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International Journal of Construction Management

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Risk identification and assessment in sustainableconstruction projects in the UAE

Sameh M. El-Sayegh, Solair Manjikian, Ahmed Ibrahim, Ahmed Abouelyousr& Raed Jabbour

To cite this article: Sameh M. El-Sayegh, Solair Manjikian, Ahmed Ibrahim, Ahmed Abouelyousr &Raed Jabbour (2018): Risk identification and assessment in sustainable construction projects in theUAE, International Journal of Construction Management, DOI: 10.1080/15623599.2018.1536963

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/15623599.2018.1536963

Published online: 07 Dec 2018.

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Risk identification and assessment in sustainable construction projectsin the UAE

Sameh M. El-Sayegh, Solair Manjikian, Ahmed Ibrahim, Ahmed Abouelyousr and Raed Jabbour

Civil Engineering Department, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE

ABSTRACTThere is a big shift towards sustainable construction projects in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).Sustainable construction projects are riskier than traditional projects. The purpose of this paperis to identify and assess the risks in sustainable construction projects in the UAE. This will helpproject participants to properly manage these risks in their projects. A list of thirty risks wasidentified based on literature review. These risks were grouped into five categories: manage-ment, technical, green team, green materials and regulatory/economic. A survey was then devel-oped and sent to professionals from the UAE. The respondents evaluated each risk in terms ofits probability of occurrence and potential impact. Forty-four responses were collected. Thethirty risks were ranked based on the risk severity (probability multiplied by impact). The topfive risks are shortage of clients’ funding, insufficient or incorrect sustainable design information,design changes, unreasonably tight schedule for sustainable construction and poor scope defin-ition in sustainable construction. Risk identification and assessment are important part of projectrisk management. This allows for appropriate risk response planning and control.

KEYWORDSRisk assessment; sustainableconstruction; UAE; projectrisk management

Introduction

Risk plays a significant role in the constructionindustry that is known of being borne to risks. Riskshave negative impact on achieving project objectives.Risks may cause schedule delays, cost overruns andsafety and quality problems. Risk management isdefined as a formal and orderly process of systemat-ically identifying, analyzing and responding to risksthroughout the lifecycle of a project (Wang et al.2004). There are several studies on risk managementin various countries. El-Sayegh (2008) found that themost significant risk, in the UAE, is inflation andsudden changes in prices. Delay is a major risk inUAE’s construction industry (Faridi and El-Sayegh2006). Shen (1997) identified the top three risks inHong Kong as insufficient or incorrect design infor-mation, variations in ground and weather conditionsand subcontractors’ labor shortage. Similarly, a studyby Zou et al. (2007), conducted in China, identifiedthe most significant risks to include variations bythe client, price inflation of construction materials,project funding problems and tight project schedule.Perera et al. (2014) stressed on the necessity ofhandling risk factors as a prerequisite for pro-ject success.

Sustainability is the process of achieving our every-day needs while still preserving the fundamentalresources of the Earth for future generations (Kateset al. 2001). Sustainable construction refers to thedesign, construction and operation of green buildingprojects in which achieving sustainability is also oneof the goals of the project (Kibert 2016). In the pro-cess of achieving these goals, projects must gothrough newly developed technologies and methods,since this is a relatively new branch of the construc-tion industry (Hwang et al. 2017b). The constructionindustry has massive impacts on the society, environ-mentally, economically and socially (Zuo et al. 2012).Recently, sustainability has been a hot topic since theawareness of environmental issues has surfaced, wastebeing one of them. It is true that individuals producesolid waste each day in households, however, the con-struction industry is the biggest producer of waste.With the growing construction industry in the UAE,the country has become one of the largest producersof waste with 75% of its waste emerging from con-struction (Al-Hajj and Hamani 2011). GulfCooperation Council (GCC) countries have had thehighest rates of carbon dioxide emission per capita(Al-Saleh and Taleb 2010).

