Specification for a sustainable built environment

What progress have we really made in the materials sectors to support the specification of a truly holistic, sustainable built environment? We must move on from a single issue emphasis, which often gained headlines but provided no real metric to support specifiers. We need to address the sustainability agenda in a more mature way.

The concrete industry has committed to the Concrete Industry Sustainable Construction Strategy and it has already published performance data for three consecutive years. It’s been hard work, and we will continue to set higher and broader areas for action as part of our 2020 strategy.

The concrete industry has also embraced BES 6001; this supports the transparency of production performance. In 2009, 81% of the industry had achieved this certification for responsible sourcing – no mean achievement when the standard was only published at the end of 2008.

This is not to say the journey is in any way complete, but many of the metrics are better understood, if not yet fully defined.

“It’s not all about carbon” is becoming a common message, with the caveat that at present it is the accepted metric, but how is this resolving itself in the market?

Prior to the advent of climate change and carbon reduction, designers made their choice of materials on a range of criteria which are still valid – strength, durability, visual appearance, to name a few. With the advent of carbon accounting and life cycle assessment, designers are beginning to understand how to balance these criteria with the new paradigms of embodied energy, energy in use, reuse and recycling.

A debate at Ecobuild, hosted by the Construction Products Association, concluded there is a place for all materials. Perhaps we all need to provide designers with the data to empower them to create a truly sustainable building, and maybe that will result in multi-material solutions.

Supporting this proposition are two buildings featured in Concrete Quarterly. The Woodland Trust HQ uses a timber structure with concrete radiant panels to counteract overheating and The Cass Sculpture Foundation features a masonry and visual concrete structure clad in timber to suit its woodland setting.