Material selection in the construction industry: a systematic literature review on multi-criteria decision making

Material choice is critical for ensuring sustainability in the construction industry. Higher carbon embodiment materials contribute towards greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. Decisions on sustainable material selection depend on multiple criteria and variables, thus creating a difficulty to determine the best choice. Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques have the potential to address this challenge. However, there is limited data that reviews MCDM in choosing building and construction materials. This study aims to review the MCDM methods employed in the sustainable selection of building materials within the construction industry. This systematic literature review (SLR) incorporates meta-analysis and thematic mapping through applying “PRISMA framework” and “Bibliometrix”, respectively. This study explored and analysed the records published from 2010 to 2023. This work identified the critical steps for addressing decision problems in building material selection: Establishing criteria, ranking the hierarchy, comparing the selection criteria, and enabling consistency indices. Moreover, one of the most used MCDM methods, i.e. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was particularly found particularly useful for the selection criteria and weight assignment of variables regarding the waste, recycled, and composite materials. The involvement of several criteria and alternatives raised the complexity of decision problems, leading to the use of Hybrid MCDM. Hybrid MCDM techniques possess the capacity guide informed decisions for the sustainable material selection in the construction industry.