Researchers have proposed many industrial or national sustainability evaluation indicator systems during the past decade, although there has not yet been a project-level sustainability evaluation system for the evaluation and execution monitoring of the sustainability status for a construction project. Without such an evaluation system, it will be difficult for the planners to plan the sustainable project objectives, for the contractors to select the sustainable execution alternatives, and for the facility managers to operate sustainable constructed facilities. To meet the abovementioned requirements, this paper presents an effort conducted in Taiwan to propose a Construction Project Sustainability Assessing System (CPSAS) considering three pillars of sustainability: environmental, social, and economic, based on the theoretical backgrounds from the literature and former successful sustainable projects. The proposed CPSAS comprises four levels: Level 1, 3 main pillars; Level 2, 8 categories; Level 3, 19 sub-categories; and Level 4, 31 indicators. Different selections of indicators for application in different project phases are suggested according to the prioritization via questionnaire surveys. A procedure for sustainable project management with the proposed CPSAS is suggested to the project management team. Finally, three green building projects and two civil infrastructure construction projects of Taiwan were tested to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed CPSAS. It is concluded that the proposed CPSAS is useful for construction stakeholders to achieve sustainability more effectively during the execution of a construction project.

The project evaluation and review technique (PERT) is the most well-known method to handle the risk due to uncertain activity durations, previous studies show that the β-distribution-based PERT estimation tends to be over-optimistic and it offers no control of the project in terms of risk duration. This study proposes a multiple risk-level (MRL) model that uses a site spatial constraint, environmental effects and the “5 Ms” of construction management to tackle the duration of risk during a construction project. A Risk-based Critical Path Scheduling Method (R-CPSM) that uses MRL is developed to calculate the duration of the project. A case study using a project selected from a previous study is used to compare the four estimation methods: two traditional PERT methods (3.2σs and 6σs), a Monte Carlo Simulation and the proposed MRL model. The results show that, compared with traditional approaches to estimate durations of uncertain activity, the proposed R-CPSM method is more systematic that can be combined with a cost estimation process and offers a rectification mechanism that dynamically monitors and adjusts the important factors that affect the risk duration. This method gives a more realistic estimate that is in agreement with the results of previous studies.

Procurement is a key stage affecting the successful delivery of a sustainable project. Previous project procurement practice employed either the Lowest Tender (LT) method for homogeneous projects or the Best Value (BV) method for heterogeneous projects. Recently, a new type of procurement method for moderately heterogeneous project, the Heterogeneous Lowest Tender (HLT), was introduced and it has proven to be more beneficial and sustainable to clients in terms of both cost-effectiveness and the delivery performance of project products/results. However, statistics also showed that only 0.33% of public works adopt HLT for project procurement in Taiwan due to the lack of a useful method selection model. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an enhanced graphical method that is based on a previously defined Price Elasticity of Performance (PEP) measure, namely the Graphical Analysis Method for Price Elasticity of Performance (GAM-PEP), to select a more appropriate method from among the three prevailing project procurement methods: LT, BV, and HLT, so that the sustainability objectives of a project can be better realized. Finally, a real-world case construction procurement project was selected to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed model. It is concluded that the proposed GAM-PEP outperforms the previous models in determining the most sustainable project procurement method.

Economic development has resulted in densely constructed buildings in urban area, high energy consumption, global warming, and greenhouse gas. In order to mitigate the environmental impacts resulted from urbanization, the concept of environmentally-oriented "green building" has emerged, aiming at reducing pollution, saving energy and respecting the natural environment. The green building has been promoted in Taiwan since 1999, and the evaluation of Green Factory "GF" has been created since 2012. This paper reviews the cases of the existing technology factory buildings obtaining the green building label in Taiwan, and provides empirical learning in promoting green buildings based on the existing factory buildings according to the implementation strategy and problem solution.