A Sustainability Decision Model for the Built Environment

This paper introduces a decision model and framework for subcontractor selection and team formation in the built environment based on the triple-bottom-line economic/business, social and environmental aspects of sustainability. The model and decision framework aid the decision maker in forming a construction project team that can most benefit the overall goal of sustainability and compatibility amongst the subcontractors (supply chain) from a number of trade industries. The model uses both the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and the analytical network process (ANP) as its basis. Once the generic decision model is described, an example application is used to show its use and feasibility. The robustness of the solution is demonstrated using sensitivity analysis, allowing the decision maker to appreciate the complexities in this decision environment. This is one of the few formal modelling applications to sustainability in the built environment, an industry that has significant economic, social, and environmental influences.