Amira Elnokaly

Reducing Waste to Landfill in the UK: Identifying Impediments and Critical Solutions

Purpose – The UK construction industry produces up to one third of all waste to landfill. This study aims to identify specific project practices impeding the reduction of waste in construction projects as well as uncovering potential waste solutions throughout the project delivery process. The rationale being that for such a drastic reduction in waste to landfill, holistic and extensive measures would be required.Design/methodology/approach – A two‐way methodological approach was used. This comprised qualitative unstructured interviews and a quantitative questionnaire survey of three major stakeholders in the UK construction industry: clients, architects and contractors.Findings – Design factors remain the major cause of impediments to waste reduction to landfill. Critical impediments include clients making waste prevention a top priority in projects, overly complex designs, waste taking a low priority compared to project time and costs, lack of concerns by designers for buildability, among others. Critic...

The impact of the UK governments spending review into the Feed in Tariff (FIT) on the installation on photovoltaic panels in the residential sector

Purpose – In October 2011 the Government brought in measures to reduce the revenue provided by the Feed in Tariff (FIT) system. This change came under a lot of opposition due to the potential affects that it would have upon the industry. The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential benefits of the FIT and the impact that the Governments Comprehensive Spending Review had upon the industry and its uptake by the householders. Design/methodology/approach – For the study and to calculate the benefits of the FIT, a predictive modelling tool was built that could calculate the potential income and savings for a household. A photovoltaic (PV) installation was then monitored for over a year and the results of the predictive modelling tool were compared to actual results produced from the system to show how accurate the modelling tool was. The impacts of the Governments comprehensive spending review and the potential impacts in the industry were then calculated and discussed. Findings – The FIT is still a g...

Lean Construction and Sustainability Through IGLC Community: A Critical Systematic Review of 25 Years of Experience

It has been argued that Lean Construction (LC) offers the conceptual basis and the appropriate methods and tools needed for helping the construction industry meet the challenges of sustainable development. Since 1998, a growing body of knowledge has been emerging from the IGLC community, in relation to synergies between LC and Sustainability. Both seek to reduce waste and maximise value, but through different approaches and perspectives. The most common mistake, however, is a tool-focused framework for integration, which overlooks the conceptual differences between these two initiatives. The aim of this study, therefore, is to review the progress made in understanding the linkages and inconsistencies between the two initiatives, through conducting a critical systematic literature review (SLR) and synthesising the findings of ‘LC and Sustainability’ studies published in IGLC conferences over the past 25 years. The findings of the study provide an overview of previous studies about the topic, reveal major limitations in approaches to LC and Sustainable Construction (SC), and divulge significant opportunities for further work that remain unexplored.