Libby Schweber

Comparing the fit between BREEAM assessment and design processes

This paper explores the mapping of the environmental assessment process onto design and construction processes. A comparative case study method is used to identify and account for variations in the ‘fit’ between these two processes. The analysis compares eight BREEAM projects (although relevant to LEED, GreenStar, etc.) and distinguishes project-level characteristics and dynamics. Drawing on insights from literature on sustainable construction and assessment methods, an analytic framework is developed to examine the effect of clusters of project and assessment-level elements on different types of fit (tight, punctual and bolt-on). Key elements distinguishing between types include: prior working experience with project team members, individual commitment to sustainable construction, experience with sustainable construction, project continuity, project-level ownership of the assessment process, and the nature and continuity of assessor involvement. Professionals with ‘sustainable’ experience used BREEAM judiciously to support their designs (along with other frameworks), but less committed professionals tended to treat it purely as an assessment method. More attention needs to be paid to individual levels of engagement with, and understanding of, sustainability in general (rather than knowledge of technical solutions to individual credits), to ownership of the assessment process and to the potential effect of discontinuities at the project level on sustainable design.

Putting theory to work: the use of theory in construction research

Attention to epistemology, theory use and citation practices are all issues which distinguish academic disciplines from other ways of knowing. Examples from construction research are used to outline and reflect on these issues. In doing so, the discussion provides an introduction to some key issues in social research as well as a reflection on the current state of construction research as a field. More specifically, differences between positivist and interpretivist epistemologies, the role of theory in each and their use by construction researchers are discussed. Philosophical differences are illustrated by appeal to two published construction research articles by Reichstein et al. and Harty on innovation (Reichstein, Salter and Gann, 2005; Harty, 2008). An analysis of citations for each highlights different cumulativity strategies. The potential contribution of mixed research programmes, combining positivist and interpretivist research, is evaluated. The paper should be of interest to early researchers and to scholars concerned with the ongoing development of construction research as an academic field.

Framing evidence: policy design for the zero-carbon home

In 2006 the UK Government announced a move to zero-carbon homes by 2016. The demand posed a major challenge to policy-makers and construction professionals entailing a protracted process of policy design. The task of giving content to this target is used to explore the role of evidence in the policy process. Whereas much literature on policy and evidence treats evidence as an external input, independent of politics, this paper explores the ongoing mutual constitution of both. Drawing on theories of policy framing and the sociology of classification, the account follows the story of a policy for Zero Carbon Homes from the parameters and values used to specify the target. Particular attention is given to the role of regulatory impact assessments (RIAs) and to the creation of a new policy venue, the Zero Carbon Hub. The analysis underlines the way in which the choices about how to model and measure the aims potentially transforms them, the importance of policy venues for transparency and the role of RIAs in the authorization of particular definitions. A more transparent, open approach to policy formulation is needed in which the framing of evidence is recognized as an integral part of the policy process.

The co-development of technology and new buildings: incorporating building integrated photovoltaics

Current approaches for the reduction of carbon emissions in buildings are often predicated on the integration of renewable technologies into building projects. Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) is one of these technologies and brings its own set of challenges and problems with a resulting mutual articulation of this technology and the building. A Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) approach explores how negotiations between informal groups of project actors with shared interests shape the ongoing specification of both BIPV and the building. Six main groups with different interests were found to be involved in the introduction of BIPV (Cost Watchers, Design Aesthetes, Green Guardians, Design Optimizers, Generation Maximizers and Users). Their involvement around three sets of issues (design changes from lack of familiarity with the technology, misunderstandings from unfamiliar interdependencies of trades and the effects of standard firm procedure) is followed. Findings underline how BIPV requires a level of integration that typically spans different work packages and how standard contractual structures inhibit the smooth incorporation of BIPV. Successful implementation is marked by ongoing (re-)design of both the building and the technology as informal fluid groups of project actors with shared interests address the succession of problems which arise in the process of implementation.

Unintended consequences: institutional artefacts, closure mechanisms and the performance gap

ABSTRACT Renewable technologies often feature in policies to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. Designers introduce predicted energy values for specific technologies, but are surprised when the technologies fail to perform as expected. Three building projects are used to explore the effect of construction processes on the energy performance of building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) technology. In two cases BIPV failed to deliver expected energy generation, while in the third, dramatic changes in project processes and technical specifications were needed to achieve the specified output. A social construction of technology (SCOT) analysis documents how the energy generation of BIPV disappeared from view at certain points as actors focused on building features. A contribution is made to the theoretical development of SCOT by responding to two issues: privileging of cognitive closure mechanisms and the neglect of institutional analysis. The concept of inflection mechanisms is introduced as a second type of closure mechanism. More specifically, the role of institutional artefacts (e.g. planning requirements and schedules) in the construction process is found to contribute to the performance gap. To reduce the ‘performance gap’, practitioners need to focus on the distribution of design responsibility, sequencing of work and the location of expertise.

