A Review of Barriers to the Adoption of Smart Building Concepts (SBCs) in Developing Countries

Abstract

The smart building concept is becoming more popular in construction in recent times. This is because the world is embracing digitization in response to the advent of new technologies. The call for high building performance and sustainable development has brought about the adoption of smart building concepts in the construction industry. The Smart Building Concept adoption has not been without hindrances occasioned by several constraints undermining the efforts that aid its adoption. This paper intends to review systematically extant literature on barriers undermining the adoption of SBCs, considering papers published in peer-reviewed journals and conferences. The study reviewed 30 relevant articles through topical analysis of the article then followed by abstract and the finding of the paper selected concerning barriers to the adoption of SBCs, and barrier frequency was employed to select the most reported ones. The study revealed the most reported barriers undermining the adoption of SBCs as the high cost of initial construction, vague objectives, lack of guidelines to manage SBC, lack of government incentive and policy, lack of knowledge on the smart building by contractors and professionals, and resistance to change from the use of traditional technologies among others. For SBCs to thrive in developing countries, there is a need to mitigate the identified barriers to their adoption.