Get Construction Project Performance Parameters Right to Attain Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were agreed upon by the world’s leaders as the framework for a global agenda for development. The construction industry is key to the delivery of the SDGs because construction provides the physical basis for the economic activities necessary for attaining short-term economic growth and long-term development. Moreover, the construction process generates income and contributes to other sectors of the economy, and the completed items contribute to enhancing quality of life. Each constructed item should be completed to the highest level of achievement if the industry is to deliver what is required of it under the global agenda. Thus, it is necessary to have a way of assessing the extent to which this is achieved in projects. This study seeks answers to the following questions: What are the SDGs? What are their merits, challenges and drawbacks? What is the progress in the efforts to attain them? What role can construction play in the effort to attain the SDGs? How should the performance parameters of construction projects be defined to enable the industry to best play this role? The study is based on a review of the relevant literature. It is found that all the 17 SDGs are relevant to the construction industry as they concern what the industry must do, how it must do it, what it should use, and the impact of what it does on quality of life. It is suggested that appropriate performance parameters of projects are needed in order to develop policy initiatives, practices, mindsets and attitudes to enable the construction industry to undertake the tasks required of it in attaining the SDGs. As a guide, a framework comprising 15 parameters is proposed.