Sustainability is a broad term describing a desire to carry out activities without depleting resources or having harmful impacts on Urban and Global environments, defined by the Bruntland Commission as ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. Some broader descriptions include social and economic sustainability, although these can confuse the basic issue of the depletion of resources. Sustainability within construction, is a vast and complex subject, needing to be considered from the very earliest stages to ensure the potential impacts are acknowledged and minimised.

Demands for a sustainable way to build are no longer a matter of personal choice, the sector is now regulated for the purpose of implementing these measures and improving the construction industry’s environmental behaviour. Traditional construction methods can create many skips of non-recyclable waste, with structures that do little to offset their carbon footprints for the future. Did you know one cubic metre of concrete, creates one tonne of carbon? Buildings consume between 20-50% of the physical resources of the world, with the consumption of natural resources, such as wood, minerals, water, and fossil-fuelled energy, being equally vast. WE -ARE -SUSTAiNABLE takes great care of its use of these natural resources and the implementation of responsible sustainable supply chains, for the products we use, the waste we create, recycling and reforesting.

Building with environmentally responsible materials, means for their production, use, and life span, they have the lowest environmental impact, whilst needing to be durable, reusable, recyclable in their composition, and where possible, from resources of an area, location, region, or country closest to where the construction will take place.

Construction with timber products has the greatest benefits for urban and global environments. Timber has to be certified to be sure of its sustainable production and origin, ensuring a natural cycle of planting and harvesting. From January 2019, paints, coatings and wood treatments have to be natural and water-based, containing no substances harmful to the ozone layer, no solvents or other chemicals. Oil-based paints have been outlawed due to their production process, rather than the product itself.

Re-used wastes generated by other sectors of industry for the production of building materials, work extremely well with a sustainable building plan. Some of these incredible ideas and products include manufacturing concrete with recycled tyre rubber, using the mud from sewage plants for making bricks, sawmill dust and wood chippings to make construction panels, leftover resins from petrochemical production mixed with and other binding agents also work as excellent insulators. Waste from industrial processes such as mining, quarrying, manufacturing or the chemical sectors, can create products which offer greater sustainable value than using some natural products for the first time.

Sustainability within building and construction requires active planning. On a large project, this would be a full-time position, costed and the responsibility of the main-contractor. Predicting the likely environmental performance of development during the design phase is important, as regulations become increasingly strict. As well as the Building Regulations and Government targets for low carbon construction, the National Planning Policy Framework makes clear, there should be a presumption in favour of granting planning permission for sustainable development. This should be reflected in the Design and Access Statements for outline planning applications.