Can sustainability survive the recession?

With construction output plummeting and cutting costs at the forefront of everybody's mind, will sustainability survive the recession? Paul Howard investigates.

The extent to which the recession has affected the construction industry is clear for all to see. But is there a correlation between the enormous reduction in money currently being spent by clients and the quality of the work that is being procured? To put it another way, is the sustainable option being overlooked as every penny spent comes under ever closer scrutiny?

The rather surprising answer is no, or at least not as much as might be anticipated. According to those within the industry, there are several reasons for this.

First, there is no evidence of a link between the practical impact of the downturn, whether in terms of businesses going under or jobs being lost, and sustainability in particular. That's not to say that jobs in the greener aspects of construction won't have been affected. The scale of the recession is such that no sector has escaped unscathed. But sustainability has not suffered a disproportionate loss - quite the contrary, according to Michael Ankers, chief executive of the Construction Products Association.

"There have been at least 50,000 job losses in the construction products industry in the last year, and we expect further reductions," he acknowledges. "That's between 7.5% and 8% of the estimated total workforce. But the majority of these losses have been on the heavy side of the industry. There's no evidence to suggest people are abandoning sustainable products. There may be a slowdown in research as markets drop, but people realise this is where they have to be when the market picks up."

This sentiment is echoed by Cal Bailey, director of sustainability at NG Bailey. "Sustainability has been on a sharply rising trend over the past few years, outgrowing the rest of the industry. Now the industry is slowing down there is some decline in volume, but this isn't something that's affecting sustainability in particular, and indeed in certain areas it's still rising."

UK Green Building Council

The UK Green Building Council certainly hasn't seen any major dip in enthusiasm or membership. "Membership renewals, which are a good barometer, are very close to 100%, and we've also had new members in 2009," says Paul King, chief executive.

One reason for this is a desire for companies to make themselves distinct from their competitors in a tough market. "I'm seeing a lot more investment in terms of time by senior people looking at how to develop new products and ways of doing things," says Ian Gatenby, director of Balfour Beatty Geo Environmental. "This is partly to be able to differentiate from competitors, and partly because there's now a bit more time spent by clients scrutinising the procurement process."

The client that pays most attention to sustainability criteria is the Government. Bailey points to its Building Schools for the Future programme as a case in point. "Government rhetoric on quality is not always matched by the money it spends, but it is now having some impact, and we're definitely getting a better audience for better quality solutions."

Tony Hyde, managing director of Thomas Vale Construction, agrees. "Pretty well every public sector job has some degree of sustainability as a prerequisite, now."

The private sector, on the other hand, has struggled in the past 12 months. "There's maybe 10% to 20% of clients that have it firmly on the agenda, but the rest are still very naïve," says Hyde.

Over-estimating costs

The most obvious naivety comes in the over-estimation of initial costs for sustainable building. "Does it have to cost the client more money?" he asks. "Not always. It's about having trust. We're regenerating some properties for a client and we suggested the use of ground source heat pumps. Instead of baulking at it, they just said 'our budget per property is £5,000 - if you can make it work for that, we'll do a trial'. So we did."

Still, is it not the case that many clients must now be reverting to the cheapest option rather than being prepared to state a budget in advance? Can the impact of this shift in attitude on greener building really be denied?

"I'm not saying there aren't clients which are saying 'no, we can't afford that, take 10% off,'" acknowledges Bailey. "But you have to remember that even with that 10% off, as a result of Part L and other regulations, the building will still be greener than it would have been only a few years ago."

This highlights one of the most important drivers of all for sustainable construction: regulation.

"The Sustainable Development Commission conducted a study into the 20 biggest changes in the environmental performance of products, and there wasn't a single example where they were driven by consumer behaviour," says John Tebbit, industry affairs director at the Construction Products Association. "They were all to do with regulation or corporate policy."

This perhaps explains the perennial slowness of the commercial property market to adapt to change. "The landlord-tenant relationship is often a drag on progress," acknowledges Bailey. "The fact the long-term benefit doesn't come back directly to the person paying the higher up-front cost."

In this context, even the desperate delay in the Government's acknowledgement that it has to deal with the country's existing building stock cannot dilute the importance of Ed Miliband's plans for the Great British Refurb.

Nevertheless, even in the private sector there are signs that change is afoot. "We have clients even now, admittedly owner occupiers, that are looking for innovative, sustainable buildings," Bailey insists. "I also recently spoke to a very major landlord who said he wished tenants could be a bit more interested in the subject. He said he understood that there would be some pain for them in the interim while work was done to upgrade a property, but that it would be in their interests in the long run."

The irony of this statement of intent from a sector seen more often as a stumbling block than a catalyst for change is not lost on Helen Garthwaite, head of construction at law firm Taylor Wessing, which commissioned a report into attitudes to sustainability across the commercial property market. "There is a disconnect in the views from different sectors," she explains. "We found that developers thought end users wouldn't pay more to have a sustainable building, but we also found that these end users - 87% of them - said they would."

Change in mindset

Even if awareness is far from universal, however, there is evidence that the final element in sustainability's ability to resist the impact of the recession comes down to nothing more tangible than a widespread change in mindset within the industry.

"Thinking about sustainability has become a lot more intuitive over the past few years," says Gatenby. "It's not just related to cost savings."

John Tebbit agrees. "Sustainability is not now generally seen as something different - people don't have sustainable and unsustainable ranges, it's just a part of their job as a producer."

In fact, Gatenby goes so far as to say it would now seem counter-intuitive to standstill with regard to the lessons that have been learnt about sustainability. Yet he is still not entirely optimistic about the future.

"It would be a shame if all this gets forgotten when things improve and speed again becomes imperative," he says. "When things are very busy it can be quite difficult to make yourself heard. It might be easier for the costs associated with new products or techniques to be absorbed, but they could also have an impact on the programme, and you can't give a hand on heart assurance that it won't for a product that's not been taken on."

Perhaps the real question, therefore, is not whether sustainability will survive the recession, but will it be able to withstand the eventual return to growth?