Strategies and policy of green design implementation in building projects of Libya

As to the climatic change, global warming and lack of resources, sustainable or the 'green' design issue has trended into a major measurement in the construction industry. Sustainable projects take not only environmental, but also economic and social factors into consideration. Although there are many studies in literature that focus on taking into account the surrounding environment during the design stages of buildings to reduce their impacts on the environment, unfortunately, there is a big gap between theory and its applications on ground, especially in Libyan building projects. The literature review revealed that there are no studies that evaluate the performance of building projects in Libya, as well as regarding the performance of design teams and policies to mitigate the impact of buildings on the environment. Therefore, it is essential to analyse the situation in Libya considering its built environment, in order to determine the factors that affect the implementation of green design. The aim of this study is to produce a theoretical framework that focuses on the investigation of motivators and barriers factors that affect the decision-makers and how they affect the implementation of green design in Libyan building projects. The research also aims to determine the role of each of the participants in a project, which are the owner and the design team for the application of green building design in construction projects in Libya. In addition, the study also aims to identify the strategies and policies that are needed to accelerate the green building movement in the Libyan construction sector. The literature review, questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews were the three main stages of data collection that were employed to achieve the objectives of the study. The data presented in this thesis is mainly obtained from a comprehensive questionnaire survey developed on the basis of an in-depth literature search. The questionnaire was completed with 74 building experts from Libya who have an interest on this topic or who have involvement in building industry. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 25 was used in the data analysis for both descriptive and inferential statistics and the results are evaluated in detail. In addition, 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted with selected architects and consulting engineers who responded to the final questionnaire survey. The study concludes that the green buildings are unpopular in Libya and are still in their early stages. This is noted by the absence of strategies, policies and regulations that encourage the adoption of green design concept in the building projects of Libya. The findings of this study may help to understand the real needs of developing green buildings in the Libyan construction sector. Finally, recommendations were presented for the government, designers and owners to guide the construction sector towards sustainability.