Shipping containers converted into livable facilities for commercialization in Cebu, Philippines

In Cebu, Philippines during the pandemic, hospitals were full and would no longer accept patients, which led the researchers to make a study on shipping containers converted to hospitals, isolation, quarantine, and other livable facilities to address the problem. If another wave of the virus comes, the facility is already in place to accommodate patients. Numerous studies have been conducted about shipping containers on their functionality, performance, and quality but there is no study about its marketability to target markets. The study determined the marketability of shipping containers converted into livable facilities for commercialization based on the following objectives: i) the four Ps of marketing, ii) industry and competitor analysis, iii) challenges and opportunities, and, iv) to propose recommendations on developing the converted shipping containers into livable facilities. There were two hundred thirty-nine respondents. The study used the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software for quantitative data and thematic analysis for qualitative data. The study found a high demand for shipping containers to be converted into livable facilities which could be a profitable business once commercialized. © 2023 The Authors. Published by IASE.

Strategies for implementation of green roofs in developing countries

PurposeReportedly, green roof (GR) makes a significant contribution towards a truly sustainable-built environment;however, its implementation is yet to hit a sufficient level in developing countries. Thus, this study assesses GR implementation strategies in developing countries by providing a comparative analysis through experts in Kazakhstan, Malaysia and Turkey.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts a four-step methodological approach to achieve the research aim: literature review, focus group discussion, fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) analysis and correlation analyses. First, a literature review followed by a focus group discussion is used to determine 18 (out of 25 initially) strategies for the selected context and these are classified into three categories: governmental and institutional support, knowledge and information and policy and regulation. Afterward, the identified GR strategies are evaluated using the FAHP with the data gathered from the experts in the countries studied. Finally, correlation analyses were used to observe the strength of agreement between the assessments of experts from the included countries.FindingsThe findings indicate that financial incentives, low-cost government loans and subsidies and tax rebates are the essential strategies for the wider adoption of GR. Evaluating the policy and regulations strategies also showed that mandatory GR policies and regulations and better enforcement of the developed GR policies are ranked as the most prominent strategies. The findings show a low level of agreement among respondents from Kazakhstan, while there is a high level of agreement between the experts in Malaysia and Turkey.Research limitations/implicationsThe research contribution is twofold. First (research implication), the study identifies the strategies through a complete literature review. Second, the identified strategies are evaluated through the lenses of experts in three developing countries which are hoped to provide (practical contribution) a better understanding of the most effective strategies that require attention and enable the frontline stakeholders (particularly government authorities) to focus on them.Originality/valueThe study findings provide a good point of departure to explore the strategies for broader adoption of GRs in developing economic setting.

Barriers to incorporation of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) principles into building designs

PurposeThis research presents a comprehensive review of the literature on the barriers to incorporating indoor environmental quality (IEQ) principles into building designs. The aim was to identify these barriers in the literature and subsume them under broad categories for the development of a framework showing the interrelationships among the barriers.Design/methodology/approachThe research design used a systematic desktop review which comprised of three levels of screening. The first level allowed for a broad selection of papers;the second level of screening was done to limit the results to papers within the construction industry, and the third level of screening limited the documents strictly to the publication period of 2000–2021.FindingsTwenty-four (24) barriers were identified in the literature, including lack of integrated design teams, which ranked the highest in appearance, high initial costs, poor market for IEQ buildings and higher design charges among others. The identified barriers were classified into six (6) categories namely capacity barriers, economic barriers, process-related barriers, cultural barriers, client-related barriers and steering barriers.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study would enable practitioners and policymakers to better understand what is preventing the widespread adoption of IEQ designs in the built environment and devise actionable strategies to overcome them. It adds to the body of knowledge on IEQ research by categorizing the various barriers that prevent the delivery of IEQ projects.Social implicationsThe developed barriers in this research can serve as a useful checklist to future researchers who may want to validate the barriers to IEQ designs in empirical studies and in different settings.Originality/valueThe interconnectivity revealed by the web-like framework allows for an appreciation of the various barriers of IEQ adoption which would help in expanding the current knowledge on IEQ beyond the narrow scope of isolated barriers. The fact that the papers selected in this study are not limited geographically, underscores the wide applicability of the findings in the global construction industry.

