‘Non-compliance to building codes, regulations, laws and standards’ was ranked the lowest affecting challenge with mean (2.9/5) and median and mode (3/5), V (0.27), SD (0.52) and RII (0.58). Despite the necessity of adhering to codes and regulations (Ching and Winkel, 2016), respondents ranked this challenge the lowest and referred it to the ineffective application of building codes, regulations, law and standards as well as being not mandate by authorities managing the building process.

Figure 9 shows the solutions proposed by literature review (Khan, 2019) to address the challenges of supply chain in the construction industry. Respondents were asked to rank these solutions according to their role towards achieving sustainability during the design phase in ADFs in Egypt.

Around 42% of respondents selected ‘design for the supply chain’ because it focuses on how the product of architectural design facilitates the design of supplier’s products and CSC process. It compromises modularity in designs for easier manufacturing on site, designing projects for reduced consumption of materials and energy by suppliers, involving suppliers in design phases and selecting local green materials.

Fig. 9

The aim of this domain is to overcome the challenges that encounter the CSC related to the Design and Technical Process as an approach for the achievement of sustainability objectives during the design phase. Activities that need to be carried out during this domain are shown in Figure 11.

Fig. 11

Achieving the abovementioned activities to attain sustainability objectives necessitates:

Understating the client requirements and providing the design team and supply chain with needed information in the right form and time will expedite the design decision-making process. Setting plans, deadlines and milestones for the design activities and offering all the resources needed will help meeting targeted objectives and reducing design delay and cost overrun. These activities will help achieving social, economic and environmental aspects of sustainability.

This domain aims to overcome the challenges faced by the CSC related to Coordination, Information Flow and Accuracy as an approach for achieving sustainability during the design phase. Activities that need to be carried out during this domain are shown in Figure 12.

Fig. 12

Achieving the abovementioned activities to attain sustainability objectives necessitates: a)

Integrating architects and suppliers during the design process and facilitating information flow will help choosing sustainable materials and technology preferably from local market to reduce the importing time, cost and air pollution produced by transportation vehicles and trucks. Often, local materials are better suited to climatic conditions and support national economy growth. These activities will help achieving economic and environmental aspects of sustainability.

The aim of this domain is to overcome the challenges that the CSC encounter is related to material specification, technology, supplier rework and whole life cycle cost as an approach for the achievement of sustainability objectives during the design phase. Activities that need to be carried out during this domain are shown in Figure 13. a)

Early supplier involvement in the design process will help achieving sustainability objectives and improving the project performance by proposing alternative designs with substitute materials and systems that provide the required function with minimal cost, reducing supplier’s rework, mitigating the difficulties of the logistical issues of getting the products delivered to the site in a timely manner and with minimal impact on the surrounding community. In addition, early supplier involvement will help building long-term relationship and trust between the project participants, introducing new knowledge regarding the properties and applications of newly introduced materials (Chavhan, 2012; Northey, 2018). Suppliers from different disciplines could be integrated in the design process to provide advice to the design team. They could be hired as advisors who deliver a consultancy service based on a contract drafted for this purpose and they could be paid either monthly or on a lump sum basis.

Fig. 13

This domain aims to overcome the challenges that the CSC face related to Skills Gap of Qualified Architects and Design Managers and Non-Compliance to Requirements, Regulations and Codes as an approach for achieving sustainability during the design phase. Activities that need to be carried out during this domain are shown in Figure 14.

Fig. 14

Achieving the abovementioned activities to attain sustainability objectives necessitates: a)

Enhancing the skills of architects and design managers through training and skills development will help achieving social and economic aspects of sustainability by bridging the skills gap, improving productivity and growth development.

In order to put the proposed framework in practice, an action plan was developed by the authors. The action plan proposed to implement the framework composed of five functions, namely:

Identifying the challenge of CSC,

Fig. 15

The ‘identifying the CCSC’ function is an important activity of this action plan because it enables ADFs to identify the core challenges that obstruct the achievement of sustainability objectives in construction projects. It is essential to form an effective team (including a competent team leader) to carry out the implementation study. Achieving a balance between the need for participants who represent various areas of expertise and possess diverse background is fundamental for accomplishing the study objectives. The study team should contain between six and twelve full-time participants to maintain optimum productivity (Norton and McElligott 1995). Performing an early orientation meeting will help in establishing strategic issues such as study duration, resources required and assigning responsibilities to team members. Senior management support will facilitate the provision of needed resources and the adoption of study decisions and recommendations. Data collection methods (i.e. literature review, survey questionnaire, interviews and case studies) and data analysis techniques (i.e. quantitative and qualitative) have to be defined and utilised. Brainstorming techniques, team consensus and evaluation matrix have to be used for identifying the root causes and rank them according to their importance.

Towards implementing the proposed framework in ADFs, the objectives of implementing the action plan have to be adequately established and agreed by all participants. This could be achieved using brainstorming techniques and team consensus to generate and select objectives that address the identified challenges. Establishing implementation objectives gives team members ownership to these objectives and encourages the study team to accomplish them. Evaluation matrix will be used to rank these objectives based on their significance. In addition, this function will also result in defining the criteria to be used to measure the achievement of sustainability objectives in ADFs during the design phase.

The ‘developing implementation plans’ function aims to set the procedures and actions necessary to accomplish the implementation objectives. It will include a work breakdown structure and a responsibility matrix, where the first downsizes the work into manageable work packages and the later links the activity to be done to the responsible person. In addition, the plans should include expected risks and corrective actions to be taken in case of the plan did not go as intended. Furthermore, the communication plan between the study team has to be developed to portray the reporting structure during overcoming the CCSC in the design phase.

Within this function, the plans developed in the previous function will be executed. The execution plans may require that employees involved in the implementation process be trained and equipped with all tools and technologies required to guarantee the successful execution of plans. In addition, the support of senior management and its offering the required facilities will help achieving the implementation objectives. The execution function should use the work authorisation system, which verifies the predecessor activities and permits the successor activities to proceed. This ensures the quality of work performed.

The aim of this function is to ensure that overcoming CSCC towards achieving sustainability objectives during the design phases goes according to the plans. Comments and feedback from the execution team will enable taking corrective actions if plans were not implemented as contrived. Furthermore, this will help improving the performance of ADFs in future projects.