A Study on the Level of Awareness of Sustainability Concepts in Construction amongst Students: The Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic Experience

Abstract

Sustainability aims at improving human life while balancing environmental, social and economic needs. It calls for the comfortability of all constituents of the ecosystem. It is therefore a tool that caters for the present and future activities of man. But the activities of man such as construction has proved to be a major impediment to sustainable development because of its impact on the environment which results to degradation. This paper presents and discusses the results of a survey that was conducted among construction students of Nuhu Bamalli Polytecnic, Zaria, with the objective of investigating their awareness regarding the understanding of sustainable construction concepts. The results of the survey shows that a high percentage of the sample population have heard about sustainable construction but just a few have an understanding of the concepts. It is therefore concluded that there is a pressing need for inclusion of sustainable/green design courses in the education of students of the construction industry, with an attention also on the industry stakeholders to reflect these concepts in their designs and construction because students easily model their works during their training process. The paper recommends a curriculum redesign for construction related courses and a government intervention in making policies that ensure that the construction industry stakeholders adhere to sustainable strategies in their practice.

Keywords: Construction Industry; Sustainable Construction; Sustainability; Nigeria; Sustainable Development; Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic