Robots con Patas

Throughout the last decade, sustainable construction has emerged as a public discussion and has become a topic of policy, research and innovation. The term ‘sustainable construction’ was firstly purposed to define the responsibility of the construction industry for attaining sustainability/sustainable development. Several definitions have emerged. However, there has been a different definition of sustainable construction. Charles Kibert, during The First International Conference on Sustainable Construction in Tampa, 1994, defined sustainable construction as ‘creating and operating a healthy built environment based on resources efficient and

ecological principles’ (cited in Du Plessis, 2007: p.69). Du Plessis (2007) defines it

as ‘a holistic process aiming to restore and maintain harmony between the natural

and built environment and create settlements to affirm human dignity and encourage economic equity’. Kibert (2003) defines sustainable construction as the creation and

operation of a healthy built environment based on resource efficiency and ecological principles. The term ‘sustainable construction’ is described as the application of sustainable development in the construction industry (Al-Yami and Price, 2006). However, Khalfan et al. (2002) describe sustainable construction as a subset of sustainable development, which encapsulates matters such as design, tendering, site planning and organisation, material selection, recycling, and waste minimisation. Du Plessis et al. (2002) define sustainable construction as ‘a holistic process aiming to

restore and maintain harmony between the natural and the built environments, and create settlements and affirm human dignity and encourage economic equity’ (p.8).

These definitions take sustainable construction beyond reducing adverse impacts, but include the restoration of the environment and identifying the socio-economic aspects of sustainable development as well as defining goals towards sustainable development through sustainable construction. These definitions are not wholly satisfactory, but they identity with the three aspects of sustainable development. Nevertheless, sustainable construction can be classified into demolishing, and new build, and sustainable retrofit of existing housing stock. Of course, as the name suggests, ‘demolition and new build’ means building a new structure from demolition to groundwork and the entire construction process, including finishing and handover with sustainable or low carbon materials, considering three sustainable

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development factors. However, sustainable retrofitting means the refurbishment of an existing building with low carbon materials to improve energy efficiency. Further discussion on sustainable retrofitting can be seen in Section 2.10.

2.8.1 Sustainable construction in the UK

In the UK, there is commitment and effort towards achieving sustainable development set out in five sustainable development strategies (SDS) to secure the future of the country in relation to environmental degradation. Those five strategies are referred to as the ‘guiding principles’ of sustainable development, and they include living within the planet’s environmental limits, ensuring a strong, healthy and just society, achieving a sustainable economy, promoting good governance, and using sound science responsibly (DEFRA, 2011). Such commitment to sustainable construction is referred to as building a better quality of life – a strategy for more

sustainable construction (DETR, 2000a). Since the agenda has been made public,

the sustainable construction agenda has been taken forward through a dynamic partnership between the government and the industry. As a result of that, there have been several developments, which are summarised below.

 There has been an increase in the number of voluntary policies, legislation, regulations, economic measures, and fiscal incentives, such as Landfill Tax, Climate Change Levy, Aggregates Levy, Renewable Grant Schemes, Land Use Incentives, and changes to Building Regulations.

 The Building Regulations, the Planning White Paper, the Communities Plan and the Energy White Paper have been amended to reflect the sustainable construction agenda. There are several joint initiatives to promote awareness, capacity building, and reporting mechanisms, such as Global Reporting Initiatives, CIRIA’s industry sustainability indicators, the sustainable construction task force, and the sustainable building task force.

 Sectors within the industry (e.g. steel, concrete, brick, and civil engineering) have developed their sustainability strategies and action plans and have started reporting on progress.

 A host of sustainable construction project initiatives have emerged providing tangible evidence of positive outcomes such as Rethinking Construction, the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), and the Sustainable Construction Road Show (SCRS).

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 The government nationwide has funded research centres in relation to sustainable construction. The centres have organised numerous conferences and have published books and journals. These publications are available in universities and are used in offering various courses and degrees in different fields.

 There exists a plethora of research on sustainable construction concepts, including tools, frameworks, technologies, materials, energy systems, water conservation systems, waste minimisation, recycling techniques, alternative materials, and environmental management. The results are available as publications (e.g. CIRIA reports), digests (e.g. BRE), guidance notes (e.g. Environment Agency Pollution Prevention Guidance (EAPPG), videos, and training packs.

