Dyna, year 80, Nro. 182, pp. 15-24. Medellin, December, 2013. ISSN 0012-7353 ASSESSING SUSTAINABILITY WITHIN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY BY MEANS OF A COMPOSITE INDICATOR EVALUACIÓN DE LA SOSTENIBILIDAD DE LA INDUSTRIA DE LA CONSTRUCCIÓN MEDIANTE UN INDICADOR COMPUESTO OSCAR O. ORTIZ-RODRÍGUEZ PhD., Universidad de Pamplona. Pamplona, Colombia, oscarortiz@unipamplona.edu.co RAFAEL G. GARCÍA-CÁCERES PhD., Escuela Colombiana de Ingeniería “Julio Garavito”. Bogotá, Colombia, rafael.garcia@escuelaing.edu.co Received for review June 19 th , 2012, accepted April 17th, 2013, fnal version May, 24 th , 2013 ABSTRACT: As a result of the Agenda 21, presented nearly two decades ago, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) were set and must be met by the year 2015. Nowadays, governments, researchers, engineers, environmental scientists and other stakeholders involved in the industry are working more jointed for improving environmental and socio-economic indicators for sustainability of the Building Industry. The relevance of the residential building sector is evident for its fast growing rate during the last two decades. This paper presents an analysis on the sustainability of the residential building sector in two different countries: Colombia and Spain, by measuring and evaluating a composite indicator (CI). A factor analysis (FA) with principal components extraction was employed to calculate the CI in order to evaluate the evolution of the residential building sector in two core aspects: socio and economic conditions. KEYWORDS: Composite indicator, sustainability, building sector RESUMEN: Como resultado de la Agenda 21, planteada cerca de dos décadas atrás, fueron fjados los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio que deben cumplirse para el año 2015. Hoy día, gobiernos, investigadores, ingenieros, ambientalistas y otros actores involucrados en la industria han unido esfuerzos para mejorar indicadores socioeconómicos y medioambientales para la sostenibilidad de la Industria de la Construcción. La relevancia del sector de la construcción residencial se manifesta en su fuerte tasa de crecimiento durante las últimas dos décadas. Este trabajo presenta un análisis de la sostenibilidad mediante la medición y evaluación de un indicador compuesto que puede infuir en las condiciones socioeconómicas de dos países: Colombia y España. Se utilizó un análisis factorial con extracción de componentes principales para calcular el indicador compuesto y evaluar la evolución del sector de la construcción residencial en los dos países en dos aspectos claves: sociales y económicos. PALABRAS CLAVE: Indicador compuesto, sostenibilidad, sector de la construcción. 1. INTRODUCTION There have been plenty of defnitions of sustainability and sustainable development, but most agree that both terms can be described as enhancing quality of life and thus allowing people to live in a healthy environment and improve social, economic and environmental conditions for present and future generations [1]. Since the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), published the work “Our Common Future in 1987”, sustainable development has gained much attention in all nations. This report called for a strategy that united development and the environment through of a declaration that defne Sustainable Development as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs [Ibid]. The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was created in 1989 to promote an action plan on the progress of the Agenda 21. The Agenda 21 is a strategic document adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, for which indicators for monitoring progress towards sustainable development are needed in order to assist decision- makers and policy-makers at all levels and to increase focus on sustainable development [2]. The construction industry is a worldwide key sector and a highly active one in both developed and developing countries, which is particularly relevant in these days of economic renewal activities by governments. This