Abstract
The term ‘sustainability’ has gained much recognition throughout various implementation
stages of projects in different industries, which also includes the construction industry. It has
become a development factor which now serves as a success criterion for measuring project
performance. Although the incorporation of sustainability into projects is encouraged in the
construction industry, there is, however, a gap in the manner and degree of incorporation,
especially in developing countries. Often, aspects such as time, quality and profit outweigh
sustainability considerations during construction. There seems to be a lack of information
concerning how project management competencies can be deployed towards enabling an
effective incorporation of sustainability dimensions into different phases of a construction
project’s lifecycle. The aim of the study is to establish the critical project management
competencies required for effective incorporation of sustainability dimensions across the
lifecycle of construction projects in South Africa. Adopting a Delphi Technique as the strategy
of choice, a panel of participants (n=20) were purposively selected for the purposes of the
study. Data was elicited through questionnaires over two iterations. The feedback from these
iterations were analysed using descriptive statistics (median). Delphi questionnaires were used
to gather data from a purposively selected sample of built environment (BE) professionals
practising within the Free State province of South Africa. The questionnaires were structured
in a manner which show cased how sustainability reflects on the competencies of Project
Management to allow for project success. Findings from the study indicated that there is a mix
of Project Management competencies which includes planning, organizing, leadership and
technical knowledge, which are required for successful incorporation of sustainable
development dimensions at different phases of the construction project lifecycle. The study
also recommends that factors such as continuous training which can assist Project Managers in
incorporating sustainability across a construction project lifecycle be implemented.