Abstract:
Sustainability is essential for long-term health of our planet and well-being of future
generations'. Unfortunately, construction industry lacks sustainability practices due to
nonexistence of specific rules and regulations to ensure sustainability. Construction
contracts outline project specifications and legally bind all stakeholders to meet their
obligations therefore can provide an excellent platform to implement sustainability.
However, there is a lack of comprehensive research on enforcing sustainability in
construction contracts, particularly concerning sustainability clauses from the
perspectives of contractors and consultants. To address this gap, this study aims to
benchmark sustainability within existing contracts and recommend tailored sustainability
clauses for both contractors and consultants. Through a literature review, this study
identified thirty-five sustainability factors based on three pillars of sustainability: social,
environmental, and economic. A five-point Likert Scale questionnaire was used to
investigate factors already addressed in existing contracts to benchmark sustainability
practices and corresponding contractual clauses. The data was received from 202
respondents and subsequently, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was applied to evaluate the
null hypothesis regarding the factors covered in current construction contracts or not. The
findings indicated that 14 factors were insufficiently addressed in existing contract
documents of various contract-formulating agencies like FIDIC and Pakistan Engineering
Council (PEC). Based on above 14 factors, nineteen sustainability clauses were
developed (five clauses for contractor & nine clauses for consultants) and later finalized
through three rounds of Delphi technique, achieving over 90% expert consensus. The
proposed clauses will provide a framework for integrating and enforcing sustainability
practices into every construction contract and holding stakeholders accountable for its
non- implementation, thereby paving the way for a more sustainable future.
