Six steps to sustainable commercial buildings for builders

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Summary

Six steps to sustainability is a 'how to' guide for owning, developing, designing, constructing, occupying and managing sustainable commercial buildings. For each industry group, it is a compilation of input and ideas from Australian industry leaders as to what, in their experience, are the most important issues and how they can be addressed. For builders, the six steps to sustainability provides the key steps to integrating sustainability into commercial building practices.

The six steps for builders are:

Step 1 - Establish a vision and get commitment

For a sustainable building to be realised, there needs to be both vision and commitment. Sustainable construction can be enhanced by having a vision for the construction operations that involves sustainability principles being integrated through PPP or alliancing arrangements that create an integrated delivery team.

In setting the vision, buy-in from senior management is needed. Active leadership is important for increasing the understanding and cultural adoption of sustainability principles, as well as for promoting related initiatives and managing related change (Lantos, 2001; Andersson & Bateman, 2000; Starik & Rands, 1995). Therefore, achieving sustainable commercial buildings depends on strong leadership, starting with directors. With the directors on board, it is possible to get the commitment of senior management, to gain access to financial and human resources, and to ensure that sustainability initiatives are recognised as relevant to business, organisational, and personal objectives and values (aspirational, strategic and operational).

Senior management need to engage with the philosophy and practice of sustainability in order to:

• determine the scope of policies and processes the organisation would like to embed into site construction practices
• understand, and successfully execute, the sustainability objectives of each project (as a distillation of the sustainability objectives of owners, designers and/or developers)
• manage the supply chain to ensure sustainable materials are used as specified
• define a set of standards by which sub-contractors are engaged and the quality of work assessed
• develop the specialist skills required, including project management.

Like the other industry groups, builders need to make a commitment to understanding the value proposition of sustainability, as opposed to the 'cost' of imposing it. This entails understanding concepts such as triple bottom line (TBL), life cycle costing, and risk (both short-term and long-term).

For builders, who are often risk-adverse and need to control and coordinate the inputs of a diverse group over a considerable time frame, the development of clear, sustainability-inclusive documentation pathways is an important check and balance mechanism. Equally important is the need to optimise sustainability inclusions in site management practices.

Step 2 - Get involved in the design process

The involvement of builders early in the design phase can help improve efficiency, reduce waste, and control costs by simplifying construction and advising on appropriate systems, construction methods and products. It will also result in lower construction costs and help to manage risk. In addition, consideration should be given to the maintenance and upkeep of sustainable features (e.g. external wood panelling) and the ease of access and sourcing of replacement materials.

An effective sustainable design process will be integrated (see Design and sustainable commercial buildings for more information), with all disciplines contributing from the very start. The use of such processes changes the nature of the builder-design consultant relationship, creating a more participatory style of engagement.

An integrated design process should seek input from builders during design development. Generally however, the main opportunity for builders to input early in the design process is if they are asked to do a cost estimate at the design stage or under preliminary bidding arrangements. This can be an opportunity to provide skilled input from your own sustainability-trained staff.

Identify the skills gap and find the right team

Doing a gap analysis after determining the goals of the sustainable building project will provide an indication of what skills and expertise are required. Upskilling and education of consultants and sub-contractors may be required until the industry fully gets up to speed with sustainable construction practices. As with any project, getting the right people on the team is central to meeting the goals of the project. Getting people on board with a demonstrated commitment to sustainable construction practices (e.g. a waste contractor with a demonstrated commitment to recycling), and those who bring with them the experiences gained in other sustainable projects, are critical. Getting the right people on board at the early stages will be well worth the time and resources invested in the project, as reported by a number of case study examples including Melbourne's Council House 2 (CH2) and Lend Lease's 30 The Bond.

Actively participate in the design process

The builder should actively engage with the design team to test design and servicing concepts, air possible problems, and achieve solutions that better balance the input of all consultant disciplines.

Designers have the most influence over the materials and technologies specified for a project, but builders can influence designers to be flexible in terms of what they will accept in order to achieve the best sustainable outcomes, such as encouraging the use of recycled materials. Richard Hansen, of contractor Hansen Yuncken, provides a case in point for a recent project where the architect accepted a slightly lower grade of timber (in terms of knots and imperfections), which resulted in 90% of logs being utilised, instead of 50%. Getting involved in the design process can assist to fully develop designs for new ideas and to reduce the number of problems that need to be resolved on site.

Step 3 - Maximise the use of resources

Use of appropriate resources, technologies and construction techniques can provide economic savings and lead to superior commercial buildings. Builders should utilise all opportunities for sustainable outcomes that can be implemented through the use of new technologies, construction techniques and on-site practices. New income streams can be developed by selling off salvaged and recycled products. When recycling products, there will often be additional resources required (e.g. time), although this can often be partly or fully offset by the cost of purchasing new materials. Making use of grants or funding available for sustainable construction can assist to defray additional upfront hard and soft costs associated with sustainable construction practices. Keeping abreast of the latest legislation, techniques, rating tools, technological innovations, and case studies provides learning opportunities for cost savings and reducing environmental impacts.

