A Professional Perspective on Sustainability in the Construction Industry: Analytical Essay

1. Background

The construction industry is the pinnacle of human development. Construction defines the process of reshaping the physical environment to establish human settlements. Construction however alters the physical landscape including soils and the natural drainage system. It is therefore irrefutable that the construction industry negates the natural environment, disrupt ecosystem services, and perpetuate climatic variability (Janak, 2009).

Human induced climate change is probably one of the greatest tragedies of this century and beyond. Climate change is largely a result of greenhouse emissions from power generation, agricultural activities, and buildings. Conventional buildings emit substantial amounts of CO2 (Rehm & Ade, 2013). In more economically developed countries, residential and commercial buildings emit one-third of the total greenhouse gas emissions (Rehm & Ade, 2013; UNEP, 2009). Furthermore, conventional buildings in the European Bloc consume 16% of potable water, 50% of raw materials (Rehm & Ade, 2013; Keeping, Dixon, & Roberts, 2007).

1.2 Aim and objectives

As the world grapples with increased demand for natural resources due to population implosion and urbanisation, it is imperative to rethink construction with a focus on sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to discuss the role of sustainability in the construction industry. Besides, the research shall suggest sustainable options to minimise the negative environmental consequences of construction.

The aim and objectives of this research was answered by a literature study. The review was done with the aid of a number of databases and journals, including Web of Science, LUBSearch, Science-Direct and Taylor & Francis Online. The research was founded on broad search on sustainability, construction practice and environmental management.

2. Sustainability in the construction industry

According to United Nations’ Brundtland report, (1987) sustainability refers to ‘development which meets the need of the present without compromising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs’. It is clear from literature that the capacity of the earth and its environs to sustain life is undergoing severe exploitation since the beginning of the Industrial revolution (Uher and Lawson, 1998). The duo further alleges that if the current way of doing things in the construction sector persists an irreversible degradation of the planet particularly land and forests is imminent (Uher and Lawson, 1998). Ultimately, ecosystems services will be disrupted further deteriorating the quality of life (Uher and Lawson, 1998).

2.1 Impact of construction on the environment

The impact of the construction industry on the environment is tremendous. It includes loss of soil and agricultural land, forests and woodlots, air and water pollution and severe depletion of energy and mineral resources (Uher and Lawson, 1998; Spence and Mulligan, 1995). It has a high-energy demand, and emits significant amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) (Yu et al, 2018). These twin evils inflict severe impacts on the environment.

In terms of the total environmental burden, the construction industry accounts for between 12 to 42% of the major environmental stressor categories (Levin, 1997; Uher and Lawson, 1998). Viz are consumption of raw materials (30%), land (12%), generation of wastewater effluents (20%) and solid waste (25%) (Levin, 1997; Uher and Lawson, 1998; Lam et al., 2011; Zolfagharian, 2012).

The construction sector consumes 40% of energy and emits almost 40% of CO2 in developed countries especially in North America and Europe (Yu et al, 2018; Berardi, 2015; USGBC, 2007). Besides, 56% of the input resources are lost during the construction process (Yu et al, 2018). The loss of input resources in the construction sector is quite high in comparison to other industries averaging 26% (Yu et al, 2018). In the United Kingdom, on average 6tonnes of construction materials are used for person per year (Cooper and Curwell, 1997).

The construction industry is inherently unsustainable and exert negative direct and indirect impacts on the environment (Levin, 1997). As shown in the aforegoing discussion the construction industry tramples upon every aspect of environmental sustainability both in developed and in developing countries. The sector has a very low productivity. The importance of sustainability in the construction industry hence cannot be overemphasized. There is need for the sector to rethink and re-engineer (Uher and Lawson, 1998) the entire construction system to minimise its environmental impact.

2.2 Sustainable construction

Sustainable construction is a subset of sustainable development (Uher and Lawson, 1998). According to Hill and Bowen (1997) cited by Uher and Lawson (1998), sustainable construction elucidates the role of the construction industry to realise environmental sustainability. The duo described sustainability based on four key attributes namely social, economic, biophysical, and technical (Uher and Lawson, 1998). Sustainable construction entails a process of developing a healthy environment with a focus on resource efficiency and sound ecological principles (Kibert, 1994). Figure 1 shows the sustainable construction model proposed by Kibert (2005).

Figure 1: The process of sustainable construction (Source: Kibert, 2005)

In this model, Kibert (2005) asserts that sustainable principles are supposed to be taken into consideration in all the stages of the life cycle of a construction project. As mentioned by Yilmaz and Bakis (2015) design is at the heart of this sustainable construction model. In sustainable construction, the aim of the design is to minimise negative environmental impact (Yilmaz and Bakis, 2015). The sustainable construction model enhances resource utilisation and construe a balance between environmental, economic, and social objectives (Burgan and Simon, 2006).

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Although sustainable construction is a novel idea, the model its implementation is quite low in most countries. In fact construction companies and project managers alike prefer to follow conventional construction methodology that is overly profit-oriented. An interesting observation however is the apparent lack of enforceable policy and regulation with regard to sustainable construction. At best, national governments have designed laws specific to projects in their respective jurisdiction. The next section discusses policy and regulation in the context of sustainable construction.

