A low carbon future: an action plan for UK construction

17/12/2009

With Copenhagen ending, attention moves closer to home and the UK's carbon targets. Willmott Dixon chief executive and UK Green Building Council board member John Frankiewicz looks at how UK construction can deliver.

To deliver on national and global aspirations to limit carbon emissions, the construction industry and the built environment will have to make significant changes. To determine what changes will be required in the UK, business secretary Lord Mandelson launched a review in September, which is being led by the government's chief construction adviser, Paul Morrell.

That review outlined plans to ensure the industry was "fit for purpose" for delivering a low carbon future and being a world leader and contained the key objective:

• to identify barriers to improved performance by the construction industry, and to consider how the UK construction industry can take forward the low carbon agenda and make recommendations to make the UK a world leader in low carbon construction and the built environment.

Willmott Dixon is already committed to being a sustainable business; we are aiming to be carbon neutral by 2012 and to make smarter use of natural resources in order to fulfill our commitment to sending zero waste to landfill by 2012. We take a leadership role in the low carbon debate by developing ideas and recommendations that will achieve a lower carbon, sustainable future.

Much can be done to deliver on the government's aspirations and ensure the industry is ready for the future, both in how it does business, and the product it creates. This is the first of two articles considering the challenges, and putting forward some potential solutions. This article is an action plan for industry and its clients; the next article will consider what more government could do.

The delivery process

Over the past two decades government has initiated numerous reviews by figures such as Sir Michael Latham and Sir John Egan, which have advocated closer team working across construction disciplines. Although progress has been made, today's practice is still not geared to delivering the most sustainable outcomes most efficiently. Clients and construction companies alike need to look to new models, capable of delivering the most sustainable operating environment, whether by building a new building, re-modeling an existing one, or ensuring premises operate to optimum efficiency.

In order to deliver a building that is sustainable throughout its life cycle, a more integrated approach must be adopted, specifically:

• with all publicly procured projects, early contractor involvement will ensure that design does not compromise sustainable construction
• in most construction companies the sustainability manager has a facilitation role, rather than power to drive real change. Carbon management needs to be a high level role, on the same basis as the financial manager or the project manager.   
• Once the building is complete, day-to-day running of the sophisticated building is generally in the hands of facilities managers who have had no involvement in delivery. A new model would see a single organisation have whole life responsibility for a building, ensuring a low carbon approach to design, construction, fit-out, maintenance, refurbishment and even demolition or remodelling. The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) provides a model for this approach, but this can be improved.

This is an area where integrated companies involved in all stages of a building's lifespan can bring real knowledge value in delivering carbon reduction in the built environment. Willmott Dixon is already making strides to provide an integrated business approach covering a building's whole life.

The new role of carbon manager

The skills required to deliver low and zero carbon buildings and upgrade existing ones do not currently exist in the UK and this goes right through the industry from investors, project managers, designers, the workforce and even facilities managers and those who use buildings. 

There is a need for upskilling our energy and carbon knowledge within the procurement, delivery and maintenance of buildings. The introduction of the role of a carbon manager would create a position with real power to take responsibility for the carbon performance of a building, both for new build and existing stock. Creating a role of carbon manager with responsibility for the energy and carbon performance during a building's design, construction and occupancy will give added focus to achieving the necessary carbon targets.

Conclusion

Construction has the potential to make a significant contribution to carbon reduction in the UK. There are nearly 200,000 companies working in the built environment, yet it is likely that only a handful are really taking firm action on making the industry, and the built environment it creates, low carbon. Leadership from all parties - industry, clients and government - will be needed in order to take the next step.