Sustainability

Question 1

Please explain your understanding of the term sustainability?

Answer 1

• To meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
• Key principles were also set out within the Brundtland Commission Report, Our Common Future 1987 which identified the need for sustainable development based around environmental protection,
  economic growth and social equity. It called for conservation of the environment and resources by gradually changing the ways in which we develop and use technologies.

Question 2

What are the key principles of sustainability?

Answer 2

• Social - Building healthy communities with sufficient numbers and range of buildings.
• Economical - Build strong, responsive, competitive economies ensuring sufficient land and right types.
• Environmental: - Contributing towards the protection and enhancement of our natural, built and historic environment.

Question 3

What are the most common environmental issues experienced on construction sites?

Answer 3

• Air and Noise Pollution.
• High Energy Consumption and carbon emissions.
• Risk of land contamination.
• Damage to wild habitats.
• Release of dangerous gases and chemicals.

Question 4

What are the key pieces of legislation that affect sustainability in construction?

Answer 4

• Building Act 1984 – This is the primary piece of UK Legislation that enables the Building Regulations to be enforced. This is to assist in the conservation of fuel and power, to prevent waste, misuse or contamination of water and to ensure those in and around buildings are kept safe.
• Clean Air Act 1956 – This legislation provides local authorities within England to introduce measures in order to control air pollution.
• Climate Change Act 2008 – This is a legally binding framework to tackle climate change. It imposed targets to cut greenhouse emissions compared with 1990 levels by 100% by 2050.

Question 5

What are the Key Building Regulations that relate to sustainability in construction?

Answer 5

• Building Regulations Part L — Conservation of Fuel and Power.
• Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations.
  o Requires that EPC’s are produced for dwellings and non-dwellings.
  o Quantifies energy efficiency of buildings.
  o Required when buildings are built, sold or rented.
  o Commercial buildings over 500 sqm. and frequented by the public need to display a display energy certificate (DEC) based on actual energy used.

Question 6

What are the different forms of taxation relating to sustainability?

Answer 6

• Landfill Tax which is an environmental tax payable in addition to landfill rates charged by private disposal companies.
• The tax was introduced as a means to encourage alternative methods of disposal such as recycling.
• The tax is charged by weight at varying rates depending on whether the waste is inert or active.

Question 7

What different code of practice are you aware of for measuring sustainability?

Answer 7

• BREEAM (Life Cycle Assessment).
  o Measures in terms of health and well being, energy, transport, water
  o Excellent is best score of over 85%
  o Sets best practice standards for the environmental performance of buildings through
  specification, design, construction and operation.
  o The assessment is undertaken by a licensed assessor based on energy, land & ecology, water, health & wellbeing, pollution, materials and waste and management.
  o BREEAM applies to new and refurbishment projects, domestic and non-domestic.
• SKA Ratings
  o An RICS Environmental assessment method for non-domestic fit outs such as office refurbishments.
  o The scheme assesses fit out projects against a set of sustainability good practice criteria, known as Good Practice Measures (GPM).
  o SKA can act as an alternative to BREEAM which have higher costs in comparison.
  0 Covers measures such as energy use, materials and pollution
• LEED (Life Cycle Assessment).
  o LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.
  o It is a USA equivalent of BREEAM.
  o Ratings are:-
   LEED Certified.
   Silver.
   Gold.
   Platinum.
• This method reviews embodied aspects of carbon emissions as well as life cycle assessment during construction and operation.

Question 8

What is the Paris Agreement?

Answer 8

• The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty concerning climate change.
• It was adopted by nearly every nation and came into affect in 2016.
• The goal of the Paris Agreement is to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius whilst
  targeting levels below 1.5 degrees Celsius when compared to pre-industrial levels.
• The agreement commits all major emitting countries to cut their climate pollution.
• It also creates a framework for the transparent monitoring and reporting of each individual countries
  progress.

Question 9

Can you explain your understanding of the term carbon neutral?

Answer 9

• Carbon neutrality is to have a balance between the carbon emitted and the carbon absorbed from the
  atmosphere in carbon sinks.
• This is an important measure of the impact that businesses and projects have on the environment and
  global warming.
• To date no artificial carbon sinks are able to remove carbon from the atmosphere at the levels required
  to offset global warming.

Question 9

Name some sustainable building methods?

Answer 9

• Use of recycled materials such as reclaimed timber, recycled tiles and plastics.
• Ground Source Heat Pumps.
• Air Source Heat Pumps.
• Solar Panels.
• Wind Turbines.
• Solar Shading.
• Rain water harvesting.
• Green Roofs.
• Automated Building Systems (Lighting sensors).

Question 10

What are the benefits of a BREEAM certified building?

Answer 10

• BREEAM buildings help clients to benefit from lowering the running costs of their built assets and
  minimising the impact on the environment through consideration at planning, design, construction and
  operation phases.
• Other benefits include greater marketability to building tenants through lower running costs and
  creating desirable places to live and work.
• A higher building value and positive PR message is also achieved through the increased sustainability of
  the building, particularly when achieving BREEAM excellent and very good ratings

Question 11

What is an EPC?

Answer 11

• Energy Performance Certificates were introduced in 2007 and are a legal requirement for a building to be sold, let or constructed.
• Once obtained, an EPC is valid for 10 years.
• The most efficient built assets typically have the lowest fuel bills and are in band A.
• EPC’s are rated on a scale of A-G.
• The energy efficiency of the built asset along with the potential efficiency following improvements are identified.
• The EPC will also show the amount of CO2 emissions produced by the property in tonnes and will advise the amount this could be reduced by.

Question 12

What sustainable initiatives are you aware of that are being implemented by the RICS?

Answer 12

• The RICS SKA ratings encourages green codes of practice for commercial properties.
• RICS has also launched the ‘Value the Planet’ campaign and committed to forming a climate change expert panel to implement the UN’s sustainable development goals.
• RICS has launched a Responsible Business Report filled with solutions for companies to operate in a greener capacity, regardless of the firm’s size. This includes introducing higher recycling rates and reducing energy, transport and water use where possible.

Question 13

What things do you implement to promote sustainability?

Answer 13

• Printing only when necessary.
• Car sharing.
• Use of energy efficient equipment.
• Recycling.
• Use of cycle to work schemes.
• Being careful to minimise waste where possible.
• Avoiding the use of plastic bottles.
• Use of cloud-based storage systems.

Question 14

What is the climate change act?

Question 15

What is meant by the term embodied carbon?

Question 16

Can you discuss a specific project where sustainability measures such as BREEAM or SKA ratings were implemented? What impact did these measures have on the project?