The American Society of Civil Engineers set three pillars of sustainability, the triple bottom
line approach, revolving around the environment, economy and equity. This approach
is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations. Activities
undertaken in any construction project must follow this approach and must be audited to
validate their impact on sustainability. Geotechnical projects lack an audit/assessment tool
encompassing the triple bottom line. Efforts were made to modify SPeAR (Sustainable
Project Appraisal Routine) into Geotechnical SPeAR, but the system lacks the quantification
scale as used by Environmental Geotechnics Indicators. The study aims to develop
a new tool called Geo-SAT (Geotechnical Sustainability Assessment Tool), overcoming
these limitations, incorporating engineering as a vital pillar. Geo-SAT is based on indicators
quantified on a scale of 1 (detrimental) to 5 (significantly improved) to assess the
impact of actions taken or considered, on sustainability. The total number of indicators
developed is 169 out of which 79 are specific to the triple bottom line approach and 90 to
engineering. These indicators are generic and can be used for geotechnical projects with
the flexibility of exclusion as per the nature of the project. The different fields targeted
are dams, foundations, landslides, contaminated site remediation, soil and erosion control,
offshore construction and transportation. This tool will serve as a potential code of sustainability
for geotechnical projects.
بديع الشميري | Badee Alshameri | 6295