Edinburgh Napier University

  The population in Africa is growing rapidly, and thus the urbanization is accelerated. The need for detailed information on the performance of materials is a crucial part of the decision-making process for contemporary building design. However, such information is severely lacking across much of sub-Saharan Africa, in particular regarding sustainability and life cycle environmental impacts (e.g. embodied CO2 emissions, resource availability and use). This represents a barrier for built environment professionals to engage in environmentally conscious design aimed towards buildings with reduced environmental impact. This proposal is a first step towards addressing this challenge, by undertaking an initial investigation of properties and life cycle environmental impacts of one or two basic construction material(s), which will ultimately develop into an extensive database of materials for built environment professionals working across sub-Saharan Africa. An important aspect of this project is thus to disseminate such knowledge of sustainable construction effectively, and to ensure it reaches the intended stakeholders. This project will build on earlier engagements by Buro Happold, which has been proactive in developing and maintaining online databases geared to design professionals, in collaboration with University of Edinburgh