Design out waste as an approach for achieving sustainability in Egyptian housing projects

Abstract

Housing projects have been increasing rapidly during the previous years to fulfil community needs and achieve the national and international sustainable development objectives. Due to their nature, housing projects generate a significant amount of waste that accounts for approximately 40% of the solid waste that the construction industry generates annually. Many of these wastes are a result of inappropriate decisions adopted during the design process such as using non-sustainable materials and inefficient use of natural recourses. Meanwhile, research has revealed that achieving sustainability within housing projects is a crucial challenge, yet an essential one. This called to think differently and adopting creative strategies for reducing construction waste during the design process. Therefore, this research aims to develop a matrix that correlates the aspects of sustainability with design out waste strategy as an approach within RIBA design phases for achieving sustainability in Egyptian public housing projects. A research methodologyconsists of literature review and case study was designed to achieve a working matrix by accomplishing three objectives. Firstly, literature review was used to investigate the topics of sustainability, design out waste strategy and housing projects. Secondly, a case study collected by literature presentedand analysedto identify the design out waste strategy for reducing waste as an approach to achieve sustainability. Finally, developing a matrix that correlates sustainability and design out waste strategy within RIBA design phases.