Industrialised, Integrated, Intelligent sustainable Construction - I3con

SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION HANDBOOK 2
Figure 4. Questionnaire one and two: Comparison between the organisations management of
sustainability responsibilities
The results showed that 76% of FM have some level of formal or informal management of sustainable
activities. 16% of FM respondents have no management responsibility regarding sustainable activities
of their organisations. This figure is less than the number of respondents who rated their organisations
as either inconsistent or poor in terms of managing their sustainability responsibilities; whether this is
due to them not having full remit over those responsibilities, experiencing hindrance in that role or
rating their own performance as badly is uncertain. There is also a link with the level of responsibility
of the FM and the barriers preventing effective management of sustainability responsibilities. Greater
levels of FM responsibility result in fewer barriers to effective sustainability management, especially
when assigned to dedicated staff/teams. Formal management of sustainability reduces barriers and
increases organisational sustainability management effectiveness.
Barriers to Effective Management of Sustainability
The organisations responding to the BIFM questionnaire regard financial constraints (40%) as the
biggest barrier along with time constraints (38%) and lack of senior management commitment (37%)
ranking highly. Many organisations still regard sustainable activities as cost overheads rather than
calculating the benefits of efficiency. FM professionals are often at a low level in the organisational
hierarchy and require senior management commitment to implement new working technique and
ideas. Customer constraints and lack of tools are not regarded as significant barriers within the
respondent organisations. Lack of knowledge and training of the FM are significant barriers and ones
that should be overcome with better education and stronger sustainability goals.
Figure 5 highlights construction organisations as having significantly higher percentages in most
categories. This shows the increased barriers within the construction industry. Time constraints are the
most significant barrier within construction firms (67%) along with customer constraints (57%) and
financial constraints (52%). In comparison, the organisations responding to the BIFM survey gave
results of 38%, 14% and 40% respectively. This links with the customer orientation of the industry
where the client demands a bespoke product which must be provided within the period of time stated
by the contract and within the budget set upon tendering. New initiatives such as sustainability in
construction would experience similar limitations. Lack of awareness of the parties involved features
in low proportions to other barriers. These respondents also lack the knowledge and training required
to effectively manage sustainability. As there is no clear definition of what sustainability actually is or
how to implement it, there is widespread debate on what organisations should be doing to achieve it.
This theory links to the barriers and the range of aspects within organisations sustainability policies.
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