Industry must cut waste in half
The industry will have to cut its landfill waste in half, reduce site deaths by 10 per cent year-on-year and ensure at least 25 per cent of its materials come from “responsible” sources by 2012.
These were the headline targets outlined in the Strategy for Sustainable Construction, which has just been launched by Business Minister Shriti Vadera.
She announced that the UK aimed to be a “world leader in sustainable construction” and that making the construction sector more efficient was good for business and the competitiveness of the UK.
The strategy was produced by the Government in partnership with a number of construction industry bodies and highlighted the facts that buildings are responsible for almost half of the UK's carbon emissions, produce around one third of all landfill waste and account for a quarter of all raw materials used in the country's economy.
The strategy places ‘people issues’ like reducing work-related accidents and recruiting more apprentices at the heart of sustainability. It also aims to: “set out in one document key Government and industry commitments and targets relevant to Sustainable Construction; demonstrate joint commitment by Government and industry to a step change in performance on sustainability”.
Bob Towse, head of technical and safety at the HVCA, said it was encouraging to see safety issues being recognised as key to sustainability.
“No sustainable targets could be met without putting people at the heart of your aspirations and workplace conditions are also critical to reducing waste and improving productivity,” said Mr Towse (above), who is also one of M&E Sustainability’s technical experts (See Talking Heads).
“This should not just be about avoiding deaths, however. The well being of people sits at the heart of Corporate Social Responsibility agendas for very good reasons," he added. "It is no longer possible to regard construction work as taking place in a vacuum removed from social implications, such as good neighbourliness and staff welfare.
“Also, according to insurance firm Axa, absent staff cost UK firms over £12 billion a year. This includes the cost of paying staff who are not there, paying overtime and temporary staff to cover the missing people, and lost service or production time,” added Mr Towse.
“These losses are simply not sustainable and this level of absenteeism has a crippling impact on the industry’s ability to deliver projects on time and to budget. It also means firms have less freedom to innovate and to tackle technical challenges in a creative way as they are struggling just to keep projects on track.”
The Chartered Institute of Building welcomed the strategy, but added the targets were not challenging enough.
The Strategic Forum for Construction published its Construction Commitments to promote best practice across the industry, along with four-year targets to ensure their delivery, to support the strategy.