CONVENTIONAL AND SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS: A COMPARATIVE BENEFIT AND COST ANALYSIS

Abstract

The study examines conventional and sustainable buildings and whether there are significant differences between these two building types based on benefit and cost. The rationale for the examination is the general belief among stakeholders that although there is an increasing need to provide sustainable and affordable buildings for both housing and commercial purposes, buildings procured using sustainable construction initiatives are significantly more expensive than those constructed through conventional construction approach. The study adopted a quantitative research approach using semi-structured questionnaires involving a combination of both open and close-ended questions, in eliciting objective and subjective benefit and cost information on sustainable and conventional buildings from purposively selected construction industry stakeholders in South Africa. The study results indicate that there were perceived cost advantages in both conventional and sustainable buildings and that the cost difference between both sustainable and conventional buildings is less significant than perceived by construction stakeholders. This challenged previous ideas about a significant cost difference between both building types. The study thus concludes that since the cost difference between the two buildings is insignificant, the government should encourage sustainable building development through incentives and legislation because of its ecological advantage. The results of the study are of significance because it provides a business case to support the active development of sustainable buildings due to the insignificant difference in cost between sustainable and conventional buildings and the environmental benefits of sustainable buildings. However, the results are limited by the smallness of the sample size which is because stakeholders who have experience in the construction of both sustainable and conventional buildings are few and are not therefore generally distributed in the target population. A more extensive study, which includes other cities such as Cape Town, Durban and Pretoria which will confirm the findings of this research, is recommended.