SCC Sustainability Programme
What is meant by sustainable development?
As outlined in the UK Government's Sustainable Development Strategy, we consider sustainable development "to enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life without compromising the quality of life of future generations".
Why is sustainable development in the construction industry important?
The need and demand for sustainable development in the construction industry is greater now more than ever. Not only are the environmental and social benefits becoming more and more apparent, the business benefits of managing and operating in a sustainable way are becoming increasingly evident and favourable. Businesses, organisations and individuals are now all being encouraged to assess and reduce environmental impacts and associated costs, whilst complying with or going beyond existing and proposed legislation and planning requirements.
The Scottish Government's Sustainable Development Strategy: Choosing Our Future is a key document in driving the whole of Scotland forward and on the path to building a more sustainable future. This document demonstrates the Government's commitment to delivering a sustainable future and highlights a shared framework for the whole of the UK, setting out a common goal for sustainable development across the UK.
Examples of available tools to help apply sustainable development in the construction industry
A wide selection of tools, packages and guidance is available to assist our industry to develop sustainably:
- BREEAM is currently in use allowing buildings (office, retail, schools, industrial, housing and bespoke) to be assessed and benchmarked in order to improve their environmental performance
- Environmental Profiling is a universal method of measuring the sustainability of all construction products and materials. Environmental Profiles allow designers to demand reliable and comparable environmental information about competing building materials, whilst at the same time provide suppliers with the opportunity to present credible environmental information about their products
- The Green Guide to Specification is a publication made available to individuals and is a useful, easy to use resource for those wishing to ensure that the materials and components that they are specifying and using have a low environmental impact
- Green Print is an environmental guide that essentially evolved from sustainability checklists and can be developed individually for each development to ensure suitable environmental and sustainable considerations are given to development key areas
- SMARTWaste tools can help companies to measure, manage, reduce construction waste and maximise their resource use
- Envest 2 is a software tool designed to help simplify the complex process of designing buildings with low environmental impact and whole life costs. This software is valued by clients and developers as it allows both environmental and financial tradeoffs to be made explicit in the design process, therefore the client can influence specific areas in order to optimise the concept of best value according to their own priorities
- MaSC is a service available to those on both the supply and demand side of the industry and can be used by any size of business to facilitate the introduction and development of more sustainable business practices. This service can help construction companies improve their business through sustainability
Where can I find out more?
1 The Scottish Government, Choosing Our Future: Scotland's Sustainable Development Strategy,
Dec 2005
2 The Sustainable Construction Task Group, The UK Construction Industry: progress towards more
sustainable construction, October 2003
3 For more information on BREEAM and current available versions please visit: http://www.breeam.org/
Regulatory significance
The Scottish Government have published documents such as ‘Choosing Our Future' to promote, support and encourage others to adopt more sustainable measures. Also, some individual planning authorities are now demanding that design and construction methods are going beyond minimum recommendations, again pushing sustainable development to the forefront.
Events
A list of BREEAM training and events can be found by visiting the following link: http://www.breeam.org/events.jsp
