Implementing LEED v4 BD+C Projects in Vietnam: Contributions and Challenges for General Contractor

Duy Hoang Pham,Joosung Lee,Yonghan Ahn

doi:10.3390/su11195449

Abstract

Sustainable construction addresses both rising housing demand and the need to reduce energy consumption, but is not yet widespread in Vietnam, although the number of Green Building Certified projects has increased significantly since 2015, especially those with LEED certification. Certification adds value to the project but also incurs additional costs and implementation challenges for general contractors (GCs) and other stakeholders. The growing popularity of LEED buildings requires GCs to understand their role in fulfilling the LEED requirements. We therefore conducted a thorough review of the previous research on LEED v4 guidelines and their local equivalents to determine what is expected of GCs working on LEED v4 BD + C projects in Vietnam. A survey of 72 experts, engineers, and architects working in the construction sector identified the LEED tasks where Vietnamese GCs lack experience and suggested solutions to address this shortfall were developed. In particular, Vietnamese GCs lacked experience in implementing their sustainable roles. These results provide a useful foundation for Vietnamese GCs seeking to expand the scope of their LEED work and identified necessary training. Our findings will also guide future research to help GCs in Vietnam adapt to LEED’s sustainability requirements and support sustainable construction in Vietnam.

Highlights

Sustainable development is vital if humanity is to meet the needs of the current world population without adversely affecting the lives of the generation [1,2]
This shows a serious lack of experience and indicates that general contractors (GCs) need to be provided with more training if they are to fulfill their responsibility for implementing these LEED roles, which concern fundamental commissioning, refrigerant management, material documentation, managing indoor air quality during construction, and environment product declarations
Two GC LEED tasks had a mean value greater than 3.0, namely IP1 (Integrative design support; 3.39) and EAQ2 (Smoking control policy; 3.42). This suggests that GCs in Vietnam have approached and supported investors in the process of project formulation, possibly because the GCs who win these contracts have worked with investors and have a greater understanding of the projects and their aims

Summary

Introduction

Sustainable development is vital if humanity is to meet the needs of the current world population without adversely affecting the lives of the generation [1,2]. The construction industry is a significant consumer of energy and raw materials and is a major contributor to global warming [7,8,9,10,11]. It contributes to problems such as air pollution, noise pollution, and waste pollution, among others [1,18,19] To address these issues, sustainable construction practices and green building solutions are being implemented in countries around the world, optimizing resource use, reducing energy consumption, and minimizing the impact of buildings on the surrounding environment [20,21]. Sustainable construction has become a major global trend in the construction industry [22,23] because of its benefits and its ultimate goals of preserving our quality of life by minimizing negative environmental impacts and protecting valuable resources that will be needed by future generations. Sustainable construction has become a major global trend in the construction industry [22,23] because of its benefits and its ultimate goals of preserving our quality of life by minimizing negative environmental impacts and protecting valuable resources that will be needed by future generations. [24,25,26]

Methods

Results

Conclusion