However, the UK government has introduced a wide range of measures to promote competitiveness, such as the Enterprise Strategy, Enterprise: unlocking the UK’s talent (DBIS, 2008a) and the Innovation White Paper, Innovation Nation (DBIS, 2008b). For the UK to achieve its environmental targets, the government has to first collaborate with the construction industry to demonstrate that a change was needed and second, implement a strategic reform in the manner in which the industry operated to improve both environmental standards and national sustainability. Thus, the introduction of a strategy for achieving sustainable construction. This strategy is developed by the government and the industry to focus on sustainability in construction (HMG, 2008). The strategy is a joint industry and government initiative and is intended to promote leadership and behavioural change, as well as to deliver substantial benefits to both the industry and the broader economy (HMG, 2008). However, this strategy complements the Action Plan for Civil Engineering published in July 2007 (DTTP, 2007), but it does not encompass some of the broader issues facing developers such as planning (DCLG, 2012b), the management of the existing built environment (NPBEC, 2016), and transport policy (HCEAC, 2016). The HMG (2008) outlines important targets agreed in the strategy that is believed would radically change the sustainability practice in the construction industry including:

 Increasing profitability through the efficient use of resources;

 Encouraging firms to secure the opportunities offered by sustainable products or ways of working; and

 Enhancing the company’s image and profile in the marketplace by addressing issues relating to corporate and social responsibility.

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The HMG (2008) states that the purpose of the strategy is aimed at providing clarity around the existing policy framework and signalling the future direction of government policy. It seeks to realise the shared vision of sustainable construction by:

 Providing transparency to businesses on the government’s position by bringing together diverse regulations and initiatives relating to sustainability;

 Setting and committing to higher standards to help achieve sustainability in specific areas; and

 Industry and government are making specific commitments to take the sustainable construction agenda forward.

To achieve the key targets of the strategy, the UK government and industry have developed a set of all-encompassing objectives related to the ‘ends’ and ‘means’ of sustainable construction. The ‘ends’ relate directly to sustainability issues, such as climate change and biodiversity; the ‘means’ define processes needed to assist in achieving the ‘ends’ (see Table 2.5). Table 2.5 also highlights the ‘overarching targets’ of the strategy with a brief discussion. The ‘chapter headings’ in Table 2.5 outline a vital delivery plan and specific actions the government and the industry should employ in delivering the targets.

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Table 2. 5 UK strategy for sustainable construction (Adapted, HMG, 2008)

The ‘Means’

The ‘Ends

Chapter

Headings Overarching targets

Material

That the materials used in construction should have the least environmental and social impact as is feasible both socially and economically.

Procurement

This is to achieve improved whole life value through the promotion of best practices in construction and supply side integration, by encouraging the adoption of the construction commitments in both the public and private sectors and throughout the supply chain.

Design

The overall objective of good design is to ensure that buildings; infrastructure; public spaces and places are buildable: fit for purpose; resource efficient; sustainable; resilient; adaptable and attractive.

The aim is to achieve greater use of design quality assessment told relevant to buildings; infrastructure; public spaces and places.

Innovation

To enhance the industry’s capacity to innovate and increase the sustainability of both the construction process and its resultant assets.

People

An increase in organisation committing to a planned approach to training (e.g. skills pledges; investors in people or other business tools; continuous professional development (CPD); lifelong learning).

Reduce the incidence rate of fatal and major injury accidents by 10% year on year from 2000 levels.

Better Regulation

A 25% reduction in the administrative burdens affecting the private and third sectors, a 30% reduction in those affecting the public sector by 2010.

Climate Change Regulation

Reducing total UK carbon-dioxide (CO2) emission to about 60%

on 1990 levels by 2050 and by at least 26% by 2020. Within this at least government has already set out its policy that new homes will be zero carbon by 2016, and an ambition that new schools, public sector non- domestic building and other non-domestic buildings will be zero carbon by 2018 and 2019 respectively.

Water

To assist with the future water vision to reduce per capita consumption of water in the home through cost effective measures, to an average of 130 litres per person per day by 2030, or possible even 120 litres per person per day depending on new technological developments and innovation.

Biodiversity

That the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity within and around construction sites is considered throughout all stages of a development.

Waste By 2012, a 50% reduction of construction, demolition and

excavation waste to landfill compared to 2008.

Material

That the materials used in construction should have the least environmental and social impact as is feasible both socially and economically.

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On the surface, it would appear that these efforts by the government are a significant success story and the industry movement toward more sustainable construction has gained considerable momentum. However, the actual situation may not be as expected because the industry is still confronted with major challenges (Kibert, 2005; CIRIA, 2011). It is significant to note that in these government’s strategies and efforts to achieve sustainable construction, it is unfortunate that retrofit projects receive the least attention. The essence of embarking on retrofitted building projects to contribute to GHG reduction is inevitable and cannot be over-emphasised. In addition, lack of knowledge management in making an informed decision in the uptake and delivery of sustainable construction remains a big challenge for the industry (Egbu et al., 2004; Shelbourn et al., 2006; Maduka et al., 2016b).