This article investigates the nature of sustainability assessment of building materials in order to critically review the Sustainable Building Material Index methodology. A literature study is carried out to define sustainability, develop assessment indicators for building materials and describe, and critically review, the Sustainable Building Material Index (SBMI). The SBMI methodology appears to have potential as a way of providing an indication of the sustainability impacts of building materials and products for developing countries. The SBMI methodology is innovative as it provides a way of capturing simple socio-economic sustainability aspects related to building products, which has not been included in many other building product assessment methodologies.

1. Assessing Sustainability of Building Materials in
Developing Countries: The Sustainable Building
Materials Index (SBMI)
Gibberd, Jeremy
Organized by: Promoted by: With the participation of:

2. Structure
• What current sustainability assessment methodologies can be applied to
building materials and products?
• Do these provide an objective way of measuring, and representing,
sustainability impacts related to the building products in developing countries?
• Do assessment systems enable building products to be compared?
• If appropriate assessment methodologies do not exist, can an alternative
methodology be proposed? If so, what does this look like?

3. Methodologies
Wide range of assessments
systems, but:
• Not aligned to developing
country contexts
• Require data that is not
available
• High cost, high competency
• Do not support comparisons
Most relevant:
A. Global Reporting Initiative
B. ISO 26000 Guidance on Social
Responsibility
C. Guidelines for Social Lifecycle
Assessment of Products

4. Global Reporting Initiative
• Developed by the Global Reporting
Initiative
• ‘a trusted and credible framework
for sustainability reporting’.
• [ report content]... made by
considering..organization’s purpose
and experience, ..expectations and
interests of the organization’s
stakeholders.
Criteria include:
• Transport
• Employment
• Labour / management relations
• Occupational health and safety
• Training and education
• Diversity and equal opportunities

5. ISO 26000 Guidance on Social Responsibility
• Developed by International
Standards Organisation (ISO)
• ...provide guidance on the
underlying principles of social
responsibility
• ...integrate socially responsible
behaviour into the organization
• Guidance - not to be used for
certification
Criteria include:
• Human rights
• Labour practices
• The environment
• Fair operating practices
• Consumer issues
• Community involvement and
development

6. Guidelines for Social Lifecycle Assessment of
Products
• Developed by United Nations
Environmental Programme
• Increase decision-makers’
awareness of more sustainable life
cycle stages.
• Provide holistic assessments of the
implications of a product’s life cycle
for the environment and the
society.
• Offer guidance to reduce
environmental degradation
increase the environmental,
economic and social benefits
Criteria include
• Human rights
• Working conditions
• Health and safety
• Cultural heritage
• Governance

7. Findings
• GRI, ISO and GSLAP methodologies are relevant and have useful
concepts that can be applied to the CBA project.
• None of these methodologies can be readily be applied to compare
social and economic impacts of building products in South Africa
• The GSLAP methodology comes closest to this requirements. It will
however require standardisation to support comparability.

8. Sustainable Building Material Index
• Methodology for measuring, and
representing, key environmental, social and
economic sustainability impacts of building
products.
• Comparisons: Enables comparisons
between materials.
• Alignment: with lifecycle methodology, but
simpler
• Suitable for developing country context
• Sustainability: Can be used by Architects,
Developers, Manufacturers and
Government to achieve sustainability
objectives

9. SBMI approach
Product impacts Functional units

10. SBMI data and analysis
Resource depletion
List all materials used to produce construction products during analysis period
Type of material Source Amount Units Conversion factor Equivalents
Clay Onsite 160 000 kg 1 160 000
Coal Town (5km) 2 400 kg 1 2 400
Ash Burgersdorp (56km) 280 000 kg 0
Any others
Total 162 400
162 400
0.54
60
2
Resource consumption per year (kg/year)
Resource consumption per unit of production
Resource consumption per functional unit
SBMI rating
SBMI Lower Upper Units
0 100 0 - 9 Resource consumption per functional unit
1 80 99 Resource consumption per functional unit
2 60 79 Resource consumption per functional unit
3 40 59 Resource consumption per functional unit
4 20 39 Resource consumption per functional unit
5 0 19 Resource consumption per functional unit
Data
Normalisation
SBMI

