Factors of sustainability in building design: Establishing their relative significance

There has been a growing movement towards sustainable building in the past number of decades and in that time a variety of terms have evolved to describe this design ethos such as green buildings, passive buildings, carbon neutral buildings, low carbon buildings, all of which are different but all of which are striving for similar outcomes. For a building to achieve any of these status the design must take into account a number of different factors. The aim of this research is to establish the factors of sustainability relevant to the evaluation of sustainable buildings and to establish the significance placed on individual factors of sustainability in buildings. This was done by firstly identifying in a holistic manner everything which could be considered a factor of a sustainable buildings. These were then presented as a questionnaire to construction professionals with experience in the design and procurement of sustainable buildings who were asked to indicate the significance they have placed on each of the factors. The results of this exercise showed a) that while for many of the factors there was broad agreement as to their relevant significance, for others opinions varied greatly and b) not all factors are of equal importance with some being scored consistently lower than others. This suggests that among the group surveyed there is no overall consensus as to the significance to be placed on the factor contributing towards the design and procurement of a sustainable building.