Productivity & Sustainability: Opinion BUILDING FOR A BETTER TOMORROW David Wigglesworth, Managing Director at SFS UK, says construction is entering a period of rapid growth, whilst also facing big questions about productivity and sustainability. How it responds, he says, will define the future of the industry and, to a degree, the future of the planet. Below, he looks at what the sector can do to safeguard the future while also delivering an inspirational built environment. The noise around COP26 has reinforced what we’ve all known for years: our environment is in trouble, our futures are threatened, and the time has come for action, not words. Everybody needs to take responsibility – individuals, government, industry and, of course, construction. Construction especially. Everyone from the U.S. Green Building Council to the UN’s United Nations Environmental Programme agrees. Construction is responsible for 40% of the world’s energy usage, 25% of water usage and c 33% of greenhouse gas emissions. This is a heavy charge sheet and if we’re going to secure the future of our planet, a lot of work needs to be done. Not least because the world is on the threshold of a construction boom. In the UK alone, some £650 billion has been earmarked for economic and social infrastructure projects over the next 10 years, taking in schools, hospitals, transport links, entertainment, office buildings and homes as the government sets out to transform lives and level up society. So if we’re going to meet challenging future targets for more buildings and net-zero emissions, construction is going to have to make big changes. This isn’t negotiable, it’s built into the programme. ‘Project Speed’ is focussed on encouraging the industry to work better, faster and greener. Equally, in its document – Transforming Infrastructure Performance: Roadmap to 2030 - the Infrastructure and Projects Authority is upfront about what’s needed; more data to measure efficiency and inform decision making. The direction of travel is clear, but construction has been notoriously slow to get the wagons rolling. Research shows that productivity in construction has grown only 1% over the last 20 years, far lower than other industries. Equally, there’s a real shortage of labour, exacerbated by Brexit, an ageing workforce and a poor image which is deterring millennials and Gen X. This is a pressing issue. In 2021, the Construction Skills Network revealed the need for 217,000 new workers by 2025 which has encouraged a flurry of activity in terms of apprenticeships, up-skilling and retraining. Finally, the sector has been slow to embrace digital – the very technology that can help drive productivity gains. Fortunately, this is now changing. Unfortunately, the ageing workforce isn’t always receptive. So construction is under pressure from environmental, economic and demographic fronts. It’s also being asked to leave a legacy – not just in terms of aesthetics, but also in how the built environment can positively impact people and the planet in the long term. These are big issues that architects, specifiers, and investors will be expected to address. It’s also the responsibility of those who supply the industry to do everything in their power to support this drive. Major manufacturers such as ourselves at SFS are taking this responsibility seriously, and our efforts cover four main areas: sustainability, digital, productivity and people. As our efforts will help safeguard the future of the sector, it’s worth looking at each of these a little more closely. And right now, the most pressing is without doubt the environment. Towards the concept of embedded carbon Today’s tenders seek more sustainable products and technology, and recycling, upcycling and Cradle to Cradle have become part of construction’s lexicon. Manufacturers are responding. At SFS for example, ‘go green’ initiatives touch on everything from lighting solutions and manufacturing with 100% recycled material, through to insulation which improves the thermal performance of rainscreen subframes. Such steps are being taken industry-wide and are important, but as yet there is no exact or universal way of measuring sustainability. True, EPDs and the European standard EN 15804 go some way toward meeting this need and are common requirements for building specification, but a lack of transparency consistency remains. Having a reliable and universally accepted measure would benefit specification, while also providing manufacturers with clear parameters to work towards. Embracing such a scheme is vital to our future, and the way forward may well be with the notion of ‘embedded carbon’. This refers to the total carbon impact of any particular product – including raw materials, manufacturing and transport, as well as installation and disposal. However, although organisations such as ACAN (Architects Climate Action Network) and Part Z Continued on page 52 50 TC NOVEMBER <strong>2022</strong>
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