HOW TO OVERCOME SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES

Achieving sustainability requires us to live within the limits of the earth’s capacity to provide the materials for our activities and to absorb the waste and pollution that our activities generate. The built environment presents us with a major challenge. The construction, fit-out, operation and ultimate demolition of buildings is a huge factor in human impact on the environment both directly (through material and energy consumption and the consequent pollution and waste) and indirectly (through the pressures on often inefficient infrastructure).

The built environment also has a crucial impact on the physical and economic health and well-being of individuals, communities and organisations. A good building is a delight and will enhance a community or organisation, enhance our ability to learn or increase our productivity. A poor building will do the opposite. Where buildings and built environments contribute to ill-health and alienation, undermine community and create excessive financial liability, they are undesirable and unsustainable.

Sustainable development is now the stated policy of local, national and international governments, and of much industry and commerce. More than three decades on from a recognizable start of the environmental movement the establishment of World Environment Day by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 there appears at last to be a growing commitment to reverse unsustainable trends in development.

To meet the challenge we have to enhance quality of life for all by designing healthy buildings and environments fit for individuals and communities both now and in the future. We need to minimize resource throughput's, waste and pollution, and to fulfill our responsibility to protect other species and environments. Buildings and the built environment will therefore increasingly be required to satisfy a number of criteria, including that they should:

Enhance Biodiversity

Not use materials from threatened species or environments and improve natural habitats where possible through appropriate planting and water use. 

Support communities

Identify and meet the real needs, requirements and aspirations of communities and stakeholders and involve them in key decisions. 

Use Resources Effectively

Do not consume disproportionate amount of resources, including money and land during material sourcing, construction, use or disposal; not cause unnecessary waste of energy, water or materials due to short life, poor design, inefficiency, or less than ideal construction and manufacturing procedures. Buildings have to be affordable, manageable and maintainable in use. 

Minimize Pollution

Create minimum dependence on polluting products and materials, management practices, energy, power and forms of transport. 

Create healthy environments

Enhance living, leisure and work environments; and not endanger the health of the builders or occupants, or any other parties, through exposure to pollutants, the use of toxic materials or providing host environments to harmful organisms. 

Manage The Process

Stewardship of projects is a vital and overarching aspect in delivering sustainable projects, both in the first instance and also in ensuring their performance over time. Too many aspirations are undermined by failure to manage the design process, particularly at crucial handover points where responsibilities change. This requires us to identify appropriate targets, tools and benchmarks, and manage their delivery. 

Design buildings that are attentive to the needs of sustainable construction, but most practice still falls far short of applying even the most easily applicable principles in most projects. Opportunities that could bring real advantage are being missed every day.
The result is that buildings and the industries that supply building designers with products, materials and services are less efficient, less economical and more polluting than they might otherwise be. The positive impact on the environment and on quality of life from addressing these issues could be immense.


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