Client engagement and building design: the view from actor–network theory

ABSTRACT The accommodation of client expectations in a construction project is challenging. This is, in part, because a client is rarely a single individual and their expectations are rarely static. This paper uses the actor–network theory (ANT) concepts of problematization, enrolment and durability to explore client engagement. The contribution of ANT lies in its (ontological) model of distributed agency, fluid heterogeneous networks and associated effects. A pilot study of a single building project provides an opportunity to theorize the different ways that clients engage in the development of a building. Client engagement differs with the direct versus mediated presence of different client actors, with the devices used to mediate negotiations and with the relative materiality of the network. The findings move the discussion of client engagement beyond the usual calls for better integration to an awareness of the mechanisms by which clients engage. Some decisions are fixed in material objects, while others remain open to ongoing negotiation. There is a need for explicit and continuous interaction and better awareness of when and how decisions are fixed. This would help all participants to deal with the complex and dynamic landscape of people, organizations and interests usually labelled as ‘client’.

The Cultural Role of Science in Policy Implementation: Voluntary Self-Regulation in the UK Building Sector

Abstract The UK government’s support for sustainable construction involves an explicit attempt to introduce a new institutional logic into the construction sector, while the use of Building Research Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) as a preferred policy mechanism exemplifies neoliberal use of voluntary self-regulation to promote policy goals. This paper uses the case of BREEAM to examine the role of science and scientific expertise in the exercise of neoliberal governance. More specifically, it combines a neo-institutional analysis of change with Foucault’s theory of governmentality to explore the effect of BREEAM on eight construction projects. The concepts of visibility, knowledge, techniques, and identity provide an analytic grid to explore the effect of BREEAM on understandings and practices of “green building.” Appeals to science and scientific authority are found to be most important in those instances where institutional logics clash and the legitimacy of BREEAM as a carrier of sustainable construction is challenged. From a theoretical perspective, the case studies highlight the role of instruments in the micro-dynamics of institutionalization. Empirically, it underlines the limited, but nonetheless significant, effect of weakly institutionalized neoliberal policy mechanisms.

British Sociology: Seen from Without and Within

right in the context of their daily lives embedded in race, class, and gender oppression. She pinpoints how Du Bois’s distinctive approach enabled him to document and analyze the suffering and sacrifices of black women and the importance of their distinct social location. Young’s essay, “The Soul of the Philadelphia Negro and the Souls of Black Folk,” makes a splendid case that the two works represent a dialogue. The Philadelphia Negro is a cold empirical scientific study where Du Bois appears to be only interested in social facts that allow him to make the case against American racism. Yet, Du Bois was also interested in how racism shaped blacks’ subjective world but the scientific method was too restrictive for such a project. In Souls, he abandoned it for a literary style that allowed him to probe the depths of the black psychic substratum which he argued was shaped by an intricate double consciousness. Young clearly shows why sociologists should be aware of how style can truncate analyses and the need for stylistic versatility. Lemert’s essay, “Cultural Politics in the Negro Soul,” establishes Du Bois as a cultural analyst of the first order and makes a case that he should be considered the founder of cultural studies because of the original pathbreaking analysis he advanced in Souls. He argues that contrary to many analysts, the concept, double consciousness, was a theory of two conflicting cultures rather than a psychological theory. This concept posits that in America, blacks and whites have developed two distinct cultures that exist in deep tension. This argument departed radically from the accepted wisdom that there existed only one uniformed superior Western culture. Du Bois showed that cultures are local and multiple. Thus, Du Bois developed a new paradigm about how culture and hegemony operated. Finally, Watts’s essay, “The Souls of Black Folk and Afro-American Life,” is the most sharply critical of Du Bois and it stands in sharp contrast to Lemert’s argument. For Watts, Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness was nothing but a psychological theory driven by Du Bois’s status-grasping motivation to be recognized by cultured white people. Young also advances this view although less harshly. Watts claimed that Du Bois’s cultural achievements and elite sensibilities led him to shun identification with the uncultured black masses. Thus, he created a theory that elevated cultured blacks but pretended that it included blacks throughout the Black Diaspora. But at bottom, the theory was Du Bois’s cry to be embraced by the oppressor. It is an interesting theory but I think it is dead wrong. It is true that Du Bois was highly educated, cultured, and displayed an arrogant demeanor. Yet his cultural theory was rooted in institutional analysis that demonstrated the cultural uniqueness of the black church and other black institutions. Through these, black people created a distinct world attuned to the peculiar social conditions they faced as an oppressed race. Moreover, this view of Du Bois’s individual selfishness ignores the prodigious activism he engaged throughout his career to lift the black masses and the black privileged. This book deserves to be read for it signals the importance of Du Bois’s work and its relevance for understanding the current social landscape.