A study on the use of advanced construction technologies in green building projects: The contributions of prefabrication to sustainability

Green buildings have been well-known with sustainability features such as less energy consumption, more efficient use of resources, less environmental impact and a healthier environment for users. In order to meet these sustainability criteria, the characteristics of construction technologies to be used in the construction process of green building projects are also important. In this context, the building industry has turned to the use of construction technologies that are more effective in achieving sustainability goals in buildings. The use of traditional construction techniques in building construction causes high amounts of raw material waste, construction waste, and energy consumption. Advanced construction technologies come into prominence in the construction industry in order to come up with a solution for problems such as workmanship errors, damage to environment during construction, inadequate operating conditions, and anticipated construction costs. One of the main reasons of the use of advanced construction technologies, particularly prefabrication technologies, in the construction of green buildings is to facilitate providing sustainability criteria such as reducing environmental impacts, ensuring safe working and health conditions, reducing the waste generated during construction. Thus, the purpose of this research is to investigate the use of advanced construction technologies in green building projects and to find out the contributions of prefabrication construction technology to sustainability. In the scope of the research, firstly information about green building features, construction systems, and advanced construction technologies were given. Secondly, prefabrication construction technology was reviewed in detail. After that, ten-green buildings constructed with prefabrication technologies were examined according to their construction technologies and their green features. As a result of this research, the potential contributions of prefabrication construction technology to sustainability were determined through the findings obtained from the result of the examination of these ten-green buildings. In the conclusions, some recommendations for future investigations were also presented. Keywords: Sustainability, green building, construction systems, advanced construction technologies, prefabrication construction technology