3. The Legislative and Policy Context for Sustainability

The UK has made significant strides to develop legislation and policy with a focus on sustainable construction. The UK government has identified the construction industry as a key enabler to meet sustainable development goals (Rostami and Thomson, 2017). The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insists that buildings emit 50% of the UK CO2 emissions, 50% of water consumption, 35% of landfill waste and 13% of all input resources in the UK (DEFRA, 2007; Rostami and Thomson, 2017). As a result, the UK has set out ambitious CO2 emission reductions targets in the Climate Change Act of which the construction industry is a key sector to achieve the set targets (Rostami and Thomson, 2017).

UK has formulated several policies to promote sustainable construction. In 2004, the government created the Sustainable Buildings Task Group whose report established recommendations of minimum standards of energy and water efficiency, waste and use of key raw materials (Akadiri and Fadiya, 2013; Rostami and Thomson, 2017). In terms of legislation, the UK Government has directed that starting in 2016 all new constructions should be zero emission on heating and cooling (Rostami and Thomson, 2017; Akadiri and Fadiya, 2013). In 2013, the UK Government introduced the new Strategy (BIS, 2013) that set new objectives with a focus to position the UK as a global leader in sustainable construction by the year 2025 (Rostami and Thomson, 2017).

Sustainable construction in the UK is still in infancy even though several legislative and policy initiatives were developed. Knowledge and skills remain a key barrier in adoption of sustainable construction model (Rostami and Thomson, 2017). The duo also identified numerous barriers that include cost and profitability, risk, time, culture, poor information dissemination, responsibility and communication (Rostami and Thomson, 2017).

4. Environmental management as a tool to enhance sustainability

Knowledge and skills in environmental management is cited by several studies as a barrier to promote sustainable construction in the UK. Sustainable practice demands the development of human resources with a capacity to implement resource-efficient and ecologically sustainable construction process (Reffat, 2004).

Environmental Management for the Consruction Industry discipline should equip participants with knowledge and skills that enhances the capacity of, professionals, tradesmen and laborers to enact sustainable construction principles. Besides, there is need for the discipline to reconstitute the curricula to suit the new legislation and policy on sustainable development. Moreover, the discipline should suggest sustainable options to address environmental issues bedeviling the world today. People need to be aware of the negative impacts of conventional buildings and understand the benefits of sustainable building. There is need to ensure that the principles of sustainable construction disseminate to clients, project contractors and relevant government departments. The success of sustainability calls for integration of planning activities amongst diverse project team members.

The discipline, Environmental Management for the Construction Industry, should enable participants to develop tools and techniques to enable project professionals to incorporate environment management systems in construction. Professionals must be equipped with capacity to undertake environmental impact assessment, as well as social impact and biodiversity impact assessment. These tools and processes minimize conflict and dissuades unorthodox cultural perspectives on sustainable construction.

5. Sustainability and profitability in the construction industry.

Sustainability is associated with an increase in cost of construction. Project managers as well as environmentalists concur that sustainable development comes at a cost. The reality is however contrary to his widely held belief. Green building, for instance, is considered relatively more expensive than conventional buildings. The additional investment costs of building green ranges between 15-17% (Lützkendorf, 2005; Persson et al, 2008). Nonetheless, the works of Kats et al (2003) and Matheissen and Morris (2007) asserts that a green building do not require additional investment at all. Furthermore, the benefits of a green building exceeds the initial investment by over ten times (Persson et al, 2008). In the US, Kats (2010) estimates that the majority of green buildings require an additional cost of between 0% and 4%.

It is clear that the additional cost of sustainable building is a mere perception. Construction firms are more likely to maintain their profit margins. It is however imperative to mention that construction firms would need to revise and optimize the design process to achieve maximum returns.

6. The future

Professional environmental management practice is an important component of sustainable construction. Although it is such a vital discipline, its implementation is lagging behind across the globe. In the short term there is need to upgrade knowledge and skills of environment managers to cope with new demands of sustainability in the construction sector. As alluded to in this essay, sustainable construction brings a new paradigm (resource efficiency without jeopardizing the quality of life or cultural orientation) as a result, the discipline should produce managers of repute with the capacity to conform to the new reality.

Sustainable construction is the new norm. As such, the environmental management practice should synchronize its operating modalities with the demands of sustainability in construction and design process. In essence, the discipline should be the core of construction practice and management. It is indeed a long process of change with a fair share of obstacles. Nonetheless, it is probably the most vital intervention to save the earth.

7. Conclusion

The global population is expanding tremendously in this decade and beyond. The growth in population however does not tally with the available resources under siege from conventional exploitation systems. The current construction system exacerbate carbon emissions, consume significant amounts of energy and water resources. Besides, it demands high input resources and generate considerable amount of solid waste. Sustainable construction is possibly the best way to redress the negative environment impact of construction. Sustainability in construction however demands formulation of enforceable legislation and policy, and alignment of its model to environmental management practice.

8. References

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