CONTACT Sameh M. El-Sayegh selsayegh@aus.edu� 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENThttps://doi.org/10.1080/15623599.2018.1536963

Sustainable construction projects are being encour-aged recently throughout the world. The increase intraditional building material costs and energy pricesare also other factors that lead people to think of sus-tainable construction, especially with the regulatoryincentives by the governments (Robichaud andAnantatmula 2011). The UAE construction industryhas experienced a boom over the past years, thisboom started around 1996 and reached its peak in2007, right before the major financial crisis in 2008(El-Sayegh and Mansour 2015). The urge to shift tosustainability in our everyday life is being encouragedby environment activists on a small scale, and morerecently, it is being enforced by government becausethis shift to sustainability will soon become a neces-sity. One example of this is the Estidama initiative inAbu Dhabi which has been launched by the AbuDhabi Urban Planning Council. This initiative aimsto create more sustainable societies by introducingtheir own Pearl Rating System, which rates construc-tion projects according to how many credits theyearned, and each of these credits represents satisfyinga sustainable goal. They specified a minimum numberof mandatory credits to be satisfied by all projects,and with that they are enforcing the shift towards sus-tainable construction (Estidama 2010). Likewise, inDubai the municipality is also enforcing the conceptof sustainable construction through introducing thegreen building initiative, where the regulation wasdrafted to fit the UAE’s nature. This initiative hasbeen in effect and enforced on all new buildings inDubai since 2014 (Dubai Municipality 2017).Moreover, a study found that there’s a growing inter-est and awareness about the green building initiativeand the idea of shifting towards sustainability (Salamaand Hana 2010).

However, green construction still faces some bar-riers due to the increased risks they hold. These risksinclude but are not limited to; the inability to deliverthe project within acceptable cost constraints andinefficient green project management (Robichaud andAnantatmula 2011). Green risk assessment has beenestablished to acquire information about the uncer-tainty of different factors contributing to the goal ofsustainable development of human beings. The goal isreducing the environment pollution, reducing theconsumption of resources and reducing the consump-tion of energy (Xie et al. 2010). A recent study donein Singapore on green buildings shows that somerisks remain the same in both traditional and sustain-able projects such as inflation. However, there weresome additional risks that are credited only to

sustainable projects such as shortage of green materi-als and durability of materials. Results also showedthat some risks are more critical than traditional proj-ects such like design changes and poor constructionquality (Hwang et al. 2017a). Now that the number ofconstruction projects in the UAE is multiplying, andthe introduced enforcement of sustainability in con-struction projects, it is necessary to identify the risksthat are exclusive to sustainable construction projectsin the UAE. This area of study has not been exploredyet, or implemented in the UAE, and with theexpected expansion in the field of sustainable con-struction, the assessment of risks affiliated with thesespecific projects will become a vital research area.

The construction industry is affiliated with variousrisks that may cause delays and/or cost overruns.Sustainability has become an essential element in theUAE construction projects. However, even with theadvancement in sustainable construction, very min-imal information is available regarding risks in sus-tainable construction projects in the UAE. Theresearch described in this paper aims at identifyingand assessing risk in sustainable construction projects.The first objective is to identify risks in sustainableconstruction projects. The second objective is assess-ing the identified risks based on their risk severity(impact and probability).

Research methodology

The first step was to identify the risks in sustainableconstruction projects through literature review. Thisincluded journals, articles and books that discuss risksin general and risks related to sustainable construc-tion projects in particular. Initially, 67 risks wereidentified and then shortlisted to thirty based on thehighest citations. Some of the green risks have fewercitations since there are limited number of papersthat talk about these risks. Thirty risks were identifiedand used in the survey. The first part of the surveyincluded general questions about the participants,such as their position of work and years of experi-ence. The second part of the survey included twoquestions for each of the identified risks. The firstquestion is related to the probability of occurrence. ALikert scale was used with numbers from one to five:one being very low probability and five being veryhigh probability. The second question relates to theimpact that the risks have on construction projects. ALikert scale was also used with numbers ranging fromone to five: one indicates very low impact and fiveindicates very high impact

