The State of Sustainability Best Practices in Construction: A Benchmark Study

During the last decade, sustainability-related technologies and practices have become increasingly common among construction companies, both in the home office and on the job site. Multiple drivers are fueling this trend, including government policies for sustainability in capital projects and increased recognition of the benefits of sustainable practices in the private sector. However, the extent to which sustainability-related technologies and practices have been adopted by companies in the field has not been systematically documented. This study used semi-structured interviews and field observations to document the sustainability-related practices of 28 construction firms in the eastern United States. The purpose of the study was to benchmark current industry use of construction sustainability best practices. Findings of the study show that most firms have tried sustainability practices in the field on at least some of their projects, sometimes without being aware that those practices were related to sustainability. Considerable variation was observed among self-reported trial and adoption rates across the practices in the inventory. This study serves as a first step toward understanding why some sustainability innovations are being embraced more readily than others, and may lead to a better understanding of how to increase adoption of sustainability innovations.