Promoting Green Buildings and Low-Carbon Design Strategies of Green B&B Rooms for Sustainable Tourism after COVID-19

COVID-19 opened a window of opportunity to change the green development of the hospitality industry. For many years, Chinese tourists have been the world's largest source of outbound tourists. Therefore, this study attempted to improve built-environment strategies for green rooms at B&Bs using the empirical statistics of Chinese tourists after the end of COVID-19 control measures and different green B&B standards, combining IPA (importance-performance analysis). For the lack of a green built-environment study from a tourism perspective, this study can be used mainly for improving the green satisfaction of urban B&Bs as it attempted to fill the gaps in research on green B&B rooms. This study will significantly help improve the quality of green rooms for the B&B industry in the future, and it also provides an improved green B&B room sample for other countries and regions. Moreover, it is an optimistic attempt at hospitality and tourism recovery. © 2023 by the authors.

COVID-19: a catalyst for revitalizing mixed-use urban centers? The case of Paris

Since the mid-1990s, the French public authorities have changed regulations to allow commercial building conversions into housing. The COVID-19 crisis has affected the global economy, social connections, environmental trajectories and energy demand/supply. Countries have been considering measures to reduce the pandemic's long-term impact and since the beginning of 2020, national governments have recommended that companies facilitate remote work. Thus, COVID-19 has prompted some office building depopulation. With working from home expected to continue after the pandemic, due to technological, environmental and economic considerations, there is a growing impetus to convert empty office space into residential uses. The present research aims, through the Parisian case study, to consider the impacts of the pandemic and the acceleration of homeworking. Using a mixed qualitative and quantitative methodology, the study aims to (1) critically analyse the policy tools implemented by the Paris municipality following the COVID-19 pandemic to accelerate commercial building conversions and (2) evaluate the potential for such conversions, considering former policies. We found that adaptive reuse policies have been implemented following the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. However, according to the collected data, conversion potential is limited, due to the continuing demand for office space despite the changes and economic considerations. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Exploration of the Emergency Renovation of Sports Venues Resilience Space Based on Green Building Technology Under the Normal Epidemic Situation

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 has caused a surge in medical demand. It has inspired people to continuously explore how to transform public buildings such as gymnasiums in a fast, low-cost and green way during emergencies. The article studies the feasibility of applying gymnasium to sudden public events, discusses the design methods for the renovation of gymnasium space, water supply and drainage system, ventilation system and intelligent system in emergency situations. The focus is on preventing cross-contamination, preventing backflow contamination, pressure shaving, airflow organization, and system control. Through these design methods, the gymnasium has the characteristics of efficient, adaptable and inclusive epidemic prevention. The application prospect of green building technology in emergency reconstruction was explored, and a reference is put forward for the design and reconstruction of gymnasiums in the post-epidemic era with “combination of epidemic control” and improving the resilience space of gymnasiums. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Sustainable Building Standards, Codes and Certification Systems: The Status Quo and Future Directions in Saudi Arabia

Sustainable building practices are a response to environmental issues. Businesses and industries are assessing how their activities affect the environment. The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries have significant impacts on the environment and economy, while the industry is considered one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and has, therefore, been highlighted by researchers as a key area of intervention with a great potential to reduce environmental impacts. This paper critically reviews and evaluates the current state of sustainable building certification systems with the purpose of having a good understanding of the status quo and possibilities for future directions in Saudi Arabia. It reviews the academic literature on Saudi Arabia’s green/sustainable building codes, standards, certification systems, methods and tools. It starts by addressing sustainability in the broadest sense. Then, it investigates sustainability strategies and evaluates the building certification systems in Saudi Arabia, followed by an introduction to the new practice of sustainable healthcare building assessment. Life cycle assessment (LCA) and building information modelling (BIM) techniques have also been investigated. The paper introduces the updated Saudi Building Code (SBC) with further evaluation of the Saudi Green Building Code (SBC 1001-CR). Finally, the paper clearly highlights the key role of sustainable building practices and the need to develop a certification system that considers the new trends and the local context.

