Sustainable construction

The AggRegain website has a useful article about how sustainable development is applied to the construction industry.

It includes a diagram showing how sustainable development is carried out in both the public and the private sectors in construction.

It also summarises a number of key plans and initiatives, including:

• sustainable construction
• corporate social responsibility (CSR)
• the Sustainable Communities Plan.

Finding the ‘social’ in CSR

I regularly look through publications like Building and Construction News online, to keep up to date with the big news and look for community stories to write about on here. Unfortunately, I usually fail to find any of the latter. Why?

Most construction-sector news websites have a section on sustainability, which companies often see as the ‘green’ element of CSR (although work is often ‘green’ by client specification, while CSR is, in theory, voluntary). What about a community or social section?

While some projects that benefit communities are voluntary, many clients also ask for them in bids: ‘If we award you our project, what are you going to do to help us fulfil our social commitments?’ Either way, both sorts invariably get included in annual CSR reports.

So if they help to win work, why aren’t they talked about much in trade publications?

Perhaps the industry doesn’t want to appear too self-congratulatory by talking about the donations it’s made. Perhaps it’s focusing on the bigger fish it has to fry (safety and global warming), which draws more attention from other media and stakeholders.

Or maybe the social side is too ‘soft’ for construction? But there are clear business benefits, so shouldn’t ideas and projects should be shared a bit more, in view of each other and the public?

Turning schools green

The Guardian reports this week that the UK government wants…

…all schools to be “sustainable schools” by 2020 and embed the principles of green living in school life and teaching.

The government’s schools inspectorate, Ofsted, has recently written a report called Schools and Sustainability, a Climate for Change. Ofsted comments that sustainability is not yet an integral part of the curriculum. Any work that is carried out, often as extra-curricular activities, is therefore ‘short-lived and limited to small groups of pupils’.

Construction companies involved in public private partnership (PPP) schemes such as the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative are often required to consider this element within their bids.

An example of integrating sustainable technologies into a building and using them to educate pupils can be found in Balfour Beatty’s recent 2007 corporate responsibility report.

Joiner’s Square Primary School is part of the Stoke Schools PFI project. It is also Stoke-on-Trent’s first environmentally-friendly school.

Technologies that have been used include a wind turbine, a rainwater collection system, photovoltaic panels and a solar thermal system.

Information about the energy saved is collected and used as a learning tool by the schoolchildren.

A plasma screen in the school’s reception area displays external weather conditions and shows students how natural resources are being used to provide power to the school.

Ofsted’s report reinforces that educating pupils about sustainability and the environment continues to be a priority for the government. It will also, therefore, continue to be an important element for success in education sector construction projects.