A Framework for Multi-Criteria Lifecycle Assessment of Building Systems in the Construction Industry

Abstract

The increasing awareness of the sustainable implications of the construction industry requires an expansion in the types of assessment criteria used to evaluate the systems deployed in building. This expansion allows engineers to consider several criteria of various natures (e.g., economic and environmental) in the process of evaluating the viability of the developed solutions for building systems. Furthermore, the increasing demand for quality pertaining to the products of the construction industry necessitates greater integration in the development of the design of building systems. This implies the need to consider the interactions among building systems and the influence of these interactions on the potential technical performance of such systems during operations. The research presented in this thesis proposes a framework that accounts for (1) multiple criteria design assessment of building systems and (2) the interdependence among building systems to provide a decision support tool that ensures, at an early phase, a reduction in the impact of the end-product on the lifecycle cost, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions of a building. This research also presents two case studies to illustrate the application of this framework during the design phase.Tools that visualize the impact of building systems on value, such as cost, are common, but little attention has been given to visualize the collective contribution of the building systems to multiple values. This research proposes a visualization framework to bridge the gap in the practice of design visualization regarding the number of visualized criteria, visualizing throughout the entire lifecycle of the building, and achieving visualization that is concurrent with the design development. A case study is presented to demonstrate the application of the framework accounting for the lifecycle cost, energy consumption, CO2 emissions.