PRE-DESIGN PROCESS AND OPPURTUNITIES FOR SUSTAINABILITY: A STUDY OF STAKEHOLDERS IN ABUJA

Project delivery methods are comprehensive processes whereby major designers, and constructors, and various other consultants will provide various services for the design and the construction of buildings in order to deliver a complete building or services to the owner (Migliaccio et al., 2008). The buildings cycle starts with the development of a basic idea or concepts originating from planning or pre-design phase (Pearce 2012). As such, the phase majorly focuses on defining the key elements of aesthetics, functional as well as physical requirements and constraints towards achieving the desired building. It will also involve the identification of any budget constraints, scheduling constraints, and also legal and regulatory constraints that must be taken into account during project design (Venegas 1987). Materials acquisition , and energy and waste from the building during the buildings life cycle contributes to the effects that buildings have on the site and surrounding environments and the greatest opportunity at which these can be influenced ultimately presents itself at the pre-design phase of the project before the facility has begun to take be built. Sustainability as defined by the Brundtland Commission defines sustainability as developments which meet the needs of the present without it being able to compromise the ability of future generations to meeting their own needs (Brundtland, 1987). This study focuses attention on pre-design process and opportunities for sustainability by stakeholders in Abuja to include Architects, clients, project managers and financiers. A quantitative method of research was adopted where questionnaires were administered to identified stakeholders. The data collected was statistically analysed with SPSS software. The expected contributions to knowledge are to reveal the enormous sustainability opportunities that exist at the pre-design stage to the stakeholders in Abuja, secondly to reveal the possibilities of sustainability to stakeholders in Abuja. Thirdly Suggestions would be highlighted of design features for a more sustainable building