June 2011 - Parsons Brinckerhoff

Roundtable
for our corporate sustainability practices and then try to extrapolate that to delivering
sustainability into a project, can be a little bit of a challenge. In that regard there is a
little bit of a dichotomy around “internal credibility” and “delivery” approaches to
sustainability and how to bring it into a project.
Kathryn Vowles
I think that’s the evolution from asking us questions like: do you have an
environmental policy? Which evolved into: do you have a sustainability policy?
Caroline Holmstrom
One of the things I’ve noticed in projects is that good intentions at the beginning don’t
always translate into the outcome. However, I’ve noticed the exact opposite as well,
simply because the sustainable option was the better outcome. I think there is a logic
that’s developing that’s allowing that to happen.
Kathryn Vowles
Absolutely. The UK Department of Transport now has a requirement to look at
alternatives to transport. Rather than assuming that new transport infrastructure is
necessary, we first question the need for it and look for alternatives. It comes back
to the very early planning stages of a project, and it’s interesting for us to challenge
ourselves as an engineering company to think about how we work with our clients at
a really early stage to think about what the different options are to solve the problem.
“The challenge
faced by clients in
Asia is balancing
sustainable intentions
with the practical and
commercial solutions—
the environment
and the climate in
Asia doesn’t always
lend itself to be as
sustainable as one
would like.”
Colin Chung
Caroline Holmstrom
Urban design is where we see that there’s the greatest sustainability benefit, and when
I say sustainability, we look really hard at health benefits. In this country our health
budget is growing to the point where we will have virtually no money for anything
else. So it’s rather easy to make a business case around health.
source: Roger Wagner (flickr)
Colin Chung
Today, it is standard practice for clients to include sustainability and environmental
questions at the RFQ [request for qualifications] stage of proposals. This is a good
thing and also makes commercial sense to the client. A typical area where PB has been
able to assist is in energy management of both infrastructure and building facilities
and also certification of these facilities to accreditation bodies. The challenge faced by
clients in Asia is balancing sustainable intentions with the practical and commercial
solutions—the environment and the climate in Asia doesn’t always lend itself to be
as sustainable as one would like. We need air conditioning because of the hot humid
temperature in most cities. In addition, because of our lack of space, we’re often
forced to build skyscrapers that are constructed with concrete and metal as opposed
to natural materials and elevators as opposed to stairs. Our buildings have to consider
public acceptance in terms of comfort level.
The challenge faced by clients in Asia is
balancing sustainable intentions with the
practical and commercial solutions—the
environment and the climate in Asia doesn’t
always lend itself to be as sustainable as one
would like. Minimal space lead to skyscrapers
constructed of concrete and steel, as opposed
to natural materials and elevators as opposed
to stairs.
Caroline Holmstrom
I think every geography has its own challenges. I imagine the UK suffers from being
quite cold and needs heating. In Australia, we suffer from geography in terms of
flight miles. It’s a matter of working around challenges as best as you can. Research
and development are imperative to accomplish this.
Kathryn Vowles
Regarding research and development, I’m wondering whether perhaps, from
the Asia perspective in particular, there is an interest in pushing forward some
new technologies in a more innovative way than we’re seeing in Europe or North
8 | Discourse on the Global Sustainability Initiative