This guidance is primarily aimed at public procurers involved in a range of contracting agreements related to building materials and products. This includes the purchase of building materials for construction works, but may also extend to material extraction, manufacturing, building, retrofit, refurbishment, design, interior fit out, and end-of-life demolition or deconstruction processes. 

This book intends to clarify the concept of Sustainable Buildings and Construction (SBC) in Africa. It is based on primarily African research and building projects implemented in different parts of the region. The publication is meant to be read by real estate developers, building industry professionals, researchers, planners and policy makers, and users of buildings.

Carbon neutrality to limit global warming is an increasing challenge for all industries, particularly for the cement industry, due to the chemical emission of the process. For decades, reducing the clinker factor has been one of the main strategies to reduce the carbon footprint. Additional cuttings in the clinker content of cements seem possible with the upsurge of novel supplementary cementitious materials.

Based on an extensive literature review on passive building designs for tropical climates, seven energy-efficient building design principles for tropical climate areas were deduced.

In 2010 the worldwide building sector was responsible for 24% of the total GHG emissions deriving from fossil fuel combustion, second only to the industrial sector; but, if the embodied energy of construction materials is included, the share is far higher and the building sector becomes the prime CHG emitter. Thus,building design and construction have a significant effect on the chances of meeting the 2 °C target (keeping global temperature increase to 2 °C ). 

This document has been prepared by Cairns Regional Council to assist in meeting the requirements of the Sustainable Building Design Policy when designing, constructing and renovating Council buildings. These guidelines are also intended as a general reference guide for sustainable design and construction of commercial buildings in the tropics.

A pioneering passive house retrofit in Sri Lanka creates an economic catalyst and model for sustainable development.

The Star Innovation Center is a product development facility located outside of Colombo in Katunayake, Sri Lanka. Planned as a global model for the entire garment industry, the project sets a new high bar for sustainability, energy efficiency and worker comfort.

The Friendship Hospital Satkhira, designed by Kasef Chowdhury/URBANA, is built to serve a rural population in the Bangladesh delta. The community hospital of eighty beds was initiated by a donation of land by a local philanthropist.

The construction in bricks built in situ celebrates this ordinary material without having to resort to complex technology leading to increased budgets. Local materials by local craftmanship helps the integration of the building to the native culture and society.

This project won the RIBA International Prize 2021

Vernacular architecture is associated with numerous advantages. However, its adoption in the development of sustainable buildings is not appreciated. This paper examines professionals’ views of vernacular building materials and techniques for green building delivery in Ghana.

There is little record or literature concerning bioclimatic building in warm climate zones. One of the main goals of ABC21 project is to cover this information gap – collecting data about operating buildings that are good examples of sustainable solutions and should be replicated. An analysis of the local climate and a description of the main bioclimatic features is presented for each building, with examples shown from Italy, Portugal, Senegal, France, Morocco, Kenya, Sudan and La Reunion.