CIB W116—Smart and Sustainable Built Environments - Test Input

6. Conclusions and recommendations
The construction industry is not only one of the major contributors to climate change, but also one of
the industries that could be severely affected by them. Although climate change is affecting the
ecological system of the whole world, some regions such as the South East Asian region are more
vulnerable than the others due to their special geographic features. Thus, the efforts to mitigate
environmental impacts and adapt to them would require pro active measures from the construction
industry in ASEAN countries.
Of various risks that are associated with construction projects, environmental risks could spring up at
any time during a project’s life cycle. Mitigation of some environmental risks such as those related to
existing legislation on environmental standards may not be too difficult. Such risks could be easily
mitigated by the relevant project participants. However, taking action to deal with some
environmental risks such as adverse impacts of climate change and the efforts to adapt to changing
climate conditions would require action from the national governments as well as at the regional and
global levels.
In the circumstances, ASEAN countries should take the initiative to introduce land-use planning and
performance standards that would encourage both private and public investment in buildings to take
account of climate change and the threat posed by it. Similar measures have been suggested for other
countries, for example UK (Stern, 2007). This could be done by the introduction of voluntary
mechanisms as well as building regulations that would introduce certain mandatory baselines as in the
case of the Singapore Green Mark scheme. Such measures however, would have an impact on what is
built, the locations of the buildings, as well as, building technologies and designs. As mentioned
earlier, this could also affect the cost and time of construction.
There is evidence that ASEAN, as a region, is moving in the correct direction by understanding and
identifying appropriate regional responses to common environmental risks. However, in order to
facilitate the initiatives that need to be taken at the regional level, the ASEAN members should take
the steps to implement the agreements that have been reached such as the Singapore Declaration and
the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint which have been discussed in this paper.
References
Allison T. (2000), “Malaysia's Bakun project: Build and Be Damned”, Asia Times, 28 October 2000.
American Institute of Architects (2000), Architects and Climate Change, Background Paper, AIA:
New York.
Augenbroe G L M, and Pearce A R (1998), "Sustainable Construction in the USA: A perspective to
the year 2010”, L. Bourdeau et al edn, Sustainable Development and the Future of Construction: A
comparison of visions from various countries, CIB Publications: Rotterdam.
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