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Opportunities for construction
Although the benefits of sustainability are increasingly understood, it can still be difficult to justify investing in buildings that are more sustainable, particularly if first cost is higher. However, life cycle cost assessments often prove longer term returns on sustainability investments can be higher than traditional property returns. This summary table provides details of commonly perceived barriers to shifting towards more sustainable markets and identifies opportunities to support development of a business case for sustainability in the construction sector.
Ingredients for success
- Obtain top level sponsorship and direction - Achieve clear, visible commitment and leadership on sustainable development objectives from the outset of the project, supported by an agreed set of priority sustainability outcomes which are factored in at each stage of the project. This will support complex problem solving and help to rethink how the sector can achieve more sustainable outcomes more often. See the Carillion case study ‘Embedding Sustainability within the Organisation’ for further details.
- Include sustainability project criteria selection - Create an effective tool for cost-effective and efficient change by including sustainability in project selection criteria and helping make sustainable property options easier to appraise and select. For more details, see the Schroder Property case study ‘Sustainable Property and Investment: Croydon Gateway example’.
- Make choosing sustainable options easier - Take action to clearly demonstrate which sustainable development options may be cheaper and provide measurable benefits to clients and contractors. For example, the Crest Nicholson case study, ‘Construction Waste Management Plans’.
- Engage the client - Make sure the end user/client/occupier is engaged in the project from the outset and that they have been able to communicate their own specific sustainable development requirements which may significantly impact on the design and execution of the project. See PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) case study ‘Embedding Sustainability in Development and Design Decision-making’ for more details.
- Identify and measure sustainable development value - Take action to establish the key areas of sustainable development related value (financial and non-financial, short term and long term) for the project’s different stakeholders and establish a measurement framework to enable this value to be captured and communicated to key stakeholders. See the Arup case study on Kingspan Insulation ‘Improving Company Performance through SPeAR’ for more information.
- Deliver sustainable development objectives throughout the life of the project - Make sure that the agreed sustainable development priorities are driven through at each stage of the project and not compromised by competing priorities. For more details see the British Land case study ‘Systems and Processes to Embed Sustainability’.