Sustainable Construction: Position Statement

Key issues

The construction industry plays a major role in improving the quality of the built environment, but it also impacts on the wider environment in a number of ways.

The construction business in the UK is responsible for nearly a third of all industry-related pollution incidents. Construction and demolition waste alone represent 19% of total UK waste. Too many buildings are environmentally inefficient and do not make best use of limited resources such as energy and water. The energy used in constructing, occupying and operating buildings represents approximately 50% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK.

Sustainable construction techniques have been successfully used to deliver projects such as the Great Western Hospital in Swindon and the Millennium Village in Greenwich. Yet take up of sustainability principles varies significantly, with some leading firms following recognised good practice, but others still making little effort. The environmental efficiency of buildings in the UK remains lower than in many other European countries. An increase in the number of single person households, together with rising domestic waste production and water consumption, means that increases in environmental efficiency are needed just to limit the impact of existing buildings.

Promoting sustainable construction is difficult because of the industry's size and fragmentation. The industry provides a tenth of the UK's gross domestic product and employs 1.4 million people in many types of business.

The rate of construction in the UK is set to increase. The Government's Sustainable Communities Plan (see link, right) seeks to accelerate the current house-building programme and increase the house-building target by about 200,000 on top of the 900,000 new homes planned between 1996 and 2016 in the South East. This new emphasis on growth represents an opportunity to shift development towards delivering more sustainable homes and construction.

The Environment Agency's role

As the principal environmental advisor to the Government, the Environment Agency has a broad interest in construction and would like to see its environmental impacts reduced. More specifically:

• As consultees on land use planning, we advise on where buildings and infrastructure should be located to reduce environmental impacts and flood risk.
• As regulators of waste and discharges our role is to ensure construction waste is managed safely and to drive a reduction in construction pollution and waste volume.
• As the organisation with a statutory duty for strategic water resources planning, our role is to ensure homes and other buildings are built in places that have the capacity to support them, and to standards that encourage efficient water use.
• As a construction client our projected spending on construction in 2005/06 is £250 million and our role is to lead by example and demonstrate what sustainable construction means in practice.

Solutions - we call for:

Government, industry and the Environment Agency all have a role to play in promoting environmental improvements and reducing the environmental impacts of the built environment, both in terms of construction and during the life of buildings.

Development to be located in the right place and in the right way

Local authorities should comply with Government planning policy and advice relating to development and flood risk (Planning Policy Statement 25: Development & Flood Risk in England, Planning Policy Wales and Technical Advice Note 15 in Wales) and consult the Environment Agency on planning applications where there is a risk from flooding.

Through its review of the General Development Procedure Order (1995) in England, Government should make the Environment Agency a statutory consultee for all development in the flood plain. A similar arrangement should be developed in Wales.

Local authorities should always consider the environmental capacity of an area, particularly its water resources and waste management options, to support new built development. These issues should be reflected in all strategic planning and individual development control decisions.

The Government has a target to locate 60% of new development on previously developed 'brownfield' land. This land is often potentially contaminated by previous use. The Agency will work with local authorities to encourage the redevelopment of such land to include appropriate site investigations and remediation to reduce risk to human health and the environment, especially controlled waters.

Traditional methods of drainage tend to increase flooding and pollution risk. All new developments should incorporate appropriate sustainable drainage systems.

We will discourage development that harms habitats and species and encourage developments that include improvements to biodiversity.

Reduced construction pollution and waste

We will work with others to address pollution incidents caused by construction sites, construction waste and industry-related fly-tipping. Our broader work on waste reduction will contribute to reducing waste streams and better segregation for recovery from construction, particularly hazardous waste. We will encourage more construction firms to actively manage their environmental impact, ideally through a recognised Environmental Management System.

Large-scale developers should produce and implement a written 'site waste management plan'. This should identify the volume and type of construction and demolition waste, and demonstrate how off-site disposal of wastes will be minimised and managed.

The Government should amend the Duty of Care provisions so that developers and others are not allowed to avoid responsibility for waste materials through simply using contracted waste carriers. The Government should also extend to building inspectors the powers to examine and enforce sustainability issues during their routine site checks.

Targets on recycling construction waste should be increased and there should be a requirement to use a fixed percentage of reclaimed materials in construction. This would help make construction and demolition waste more valuable and hence less likely to be disposed of in a careless way.

Government should continue to use revenue from the Landfill Tax to help industry improve its environmental performance.

Improved environmental efficiency of buildings

Government should review the scope of the building regulations and expand them to cover water efficiency. In the longer term Government should introduce a sustainable development duty within building regulations so they apply to construction waste and the wiser use of materials, including packaging.

Voluntary schemes such as the EcoHomes Standard should be improved over time and be increasingly used to guide higher construction standards. Commercial house builders should be encouraged to follow the example of English Partnerships and the Housing Corporation and aim for a 'very good' or 'excellent' standard of EcoHomes.

Government should explore how the town and country planning system can be used to drive forward environmental efficiencies during refurbishment and in new homes and buildings. This could include Section 106 agreements, planning conditions, Supplementary Planning Guidance and design briefs.

Government should ensure homebuyers are provided with a wide range of information on the environmental efficiency of homes through expanding the scope of the Home Information Pack.

Increased skills development and training

We believe that lack of relevant skills and knowledge is a hurdle to sustainable construction. We will work with Government, professional institutions and both further and higher education to influence and support skills development and training in the industry. This will include work with sector bodies such as the Construction Industry Training Board.

The Agency to lead by example

We have made progress as a public sector client adopting the principles of sustainable construction. But we could do more. We will identify sustainable construction targets when developing our capital projects, such as reducing waste and pollution incidents, setting targets for recycling aggregates or enhancing biodiversity. We will acknowledge sustainable construction as a priority for the Agency when setting policy, and will adjust our appraisal framework and procurement practice so that sustainable construction objectives are taken into account. We will promote the principles of sustainable construction through our procurement policy and chain of suppliers. We will encourage other public sector clients and industry to achieve similar approaches to more sustainable construction.

Background

• The construction sector uses over 420 million tonnes of material resources and converts 6,500 hectares of land from rural to urban use each year.
• Approximately 13 million tonnes of construction and demolition waste is material delivered to sites but never used.
• Annually, 90 million tonnes of construction and demolition waste is generated - the industry produces three times the waste produced by all UK households combined.
• Construction and demolition is responsible for creating 21% of the hazardous waste in the UK.
• About 10% of national energy consumption is used in the production and transport of construction products and materials, and the energy consumed in building services accounts for about half of the UK's emissions of carbon dioxide.
• Climate change is making flood management an increasingly important factor in deciding where to locate new development. Presently, 1.85 million houses and 185,000 commercial properties are at risk from flooding, figures that are likely to increase under planned future development.