Managing Green and Sustainable Construction Projects: A Computational Analysis of Associated Risks and Challenges for Improved Performance

Green and sustainable building practices have emerged as effective strategies to address the environmental challenges posed by the construction industry. This includes unsustainable resource utilization, excessive waste production, greenhouse gas emissions, and high energy consumption. However, the integration of green and sustainable initiatives in construction introduces distinct risks and challenges that affect project management and may lead to claims and disputes. To this end, and while previous research examined dispute causation across various aspects of the construction industry, there is limited investigation of the unique and complex nature of risks and challenges—and consequently conflicts, claims, and disputes—arising specifically from the integration of green and sustainable practices or objectives into construction projects. This paper addresses this knowledge gap through a multistep research methodology. First, 46 litigation cases involving disputes related to green and sustainable construction activities and projects in the US were collected and analyzed. Second, network and clustering analyses were employed to visualize and categorize the groups of factors contributing to disputes in green construction. Third, association rule analysis (ARA) was conducted to identify critical co-occurrences of factors that lead to disputes. The results identified a total of 41 interconnected dispute factors, which were categorized into three distinct clusters. The application of the ARA revealed several significant associations among these factors, with the primary dispute themes relating to (1) intellectual property and design utilization; (2) contract administration and change management; (3) lack of transparency and qualification issues; (4) negligence and contractual compliance; (5) work quality and remediation; and (6) environmental impact and legal compliance. The findings of this study promote more effective management of green and sustainable construction projects. Ultimately, this provides the associated stakeholders with guidance for proactively mitigating risks and disputes to improve project outcomes.