The choice of materials is crucial in responding to the increasing embodied carbon (EC) impacts of buildings. Building professionals involved in material selection for construction projects have a vital role to play in this regard. This paper aimed to explore the extent to which building professionals in Sri Lanka considered EC as a material selection criterion. A questionnaire survey was conducted among a sample of building professionals in Sri Lanka. The results indicated that the consideration of EC as a material selection criterion remained low among key professionals, such as architects, engineers, and sustainability managers, despite their reasonable influencing powers and knowledge of EC. Those respondents who had considered EC as a selection criterion said they had been primarily driven by green building rating systems and previous experience. Those respondents who had not considered EC during material selection commonly reported that they had been prevented from doing so by the lack of regulations and the lack of alternative low carbon materials. Respondents believed that the involvement of actors, such as the government, professional bodies, environmental organizations, activist groups, and the public, may be significant in promoting the greater consideration of EC during material selection.

The steady growth of the Sri Lankan apparel manufacturing sector over the last three decades has resulted in generating large amount of solid apparel waste. Currently, it is a massive environmental and financial burden of the sector. As a solution, few apparel manufacturers have initiated using apparel waste, specifically the cotton apparel waste for biomass boilers. The apparel sector as one of the major thermal energy consumers, they consider it as a possible solution not only for the apparel waste disposal issue, but also for the challenge of getting continuous supply of firewood for the boilers. However, the promotion of such a solution throughout the apparel industry is impractical without a feasibility study in terms of social, environmental, financial, legal and technical aspects over its mechanism. Therefore, this research focused to identify the feasibility of using cotton apparel waste for biomass boilers as an energy source. Towards this aim, a qualitative research approach was followed involving the case study strategy. Basically, two cases were selected and analysed the feasibility of using cotton waste for boilers under pre-determined feasibility criteria in detail. Data collection for the case study was done through a document survey and expert interviews. Findings revealed the entire feasibility of environmental, financial, legal and technical aspects and in overall it can be concluded that the use of cotton apparel waste for biomass boilers as an energy source is feasible. Accordingly, this study provides insights into making decisions on managing both waste disposal and heat energy requirement issues of the apparel factories.

Digital twin technology holds immense potential for the construction industry in developing countries, while providing numerous benefits. Yet, financial, cultural, infrastructural and technological barriers hinder the implementation of digital twin. Researchers have emphasised the importance of considering both visible and invisible barriers of digital twin implementation. ‘Lean Iceberg Model’ (LIM) emphasises that most of the underlying barriers and problems in a project are invisible and unaddressed, and it is critical to solve these underlying issues to achieve effective implementation. The study aims to develop a LIM to minimise barriers for successful digital twin implementation in the Sri Lankan construction industry. This study adopts an interpretivism stance and employs a qualitative research approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 experts chosen through purposive sampling. VBA script was employed to analyse the data. LIM highlights the unseen aspects such as leadership, commitment, employee engagement, and organisational strategy as crucial to the successful digital twin implementation. Thus, a comprehensive approach is required to contemplates the technical aspects with the organisation's overall strategy, employee engagement, and leadership commitment. Moreover, cultural values, norms, leadership, and social networks are also examined to determine their impact on digital twin implementation. A framework for minimising the barriers to the implementation of digital twins in the Sri Lankan construction industry using the LIM has been developed incorporating the findings, which will offer valuable insights for construction industry professionals and policymakers interested in implementing digital twin to improve construction project management.

Construction is responsible for 40% of global carbon emissions, yet embodied carbon (EC) assessment is rarely integrated into standard building design workflows in developing countries. This research presents and validates a BIM-integrated EC assessment framework specifically adapted to Sri Lanka, utilising the government’s Building Standard Rates (BSR) as the foundation for material quantity and cost data. The streamlined workflow combines Revit, Dynamo, and Excel to automate EC calculations across lifecycle stages A1–C4, informed by a systematic review of 75 peer-reviewed articles (2017–2025) and validation through structured interviews with five experienced domain professionals. Results demonstrate that BSR, when supplemented with material densities and transport data, enables automated EC calculations for typical building materials and construction elements. Expert validation confirmed strong technical feasibility, economic viability, and scalability. The framework offers significant advantages over manual approaches by automating EC quantification and reducing software licensing requirements compared to proprietary LCA tools. The framework’s modular design and transparent methodology make it generalisable for other developing economies with similar government construction documentation systems, providing practitioners and policymakers with a practical, cost-effective pathway to embedding life cycle assessment into standard construction practice.