2 S. M. EL-SAYEGH ET AL.

The surveys were sent to construction professionalsin the UAE with experience in sustainable constructionprojects. The survey was sent either by e-mail or bypersonal interviews were conducted. The surveys weresent to 200 construction professionals with experiencein sustainable construction projects. The professionalswere selected based on available contact informationand site visits to ongoing construction projects. Forty-four surveys were collected and used in the analysis.This corresponds to a response rate of 22%. Theexpected low response rate is due to the detailed andspecialized nature of the survey. Most of the responseswere collected through face-to-face interviews. TheRelative Importance Index (RII), for each risk, was cal-culated using Equation (1). The RII is used to categor-ize the risks. Risks would have either a low, moderateor high level of importance (El-Sayegh 2008). The riskswere then ranked based on the calculated RII. Thiswas done for the probability, impact and severity. Riskseverity is calculated by multiplying the probability andimpact for each of the identified risks.

Relative Importance Index; RII ¼P5

i¼1WiXi

P5

i¼1Xi

(1)

whereWi ¼ weight assigned to ith response; Wi¼ 1, 2, 3,

4 and 5 for i¼ 1,2,3, 4 and 5, respectively.Xi ¼ frequency of the ith response.i ¼ response category index ¼1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 for

very low, low, moderate, high and very highrespectively.

Table 1 shows the respondents’ profile. Forty-fourresponses were collected from various types of con-struction parties. The team collected responses fromowners, consultants, project managers and contractorswho have experience in sustainable construc-tion projects.

Risk identification

Several risks affect the success of construction proj-ects. These risks were identified through extensive lit-erature review. Some risks are unique to sustainableconstruction projects while others are applicable toboth sustainable and traditional construction projects.Figure 1 shows the Risk Breakdown Structure (RBS)for sustainable construction projects. These risks aredivided into five categories: management, technical,green team (stakeholders), green materials and tech-nology and regulatory and economic.

Management risks

Management risks include those that would occur whenmanaging the construction project. Tight schedule is arisk as owners sometimes enforce tight schedules thatare unreasonable and impractical to achieve (El-Sayegh2008). This risk might be more significant in sustainableconstruction projects since green construction requiresmore time than traditional ones (Hwang and Ng 2013).Project feasibility and planning has to be carefully organ-ized by several educated employees. In the case when itis planned improperly, it would create a risk (Hwanget al. 2017b). Sustainable projects require careful atten-tion to its feasibility since it is harder to deal with sus-tainable elements (Robichaud and Anantatmula 2011).

When clients have funding issues, this creates a riskfor the contractor. Clients should have a clear planregarding their funds, schedule and cost and controlthem accordingly; otherwise, it would result in shortageof clients funding (Zou et al. 2007). Another risk is dif-ficulty in project budgeting which results from thecontractor struggle to budget the project due to inex-perience in green projects. Not all project managershave experience in sustainable construction and theyoften lack skills in implementing it. Even if they have atheoretical understanding of sustainability, lack ofexperience implementing it would create a major risk(Abidin 2010). Another management risk is the add-itional cost due to the green material and equipmentused and this would lead to cost overruns (Hwanget al. 2017a). Finally, sustainable construction requiresa high performance standard and would require a highquality of construction, therefore, the poor quality ofsustainable construction is a risk.

Technical risks

Technical risks might occur during construction suchas design changes, insufficient or incorrect sustainabledesign information, delay caused by frequent meetings

Table 1. Respondents’ profile.

Category

Respondents

Number %

Years of experience >20 years 12 27.210–20 years 16 36.4<10 years 16 36.4

Role Owner 5 11.4Designer 20 45.5Contractor 13 29.5Construction manager 6 13.6

Average project sizea <50 (million AED) 3 06.850–100 (million AED) 10 22.7100–500 (million AED) 16 36.4>500 (million AED) 15 34.1

aUS$= 3.67 AED (2018 currency).

