Critical components of Environmentally Sustainable Buildings Design Practices of office buildings in Ghana

Abstract

Sustainable building design practices has in recent times become a topical issue among researchers and practitioners. However, in tropical built environment, particularly office buildings, there is inadequate empirical knowledge on practices that should be considered at the design stage of sustainable buildings. This study examines the critical components of environmentally sustainable building practices at the design stage for office buildings in the tropical built environment. Using quantitative research method five hypotheses were tested. The views of 250 professionals in the building industry were elicited using structured questionnaire. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) based on Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used to validate the hypotheses. The findings suggest that the five major components that is energy efficiency and conservation, water efficiency and conservation, material conservation, waste reduction, reuse and recycling and humane adaptation all positively influence sustainable design practices of office buildings in tropical regions, specifically Ghana. This finding suggests the critical components for environmentally sustainable building design practices for tropical regions which other tropical countries can emulate. The finding may be useful for professionals during design stage of projects to preserve the environment and its resources.