Ventilating aged-care center based on solar chimney: Design and theoretical analysis.

Natural ventilation is considered the first suggestion for COVID-19 prevention in buildings by the World Health Organization (WHO). Solar chimney's viability in aged care centers or similar facilities was analyzed numerically and theoretically. A new solar chimney design was proposed to reduce the cross-infection risk of COVID-19 based on an airflow path through window, ceiling vent, attic, and then chimney cavity. Solar chimney performance, quantified by the natural ventilation rate, presented power function with window area, ceiling vent area, cavity height, and solar radiation. The ceiling vent is suggested to be closer to the corridor to enhance the performance and ventilation coverage of the room. A cavity gap of 1.0 m is recommended to balance the ventilation performance and construction cost. A theoretical model was also developed for aged care centers with multiple rooms and a joint attic. Its predictions obey reasonably well with the numerical results. Solar chimney's viability in aged care center is confirmed as a 7.22 air change per hour (ACH) ventilation can be achieved even under a low solar radiation intensity of 200 W/m2, where its performance fulfills the minimal ventilation requirement (i.e., 6 ACH) suggested by the WHO for airborne infection isolation rooms. This study offers a new design and a guideline for the future implementation of solar chimney in aged care centers or similar facilities.

The Impact of Certification Systems for Architectural Solutions in Green Office Buildings in the Perspective of Occupant Well-Being

The green building certification system has long-lasting benefits by improving building efficiency and sustainability. The ultimate goal of such classification is to promote the preservation of the global environment as well as the occupants’ well-being and their health. In this paper, we present examples of buildings that have been designed and built in Poland and have been certified with BREEAM, LEED and WELL. Our study investigates human factors in certification systems and examines the WELL Building Standard as a supplement to other green systems, which will probably be the most popular in the future. The green building movement should prioritize pro-human factors and the associated environmental beliefs to improve indoor environment quality for users’ needs. We present this matter on the example of the Polish office space market, providing statistics and analyzing the architecture of six certified office buildings from Warsaw, Poznań and Wrocław. They are a representative sample of buildings designed following the certification regime. It was demonstrated how this aids in improving work comfort, enhances the program of office spaces and the organization of service spaces within buildings, which increases the rank of this architecture and positively affects the urban environment.

Assessment method for new sustainability indicators providing pandemic resilience for residential buildings.

The method presented in this paper aims to support the sustainability assessment methods of residential buildings under pandemic conditions. The main purpose of the study is to review existing criteria of the well-known assessment tools and then to suggest a set of assessment measures for the emerging pandemic-resilient indicators. Current sustainability assessment methodologies mostly focus on the conventional sustainability pillars (Environmental, Social, Economic), whereas the proposed emerging sustainability assessment indicators include changes in sustainability requirements brought by the current pandemic. Firstly, a set of indicators with possible measures was identified; then, we reviewed several existing green building certification systems to identify their gaps and developed a foundation for each indicator. Finally, several round table discussions involving various stakeholders (e.g., engineers, designers, health care experts, academics) were conducted to consolidate the identified measures. The findings of the present study indicate that certain pandemic-resilient indicators are not fully addressed by existing assessment tools, pointing out the importance of the development of new measures to make them more suitable to use under pandemic conditions. Thus, the present study contributes to the building assessment methods by proposing a set of emerging assessment indicators with measures, which can be used by various professionals that would contribute to more sustainable buildings in upcoming pandemics.•A 5-point scale was used to assess the indicators, and various stakeholders in a previous study identified their weights.•The methodology introduces new pandemic-related indicators into the conventional sustainability concept.•The assessment measures are rapid and economically efficient to apply for any residential building.