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT 3

with green specialist and a few others. Design changescan result from the owner changing his/her mindduring construction. Insufficient or incorrect sustain-able design information is another risk that mightresult from the designer being unaware about sustain-able design and therefore creating complications inthe design documents. The lack of research in greenmaterials would result in the risk of improper or

incomplete green specifications (Al-Hajj and Hamani2011). The risk of poor scope definition might arisewhen the scope is not well defined. (El-Sayegh 2008).Failure to meet green code or certification is a resultof construction companies trying to be sustainablebut end up not satisfying the green code set by thegovernment or municipality (Zurich 2017). Delaycaused by frequent meeting with green specialist is

Project Risks

Management

Tight schedule for sustainable construc�on

Improper sustainable project feasibility and

planning

Shortage of clients funds

Difficulty in project budge�ng due to

unfamiliarity in green projects

Poor project manager skills related to

sustainable construc�on

Addi�onal costs due to green material and

equipment

Poor quality of sustainable construc�on work

Technical

Design changes

Insufficient or incorrect sustainable design

informa�on

Improper or incomplete green specifica�ons

Poor scope defini�on of sustainable construc�on

Failure to meet green code or cer�fica�on

Delay caused by frequent mee�ngs with green

specialist

Poor selec�on of construc�on techniques in sustainable construc�on

Poor produc�vity of labor and equipment in

sustainable construc�on

Green team (Stakeholders)

Resistance from the client to adopt new green ideas

Limited experience of the consultant about

sustainable construc�on prac�ces

Limited experience of the contractor about

sustainable construc�on prac�ces

Limited availability and reliability of green

subcontractors

Limited availability and reliability of green

suppliers

Shortage in labor skilled in sustainable construc�on

Green Materials and

Technology

Poor performance of green materials

Shortage of green materials

Long lead �me for green materials

Inappropriate handling and storage of green

materials

Lack of documents and informa�on for new green

technologies

Regulatory and Economic

Delay in government approvals for green

construc�on

Changes in sustainable construc�on codes and

regula�ons

Infla�on of green materials’ prices

Currency vola�lity worsened by the import of

green materials

Figure 1. Risk breakdown structure (RBS) for sustainable construction projects.

4 S. M. EL-SAYEGH ET AL.

the risk that arises from the need to meet with greenspecialists to make sure the progress is successful.Another risk that might arise from inexperience ofcontractors is poor selection of construction techni-ques. The final technical risk is the poor productivityof labor and equipment in sustainable construction.

Green team (stakeholders) risks

The third category is the stakeholders or green team.The risks included in this category are only ones thataffect sustainable construction and have no effect intraditional construction projects. Risks like resistancefrom client to adopt new green ideas and limitedexperience of consultants and contractors fall underthis category. Resistance to adopt green ideas is a risksince clients tend to stick to what they know andtend to stick to more traditional and common proj-ects (Hwang et al. 2017a). Limited experience of con-sultants and contractors may lead to the failure ofsustainable projects. Additionally, lack of experiencecan result in problems while obtaining green certifica-tions, delays and improper material specification(Zurich 2017). Another issue is the limited availabilityof green subcontractors. Even if a contractor hasadopted sustainable practices efficiently, there is anissue with acquiring green subcontractors in the UAE

since they are very limited and unreliable. Difficultiesassociated with the selection of subcontractors whoprovide green construction is a major challenge(Hwang and Ng 2013). Limited availability of greensuppliers is also a risk. Construction companies wouldhave difficulty finding green suppliers in the UAEthat are reliable and efficient. There is an immaturityin the green supply market and a lack of trust in thesuppliers (Lam et al. 2009). The UAE constructionlabor force is mainly skilled in traditional construc-tion projects. They have many years’ experience doingthe same activity; therefore, there is a limited numberof workers who can actually achieve the sustainabilityaspect of the construction process. One of the mostcritical challenges project managers face is the resist-ance of laborers to change their traditional practices(Hwang and Ng 2013).

