Congratulation, Marco Scherz, PhD!

We would like to congratulate Marco Scherz for the successful completion of his PhD thesis titled „Life cycle assessment-based procurement of buildings using the systemic know-why planning process“ under the supervision of Prof. Alexander Passer and Dr.Helmuth Kreiner. The PhD thesis was successfully defended on December 05, 2023 at Graz University of Technology. The examination committee was composed of Prof. Alexander Passer, Prof. Alexander Hollberg and Prof. Daniela Fuchs-Hanusch.

This study builds upon the recent EU directive on public procurement, advocating for the allocation of building contracts based on life cycle costing and consideration of external environmental impacts. To mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in the construction sector, the researcher introduces the "LCA-based bonus/malus system," a cost model that incorporates environmental building performance into bid prices and facilitates award decisions. Additionally, a hierarchical reference-based know-why model is utilized to uncover interactions between planning decisions, facilitating the future implementation of an environmentally optimized planning process through life cycle assessment (LCA) for building procurement. The development of these models establishes the groundwork for advancing a more environmentally friendly building procurement process in Austria, paving the way for further implementation steps.