Nazirah Zainul Abidin

Enablers and challenges of a sustainable housing industry in Malaysia

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the enablers of creating a viable environment for a sustainable housing industry and investigate the barriers limiting this progress.Design/methodology/approach – A literature review is carried out to explore the four‐angle enablers (technological, institutional, internal action and market influence) which are crucial to create an industry which is prone towards sustainable construction. Based on the interviews and surveys conducted on Malaysian developers, the findings point to various challenges for each enabler.Findings – The paper highlighted that the governments lack of incentive programmes and the slow progress in revising related regulations are major hindrances for institutional enablers. For technological aspects, the problem lies in the cost of importing products because of the lack of locally‐produced green technology. The cost factor and lack of “urgency” are the core problems in encouraging internal action, while the low demand by the potenti...

Sustainable Construction Practices in Malaysia

A building occupies land, alters the ground and vegetation, prevents the percolation of rainwater into the ground, interrupts the flow of wildlife through the area, and consumes resources, labor, materials, and fuel.

Contractor firm strategies in delivering green project: A review

Building green requires effort from various parties, from those who plan, design, manage and construct the building. Contractors are responsible for converting the design on paper into a real building and their role at the construction site support environmental sustainability by implementing responsible construction practices. Inefficient or inexperienced contractor in green construction project may find that delivering this type of project is not an easy task due to added requirement in design, stringent practices at site and the use of green technology and materials. Adopting suitable strategies at firm level will assist in preparatory process and readiness of delivering the green project. This paper reviews the strategies at firm level to deliver green construction project. From extensive literature review, it was discovered that there are six strategies to be adopted by the contractor. Understanding these strategies is expected to promote more contractors to be proactive in delivering green projects.