Sustainability means meeting the needs of today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The aim of sustainable construction is to apply this principle to the construction industry by providing ways of buildings that use less virgin material and less energy, cause less pollution and less waste but still provide the benefits that construction projects have brought us throughout history.
Construction is the single biggest industry in the developed world, at around 13% of GDP, with arguably the greatest environmental impact. In Northern Europe, people spend over 90% of their time. This means that the construction, use and management of buildings have a dramatic impact on both the human and wider environments.
The construction industry in the UK is directly and indirectly responsible for about half the total UK emissions of CO2, 90% of all surface mineral extraction and over a quarter of all waste sent to landfill.
There is a massive potential for change and improvement in the built environment which puts an enormous burden on new build construction projects if we are to honour our commitments under the Kyoto agreement.
Additional benefits can also be achieved by ensuring that the existing building stock is improved as well, so sustainable construction also encompasses refurbishment and change of use.
The main environmental impacts of construction are shown below and it is in these areas that improvements can most easily be achieved:
- Site assessment, contaminated brown field site use, remediation and development,
- Ecological damage and waste minimisation during construction,
- Site design to maximise passive solar, hydrological, ecological and other features,
- Selection of sustainable and low impact materials
- Integrated design of site, building structure, insulation, lighting, HVAC systems etc. to minimise running costs, heat losses and energy use,
- Consideration of the environmental impacts of buildings throughout their life and continued facilities management to minimise them.
Over the standard sixty year design life of a building, the operational and maintenance costs are around six times as much as the initial build costs.
Proper management of all aspects of building design, construction and use can dramatically reduce the overall cost of a building throughout its life, and need not even cost more at the design and building stages. Sustainable Construction improves the performance of building projects at every stage, both in financial and environmental terms.