Sustainable Project Management:

A Balance Analysis Model of Effect

CAI Ning

ZHANG Shan-jie

LI Lei

College of Public Administration,

Zhejiang University
Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
zjucn@263.com

College of Public Administration,

Zhejiang University
Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
senyer315@163.com

Zhejiang huadong engineering science

& technology development co., Ltd
Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
tjulilei@163.com

AbstractAll industries now face an inescapable challenge of the

term sustainability. Construction project has been accused of
causing environmental issues ranging from excessive
consumption of global resources both in terms of construction
and building operation to the pollution of the surrounding
environment. It aims to balance the financial, environmental and
operational aspects of every system in the development. However,
to project contractors, the sustainable project requires a level of
control over all aspects of the project. A typical consideration of
this sort would refer to the inputs, processes and outputs of the
production process, as well as any other positive effects and
negative effects. The article identifies a balance model for project
decisions that analysis the sustainability in combination with the
specific quantification value and the estimating weight. Such
outcome of the proposed model will contribute to project
management.

for the assessment on the environmental impact of buildings,

materials and other components.
II.

DEFINITION OF SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

The concept of sustainability in the context of the

environment was defined by many leading advocates as early
as 1980s. During the 1994 conference in Tampa, several
tentative definition of the concept of sustainable construction
were proposed. For example, Professor Charles J. Kibert of
University of Florida suggested six principles of sustainable
construction:

Minimize resource consumption;

Maximize resource reuse;

Keywords- Sustainable Project Management;

Use renewable or recyclable resources;

Sustainable Construction

Protect the natural environment;

Create a healthy, nontoxic environment;

Pursue quality in creating the building environment.

I.

INTRODUCTION

The concept of sustainability in the context of the

environment was defined by many leading advocates during
the 1980s[1]. One of the most common definitions was phrased
by Norways prime minister, Her Excellency Gro H.
Brudtland: Leaving sufficient resources for future generations
to have a quality of life similar to ours. The term was firmly
recognized by the World Community in 1992 during the Rio
Earth Summit when Sustainable Development was
incorporated into the official documents as a common target to
be achieved by the public. Two years later, in November 1994,
the First World Conference for Sustainable Construction was
held in Tampa, Fla., where the future of construction in the
context of sustainability was seriously discussed.
Sustainable Project Management aims to apply the
principle of meeting the needs of the day without
compromising the benefits of future generations to the
construction industry by providing ways of buildings that use
less virgin material and less energy, cause less pollution and
less waste but still provide the benefits that construction
projects have brought us throughout history[2]. For decades,
groups of strongly committed experts have been working on
sustainable project management. Models have been developed

These six principles indicate very well the essence of what

the civil engineering and construction industry should practice
in the area of global environmental problems. Referring to the
specific issues of construction management, the below
demonstrations shall be concerned[3]:

In the stage of planning, it shall be accounted what to

build, where to build and whether to build;

In the stage of design, it is important to ensure that the

project make a positive contribution to occupants and
others, and that their consumption of resources,
particularly in service, are as low as possible;

In the stage of construction process, material

consumption, particularly in critical resources, and the
disturbance itself during the building process shall be
minimized.
III.

CHARACTERISTICS OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

The development of theoretical research of the sustainable

project management has already reached a certain degree.
However, when it refers to the practical process, we may take

978-1-4244-4639-1/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

the certain characteristics of construction project in the first

place, here points below shall be taken into consideration:

Architectural
construction
product
has
the
characteristics of unique, fixed, multiple, and huge
volume, which to some extent contribute to the low
utilization of sustainable circulation of the building
itself;

Construction project makes huge consumptions of

financial investment and resources, which presents
incompatibility with the environment and the
sustainable development[6];

Construction product has a long service life which

relates to the significant economic interests of the
nation, the region and the field directly;

Complex construction conditions lead to specific

project management solutions;

Major construction enterprises are small-sized or

medium-sized, contract employers and casual
employers occupy a high proportion. Building services
stay at a relatively low level as well.

V.

THEORETICAL INFERENCE AND MODELING

Figure 1 below shows the model adopted in the research of

the sustainable project management. The evaluation process for
a project will not be seen as a simple linear process but follows
a cycle nature. Each stage can supply additional information
and participate in the feedback loop to provide further
information for a more precise consideration for the
forthcoming stages[5].

Defining problems

Identifying alternatives

Formulating attributes,
Objectives and goals

Identifying criteria

Assessing impact

Estimating Weights

IV.

OBSTRUCTIVE FACTORS OF SUSTAINABLE

CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS DEVELOPMENT

Taking the characteristics of construction project listed

above into consideration, we may find that in retrospect of the
previous sustainable construction project, obstructive factors
which can be deemed as Bottleneck Restraint have brought
negative effects[4]. During the tender period of a project,
contractors may offer a higher bidding price in consideration of
risks, recycling and re-use cost, higher operational and
maintenance capital, certain profits and so forth, which result in
the increase of the accepted contract amount in the end. In the
process of the project construction, sustainability bases on
certain techniques, equipments and facilities. Certain plant
which is called Sinking Cost, taking water recycling system,
intelligent green building system as a example, also increased
the cost burden of contractors. Expensive green materials may
enhance the main capital and attached cost undoubtedly and
result in higher-tech labor and other professional expenditure.
On the other hand, positive effects of sustainable project
construction on resource and environment, society and other
potential ones, have not yet been clearly quantified to value
specific effectiveness. This, to some degree, reinforces the
obstructive factors of the sustainable project management.

