Developing a system for assessing the sustainability in school building projects

In recent times, the concept of sustainability has become a focus of attention for many institutions and communities. The reason for the spread of this concept and great interest is the pursuit of sustainable development of societies which aims at balancing the three factors: environmental, economic, and social. This paper aims to develop a system to implement sustainability ideas in school building projects based on the international guidelines and practices for sustainability. For example, (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM)-Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-The Pearl Building Rating System (PBRS)) and the current practices in Iraq. The purpose of the collected and reported information was for making decisions during various stages of preconstruction, construction, and post-construction. The system employed suitable criteria, subcriteria, and standard weights for school buildings assessment, which was set according to a field survey. The survey included interviewing a group of specialists in school buildings and conducting a closed questionnaire. A computer program was prepared to assess school buildings in the 3rd General Directorate of Education in Baghdad-Karkh. These buildings were executed during (2008-2018). The School buildings were classified into four types (traditional, precast concrete units, steel structures, and structural concrete construction). The field survey has shown that the highest standard of sustainability is the environmental design (20.79), and the lowest sustainability criteria are water treatment system (5.81). However, the study aims to develop a sustainability assessment system for school buildings. A comparison was made between the current buildings with ones that having ideal sustainability criteria. Similarly, a monitoring was done with the perfect situation to observe the deviation within the project progress. Finally, recommendations were given for the purpose of employing the sustainability concepts in school buildings.