Project Controls Model for Sustainable Construction Projects

Abstract

As sustainability rises in significance in the construction industry, there is a need to adopt new project management techniques to help achieve increases in sustainability objectives. There have been several research works that have investigated the integration of sustainability in construction. However, there is a gap in addressing performance measurement and evaluation during the construction phase. Traditional project performance evaluation methods use the Earned Value Management (EVM) technique to assess time, cost, and scope performance. However, EVM does not address the performance of sustainability goals. The main objective of this paper is to develop a new project controls method for sustainable construction projects. Sustainability performance indicators can play an essential role in advancing the practice of sustainable construction. Accordingly, a Sustainable Earned Value Management (SEVM) model incorporating sustainability indicators was developed to monitor the attainment of sustainability objectives in construction projects in addition to the traditional objectives. The proposed SEVM model uses the construction planning optimization model to prepare the baseline plan to monitor the project’s time, cost, and sustainability performance. The proposed model enhances the monitoring and control of sustainable construction projects in terms of time, cost, and sustainability using sustainability indicators.