The variant of Construction Projects and their Assessment Taking into Account the Impact on the Environment

Abstract

The construction of various types of buildings and engineering structures invariably interferes, although to different degrees, with the surrounding environment. Every development project is executed in a strictly delineated area and under specific conditions. While planning a construction project, the investor is obligated to analyse several variants of its execution, including an assessment of different effects it may have on the environment. The investor can evaluate the impact on the surrounding ecosystems, in its various manifestations, both during the construction works and after a given building or a structure which has been put to use. Adhering to the latest trends, an assessment of the environmental impact caused by buildings and engineering structures should account for a whole life cycle of an object. Special attention should be paid to the process of obtaining natural resources and manufacturing building materials as well as the time period over which the latter will be used. Not less important for the environment is the moment when a building’s useful life ends, i.e. how it is demolished and how the construction and demolition waste is recycled or disposed of. The author’s studies have demonstrated that assessments of variant solutions made in construction engineering practice are very rarely based on criteria that encompass the whole life cycle of a building. This article presents an analysis of the current situation based on data extracted from reviewed documentation originating from several construction projects.