11. SBMI criteria and report
Ecological
• Resource consumption
• Carbon emissions
• Water consumption
• Land use
• Waste
Human Development
• Employment
• Enterprise support
• Mentoring
• Training
• Health and safety
• Absenteeism

12. SBMI application: Informal brickmaking
water supply
brick forming
bricks for sale
drying bricks
homestead
ash
clay
waste bricks

13. Site information
Owner
• Has worked on site for 20 years and moved once to access clay
• Lives on site with family
Area
• 1 of about 32 site currently active (in the top 10 producers)
• Numbers of active sites reduced from about 69 in 2012
• Some sites used sporadically, by house owners producing their own bricks
Site
• Site area approx 3,000m2 (no defined boundary)
• Consists of forming area, drying, firing, storage, water tank, dwelling,
stores
Production
• 300,000 bricks a year; 200,000 blue bricks, 100,000 red bricks (regarded
as non-compliant)
Employment
• 3 permanent, 7 casual
Inputs
• Ash from Burgersdorp (58km), coal from Alliwal North (5km), clay
on site

14. Recommendations
1. Production processes and quality control: Practical training, technical manual and
quality control. Increase number of compliant (200,000 compliant to 300,000
bricks/year)
2. Rainwater harvesting: Direct runoff to onsite tanks / offsite dams to reduce carbon
emissions and cost associated with pumping (50% reduction in pumping requirement)
3. Absenteeism: Life skill training and incentives to reduce absenteeism and increase
production. (17 days a month to 22 days a month employment)
4. Marketing: Marketing and business development enterprise on site. Paid on retainer
or as a % fee of sales. (1day a month)
5. Training and quality assurance enterprise: Training, quality control enterprise.
Paid on retainer, or as a % fee of sales. (1day a month per employee & per
enterprise)
6. Mentoring: Introduce Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). Access SETA funding for
training, RPL and formal mentoring programme.(1day per employee a month and per
enterprise)
7. Local procurement: Lobby local and provincial government to include local products
in their specifications and procurement policy.
8. Awareness: Develop publicity about the products and market to local developers,
architects and home builders.

15. Existing
Proposed
SUSTAINABLE BUILDING MATERIAL INDEX (SBMI) V2
Site address Thabisile site, Dukathole, Alliwall North
Analysis period 31 July 2014 - 1 August 2014
Analysis period (days) 365
Health and safety
Training
Resource consumption
Carbon emissions
Water consumption
Land use
Waste
Ecological
Human development
Overall
0
0
0
0
2.17
1.67
Mentoring
Health and safety
1.92
Ecological
Pollution
Human Development
Employee absenteeism
2
2
2
2
5
0
4
3
Employment
Enterprise employment
Training
Resource consumption
5
4
3
2
1
0
Carbon emissions
Water consumption
Land use
Waste
Pollution
Employment
Enterprise
Mentoring
Absenteeism
SUSTAINABLE BUILDING MATERIAL INDEX (SBMI) V2
Site address Thabisile site, Dukathole, Alliwall North
Analysis period 31 July 2014 - 1 August 2014
Analysis period (days) 365
Health and safety
Training
Resource consumption
Carbon emissions
Water consumption
Land use
Waste
Ecological
Human development
Overall
5
5
2
1
3.00
3.83
Mentoring
Health and safety
3.42
Ecological
Pollution
Human Development
Employee absenteeism
3
3
3
4
5
0
4
3
Employment
Enterprise employment
Training
Resource consumption
5
4
3
2
1
0
Carbon emissions
Water consumption
Land use
Waste
Pollution
Employment
Enterprise
Mentoring
Absenteeism

16. Conclusions & recommendations
Criteria
• Insufficient data to use ‘pollution’
Process
• Works well with informal producers
• Provides clear framework for improvement
• Proposed interventions indicate requirements from other role players –
promotes local linked systems
Summary
• Interventions to support quality and ensure reliable access to markets are
important