Within the UK membership organisation Constructing Excellence, I attend various committee meetings and have heard about a ‘Plain English guide to sustainable construction’ being produced by the organisation’s sustainability working group. I have just had a sneak preview of this guide (I’m not sure when it will become more widely available), and it is a good readable introduction to the key principles, with some pointers to examples of existing and emerging good practice.
I also skimmed through the guide to see if it made any particular mention of the potential role for ICT (recalling my submission to the BERR consultation document on sustainable construction last year – see posts here and here – a subject I also discussed over coffee this week with Building magazine’s sustainability blogger Phil Clark, looking forward to his Sustainability Now event in July).
Unfortunately, apart from references to a few tools that might be used during design and construction (eg: the BRE’s SMARTStart site waste management tool), there was little that directly addressed ICT issues. However, this may be because the guide is essentially an introduction to the overall challenges and opportunities, rather than an in-depth look at all related issues. I might raise the topic with HBG‘s Chris Gilmour, who leads the sustainability group.
On a related matter, this week’s Construction News has a small IT feature that includes a contribution from Causeway Technologies’ Tim Cole (who I sat next to at an NCCTP meeting yesterday) talking about how effective content management systems can help cut paper consumption and waste.
