Developing a Measurement Scale for Sustainable High-Rise Building in City of Erbil

High-rise buildings have been a point of interest and fascination ever since they started being constructed in ancient times. About 282 buildings with 200m or higher height were built between 1930 and 2001 at an average of four projects a year in the world. This figure has since increased drastically as 679 buildings were constructed between 2002 and 2015 at an average of 52 projects a year. Also, this difference in the average number of completed high-rise buildings yearly is mirrored in Erbil city, which has emerged as a centre for new high-rise buildings for both administrative and residential use, as have the region as a whole and Iraq in general. The price of land, international symbols and global icons, sustainable development and climate change, population, and industrialization and urbanization are the clearest reasons to encourage high-scale building. The development of technology can also be evaluated as a significant factor in this development. This research aims to develop measurement scales of aspects of economic, socio-cultural and environmentally sustainable practice in the high-rise buildings of Erbil city, according to the local condition and priorities of the selected context, with the objective of providing a better quality of life inside the high-rise buildings. To achieve this goal, more than one approach is employed: major and key methods used were literary analysis and the evaluation of textbooks to detect the significance scan, recognition and classification methodology that is proposed for developments related to the High-Rise Buildings (HRBs). discussion by means of semi-structured interviews with experts in the relevant field to localize the model; personal observation; and questionnaires to understand the existing scenario in the high-rise buildings. This approach led to a primary database with a confidential bibliography with approximately 370 entries during this PhD project. The results of the measurement scale built could be used to assess and quantify the sustainability of the high-rise buildings in the city of Erbil, to define the problems of high-rise buildings and to recommend potential solutions with an emphasis on sustainability. As a result, this PhD thesis proposes a Measurement Scale for Sustainable High-Rise Buildings (MSSHRB), specifically designed for new and existing buildings in Erbil city, with nine environmental, fourteen socio-cultural and four economic indicators for aspects with innovation issues. Five case studies are analyzed. According to the selected projects, none of them could be awarded a certificate. The results of this study are important for the metrics to enhance energy efficiency, safety and to reduce the cost for consumers in high-rise buildings by having some professional expertise on sustainability initiatives.