Adoption of Green Building Concepts in Residential Developments in Nairobi City County.

Abstract

The construction industry is the spine of the national economy through which the total physical development is realized. Globally, buildings alone consume approximately 38% of global energy. During construction, buildings emit greenhouse gases which have devastating effect on the environment as this contributes to global warming. Increased construction activities have therefore put a strain on resources as well caused environmental degradation. This has led to increased efforts globally in development of green buildings to help mitigate these devastating impacts on the environment. Green Buildings entails development of structures that are conscious of the environment and, throughout the building life cycle, prove to be resource efficient. In spite of the benefits of green buildings being apparent, adoption of green building concepts is perceived to be low in Kenya. This research’s main objective was to assess the level of adoption of Green Building innovation in Residential Buildings in Kenya from housing developer’s perspective and the key challenges confronted by housing developers in adoption of green building concepts with an aim of identifying suitable strategies for implementing green building concepts in residential developments in Kenya. The study adopted Survey research design to address the objectives. The target population comprised of residential housing developers operating in Nairobi as well as residential estates in Nairobi perceived to have implemented green building concepts. The Unit of Analysis was 59 residential housing developers registered by KPDA and 5 residential estates that were perceived to have adopted green building concepts. The method of data collection included questionnaires, observations, and interviews. Secondary information was obtained from accessible records such as books and Journals. Information collected was then analyzed using descriptive statistics in the form of percentages and tables through Microsoft excel version 2013 and SPSS version 25. The findings reveal that the level of awareness of Green Building concepts is at average level while adoption level of individual concepts is varied per each concept. This study recommends the need to come up with policies and guidelines for implementation of GB concepts. It also recommends providing knowledge and training of developers through seminars and workshops on GBT and introduction of incentives from the government as lack of this was intimated to be among those factors hindering the adoption of the technology.