Quantity Surveyors’ Perspective on Knowledge Areas for Sustainable Construction

Quantity surveyors’ ‘Construction Economists’ role blends economics with construction and engineering. Sustainable construction encompasses social, economic and environmental issues. Quantity Surveyors (QSs) need to apply their knowledge in a changing and demanding environment to achieve sustainability goals. Hence, to achieve the goal of sustainable construction, industry and academia should determine the domains where QSs should gain relevant exposure. The research aims to identify knowledge areas where QSs should possess essential expertise and skill sets to contribute to sustainability. The research methodology consisted of a literature review, followed by interview with some experts in the field of quantity surveying and finally a questionnaire survey among quantity surveying professionals. The data collected was analysed using IBM SPSS software. The top five knowledge areas were ‘Environmental science and Climate change’, ‘Systems thinking’, ‘Computer literacy on latest s/w packages such as BIM, CostX’, ‘Sustainability analysis’and ‘Green Costing’. The results would aid academics and industry to design courses, training programmes and workshops to enhance the knowledge and competencies required of QSs in the areas so identified.