Assessment Tools to Measure Sustainability
of Housing Projects

 

World over communities are now conscious of the impact that their lifestyles are having on the environment and thereby their future generations. Various assessment tools are available to assist designers, developers and regulatory bodies to reduce the negative impacts of environmental, social, economic and cultural constraints. These tools vary considerably in what and how they measure and how the measurement results are presented and interpreted.

The introduction of the Assessment Tool EDGE in the worldwide market of rating tools shows that there is a real need for bottom up simplified tools. EDGE is an easy to use rating tool which focuses mainly on three aspects of sustainable buildings: energy, water and materials. Despite the efforts of EDGE to be adapted to developing countries, there is still a huge gap with the reality and needs of the African continent. Africa will have the largest growth of population in cities in the coming decades and they are asking that external rating tools should not be imposed on them as guidelines for their development. They have a need for reinforcing their own models focusing on culture as a design value and community management as the fundamental basis for sustainable development.

The SHERPA Assessment Tool was developed initially for the African countries. Supported by the One Planet Network, this tool was developed by a team of housing and sustainability experts from UN-Habitat, CRAterre-ENSAG, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with the Kenya Slum Upgrading Programme (KENSUP), Yaam Soldarité and Architecture sans Frontiérs Nepal.

SHERPA is an easy to use self-evaluation tool for project managers, communities and other stakeholders involved in the planning, design, construction and assessment of housing projects. SHERPA assesses housing projects from the initial inception of projects through the site selection and design process all the way up to the end of life cycle and recyclability of building materials used.

SHERPA’s holistic approach allows for the assessment of sustainability in terms of environmental, cultural, economic and social sustainability, allowing for a holistic assessment of the impact and sustainability of housing projects. The Rating Tool consists of a step-by-step questionnaire including indicators that measure the sustainability of the project. The data required to answer the questionnaire is mainly qualitative and easy to use for field staff or project managers of the building sector. The questionnaire measures how sustainable the project is, by scoring each pillar of sustainable development, encompassing 12 sustainability criteria. Sustainability corresponds with an overall balance of all four pillars, by scoring at least a minimum threshold value, defined by a minimum acceptable level for each addressed issue.

In Nepal, SHERPA has been a useful tool for reconstruction of earthquake affected houses. The SHERPA tool has helped to re-build people’s lives through a participatory and owner-driven approach. It has been effective in planning and design of social housing projects keeping in mind the sustainability aspects.
To try out the tool, please go to www.sherpa4housing.org  

Pratibha Caleb
pcaleb@devalt.org

 

Back to Contents

  Share Subscribe Home

Contact Us

About Us