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Project Planning and Control Models for Sustainable Construction Projects
Rajabi, Sareh
Rajabi, Sareh
Date
2022-05
Author
Advisor
Type
Dissertation
Degree
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Description
A Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation in Engineering Systems Management by Sareh Rajabi entitled, “Project Planning and Control Models for Sustainable Construction Projects”, submitted in May 2022. Dissertation advisor is Dr. Sameh El-Sayegh and dissertation co-advisor is Dr. Lotfi Romdhane. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form).
Abstract
Several researches investigated the integration of sustainability in construction. However, there is a gap in addressing the performance measurement and evaluation during the construction phase. Traditional project performance evaluation methods are used to assess time, cost, and scope performance. The main goal of this dissertation is to develop a new project controls model for sustainable construction projects by integrating time, cost, and sustainability. The proposed methods enhance the planning and controlling of sustainable construction projects. Twenty-two sustainability indicators under two groups environmental and socio-economic were identified based on a comprehensive literature review. The importance of indicators was then evaluated through a survey in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) using pair-wise comparison and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results highlighted that the use of renewable energy indicator was ranked as the most important with a global weight of 0.164 (environmental group). The construction site safety indicator was the most important, with a global weight of 0.093, in the socio-economic group. Three time-cost-sustainability optimization models are then developed for project planning. Model A introduces sustainability as a constraint, where the cost of the project is minimized while ensuring a minimum value of sustainability for the project. In Model B the objective function is formulated as a combination of the cost of the project and the equivalent cost of sustainability. These two optimization problems were solved using Linear Programming (LP) and the Genetic Algorithms (GA). For Model C, the problem is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem, where the objective is to find the best compromise that minimizes the cost of the project while ensuring the highest value of sustainability. A case study is presented to demonstrate the application of the proposed models. A Sustainable Earned Value Management (SEVM) model was developed to monitor the attainment of sustainability objectives in construction projects in addition to the traditional objectives. The research is valuable as it encourages contractors to consider sustainability as a key objective resulting in more a sustainable construction industry. The research fills a recognized gap in the literature and proposes a set of sustainability indicators and project control models.