Exploration of critical resources and capabilities of design firms for delivering green building projects: Empirical studies in Singapore

• A literature review was made to identify the resources and capabilities needed for success in delivering green building projects.
• The critical capability of design firms was identified through data analysis collected by questionnaire survey.
• Two case studies were investigated to further shed more light on the statistical results.

Green Building (GB) has attracted more attention in recent years and many studies have been conducted in project delivery of GB. In Singapore, the compulsory requirement of Green Mark, one certification for GB, drives the rapid development of GB Market. The purpose of this research is to identify the critical resources and capabilities of design firms that should be cultivated in order to help their projects achieve higher ratings of Green Mark effectively. Firstly, potential important organizational factors were explored through literature review. Then, these factors are ranked based on data collected in a questionnaire survey. “Experience and knowledge in GB”, “organizational green culture” “innovation capability” were found more important than other factors. Finally, the findings were tested by using a qualitative case study approach and two case companies in Singapore were investigated. The results of case studies not only validated the findings obtained from quantitative analysis, but also provided more in-depth additional reasons for the identified factors.