AN APPRAISAL OF GREEN BUILDING KNOWLEDGE, RESOURCE AVAILABILITY, AND UTILIZATION FOR GREEN PROCUREMENT PROJECTS IN NIGERIA‟S FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY

Abstract

Traditional building construction is known for environmental degradation, high amounts of energy consumption, carbon-dioxide emissions, solid waste production and water pollution resultant from massive utilization of natural resources. The increased concern for global regulation of construction industry’s environmental degradation tendencies has necessitated the adoption of sustainable construction mode using the green building procurement option. This study therefore, assesses green procurement stakeholders’ knowledge-base, and evaluates the availability and utilisation of green construction resources in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory projects. The methodology involved quantitative research design, in which questionnaire was administered to Four Hundred (400) construction industry stakeholders in the FCT. Two Hundred and Sixty-Eight (268) valid responses were retrieved representing 67% response rate while descriptive statistics using mean (M) was applied for this study’s analysis. The results reveals ‘speed (M=4.4776)’, ‘thermal comfort (M=4.4428)’, as the highest level of green procurement project knowledge-base among FCT development stakeholders. The results also showed that ‘composite roofing shingles (M=4.8259)’, ‘reclaimed wood (M=4.5423)’, as the topmost -ranking green construction materials available. The study further reveals that ‘composite roofing shingles (M=4.4762)’, ‘reclaimed wood (M=4.4339)’, as the most utilized green construction materials amongst construction industry stakeholders in Federal Capital Territory projects. The study concludes that green construction knowledge-base, the availability and utilisation of green construction material resources in FCT projects are reasonably high. The study therefore recommends a strengthening of existing Government’s regulations and policies towards the promotion and growth of green construction procurement in the FCT and the Nigeria nation.