Sustainability in the Nigerian construction industry: The feasibility of adopting green building rating system

Sustainable construction is increasingly becoming the new norm in the construction industry in an attempt to protect the environment, create buildings that will perform to the occupant’s expectations (comfort and safety needs), and conserve the limited natural resources. Also having a measuring metrics to assess the sustainable and green performance of built environment is also taking a center stage in the construction industry. Adopting green building rating system in Nigeria is very critical to the construction industry; hence this research was focused on three key factors: (1) the barriers to adopting green building rating systems; (2) incentives to overcoming the barriers; and (3) the potentials of adopting green building rating system in the Nigerian construction industry. After conducting a mixed method research through questionnaire survey and oral interview, thirty six (36) potential barriers to adopting green building rating system in the Nigerian construction industry were identified. The main barriers, according to the findings were: (1) Lack of knowledge of sustainable construction by the public (owners); (2) Lack of government commitment; (3) Lack of government willpower to harness all the available renewable sources of energy; (4) Lack of appropriate monitoring and coordination of the construction industry; (5) Lack of government support; (6) Lack of sustainable construction knowledge among constructors; (7) Cost; (8) Lack of awareness; and (9) Lack of green building knowledge.