Perspective and Practices of Social Sustainability across Construction Project Lifecycle

Abstract

Previous research has suggested incorporating social sustainability into the construction project lifecycle. However, the understanding and means of incorporating social sustainability practices throughout the project lifecycle remain unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to fill a knowledge gap by investigating the “real experiences” and “perspectives” of industry practitioners on social sustainability practices throughout the construction project lifecycle. The study began with a literature review to identify social sustainability attributes, which were then confirmed through structured interviews with 15 practitioners, and the data were then analysed thematically. The practitioners unanimously agreed that the social sustainability attributes could be divided into nine (9) main attributes along with the 20 sub-attributes, namely: 1) safety and health; 2) impact assessment; 3) employment; 4) stakeholder involvement; 5) satisfaction; 6) quality education; 7) social procurement; 8) protection design/belonging; and 9) human right. The practitioners have positioned the nine main social sustainability attributes into the different phases of the construction project lifecycle, based on actual practices in their projects and their professional opinion on the subject matter. Stakeholder Involvement shows the largest gap for improvement (31.7%), followed by the attributes of Worker Health and Safety (23.3%), Protection of Cultural Heritage (21.7%), and Social Procurement (21.7%). Findings from this study would benefit the industry stakeholders in incorporating social sustainability at different phases of the construction project lifecycle. The framework gives a comprehensive understanding of social sustainability that can be utilized to enhance construction project planning and sustainable development. The novelty also lies in the consolidation of social sustainability attributes for practitioners in construction that could act as a reference for any future developments related to social sustainability in construction.