IMPACTO AMBIENTAL EN VIAS

A methodology for predicting the severity of environmental impacts related

to the construction process of residential buildings

Marta Gangolells a,, Miquel Casals a

, Santiago Gasso ´

b

,Nu ´ ria Forcada a

, Xavier Roca a

, Alba Fuertes a

a

Department of Construction Engineering, Group of Construction Research and Innovation (GRIC), Technical University of Catalonia, C/Colom, 11. Ed. TR5,

08222 Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain

b

Engineering Project Department, Technical University of Catalonia, C/ Colom, 11. Ed. TR5, 08222 Terrassa (Barcelona), Spain

article info

Article history:

Received 7 March 2008

Received in revised form

24 April 2008

Accepted 1 May 2008

Keywords:

Environmental impacts

Environmental management

Buildings

Construction process

abstract

This paper introduces a systematic approach for dealing with potential adverse environmental impacts

at the pre-construction stage. The proposed methodology serves as an assessment tool for construction

projects to measure the environmental performance of their construction activities. It also provides a

consistent basis for comparisons and for future eco-labelling and environmental benchmarking among

construction companies and construction sites. Within the methodological framework, nine categories

of environmental aspects are proposed: atmospheric emissions; water emissions; waste generation; soil

alteration; resource consumption; local issues; transport issues; effects on biodiversity; and incidents,

accidents and potential emergency situations. The methodology includes 20 performance indicators

developed with the help of a panel of experts. In order to avoid a typical shortcoming in environmental

assessments methods, these environmental indicators, both direct and indirect, are always based on

quantitative data available in the project documents. Significance limits for environmental aspects are

also developed based on a statistical analysis of 55 new-start construction projects. Four case studies

are provided to illustrate the practical use of the proposed methodology.

& 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Construction project performance has traditionally been mea-

sured in terms of time, cost and quality. Lately, environment has

been considered the fourth dimension [1] and construction

organizations have been urged to adopt environmental manage-

ment systems (EMS) in order to improve their environmental

performance [2]. However, recent literature shows that construc-

tion firms have been slow to adopt environmental performance

evaluations (EPE or ISO 14031) due to ‘a lack of technological

support, such as training, staff and expertise’ and ‘an increase in

administrative costs’ [3]. Therefore, it is commonly perceived that

the application of EMS will involve the deployment of extra

resources [4] without tangible benefits [5].

According to Chen and Li [6], there have been few studies on

integrating aspects of environmental management in the con-

struction planning stage in particular. Moreover, current ap-

proaches to environmental control and management are highly

qualitative [7]. A search of the Civil Engineering Database of the

American Society for Civil Engineering and the Ei Compendex

database found that only 2% of all papers on environmental

management in construction provide quantitative methods [7].Of

the papers providing such methods, the approaches of Tam et al.

[8], Cheung et al. [9], Shen et al. [10] and Liu et al. [11] are among

the most noteworthy. Especially worthwhile is the Construction

Pollution Index method, developed by Chen et al. [12], which has

proved to be an efficient means of quantitatively evaluating the

pollution and hazard levels of construction processes and projects.

Chen et al. [7] determined how to select the best construction plan

by classifying adverse environmental impacts of construction

operations/activities using the EnvironalPlanning method. How-

ever, subjective judgements often influence the accuracy of the

aforementioned methods.

The goal of this paper is to support the implementation of EMS

in construction companies and help organizations to improve

their environmental performance. For this reason, the purpose of

this research is to develop a quantitative methodology for dealing

with potential adverse environmental impacts at the pre-con-

struction stage.

2. Definition and development of the methodology

This paper presents a methodology for predicting and assessing

the environmental impacts associated with the construction of

new residential buildings. The proposed methodology is able to

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/buildenv

Building and Environment

0360-1323/$ - see front matter & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2008.05.001

 Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 937398947; fax: +34 937398101.

E-mail address: marta.gangolells@upc.edu (M. Gangolells).

Building and Environment 44 (2009) 558– 571compare the overall environmental impact of various construction

projects and to rank the significance of the various environmental

impacts of each of these projects. The relevance of each

environmental aspect at a particular site is identified prior to the

construction stage and, therefore, significant impacts are high-

lighted in advance. Thus, it is possible to provide a range of

measures for mitigating adverse impacts, which can then be

implemented during on-site construction activities. The metho-

dology is also able to compare the absolute importance of a

particular environmental aspect in various construction projects.

To predict the severity of environmental impacts related to the

construction of residential buildings, the following methodology is

proposed:

(1) identification of environmental aspects related to the con-

struction process;

(2) assessment of the environmental aspects:

(a) development of indicators;

(b) formulation of the significance limits;

(c) determination of the overall environmental impact of a

construction project.

2.1. Identification of environmental aspects

The identification of environmental aspects is the first step of

this methodology. To do this, an exhaustive preliminary analysis

with a process-oriented approach [13] is carried out. First, the

main processes are identified and divided into smaller process

steps. The environmental aspects associated with each construc-

tion process are then identified (Fig. 1).

2.1.1. Construction processes and activities initially considered

The construction processes initially considered were (1) earth-

works, (2) foundations, (3) structures, (4) roofs, (5) partitions and

closures, (6) impermeable membranes, (7) insulations, (8) coat-

ings, (9) pavements and (10) door and window closures. These

main construction processes were divided into smaller process

steps as indicated by Roberts and Robinson [14]. A total of 219

stages and activities were ultimately considered in this initial

environmental review (Fig. 1).

2.1.2. Environmental aspects initially considered

According to Chen et al. [7], on-site construction activities

usually result in soil and ground contamination, surface and

underground water contamination, construction and demolition

waste, noise and vibration, dust, hazardous emissions and odours,

impacts on wildlife and natural features, and archaeology impacts.

Shen and Tam [15] classified construction-related environmental

impacts as the extraction of environmental resources such as fossil

fuels and minerals; the extension of consumption of generic

resources; the production of waste that requires the consumption

of land for disposal; and the pollution of the living environment

with noise, odours, dust, vibrations, chemical and particulate

emissions, and solid and sanitary waste. According to Gangolells

et al. [16], typical negative impacts of construction activities

include atmospheric emissions, water emissions, soil alteration,

waste generation, resource consumption and others (potential

impacts on the community and on the local traffic and potentially

hazardous scenarios).

Many other approaches have been described and proposed

[17–20] but the literature reaches no consensus regarding the

environmental aspects associated with the construction process.

The eco-management and audit scheme (EMAS) [21] provides a

standardized and comprehensive list of environmental aspects

that covers almost all of the aforementioned environmental

aspects. Thus, the authors used EMAS [21] as a guide to initially

identify general environmental aspects:

(a) emissions to air;

...