School of Built Environment (SBE) Collections

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    Investigating the Impacts of Future Climate and Land use/Land cover Change on River Discharge in the Manafwa River Basin
    (Makerere University, 2026-03) Musoke, Isa
    Land use/land cover (LULC) and climate are the most crucial drivers that shape the hydrological cycle, influencing infiltration, evapotranspiration, runoff generation, and groundwater recharge. While previous studies have provided valuable literature about the impacts of these drivers on river discharge, most assessments remain limited to historical and present conditions, leaving the future impacts of climate and LULC underexplored. Consequently, the lack of understanding of future river discharge behaviour hinders informed decision-making in water resource management and disaster preparedness. Guided by the main objective of investigating the impacts of future climate and land use/land cover on river discharge, this study applied the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), which integrates historical analysis and future scenario assessment. Specifically, the study sought to determine LULC change in the Manafwa River Basin from 2000 to 2040 and to examine how projected climate and LULC conditions influence river discharge under different future scenarios. Historical LULC maps for 2000, 2010, and 2020 were generated using Random Forest classifier and projected to 2030 and 2040 using TerrSet’s Land Change Modeler based on historical LULC maps and drivers of change. Climate data was obtained from the NEX-GDDP-CMIP6 dataset and three Global Circulation Models (GCMs) were used to create an ensemble of three models, from which past and future climate were obtained. The SWAT model was then parameterized/calibrated and validated with observed stream flow data. Thereafter, scenario simulations were carried out using the separation method. Results indicate that LULC changes alone substantially modify basin hydrology, with mean discharge projected to increase by 4.49% (from 12.70 m³/s to 13.275 m³/s) between 2000 and 2040, alongside rising peak flows and reduced minimum flows due to vegetation loss and agricultural expansion. However, climate change scenarios greatly amplify hydrological extremes, with mean discharge projected to 14.01 m³/s (10.31%) by 2030 and 14.45 m³/s (13.78%) by 2040 under high emission pathways SSP2 and SSP5 respectively, peak flows were exceeding 20 m³/s, and minimum flows increasing to 6.507 m³/s. These findings indicate that, while climate change emerges as the dominant driver of future river discharge variability, LULC
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    Assessing the impact of biomass on gaseous emissions from traditional brick kilns
    (Makerere University, 2025) Ankunda, Sherly
    The traditional brick making process remains essential to Uganda's construction sector and primarily depends on the burning of biomass fuels, such as hardwood in clamp kilns, which are temporary and unregulated. However, the environmental implications of this process, particularly pollutant emissions during firing, remain underexplored. This study, therefore, addresses this gap by assessing the impact of biomass on gaseous emissions from traditional brick kilns in the Ugandan construction sector. The study employed a cross-sectional design that involved fieldbased emission measurement to obtain CO2, CO, NO and NOx; and laboratory tests to obtain the calorific value and moisture content of hardwood samples. Emissions were measured for approximately 2 hours per kiln using a flue gas analyzer across 63 traditional kilns in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA). The results demonstrate that hardwood biomass, mainly species like eucalyptus and mugavu, is dominating owing to its availability and energy content. Nonetheless, poor combustion technology, together with the increasing moisture content of certain biomass varieties, result in increased emissions. Fuel moisture content varied from 11-18%, with calorific values ranging from 11-27 MJ/Kg. Fuel quantities used were between 2.3 to 12.65 tonnes. Higher moisture content was negatively associated with calorific value and fuel quantity used, suggesting potential precombustion preparation issues impacting kiln efficiency and emissions. Emissions analysis revealed significant CO (273-3,899 ppm) and CO2 (4,716-91,786 ppm) concentrations, indicative of inefficient combustion. NOx was negligible due to low nitrogen in the fuel. Fuel-based emission factors were 18.81 ± 9.84 g/kg for CO and 500.82 ± 313.85 g/kg for CO2. Moisture content and calorific value significantly influenced CO emissions, while only calorific value impacted CO2. This research addresses a critical knowledge deficiency in Uganda's emissions inventory and advocates for the advancement of cleaner biomass alternatives and enhanced kiln designs. The findings serve as a significant reference for environmental regulators, architects, and quantity surveyors aiming to integrate sustainability indicators into building procurement and materials planning.
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    Technical project report for the construction of the new office block in Pallisa DLG, Pallisa District.
