SUSTAINABLE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

Issues Of Sustainable Construction and Current Approach-UK

Issues Of Sustainable Construction and Current Apprach-UK

Introduction

Sustainable construction is basically good design of buildings. We need to become more sustainable in how we live in use of energy, use materials that can be reused and recycled, consider the life expectancy of the building and bring in new technologies that reduce the environmental impacts on the planet (Adetunji, 2003: 165)

The construction industry is an important part of the UK economy but it is in a fragile state and the outlook is for weakness to persist. The UK construction industry is vital to the UK economy, accounting for around six per cent of national Gross Value Added, some £71bn, in 2010. It has been especially important in sustaining the economic recovery of 2010 accounting for a significant proportion of total GDP growth. Having been hit hard by the recent financial crisis, construction output bounced back surprisingly strongly in 2010. But with the removal of funding for public sector projects, weakness in the private sector and a high level of spare capacity, only moderate output growth is expected in 2011-2012. Construction employment is now well below pre-crisis levels following the reduction of around 280,000 workforce jobs since 2008 (see chart 1). The private sector needs to enhance its output to offset lost public sector work if stagnation in construction is to be averted. (Bennett, 2003: 27-32)

According to this concept, social and economic urban development is to be pursued in conjunction with the protection and preservation of the earth's resources for current and future generations; natural resources and the capacity of natural systems to respond and adjust to human-made changes is limited and must be acknowledged in growth plans.

Another term for this is 'livable cities'. One of the key issues from the sustainability perspective when applied to cities is to reduce the environmental impact of all urban activities to a minimum. This means that waste disposal and resource needs be minimized to the local area. This is called the ecological footprint. Other aspects of sustainability refer to social costs and economic choices within a given area, but the movement began with intense concern for the way our present pattern of urban development was threatening the environmental vitality of the globe everywhere. (Beard, 1998: 205)

In the UK, sustainable cities are central to urban policy. However, it is not clear what constitutes a sustainable city for British policy-makers. Economic, social and environmental contexts are given in the report, Towards an Urban Renaissance, but not how they integrate to create and nourish sustainable cities. There is a stress on excellence in urban design, with the unsustainable form of Houston being compared to sustainable and more compact UK cities, as though the two places were compatible.

Discussion

Buildings contribute up to nearly 50% of greenhouse gases to the environment including housing, leisure and industrial construction. Climate change has been identified as having major affects on building design which architects and designers increasingly have to ...