Adoption and Barriers of Engineered Bamboo Products in the Nigerian Construction Industry

Abstract

The rise in the cost of conventional construction materials and the greenhouse effect from construction activities have been an issue of concern to stakeholders in the construction industry. Hence, efforts have been concentrated on developing low-cost, environmentally friendly and sustainable local materials to mitigate the greenhouse effect. The quest for the sustainable materials necessitates the study to examine the prospects of adoption of engineered bamboo products and the challenges militating against its use among construction professionals. A quantitative approach was adopted and 70 questionnaires were distributed among construction professionals with structural engineering background in selected firms across Lagos State. Data collected were processed using percentage, mean item score and KruskalWallis’s test. Facts garnered from the study revealed that engineered bamboo adoption for construction related works like ceiling, flooring, and reinforcement among others is not outstanding. The poor implementation of the engineered bamboo products is attributed to some challenges which include ‘high affinity for conventional materials’, ‘unavailability of bamboo products’ and ‘lack of machinery to refine raw bamboo’ among others. Therefore, the study recommends that stakeholders need to channel more resources into research and development and creating an enabling policy that can enhance the bamboo products adoption.