Title: A framework for systemic sustainable construction industry development

Abstract

The Construction industry (CI) development has been a global agendum for several countries. Moreover, the launch of Agenda 21 brought a new dimension to the quest. Together, these pursuits have not achieved much due to many challenges in implementation. These challenges include project execution challenges, sustainable construction modelling challenges, and CI development structuring challenges. The study aimed to provide a framework for structuring the construction industry development agenda with a more rigorous approach. To achieve this means looking at all the relevant issues of development and sustainability within the industry holistically and designing them into a system that promotes its development and monitoring. The study adopted the qualitative approach within the constructivist epistemological paradigm. It used the integrative literature review approach to elucidate its nature and proper systemic context of the construction industry. Common challenges inherent in all CIs are complexity, interconnectedness, fragmentation, culture, and informality, while the following concepts and principles underpin the development of the CI : (1) the concept of the CI as a system of systems (using the principles of systems thinking and systems engineering), (2) Sustainable development concepts considered within the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and specified in the triple-bottom-line (TBL), i.e., the economic, environmental, and the social dimensions, (3) the components of CI development: technology, corporate, human resource, institutional, material, documentation, practice and procedure, and operating environment, (4) Integrated studies. All of these formed the basis for modelling a conceptual framework which became the basis for the development of a systemic framework for (1) structuring the CI development agenda within the sustainable development concepts and (2) assessing the maturity levels for the stage-by-stage development of a CI, thereby monitoring its performance and growth.