Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Climate is one of the most important factors in construction projects, as it determines construction timeframes, materials, and their durability and longevity. Construction in cold climates, such as prevails in various Canadian regions, has many challenges. Despite the importance of the sustainable built environment, there remains a paucity of evidence on how construction in cold climates can be moved towards sustainable construction. Hence, more in-depth scientific studies that utilize high quality relevant data and analyses are needed to inform and improve the design, construction, and management of civil infrastructure in cold climates. My research program will investigate and propose suitable solutions for developing sustainable civil infrastructure, such as residential buildings, in Canada's cold regions that are technically feasible, economically viable, environmentally robust, and socially acceptable. The long-term goal of my research program is to establish a Cold-climate Life Cycle Management Laboratory (CLCM) at UNBC. The primary objectives are to establish a comprehensive inventory database and to develop suitable Decision Support Tool (DST) for the selection of construction materials and products suitable for cold climate regions with an acceptable level of life cycle sustainability performance. The primary outcomes of this research will enhance the sustainability of the built environment, with the main focus on sustainable housing stocks in Canada's cold regions, and will improve the long-term building service provided to the corresponding communities. The developed DST will be a major step towards inclusion of life cycle sustainability factors when selecting and employing suitable materials and products for building projects, in particular residential buildings. This, in turn, will benefit stakeholders at all levels. The proposed research program will be conducted by generating knowledge, expertise, and vision to address the research goal and objectives. This will involve undergraduate and graduate research assistants who will perform cutting-edge research related to sustainability, decision making, and cold climate construction by conducting extensive data collection processes, life cycle analyses, and decision-making methodologies. The relevant data will be collected from the literature, construction experts, federal, provincial, and local organizations, and local communities (e.g., Indigenous practices for resource efficiency in buildings) , and will be used for analysis, method validation, and demonstration of the proposed solutions. Local design and construction firms in northern British Columbia will be employed as real-world case studies for application of the developed database and DST. Research findings will be disseminated to the wider scientific and industrial communities in the form of decision support systems, databases, journal and conference publications, and industry reports.