Application of Sustainability Principles in the Construction Industry

The construction industry has provided societies with facilities and infrastructure projects that meet their needs and fulfill their requirements, created up to 7 % of the world's job opportunities, made around one-tenth of the world's Gross Domestic Product and stimulated growth of other industries. On the other hand, it has been proven to have a negative impact on the environment (Mthalane, 2009). The construction industry accounts for 40% of the CO2 emission worldwide, 30% of Raw material usage, 40% of energy consumption and 20% of fresh water consumption (Wilkinson and Reed, 2006). The United Arab Emirates has experienced one of the world's biggest construction booms in the last 20 years, and the negative effects of this boom on the local environment have been obvious. As a result, the environmental and economic authorities of the UAE started to realize the need for adapting sustainability, and made this concern one of the top priorities of the country. During the last decade, the government of the UAE has spent huge amounts of money to direct the construction industry towards sustainability. The authors in this research aim to introduce a new concept to measure sustainability in the construction industry. The Maturity model in construction industry will be created by studying different maturity models in other fields, understanding how maturity is defined, assessed and achieved, and studying related case studies. In the current research, the focus will be more on sustainability in construction of building because almost 40% of energy consumption comes from buildings. Thus, it makes a major contribution to a more sustainable future.