An integrated approach to assessing the sustainability of buildings

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to advance a model that relates the criteria of sustainable development with the construction engineering of buildings. Moreover, a method to evaluate the building sustainability is suggested. Design/methodology/approach - The method is based on calculating the weighted expected utility function of a building with respect to composite indicator. Findings - Based on this integrated approach, a tentative index to evaluate the sustainability of buildings is proposed. Research limitations/implications - The study is limited to the assessment of the sustainable development of the built environment. Practical implications - The feasibility of assessing the sustainability of a building using the sustainable index of buildings (SIB) is that it permits the decision-makers to study the potential improvement in the sustainable development of buildings in the long and short run. Moreover, the role of benchmarking in improving the sustainability performance of buildings is discussed in view of the suggested method. Social implications - The present method is practical and easy to use for ranking building (or a part of a building) according to the sustainable performance. Originality/value - New methodology based on integrating the value-focused thinking together with the composite indicators is used to evaluate the sustainable development.