Feasibility Phase
Sustainable Construction Research Group (SCRG)
University of Alberta, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
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To help Canada achieve its 2030 vision, our group research in the feasibility phase focuses on developing a comprehensive, robust, and integrated framework by adding GHG emissions as a main criterion along with other sustainable factors in the project portfolio selection process (sustainable PPS) to select the optimum PPS based on sustainability.
Fatemeh Parvaneh and Ahmed Hammad
In response to the growing importance of sustainability and regulatory pressures, companies are increasingly engaging in sustainable projects to mitigate environmental and social harm. Therefore, it is crucial to incorporate sustainability considerations during selecting construction projects in the feasibility phase. This study aims to identify a comprehensive set of sustainability criteria and sub-criteria to help the owners of power-generating plants to select the most sustainable technology for their new projects. Sixteen criteria are identified and categorized under the pillars of sustainability: economic, social, and environmental, plus the technical category. To illustrate practical application, a case study demonstrates the use of these essential sustainability criteria through a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model for power-generating technology ranking. The results suggest that when stakeholders’ perspectives are weighted approximately equally, considering all sustainability pillars, natural gas with carbon capture is favored for sustainability. A three-scenario sensitivity analysis was performed involving expert opinions from one of the largest power-generating companies in Canada. This integrated generic model can be utilized by industry experts to apply multi-dimensional rational decision-making techniques to solve the complex problem of selecting the most sustainable alternative in construction projects.
Fatemeh Parvaneh and Sameh Monir El-Sayegh
This paper aims to propose a new model for project selection using the combined approach of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and linear programming (LP). The key selection criteria for construction projects are also identified and assessed based on the perception of construction professionals. Fifteen project selection criteria are identified based on review of related literature. A questionnaire is developed and distributed among construction professionals in the United Arab Emirates to assess the importance of these criteria. The questionnaire was designed to enable pair-wise comparisons using the AHP methodology. Based on the responses of 42 professionals, the weight of each criterion was calculated using Expert Choice software. Selected criteria are then used to compare available projects. AHP is applied first to prioritize the competing projects, in line with owner strategic goals and objectives. Next, the priority ratios (weights) obtained from the AHP model are used as the coefficients of the decision variables in a LP model to allocate the available budget in an optimal way to maximize the owner’s benefit. Results indicate that project-specific criteria are the most important with an overall weight of 0.48. The top three criteria are profit, financial standing and risk with corresponding weights of 0.161, 0.114 and 0.1, respectively. The proposed model provided more benefit to the owner than using the traditional project selection method. There are several methods for project selection. However, the optimization techniques do not consider qualitative factors. Other techniques consider both qualitative and quantitative factors but do not consider budget limitations to optimize the selection decision. The model proposed here combines both approaches and takes into consideration unique criteria that are specific to the construction industry.
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