Green materials and technology risks

The fourth category is green materials and technol-ogy. The risks that deal with the shortage, handlingand quality of the materials lie in this category. Greenconstruction tends to use advanced green materials toimprove the sustainability performance, however thesematerials are not researched extensively and thereforecreate the risk of poor performance of green materials

Table 2. Overall risk significance.

Factor Description

Probability Impact Severity

RII Rank RII Rank Value Rank

1 Unreasonably tight schedule for sustainable construction 3.75 2 3.52 24 14.41 42 Improper sustainable project feasibility and planning 3.25 23 3.41 27 12.05 233 Shortage of clients' funding 3.55 9 3.93 3 14.91 14 Inaccuracy in project budgeting due to unfamiliarity in green projects 3.57 6 3.7 16 14.18 85 Poor project manager skills related to sustainable construction 3.41 14 3.98 2 13.43 146 Additional costs due to green material and equipment 3.84 1 3.61 20 14.39 67 Poor quality of sustainable construction work 3.36 19 3.86 8 12.98 178 Design changes 3.64 3 3.93 4 14.43 39 Insufficient or incorrect sustainable design information 3.61 4 3.64 18 14.59 2

10 Improper or incomplete green specifications 3.57 7 3.61 21 14.3 711 Poor scope definition of sustainable construction 3.59 5 3.77 13 14.41 512 Failure to meet green code or certification 3.27 22 3.25 30 12.48 2013 Delay caused by frequent meetings with green specialist 3.41 15 3.36 28 12.25 2214 Poor selection of construction techniques in sustainable construction 3.39 18 3.77 12 13.09 1515 Poor productivity of labor and equipment in sustainable construction 3.43 13 3.75 14 13.55 1316 Resistance from the client to adopt new green ideas 3.18 24 3.7 17 11.14 2517 Limited experience of the consultant about sustainable construction practices 3.45 11 3.86 6 13.59 1118 Limited experience of the contractor about sustainable construction practices 3.45 12 3.59 22 14.11 919 Limited availability and reliability of green subcontractors 3.52 10 3.8 10 13.09 1620 Limited availability and reliability of green suppliers 3.57 8 4.16 1 13.7 1021 Shortage in labor skilled in sustainable construction 3.41 16 3.57 23 12.93 1822 Poor performance of green materials 2.77 30 3.43 26 10.27 3023 Shortage of green materials 3 28 3.52 25 10.77 2824 Long lead time for green materials 3.36 20 3.86 7 12.36 2125 Inappropriate handling and storage of green materials 3 29 3.64 19 11.39 2426 Lack of documents and information for new green technologies 3.02 27 3.8 11 11.02 2727 Delay in government approvals for green construction 3.41 17 3.84 9 13.57 1228 Changes in sustainable construction codes and regulations 3.07 25 3.73 15 11.09 2629 Inflation of green materials’ prices 3.32 21 3.27 29 12.7 1930 Currency volatility worsened by the import of green materials 3.05 26 3.89 5 10.36 29

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT 5

(Hwang et al. 2017a). Another risk is the shortage ofgreen materials. This shortage might be caused bypoor supply management and the development lag ofgreen technologies (Hwang et al. 2017a). Long lead-time affects the attainment of green certification andmay delay the related construction activities.Furthermore, the quality of the green materials wouldbe affected by inappropriate handling and storage,producing more risk (Al-Hajj and Hamani 2011).Finally, lack of documentation of new green technolo-gies creates a risk since the contractor would notknow the specifications of the material and thereforewould not know what should be done to produce thebest results (Hwang et al. 2017a).

