Sustainability-Related Decision Making in Industrial Buildings: An AHP Analysis

Abstract

Few other sectors have such a great impact on sustainability as the construction industry, in which concerns over the environmental dimension have been growing for some time. The sustainability assessment methodology presented in this paper is an AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) based on Multicriteria Decision Making (MCDM) and includes the main sustainability factors for consideration in the construction of an industrial building (environmental, economic, and social), as well as other factors that greatly influence the conceptual design of the building (employee safety, corporate image). Its simplicity is well adapted to its main objective, to serve as a sustainability-related decision making tool in industrial building projects, during the design stage. Accompanied by an economic valuation of the actions to be undertaken, this tool means that the most cost-effective solution may be selected from among the various options.