In fact, the charity Business in the Community says construction is doing fairly well in the corporate social responsibility agenda, holding its own against other sectors, such as retail or finance. Not bad, considering the plethora of targets and legislation the industry is delivering against, and the not-inconsiderable day job of building things.
In today’s difficult financial climate, it wouldn’t be a surprise if some companies scale back their CSR programmes. But in general, the view from the contractors is that there’s no going back: to do so would be to neglect the communities they regenerate, the people that move in to the social housing they build, the pupils that attend their BSF schools. Contractors’ stock-in-trade is really just a component of wider social agendas, and to have a world view that doesn’t take those agendas into account would be to risk being seen as the worst kind of corporate profit-sucking leach.
Plus, we’re seeing a change in the relationship between business and society, driven partly by distrust and partly by increased accountability. In recent memory, we’ve had the banking fiasco, MPs’ expenses and now the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. In this age of mass online communication, the public now has higher expectations of any company or organisation that operates in the public domain. Put these factors together, and CSR deserves a place at the heart of the construction industry.
The CIOB’s Art of Building competition has proved to be a world-wide success, with nearly 1,100 entries, thousands of online votes for the finalist, and a banner position on the BBC homepage alongside Wimbledon and the World Cup. Clearly, it demonstrates high levels of public interest in the built environment, the backdrop to everyone’s life. Now that the CIOB has tapped into this asset, the challenge for the industry and its institutions is to capitalise on it.
Elaine Knutt, editor
Feedback
Going green shouldn’t mean going it alone
Melanie Woodland, communications manager, and Lucy Pedler, director, The Green Register
We have just read the article entitled “Learning the lessons on green education” (CM, April) and were disappointed that The Green Register wasn’t mentioned.
The Green Register is a not-for-profit organisation that has been promoting sustainable building practices since 2000, well before the bandwagon was created.
It runs an annual programme of training events across the UK and has grown to 600 members from all disciplines of the industry. Training events are industry-focused and aim to teach professionals practical skills through face-to-face learning opportunities.
It is worth pointing out that The Green Register’s courses were in fact one of the few that were identified by the UK-Green Building Council’s Task Force as being of high quality. TGR consistently receives excellent feedback and so it is disappointing that this article doesn’t touch on the hard work and dedication that is already in place.
Unlike the online course from the UK-GBC and the College of Estate Management, we believe that face-to-face offers the chance for delegates to gain valuable first-hand knowledge from our core of expert trainers – and also the opportunity for lively debate, problem-solving and networking with like-minded individuals which online training simply cannot offer.
Banning child labour isn’t the end of the problem
Chris Harrop, group marketing director Marshalls, via website
Eradicating child labour [quarrying stone in India] is not a simple black and white issue. At the heart of child labour issues is the payment of living wages for adults. If adults were paid a living wage that allowed them enough income to pay for their families’ needs then their children would be free to go to school. Then what is needed are schools for the children. Marshalls Fairstone is built upon these principles: living wages, available schools, a partner NGO in the ground and a full-time social auditor to make sure things happen as they should.
Australia’s anti-nuclear option
Jo Brown, via website
Well done Australia. Perhaps the UK’s new coalition government will follow its lead in ruling out nuclear power in the UK due to its 50-year record of unlimited costs to the taxpayer, widespread public health damage from radiation from UK nuclear sites, and no waste disposal facilities. The truly sustainable resources in the UK of wind, wave and tidal power, starting with the Severn Barrage and putting wind farms on all the nuclear coastal sites, can provide all the UK’s energy needs by 2050. See the power forecasts from the Deprtment for Energy and Climate Change.
Post-Olympic apocalypse?
Umer Zia, via website
The Olympics will come and go. Construction contractors and clients are more concerned about the post Olympics scenario. As we know every boom is followed by a recession, so will the construction industry see another recession after the Olympics, or can measures be identified to sustain the demand for construction afterwards?
Illustration by Tim Ellis
Vox pop
A recent survey found high levels of cynicism over the government’s zero carbon targets. In the age of austerity, are they achievable?
It’s time for the new government to re-examine targets in the light of feedback from the industry and its own civil servants. A recent Department of Communities and Local Government report suggests that it will cost an extra 30-40% to deliver buildings to Code for Sustainable Homes Level 6, but only 3-4% to achieve Level 3.
With zero-carbon properties housebuilders are potentially offering a higher specification product for a similar price to an existing one. This may be financially acceptable when the cost of a discount being absorbed is an extra 4% but 40% is unviable.
Robert Jones, Essex Heritage Properties
The cost of greener construction materials needs to come down, or new housing will increase in cost and buyers won’t be interested. It’s Catch 22.
We have just done a barn conversion, using high-performance underfloor insulation, triple glazing and lots of locally-produced sustainable materials and the costs were extremely high. I envisage the government initially subsidising zero-carbon schemes, but there are economically leaner times ahead, so it’s likely that research and development in green technologies will drop.
Philip Hall, managing director, Hall Construction
I don’t buy the argument that hitting zero-carbon targets is too expensive. From what I hear, we can achieve the first 2016 target [on house building] cost effectively by using existing technologies, as long as they are implemented in sensible ways. I’m talking about lighting, ventilation and heating, plus low-carbon material that have a big impact on CO2 emissions.
Fiona Roberts, policy, research and ambassador development manager, CIOB
Achieving zero carbon is yet another reason for improving integration and collaboration in the delivery of capital projects. Many tools already exist to help the industry deliver. For example, BuildingConfidence is a supply chain accreditation scheme for construction, and No Waste is an awareness raising and culture change programme based on lean manufacturing principles.
Peter Jacobs FCIOB, operations director, Bovis Lend Lease
Ensuring local suppliers are given every chance to bid for work is a simple, common sense way of giving our customers good value for money while simultaneously minimising our carbon footprint and helping us to deliver on our 2016 and 2019 zero carbon commitments. Updating and recycling existing buildings will likely have a greater impact as this reflects many customers’ priority of making better and more economic use of their historic investment in buildings rather than developing shiny new buildings.
Mark Beard, managing director, Beard Construction
To cut costs the industry needs to bring together the right technology solutions, affordable finance models and develop behaviour change programmes with residents. The challenges faced by the retrofit industry dwarf the zero-carbon goals facing new build so we must continue a dialogue with government to ensure realistic retrofit standards.
Annie Brown, low-carbon buildings manager at environmental consultant Sustain
The industry must develop robust and reliable “volume” products that meet the U-values needed for the zero carbon energy-efficiency standard. Although “allowable solutions” to reach zero carbon are yet to be fully defined, this shouldn’t prevent companies from developing a zero-carbon strategy now.
Mike Priaulx, principal sustainability consultant, National House-Building Council
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