Regulatory and economic risks

The fifth and last category is regulatory and economicrisks. These involve any codes or regulations enforcedby the government and any economic crisis thatmight arise. Delay in government approvals for greenconstruction produces a delay in the project start date(Zayed et al. 2008). Moreover, changes in the sustain-able construction codes and regulations are beingdeveloped at such a pace that makes it unreasonablefor the project to be compatible and coherent withthe new codes, this in turn would delay the project(Nutter 2012). Since sustainability is a new topic tothe construction industry, some materials required forthe success of the sustainable project might not beavailable in the UAE, therefore there is a need toimport those materials and this would lead to volatil-ity of currency that would lead to cost overruns(Hwang et al. 2017a). Finally yet importantly is therisk of inflation of green materials. Inflation refers tothe ‘increase in the price level of commodities andthe decrease of the purchasing power of currencies’which, like currency volatility, would lead to costoverruns (Hwang et al. 2017a). Inflation is a risk inall construction project regardless of what type it is,therefore this would create a major risk in sustainableconstruction as well.

Risk assessment

The relative importance index (RII) was calculated foreach risk based on probability, impact and severity.These factors were then ranked according to their RIIvalues. The results are presented in Table 2.

The top 10 risks, based on severity, are presentedin Table 3. These include four management risks,four technical risks and two green team (stakeholder)risks. Shortage of clients’ funding is the most severerisk in sustainable construction projects in the UAEwith an RII of 14.91. This might be due to poor plan-ning for sustainable construction cost and schedule(Zou et al. 2007). The second risk is insufficient orincorrect sustainable design information (RII ¼14.59)and the third is design changes (RII ¼14.43). Bothrisks would result because of inexperience or lack ofknowledge, with sustainable design in the UAE con-struction projects. Mishmish and El-Sayegh (2018)recommended to increase the time allowed for devel-oping the design to minimize design errors andreduce the inconsistency in design documents. Thefourth risk is unreasonably tight schedule for sustain-able construction (RII ¼14.41). The UAE is knownfor its fast-paced construction industry.

Poor scope definition of sustainable construction isranked fifth. The sixth risk is additional costs due togreen material and equipment (RII ¼14.39). This riskwould arise from the fact that green materials aremore expensive compared to non-green materials.Research shows that there is a 10% green premiumover traditional construction projects (Robichaud andAnantatmula 2011). Improper or incomplete greenspecifications, which came up to be number sevenwith a relative importance index of 14.30, is a riskthat might occur from the lack of knowledge in greenspecifications since they need to be researched exten-sively in order for the specifications to be clearlydefined (Hwang et al. 2017). Inaccuracy in projectbudgeting due to unfamiliarity in green projects (RII¼14.18) is ranked eighth. The last two risks on thetop 10 are from the green team (stakeholder)

Table 3. Ten most severe risks in green construction projects.ID Risk RII Rank Category

3 Shortage of clients' funding 14.91 1 Management9 Insufficient or incorrect sustainable design information 14.59 2 Technical8 Design changes 14.43 3 Technical1 Unreasonably tight schedule for sustainable construction 14.41 4 Management

11 Poor scope definition of sustainable construction 14.41 5 Technical6 Additional costs due to green material and equipment 14.39 6 Management

10 Improper or incomplete green specifications 14.3 7 Technical4 Inaccuracy in project budgeting due to unfamiliarity in green projects 14.18 8 Management

18 Limited experience of the contractor about sustainable construction practices 14.11 9 Stakeholders20 Limited availability and reliability of green suppliers 13.7 10 Stakeholders

6 S. M. EL-SAYEGH ET AL.

category. They are limited experience of the contractorabout sustainable construction practices (RII ¼14.11)and limited availability and reliability of green suppli-ers (RII ¼13.7) which are the ninth and tenth risks,respectively. An inexperienced contractor creates amajor risk to the success of the project. The inexperi-ence of consultant was on the list and was ranked asthe eleventh risk which brings to our attention thatlimited experience of contractor and consultant are notfar off from each other and they have a great effect onthe project. The availability and reliability of green sup-pliers creates a risk and that might be due to the factthat sustainable construction is a growing industry andis in need of more suppliers.

