Geotechnical sustainability in the United Arab Emirates - Current status and opportunities

  • Authors

    • Ryan Sochanik WS Atkins
    2020-08-24
    https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v9i3.30812
  • Engineering Sustainability, Geotechnical Engineering, Legislation, United Arab Emirates.

  • The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has aligned its development polices and agendas with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, a driver provided by the UN to contribute towards sustainability. As part of this commitment, sustainability in the construction industry is continually evolving. The movement towards sustainability in construction is challenging in the UAE due to the climate, geographical location, economy and availability of natural resources. The UAE has therefore developed specific legislation requiring “green constructionâ€. Over and above the legislation, developers in the UAE recognise the value in achieving certified “green†credentials through the adoption of optional sustainability assessments in their projects. Geotechnical engineering is a specific branch of civil engineering focussing on soil-structure interaction and geotechnical input is required for the design and construction of almost every civil engineering project. This study reviews the current mandatory regulations and practices, with respect to the input from geotechnical engineering. It highlights that as a discipline there is little contribution towards sustainability and concludes that geotechnical engineering can and needs to contribute more. Practical solutions to improve geotechnical engineering sustainability are proposed, as are opportunities for further research and development of geotechnical engineering sustainability.

     

     

  • References

    1. [1] Basu D., Misra A. and Puppala, A.J (2015), Sustainability and geotechnical engineering - perspectives and review, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 52: 96–113. https://doi.org/10.1139/cgj-2013-0120.

      [2] Brundtland, G.H. (1987), Our common future: report of the World Commission on environment and development. Oxford University Press, UK.

      [3] Butcher A. P., Powell J. J. M. and Skinner H. D. (2006), Reuse of foundations for urban sites - A best practice handbook, IHS BRE Press, Bracknell.

      [4] Chang. I, Im. J and Cho. G (2016), Introduction of Microbial Biopolymers in Soil Treatment for Future Environmentally Friendly and Sustainable Geotechnical Engineering, Sustainability 2016, 8, 251. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8030251.

      [5] Gaba A, Hardy S, Doughty L, Powrie W and Selematas D (2017) Guidance on Embedded Retaining Wall Design. Construction Industry Research and Information Association, London, UK, C760.

      [6] Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, Skyscraper data centre https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/country/united-arab-emirates.

      [7] Dubai Municipality (2011), Green Building Regulations and Specifications. Dubai Municipality, Dubai, UAE greenbuilding@dm.gov.ae.

      [8] Dubai Municipality (2017), Al-Safat. Dubai Municipality, Dubai, UAE.

      [9] Fragaszy, R. J., et al. (2011), Sustainable development and energy geotechnology - Potential roles for geotechnical engineering, KSCE Journal Civil Engineering, 15(4), 611 – 621. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12205-011-0102-7.

      [10] Government of Ras al Khaimah (2019), Barjeel Green Building Regulations and Specifications. RAK, UAE.

      [11] Iai, S. (2011), Geotechnics and Earthquake Geotechnics Towards Global Sustainability, Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0470-1.

      [12] Institute of Civil Engineers, https://www.ice.org.uk/what-is-civil-engineering.

      [13] International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), https://www.issmge.org/.

      [14] Jowitt, P (2004), Sustainability and the formation of the civil engineer, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Engineering Sustainability, Pages 79-88 Volume 157, Issue 2. https://doi.org/10.1680/ensu.2004.157.2.79.

      [15] Krynine, D.P. and Judd, W.R. (1957), Principals of Engineering Geology and Geotechnics. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, 1-707.

      [16] Mitchell, J. K., and Kelly, R. (2013) Addressing some current challenges in ground improvement. Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Ground Improv., 166(3), 127 – 137. https://doi.org/10.1680/grim.12.00030.

      [17] Oxford English Dictionaries, https://www.lexico.com/en.

      [18] Pantelidou H, Nicholson D and Gaba A (2012) Sustainable geotechnics. In Manual of Geotechnical Engineering (Burland J, Chapman T, Skinner H and Brown M (eds)). ICE Publishing, London, UK, vol. 1, pp. 125 – 135.

      [19] Shillaber (2016), Energy and Carbon Assessment I, Journal Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 2016, 142(3). https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001410.

      [20] Shareef and Altan (2016), Building sustainability rating systems in the Middle East, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: Engineering Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1680/jensu.16.00035.

      [21] Sochanik, R. (2020), Geotechnical Sustainability in the United Arab Emirates–Sustainability Rating Tools, International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET), Vol.9, Iss.4, Pages 07-24, September 2020.

      [22] Statistic Centre Abu Dhabi, https://www.scad.gov.abudhabi/en/pages/default.aspx.

      [23] United Arab Emirates (2010), Vision 2021, https://www.vision2021.ae/en.

      [24] United Arab Emirates (2015), Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, https://government.ae/en/about-the-uae/strategies-initiatives-and-awards/local-governments-strategies-and-plans/dubai-clean-energy-strategy.

      [25] United Arab Emirates Ministry of Climate Change & Environment (2017), National Climate Change Plan of the United Arab Emirates, www.moccae.gov.ae.

      [26] United Arab Emirates Ministry of Economy (2017), Annual Economic Report 2017, 25th Edition.

      [27] United Arab Emirates Water Security Strategy 2036, https://government.ae/en/about-the-uae/strategies-initiatives-and-awards/federal-governments-strategies-and-plans/the-uae-water-security-strategy-2036.

      [28] United Nations (2015), Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

      [29] UPC (2010), Pearl Building Rating System: Design & Construction, Version 1.0, Estidama, Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council.

      [30] USGBC (2016) LEED v4 for Building Design and Construction –Current Version. USGBC, Washington, DC, USA.

      [31] WWF (2006), Living Planet Report 2006.

      [32] WWF (2014), Living Planet Report 2014, Species and spaces, people, and places.

      [33] WWF (2016), Living Planet Report 2016, Risk, and resilience in a new era.

  • Downloads

  • How to Cite

    Sochanik, R. (2020). Geotechnical sustainability in the United Arab Emirates - Current status and opportunities. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 9(3), 710-717. https://doi.org/10.14419/ijet.v9i3.30812