One of the most significant roles of an engineer is to create a sustainable environment. In order to fulfill his/her role, an engineer must act according to the principles introduced by ICE and Royal Academy of Engineering. Through investigating the real applications of sustainability in engineering project, students will be able to compare the principles in theory and practice. This knowledge will enable students to obtain a profound understanding of sustainability in engineering work which leads to applying this knowledge in their career and train them to become involved as engineer in sustainable and environment friendly construction.
Hence the outcome of this project is for the students to understand the engineer's role in creating and maintaining a sustainable environment
The purpose of this coursework is to understand to what extent local sustainable projects in Oman are actually performing up to the standards defined in the scientific literature with regards to sustainable development in construction and built environment. To do so literature review must be conducted to be able to first understand the principles of sustainability. Moreover a model should be prepared to define appropriate factors and criteria in order to be able to measure the performance of the case-study.
Students must complete the steps in this task as following:
1. Students are required to first study the principles of sustainability and sustainable development in construction and built environment introduced in the literature and references. Concepts of sustainability, sustainable development must be reviewed, discussed, via exploring academic and technical journals, technical reports, papers, conference proceedings, text books, case studies, government and professional guidelines in the field of construction and sustainability.
2. Furthermore through reviewing this literature a model with appropriate factors and criteria should be prepared that defines sustainability in construction and later can be used to compare and measure the case study to understand to what degree the case study is according to this model's criteria.
3. Next step is to identify a civil engineering project which is a candidate for case-study. This project must be appropriate in the sense that it can be studied by students in order to find the implemented elements of suitability. This case-study can be construction project that is recognized to have implemented sustainability concepts.
4. Students must introduce the case-study and identify what activities have taken place in that specific project, to provide sustainability in terms of environmental, social, cultural, financial, etc. This project maybe in any areas of civil engineering work the data can be collected through research i.e. via contacting consultant and contracting companies, literature, interviews (structured/semi-structured, questioners), surveys, etc.
5. Next step is to critically examine the case-study using the principles, model factors and criteria identified in the first step. You must analyze the performance of the case-study and measure to what degree it is up to the standards you defined in your model with respect to sustainable construction.
6. Next step is to prepare a report. Select appropriate headings and subheading to guide the reader. Remember that the reader will only understand as much from your work as you guide them. Use your writing skills to attract the reader. This report must be in the following format and not exceed 5000 words.
To summarize the report includes the following steps:
1. Literature review; to define the criteria required to measure performance of the case- study
2. Identifying the case-study , introducing the case-study and find relevant information
3. Critical analyze of the performance of case study
You must prepare and submit your CW proposal through the Moodle the week after the assignment is given to you. This proposal must contain the following:
- Title of the Assignment, Module Name and Title and Semester (Fall 2015)
- Information regarding your group members
- Explanation of your understanding about the project and tasks you shall carry out
- Task allocation among the group members
- Project program (time schedule)