Classification of Sustainability Assessment Parameters for Residential Buildings Materials Using Relative Importance Index

Construction professionals and academicians/researchers are keen on sustainable solutions for buildings in a bid to reduce the increasing use of resources in the construction industry. A common mistaken belief is to consider sustainability as concerning environmental issues only, whereas “sustainability” is the triple bottom line framework, i.e., social, economic, and environmental factors of the building as a whole. Building life cycle consideration within sustainability should be considered majorly as Construction Material choice as the use of certain materials can dramatically alter the cost of construction and social hotspots. Whereas in India, there is no approach yet identified that concurrently includes all three aspects of sustainability for deciding on construction materials to adopt in residential buildings. So, there are environmental, social, and economic inferences, obstructing the sustainable performance of buildings. Sustainable performance is defined as the assessment of the sustainability level of a building and its components, as well as certifying the building based on a series of predefined sustainability parameters or categories (environmental, economic, and social). The study aims to assess parameters (sub-parameters), and their relative weights using relative importance index (RII) analysis. The results would help the development of a sustainability assessment index of residential building materials in India.