Abstract:
With the expansion of economic activities, sustainable development in construction
industry got more attention worldwide. Hence, industry practitioners are more
concerned on achieving sustainable construction goals to make more effective and
efficient services. The Smart Building concept can be implemented with advanced
building technologies to achieve clients’ requirements with in the economic,
environmental and social parameters while enhancing building performances
efficiently. To explore the applicability of Smart Building concept to enhance sustainable
building practices in Sri Lanka, the qualitative research approach was used in this
research. The opinions of the smart and sustainable construction experts were obtained
through semi-structured interviews. Smart Building concept is novel to the Sri Lankan
construction industry and the implementation is still in the initial stage. However, the
perception of the construction industry on the Smart Building concept is focused on a
strong and positive direction. The recognised sustainable benefits of Smart Building
concept implementation can be used as a promoting tool to make interest on Smart
Buildings. Most of these benefits are long term and most of the clients do not recognise
the value of Smart Buildings in terms of sustainability. Therefore, improving the
knowledge and awareness of the developers is vital during the implementation process
within the local context. Lack of financial resources, complex technology requirement,
reluctant to commence new technologies and lack of knowledge of developers and
owners are the main barriers that are existing within the local context. Mitigating these
barriers will expedite the implementation process of Smart Building concept and will
upgrade the performance of the local construction industry dramatically.
