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Industry needs green appeal to tempt young
00:00 25 Jul 2001
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Exclusive by Ross Pearman
The construction industry has to have more of an environmental consciousness if it is to appeal to the younger generation, Movement for Innovation (M4I) chairman Alan Crane has warned.
Speaking at the launch of Rethinking Construction's Environmental Performance Indicators (EPIs), which will act as a benchmark for companies to improve their energy use in both the performance of the built environment and the construction process, Crane said firms will no longer be able to measure success by turnover, but on how they can save money by being more energy and waste conscious instead.
He stressed that the younger generation will be expecting the industry, which accounts for 62% of the country's energy use, to make the change.
Seen as a leap towards sustainable development, M4I's Sustainability Working Group (SWG) has identified six issues as the basis for the EPIs: operational energy; embodied energy; operational water consumption; waste; construction transport; and biodiversity.
"These all inter-relate in some way," said Crane. "All of the them hit the triple bottom line of sustainability which includes environmental, economic and social issues.
"We have seen the recent success of the headline Key Performance Indicators. The industry has to take these EPIs on board."
Rab Bennetts, chair of SWG, added: "With the government's target of a 20% reduction of greenhouses gases by 2010, this is the perfect platform on which to base these indicators on."
The task will now be to get the message across to the industry, although M4I senior team member Peter Runacres feels the change won't take long.
"Many projects have reaped the benefits already," he said. "In one PFI project in Swindon, the contractor saved a huge amount by using roof insulation rather than running radiators throughout the building's lifetime."
The EPI team now intends to get local authorities to adopt the indicators and supply data, although it admits that locating information from public sectors such as the NHS might prove more difficult.
A timetable for the indicators has still to be confirmed.
The construction industry has to have more of an environmental consciousness if it is to appeal to the younger generation, Movement for Innovation (M4I) chairman Alan Crane has warned.
Speaking at the launch of Rethinking Construction's Environmental Performance Indicators (EPIs), which will act as a benchmark for companies to improve their energy use in both the performance of the built environment and the construction process, Crane said firms will no longer be able to measure success by turnover, but on how they can save money by being more energy and waste conscious instead.
He stressed that the younger generation will be expecting the industry, which accounts for 62% of the country's energy use, to make the change.
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Seen as a leap towards sustainable development, M4I's Sustainability Working Group (SWG) has identified six issues as the basis for the EPIs: operational energy; embodied energy; operational water consumption; waste; construction transport; and biodiversity.
"These all inter-relate in some way," said Crane. "All of the them hit the triple bottom line of sustainability which includes environmental, economic and social issues.
"We have seen the recent success of the headline Key Performance Indicators. The industry has to take these EPIs on board."
Rab Bennetts, chair of SWG, added: "With the government's target of a 20% reduction of greenhouses gases by 2010, this is the perfect platform on which to base these indicators on."
The task will now be to get the message across to the industry, although M4I senior team member Peter Runacres feels the change won't take long.
"Many projects have reaped the benefits already," he said. "In one PFI project in Swindon, the contractor saved a huge amount by using roof insulation rather than running radiators throughout the building's lifetime."
The EPI team now intends to get local authorities to adopt the indicators and supply data, although it admits that locating information from public sectors such as the NHS might prove more difficult.
A timetable for the indicators has still to be confirmed.
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