As seen in Table 3, six out of the top 10 risks areexclusive to sustainable construction projects. This con-firms that the risks in sustainable projects are uniqueand are not similar to those in traditional projects.

The least five significant risks according to the sur-vey results are related to regulatory and economic fac-tors, as well as green materials and technologyfactors. The lowest ranked risk according to severityis poor performance of green materials (RII ¼10.27),while shortage of green materials (RII ¼10.36) andcurrency volatility worsened by the import of greenmaterials (RII ¼10.77) were ranked 29th and 28th,respectively. The UAE is considered politically andeconomically stable, which explains why the least sig-nificant risks are related to regulatory and economicfactors. The performance of green materials is theleast significant risk in the UAE due to the growingtechnological advancement in the country. Theseresults are different than the study done in Singaporeby Hwang et al. (2017a). In Singapore, currency

volatility worsened by the import of green materialsand durability of green materials are in the top threecritical risks. The variation in the results of our studyand the one done in Singapore proves the importanceof this research, showing that the UAE has differentcritical risks than other countries like Singapore.

The severity list was based on the RII value of eachrisk, however the probability and impact are rankedout of five. The number one probable risk shown isadditional cost due to green material and equipmentand the least probable risk is poor performance ofgreen material. Even though green materials haveadditional cost, this cost is accounted for. Similarly,the impact of risks was evaluated and the mostimpactful risk was determined to be shortage of cli-ents’ funding. This risk was also the number one riskbased on severity, concluding that it being in this pos-ition is due to its high impact, having a RII of 4.16.On the other hand, the risk with the least impactcame out to be the same as the least probable whichwas poor performance of green material.

To further analyze the results of the survey, theprobability–impact matrix, shown in Figure 2, is used.This is developed by plotting the probability valuesagainst the impact values of the risks. Then, using ascale from 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest and 5 being thehighest), the severity of each risk according to its pos-ition on the graph is identified. It can be seen from thematrix that most of the risks are high (probability >3and impact >3) as well as one risk that has an impactgreater than 4. The matrix also shows that there is onlyone moderate risk that has an impact greater than 3and probability value between 2 and 3. There are norisks with a probability and impact less than 3.

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00

Prob

ailit

y

Impact

Probability - Impact Matrix

Figure 2. Probability – impact matrix.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT 7

Discussion and comparison withprevious studies

There are some similarities between the significantrisks in traditional construction projects (previousstudies) and sustainable construction projects (thisstudy). The two most significant risks in China weretight project schedule and project funding problems(Zou et al. 2007). These results are similar to the onesin this research with funding problems as the numberone risk and tight project schedule was placed fourth.Tight schedule was also a significant risk in a researchconducted in the UAE construction industry where itwas placed second having an RII of 13.32 (El-Sayegh2008). On the other hand, there were some differencesbetween traditional and sustainable risks. There are, ofcourse, new risks that arise from the project being sus-tainable. Some examples are additional cost due togreen material and equipment and limited availabilityand reliability of green suppliers. Other differences liein the severity of the risk from one type of project tothe other. Lack of scope definition is one examplewhere it was ranked eleventh (RII ¼11.38) in El-Sayegh’s (2008) research, while in this research it isranked fifth (RII ¼14.41). Another example showing amajor change is inflation. In El-Sayegh (2008) research,inflation was the number one risk in UAE constructionindustry at that time whereas inflation on green mater-ial prices was ranked 19th. This might be due to thetime at which the survey was done, as there was a con-struction boom during the period of the older survey.

The research done by Hwang et al. (2017a) inSingapore shows that the top five most critical risks wereinflation, currency and interest rate volatility worsenedby the import of green materials, durability of greenmaterials, damages caused by human error and materialsuitability and accessibility and shortage of green materi-als. Table 4 shows the top risks found in Singapore withtheir corresponding rank in the current research.

