Towards Sustainable Construction in Iraq: Identifying Strategies and Implementation Barriers Based on Expert Opinions
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Sustainable construction in Iraq has been a major challenge, even though the construction sector plays a pivotal role in enhancing its development and the impacts that come along. The issue is that there are no clear guidelines, and there are barriers to actualizing the sustainability practices. Research was aimed at discovering and ranking sustainable construction strategies in the Iraqi environment, identifying challenges to implementation. It utilized a two- round Delphi research design with 16 professionals in the first round and 14 in the second round. In accordance with a literature review, 42 strategies and 24 barriers were first determined, then expanded to 46 strategies and 36 barriers following the recommendations of experts. The significance and degree of agreement were evaluated using statistical methods including weighted averages, coefficients of variation, Kendall coefficient, chi-square test, and stability analysis. Results led to the adoption of 36 strategies and 32 barriers after excluding factors that did not meet the established acceptance criteria. The stability rates for all the dimensions remained below the predefined threshold (15%), demonstrating the sufficiency of the two rounds of D stability rate strategies included energy-efficient building systems, occupational health and safety planning, and the consideration of sustainability requirements in contracts and project management. On the other hand, the greatest barriers were the poor legislative and regulatory frameworks, inaccessibility to sustainable technologies and materials, and financial and institutional constraints. The paper offers a guideline for policymakers, civil engineers, and project managers to rank these priorities to encourage the adoption of sustainable construction in Iraq.
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