Abstract—Recently, the UAE government endorsed the design and implementation of green buildings to increase energy efficiency. This means that construction fraternity would need to move from the conventional construction, i.e. Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU), towards sustainable methods such as Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF). However, the cost is an issue when it comes to green buildings. Therefore, this paper looks into a green construction method, i.e. insulated concrete form, and determines problems faced by construction industry for its implementation with the help of a survey. It was found out that changes in codes and regulations are necessary to integrate and encourage the use of insulated concrete formwork. Moreover, results also depict that less proportion of people had previous experiences with insulated concrete forms. Regardless, all respondents have strongly agreed that the increase in publicity of insulated concrete formwork, and encouraging the use of green materials in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) are essential to convince construction society to adopt such methods. Future research can be done on the Life Cycle Cost Analysis of an insulated concrete formed villa to determine the overall cost. This will include factors such as initial cost, maintenance cost, and salvage value.
 

Index Terms—awareness, benefits, barriers, construction, insulated concrete forms

Cite: Syed W. Ather, Saud AbdelAziz, Ibrahim A. Salloum, Abdullah N. Marzouk, and Sameh M. El-Sayegh, "Assessment on the Usage of Insulated Concrete Forms in United Arab Emirates Construction Industry," International Journal of Structural and Civil Engineering Research, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 187-191, August 2016. doi: 10.18178/ijscer.5.3.187-191