Table 4 shows that the risks are placed on oppositeends. The reason for this might be because Singaporehas limited green materials and they require thesematerials to be imported (Hwang et al. 2017a).Whereas on the other hand, the UAE seems to not

have a problem with these issue. Similarly, the topfive risks found in the UAE were compared withresults from the Singapore project. Table 5 shows therisks with their ranking.

Table 5 shows that there is a difference between therankings. This might be majorly due to the location ofthe project. It would seem that Singapore has moreexperienced professionals in the sustainable construc-tion industry since poor scope definition and insuffi-cient or incorrect sustainable design information hadmuch lower ranking that the ranking in the UAE. Thisdiscrepancy proves that risks are unique to each coun-try. There is a need for international contractors to beaware of the major risks in the countries they operate.

Summary and conclusion

The UAE construction industry is experiencing arapid growth in the size and complexity of its proj-ects. These are responsible for a great deal of green-house gases emissions and pollution. This led theUAE officials to start the shift towards more environ-mentally friendly approaches to construction that sat-isfy the three pillars of sustainability. This wasimplemented through the enforcement of sustainableconstruction methods in construction projects in theUAE. With the introduction of green construction,and the rapid growth of the size of the industry, therisks affiliated with these construction projects arealso increasing and becoming more complex.

Risk identification and assessment are importantpart of project risk management. There is a need toidentify and assess potential risks in sustainable con-struction projects. This allows for appropriate riskresponse planning and control. Thirty risks wereidentified through literature review and used in a sur-vey designed to measure the probability and impactof each of the identified risks. The top five risks,according to severity, are shortage of client’s funding,insufficient or incorrect design information, designchanges, unreasonably tight schedule for sustainableconstruction and poor scope definition of sustainableconstruction. These results are different from earlier

Table 4. Top five risks in Singapore and their ranking in UAE.

RiskRank inSingapore

Rank inUAE

Inflation 1 19Currency and interest rate volatility

worsened by the import of green materials2 29

Durability of green materials 3 30Damages caused by human error 4 N/AMaterial suitability and accessibility and

shortage of green materials5 28

Table 5. Top five risks in UAE and their ranking in Singapore.

RiskRankin UAE

Rank inSingapore

Shortage of clients' funding 1 21Insufficient or incorrect sustainable

design information2 29

Design changes 3 17Unreasonably tight schedule for

sustainable construction4 N/A

Poor scope definition of sustainable construction 5 31

8 S. M. EL-SAYEGH ET AL.

studies. These differences highlight the importance ofthis research showing that the UAE has different crit-ical risks than other countries. Risks are unique indifferent countries and different project types.

Four, out of the top 10 risks, are in the managementcategory and related to funding, scheduling, budgetingand cost. To address these management risks, there is aneed for proper implementation of project managementtechniques with a particular focus on sustainable con-struction projects. Contractors should take extra carewhen dealing with specific clients that may have fund-ing problems. The other four, in the top 10, are in thetechnical risks category. These are mainly due to thelack of design experience in sustainable constructionprojects. Owners should select appropriate designerswho have experience in sustainable construction proj-ects. Those would be able to produce a sound designwith minimal changes during the project execution.

It is very important that the responsible authoritiescome up with innovative approaches to overcome suchrisks in sustainable construction projects. Moreover,educational sessions can be held for project managersand consultants that will enable them to foresee pos-sible and potential problems that might occur in thesustainable construction projects. This will help themovercome risks and think about professional solutionsbefore starting the project. Employing experiencedlabor and engineers and trained managers can hugelyaffect the project success. Such engineers can helpinexperienced individuals as well as help with theircomments during the construction phase. Finally, apanel of highly qualified engineers employed by thegovernment can go to sites, give their advice and pro-vide project engineers with feedback that can helpimprove the sustainability level and implementation ofsustainable practices across the UAE.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

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