Feedback
Determining Score

Reaching a result
Figure 1. Evaluation Process of Sustainable Project Management

A. Modeling
In the opinion of contractors, only when proceeds and
expenditures are balanced, can it be practical and feasible to
carry out sustainable construction and can it be feasible to carry
out sustainable project management.
Table 1 below shows the main positive effects and negative
effects which respectively lead to possible proceeds and
expenditures.

quantification value of each positive effect element; Ni

represents the specific quantification value of each negative
effect element; fi indicates the estimating weight of APE
criterion and gi indicates the estimating weight of ANE
criterion.

Table 1. Positive Effect Elements and Negative Effect Elements of

Sustainable Project Management
Positive Effects

Negative Effects

1. Governmental Subsidization

As a schematic figure below indicates (Figure 2), only if

the APE index is equal to the ANE index, shall a balance point
be reached. For contractors, it is only when APE index is equal
to the ANE index, sustainable project feasibility exists, and
only when APE index is higher than the ANE index, the
economic interest exists.

1. Higher Design Fee

2. Governmental Financial

2. High-value Equipments

Compensation
3. Preferential Tax Revenue

3. Higher-value Green Materials

4. Less Raw Material Extraction

4. Higher Facility Fee

and Transformation Cost

5. Free Recycling Material

5. Higher-tech Labor Cost

6. Less Operational Capital

6. Maintenance Capital

7. Less Waste, Emission and

Balance Point
Accumulative
Positive
Effect

7. Management Capital

Pollution Effluent Fee

8. Stimulation Policy to Customers
and Expansion of Market

B. Data Collection, Analysis and Model Test

9. Potential Risks to the

9. Governmental Reward

Contractors and Sub-contractors

10. Preferential Loan and Credit

10.Recycling and Re-use Cost

11. Enhance the Property Value

11. Higher Sinking Cost of Certain

and Profit

Plant, Equipment and Facility

12. Optimize Life-Cycle

13. Other Proceeds

For each respective element, there are two indexes to be

investigated as follows:

P f
i

i (j=1,2,) ,

(1)

(2)

1) Market Policy: Add environmental value elements in

product prices, re-price the resources and the environment, and
reduce or eliminate unreasonable subsidies that are harmful to
the environment or sustainability.

i =1
j

ANE =

N g
i

i (j=1,2,) ,

C. Policies of Promotion
According to the current market condition, to reach the
balance point of sustainable project, effective market policy,
participation policy, regulation policy and incentive policy are
essential [7].

APE =

After modeling, the next step is to design questionnaire

which shall includes the above twenty five elements each with
an estimating weight measurement; the second step is to do
pilot study. It shall be carried out towards certain individuals,
enterprises or institutions, and the questionnaire shall be
revised according to the feedbacks; the third step is to do
questionnaire survey and finally get effective questionnaires
back and extract effective statistics.
Having extracted and examined the reliable statistics, it
shall progresses on data analysis and model test within the
model framework. However, since it is only a preliminary
balance analysis model, a proposal of more comprehensive
consideration of elements and data for further consummation is
essential.

12. Other Expenditures

Economical Achievements

Figure 2. A Balance of APE index and ANE index

8. Cost arised from the Long

Retrieval Time of Investment

Demand

Accumulative
Negative
Effect

i =1

APE denotes the Accumulative Positive Effect index for an

alternative; ANE denotes the Accumulative Negative Effect
index for an alternative; Pi represents the specific

2) Participation Policy:
a) Charging Policy: Charging policy is a mandatory
economic instrument. Contractor can therefore reduce certain
expenses, acquire additional renewable resources, and enhance
the comprehensive impact of society.

b) Governmental Prior Purchase Policy: As one of the

largest customers, governmental prior purchase will have a
positive impact. To the aspect of investment expenditure,
government should promote the development of public facility
construction in favor of sustainability. To the aspect of
purchase expenditure, government should promote the
occupation of renewable products in the governmental
procurement.
3) Regulation Policy:
a) Tax Policy: Implement further encouraging tax
policies. Reduce the tax burden of sustainable constructors and
give them a reasonable ratio of benefits and subsidies.
b) Credit Policy: Combine the preferential credit policies
like low-interest loan policy, longer-period credit policy, loan
discount policy, etc. with strict credit policies.
4) Incentive Policy: For the constructors who operate
properly, government may implement appropriate incentive
policies, such as bonus incentive, policy incentive, finance
incentive, tax incentive, purchase incentive and so on.
VI.

CONCLUSION

By finding out the alternative balance point between the

positive effects and the negative effects, the Bottleneck
Restraint will be solved accompanied with supporting
measures below:

Accelerating the development and application of

sustainable technology, reducing the cost;

Strengthen the economic lever effect of fiscal revenue;

Setting up systematic and scientific

regulations and institutions;

Setting up a "sustainable project management"

evaluation system;

Implementing scientific management,

project management level;

Effectively implementing market policy, participation

policy, regulation policy and incentive policy.

construction

improving

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