DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE ASSESSMENT METHOD AND DESIGN TOOL FOR EXISTING AND TRADITIONAL BUILDINGS IN JORDAN

In the last ten years, numerous Sustainability Assessment Systems have been developed worldwide to provide construction stakeholders tools that help in achieving better sustainable development. Jordan developed its own Green Building Guideline in 2013 for new buildings but unfortunately, the guideline hasn’t included any criteria for existing or traditional buildings. The main objective of this study is to develop a sustainable Assessment Method for existing and traditional buildings to assist both public and private construction sectors in Jordan in achieving more sustainable buildings. The adopted methodology is based on in-depth analysis of three leading international green building rating systems, which are: LEED and BREEAM and Green Globes, from which a system was developed to meet the requirements of the Jordanian National Building Code. It is expected that the implementation of the developed sustainability assessment method will ease the process of measuring sustainability of existing and traditional buildings and therefore will highlight the importance of traditional architecture to set out fundamental principles for contemporary green housing construction.