Harmonizing sustainable construction policy with practice at project level: A research proposition

There is growing interest in the concept of sustainable construction (SC) from the academia and the industry, as well as, on the part of government. However, there appears to be a general lack of consensus or understanding as to what sustainable construction entails. This paper, which is based on the initial literature review of an ongoing PhD research, analyses the different definitions available for sustainable construction. Thus, four key elements of SC are outlined which will be used as the basic foundation upon which a more comprehensive multi-criteria definition of SC will be developed upon. The paper goes on to present a research agenda for developing a robust framework to transform sustainable construction from policy into project level practice. The framework aims to harmonize the strategic aims set for sustainable construction with what is being achieved in practice at project level so that real progress towards sustainable construction could be made.