Assessment of Awareness Level of Green Building Concepts in Kigali Commercial Property Development

Abstract

The construction industry is one of the main energy consumers and emitters of greenhouse gases (GHG), generating about 23-40% of the  world's greenhouse gas emissions. Recently, the construction industry has performed poorly in terms of environmental protection.  The construction sector in developing countries, including Rwanda, is characterized by excessive resource consumption, resulting in  habitat loss, land degradation, air and water pollution. This has exacerbated the global warming crisis and led to the development of  green buildings. The objectives of this study is to analyze the level of awareness of green building concepts by building construction  players between 2013 and 2018 in Kigali; to examine to which extent the green building concepts have been adopted in the Kigali City by  the construction industry and to identify the factor impeding the implementation of green building concepts with the aim of identifying appropriate strategies for implementing sustainably these concepts. The study was conducted using a questionnaire, interviews, and  observations for green building concepts data collection. Data from survey questionnaire were assigned numerical values and analyzed  quantitatively using mean item score and percentages. For closed ended questions, the data analysis involved the use of statistical  program for social sciences and Microsoft office excel. The Data from interview schedules were transcribed, coded and categorized to  facilitate the analysis of the information provided. It also reviewed secondary data from existing green building concepts documents, including journals and books. The study findings showed that 90.2% of the players in construction industry participated in the recently  constructed commercial buildings in Kigali and were aware of the green building concepts and regulations. However, only 17.9% of the  concepts were taken into account in building process. The findings reveal a lack of enforcement of sustainable building policies.  Stakeholders in construction are unaware of green building concepts; didn’t benefit neither empowerment not incentives from the  government. This constitutes the biggest obstacles faced by practitioners in the adoption of green building concepts. Some strategies  were recommended to promote uptake of the concepts including the development of sustainability checklist by local authority,  availability of financial incentives like green loans, recognizing and certifying sustainable buildings as well as improved enforcement by  local governments. The study concluded that administrative management and policies are needed to implement sustainable building  concepts as well as introduction of incentives.