    (Makerere University, 2025) Mei, Xiaoming
    Effective administration is one of the main responsibilities of the Government of Uganda. One of the ways to achieve this is through the establishment of local administrative units in districts which act as local governments. For this to happen, it requires the construction and operation of sustainable infrastructure such as administrative buildings at local government headquarters which are a base and center for decentralized government of districts and municipalities and provides space for civil servants to execute their duties diligently. These administrative centres are points of service delivery and act as a reference of address for any government program to be extended to the community. The Government of Uganda is committed to a physical infrastructure development program as per the National Development Plan II1 (2020/21-2024/25) and Uganda Vision 2040. Pallisa DLG, in the financial year 2018/2019 budgeted and allocated funds from its budgetary allocations from the sector development grant of DDEG, towards the construction of a new administrative block at her headquarters in an effort to provide a conducive working office and administrative space for the civil servants employed at the district. The driving motivation for the conception of this project was the issue of modernization since it is a requirement for local governments to have proper and standard administrative office buildings which are home to the district leadership, technical staff and other personnel who are responsible with extending government services to the citizens of the country, especially the residents of the locality. The existing staff accommodation/offices had served their design life and had started developing major defaults which paused a danger to the occupants. Execution work for the project implementation was planned in phases considering the inability to secure the entire project cost at once, and the scope of works which was expected to span over a period of 5 - 6 financial years.
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    Supervision of construction of Kamuda Seed Secondary School in Soroti District
    (Makerere University, 2025) Opit, James.
    The construction of Kamuda Seed Secondary School is aimed at equitable access to quality lower secondary education in underserved areas, ensuring that infrastructure and instructional resources support the learning needs of all students in Kamuda Sub County in Soroti District. This will enhance access to and improve the quality of secondary education, thereby increasing enrollment, reduce congestion and improve learner’s academic performance in line with the Mission of Ministry of Education and Sports. This project report entails the project management practices applied and acquired during the construction of Kamuda Seed Secondary School in Soroti. The specific objectives of the study were to describe the project management practices applied during the construction of Kamuda Seed Secondary School in Soroti, to describe the project implementation process and methodologies applied, key management decisions and to evaluate the lessons learned and challenges encountered during construction of Kamuda Seed Secondary School in Soroti. The project management practices applied included; cost, quality, time and scope management. Finally, the reporter was able to draw conclusions and appropriate recommendations from the project challenges and management issues are presented for improvement of the implementation of the various construction projects.
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    An assessment of the urban public parking management in Uganda : a case study of Kampala city.
    (Makerere University, 2026) Nakanwagi, Orashida
    The purpose of this study was to assess the management of public parking in Kampala city with a special focus on the city’s Central Business District (CBD). A mixed methods research design was used in carrying out thisstudy. Key research methods used in the study include: questionnaires, face- to -face interviews and observation. Under this study, 328 questionnaires were used and distributed to collect quantitative data. Face - to- face interviews targeted key informants to collect qualitative data. Respondents for the questionnaires were selected using convenience sampling technique while purposive sampling was used to select respondents for the face -to -face interviews. Data collected using qusetionnaires was processed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. Qualitative data that was collected from the key informants and analyzed thematically. Findings revealed the underutilization of the majority of studied parking facilities based on their parking indexes. For parking facilities along Kampala-road, the Parking Index was indicated as 49.88% and 57.5% on a weekday and a weekend respectively. Results for parking facilities along Buganda-road showed that the Parking Index was 60.733% and 31.45% on a weekday and a weekend respectively. Besides, the Parking Index for William Street was 42.1% and 55.74% on a weekday and a weekend respectively. The Parking Index for Watoto Parking Lot was 83.07% and 68.86% on a weekday and a weekend respectively. For Mercantile multi-storied parking facility, the parking index was 75.96% and 56.37% on a weekday and a weekend respectively. Lastly, the Parking Index for Mabirizi basement parking was 27.7% and 35% on a weekday and a weekend respectively. Based on the Importance Performance Analysis (IPA), the customer satisfaction Index (CSI) was 52.4% indicating a moderately satisfaction level of the parking management in Kampala among motorists and drivers. However, from the fifteen public parking management attributes that were studied, only four (4) of them that included affordability of parking, availability of parking spaces, accessibility to parking spaces as well Safety and security of the vehicles were accorded the greatest importance by the drivers. Consequently, the existing public parking management system in Kampala was found to be inneficient. Based on the study results, it is important to introduce a coherent and comprehensive public parking policy to guide investors, transport regulators and motorists in Kampala city.Recommended also is the preparation of a public parking design manual to guide the gazetment of off-street and on-street parking, establishment of car free zones in the CBD to manage rising demand for parking and improve traffic flow, promotion of city densification and mixed- use development programmes, adoption of new parking technology to enhance efficiency, attracting more investment in multi-storied car parking facilities through public private partnerships (PPPs) as well as establishment of park and ride facilities along public transit corridors such as the proposed bus rapid transit (BRT) stations, passenger railway stations.