Biophilic Construction Site Model: Enhancing the Motivational and Humanistic Value of the Green Construction Site

Abstract

85% of a construction worker’s work-day is spent on the construction site. This means that a large part of a worker’s health and wellbeing could depend on the construction site and its environs. Construction work, which is inherently stressful due to the ever present threat of fatalities and injuries, compromises the ergonomic reality and human sustenance on construction sites. This necessitates the need to create a beneficial and comfortable environment that is motivational, inspirational, and healing. The biophilic construction site model (BCSM) which involves methodology of ‘greening construction sites’, is proposed as a healthy means of tapping into the natural resources of the construction site environment. It is intended to create a comfort zone on the construction site that would generate a symbiotic benefit to enhance its humanistic value and engender the health and wellbeing and creative performance of workers. The paper reports on a case study in the form of a focus group study and a comparative analysis of two similar construction sites in the Northern Cape region of South Africa. The findings present the healthy inter-nurture existing between a living construction site and its human occupants as a cost effective psychotherapeutic intervention in sustainable sites initiative and ergonomics, which according to research findings is as of yet missing in the construction management body of knowledge (CMBOK). The paper conclusively recommends the ‘greening of construction sites’; specifically the inclusion of plants within site offices, welfare facilities and worksite premises; as a relevant means of harnessing nature’s healing and rejuvenating essence towards a more productive goal in construction.