Step 4 - Construct green

Standard construction practices need to be avoided where there may be pollution to land, air and water. Run-off water from earth works (which may carry sediment into local drains), on-site spillages, and burning of waste materials on site need to be replaced with management plans, as described in Step 5.

Some of the key things to consider in managing the sustainability culture on site are outlined below.

• Begin as you mean to continue: Ensure that you have a proper site induction, appropriate training for staff, a strong commitment from management (which shows leadership by example), and clear benchmarks in key areas (such as water and energy use).
• Prepare a strategy for variations and substitutions: This ensures that alternative materials meet the project's environmental standards and are sourced locally.
• Work with trade unions when developing strategies for achieving sustainability on site: It is important to have the advice and cooperation of all parties to ensure that work plans and targets are realistic to start with, and followed through on site.
• Highlight principles on site and communicate achievements: It is a good idea to advertise to staff the sustainability principles of the site using posters, and to provide feedback on progress towards energy, water, waste recovery, pollution and stormwater management benchmarks.
• Prepare the site properly: Site preparation involves protecting the natural environment, biodiversity and heritage by identifying and safeguarding important and protected areas, and by establishing dedicated areas for waste management, vehicle access and wash down, excavation and filtration.
• Scrutinise and monitor sub-contractors: It is important to ensure that correct materials are supplied and used, and that the sustainability principles that have been set are followed.
• Improve water, energy, waste and stormwater management: Improved on-site water, energy, waste and stormwater management should be planned for and carefully implemented, with training provided to staff about what is expected. Monitoring of performance and feedback to staff supports the continuation of such plans.
• Minimise variations: Minimising variations and instilling a regime of submittals will ensure that variations don't overturn the sustainability principles or conflict with materials already used.
• Collate documents and information: Retaining documents and information for inclusion in a facility knowledge database will ensure that information on materials and systems is passed on to the building owner.
• Invest in collaborative digital tools for use on construction sites.
• Integrate the knowledge capture process: This will provide feedback that will assist with the development of staff skills and future projects. The importance of communication back to staff for improving their understanding of the benefits of sustainability cannot be over emphasised, especially when staff may be dispersed to a large number of different sites at the completion of the project in question.(See Construction and sustainable commercial building for more information)
  
  

Step 5 - Develop and implement sustainability management plans

Environmental, social and waste management plans are particularly useful in ensuring all practitioners on a building site (from project managers to brick layers) are involved in, understand, and are contractually committed to achieving the project's sustainability objectives, including avoiding pollution to land, water or air, separating and recycling waste, and developing and maintaining good relationships with the local community.

Environmental management plans ensure the health and safety of on-site workers, site visitors and the local community during construction. Social management plans may consider engagement processes with the local community, employment and/or training of local labour, purchasing of locally available materials and goods, and the contribution that the project may make to local, state, or even national economies. (See Construction and sustainable commercial buildings for more information)

Training, induction and monitoring to ensure close compliance with all management plans are critical. Rectification of defects also needs to be managed in the same manner as the construction phase.

It is likely that in order to meet sustainability targets, contractors will need to implement new activities and practices into their work. It may help to develop a system of incentives or rewards to drive the adoption of these practices on site.

Step 6 - Commissioning and handover

Commissioning should start at the design stage and continue throughout the whole life of the project. (See Commissioning of sustainable commercial buildings for more information)

This last step is vital to ensuring that the building is fit for purpose on handover (and beyond). Particularly in buildings with new technologies, or new applications of existing ones, the time taken for building finetuning needs to be factored into the overall plan. Sustainable buildings often have sophisticated mechanical, electrical and hydraulic systems, and monitoring and evaluation of the technologies used is essential to determine which ones are working well and which ones are not. This process may continue throughout the normal liability period (and beyond), although this may not continue to be the builder's responsibility. The owner should be informed about how to replace sustainable features and what the anticipated life of various products may be (e.g. five or ten years).

The communication of performance data and 'lessons learned' to all primary stakeholders will facilitate continuous improvement in both building and industry performance.

References

Andersson, L.M. & Bateman, T.S. (2000), 'Individual environmental initiative: championing natural environmental issues in US business organizations', Academy of Management Journal, 43(4), 548-570.

Lantos, G.P. (2001), 'The boundaries of corporate social responsibility', Journal of Consumer Marketing, 18(7), 595-630.

Lockwood, C. (2006), 'Building the green way: tool kit', Harvard Business Review Online, Accessed 11 May, 2007.

Starik, M. & Rands, G.P. (1995), 'Weaving an integrated web: multilevel and multisystem perspectives of ecologically sustainable organizations', The Academy of Management Review, 20(4), 908-935.

Wikstrom, G. (2007), Taking green one step further through green construction practices, American Institute of Architects: Committee of the Environment notes, Accessed 12 May, 2007, from http://www.aia.org/nwsltr_cote.cfm?pagename=cote_a_0703_sponsor.