Comparative Qualitative Assessment of High-Performance Sustainable Building Practices in Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana.

Abstract

Rapid urbanisation across coastal West Africa has intensified the demand for high-rise residential, commercial, and institutional buildings while simultaneously increasing energy consumption, urban heat stress, and environmental vulnerability. This study comparatively assesses sustainable building practices in selected high-performance buildings in Lagos, Nigeria and Accra, Ghana, to identify context-specific sustainability strategies applicable to tropical urban environments. A qualitative multiple case study approach was adopted, involving six purposively selected buildings chosen based on their sustainability relevance, prominence within their respective cities, and availability of documented performance information. The selected case studies comprise Eko Pearl Tower, Nestoil Tower, and Kingsway Tower in Lagos and the Nearly Zero-Energy Building (nZEB), Ecobank Ghana Head Office, and Ashesi University, Berekuso, in Accra. Data were obtained from architectural publications, project documentation, sustainability reports and other secondary sources. The buildings were evaluated across six sustainability performance domains: energy efficiency, passive climate design, water management, material sustainability, indoor environmental quality, and regulatory alignment. The findings reveal that Lagos developments place greater emphasis on technological resilience, centralised environmental control systems, and infrastructural modernisation. In contrast, the Accra case studies demonstrate stronger integration of passive climate-responsive design, resource efficiency, and sustainability-oriented governance. The study concludes that sustainable building performance in tropical West African cities is enhanced when passive design strategies are integrated with efficient technologies and supported by enabling policy and institutional frameworks.