In this increasingly competitive market for the built environment, how do you secure long-term future and ongoing success?

There is no single answer to this dilemma.

However, one solution is to develop your business in a sustainable way so that it is as efficient and effective as possible in delivering your products or services and satisfying, if not exceeding, your stakeholders’ expectations and needs. In doing this, you can ensure that your business is in the best position to differentiate itself from your competitors and respond successfully to tenders.

Sustainability lies at the heart of the built environment– the objectives being to create buildings and infrastructure works that are healthier for occupants, people in the neighbourhood, and the natural environment, use fewer resources, and are cheaper to run. Indeed, buildings are now being measured for their environmental performance under schemes such as the Code for Sustainable Homes (CfSH) or the BREEAM schemes.

How can businesses become sustainable?

To be sustainable, businesses need to address the following business needs:

• Improve resource efficiency (including electricity, fuel, gas, water, and materials)

• Reduce operating costs (including energy bills, waste disposal costs, landfill tax)

• Improve the quality of goods and services

• Improve regulatory compliance

• Reduce costly environmental and health and safety accidents and incidents

• Minimize the risk of legislative breaches and associated fines and prosecutions

• Protect and enhance company reputation and brand image

• Meet increasingly demanding customer needs such as responsible sourcing of products, CfSH and BREEAM

• Retain good staff to keep recruitment and training costs down

• Increase productivity and profitability

• Increase competitive advantage through differentiation

To read more on the topic of sustainability within the built environment, click here.

The benefits of using standards to embed sustainability practices

Using recognized national and international standards, such as BS EN ISO 14001, can bring benefits to a business wanting to become more sustainable:

• As previously mentioned, standards provide good practice in relation to management systems, saving you time and effort in developing your own system

• The standards provide the framework around which procedures need to be defined. The sheer act of process mapping can help you to eliminate redundant and duplicate processes leading to more efficient processes

• Documented systems and processes also mean that it is easier to make changes.

• Communication and training ensure that staff knows what they should be doing; making them happier and more likely to be motivated and comply with procedures. Indeed, staff may even come up with suggestions for improvements

• Most standards have an element of self-check within to ensure that you are conforming. This increases confidence that robust information is gathered on which to base important business decisions such as investments and contributes to the production of Corporate Social Responsibility Reports (CSR) or sustainability reports satisfying stakeholders' needs

• Having systems in place to monitor and measure controls also means that, where accidents, incidents, or deviations, do occur, you are able to spot them quicker, respond quicker, and therefore are able to recover quicker with the impact on operations and cost being reduced

• Many management system standards are written such that a business can be independently assessed and certified against them. This gives confidence to your customers and investors that you take your responsibilities seriously

• Standards have international recognition, which enables products and services from one country to be accepted by other countries, meaning greater access to new markets and more opportunities for growth

The development of sustainable construction standards

British Standards for the sustainability of construction works are being developed by BSI committee B/558. This committee provides the UK input into the European standards committee CEN/TC 350 and the International Standards Organisation committee ISO/TC 59/SC17.

The standards will provide a method for delivering information on the sustainability of works including embodied carbon for new and existing buildings. They are generally applicable (horizontal) and allow for the assessment of the integrated performance of works over the life cycle of a building. This means from the raw material supply of building products to the final disposal of building components.

“Sustainable construction” in standards has three aspects: environmental, economic, and social. The three impacts, altogether, must be considered and measured to be able to assess the sustainability of the whole works and calculation methods being developed for each area.

The standardized methodologies are voluntary and designed to work with national regulations, client briefs, and independent sustainability assessment schemes.

The program of work is ongoing and the CEN standards work with existing ISO standards and those in development.

Sustainable construction frameworks for businesses

The framework standard BS EN 15643 Sustainability of construction works. Framework for assessment of buildings and civil engineering works provides the general principles and requirements for the assessment of buildings over their entire life cycle that has been agreed upon across the EU member states.

The framework applies to all types of construction works and it is relevant for new construction works over their entire life cycle, and for existing construction works over their remaining service life and end-of-life stage. The sustainability assessment of construction works covers aspects and impacts of construction works expressed with quantifiable indicators. It includes the assessment of the construction works’ influence on the environmental, social, and economic aspects, and impacts on the local area (area of influence) and of the local infrastructure beyond the curtilage of the building and the civil engineering works.

Experience the benefits of standards in helping your construction business become more sustainable by adding these key standards to your collection today.

Discover BSI Knowledge

At their core, our standards inform an efficient use of available resources and promote a focus on achieving sustainable supply chain practices - from energy management and material recycling strategies to biodiversity and environmental considerations. Our tailored BSI Knowledge subscription service provides flexibility, access, visibility, and control over the standards and insights your team needs to achieve sustainability. Build your own custom collection of standards, or opt for access to our GBM06 Environment & Waste module and keep up-to-date with any relevant changes to your sustainability strategy. Request to learn more.