A WEB SITE DEDICATED TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABILITY ISSUES IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION - FOR OUR DEVELOPING NEEDS

When we design a structure, we take all reasonable steps to ensure that it is structurally stable and safe for its intended purpose.   This is accepted throughout the industry and is expected of engineers and designers by society as a whole.

I firmly believe that the same criteria must be applied to sustainability.  Engineer's choices of structural materials and form should not only consider resistance to applied stresses, but should also take cognisance of the environmental impact of their design.  This is often ignored due to the complexity of the issues, for example use of oil-based materials (plastics etc) may reduce the energy consumption of a building over its lifetime through better insulation. However, the extraction of the oil may have caused severe pollution to the drinking water of hundreds of Nigerians, or may have destroyed swathes of Alaskan wilderness.

This example highlights the difficult choices that must be made, and demonstrates the need for widely available, impartial guidance for engineers to help them select the optimum solution in sustainability terms as well as economic.  The construction industry is a major part of the economy and, through informed choice by designers and contractors, could exert significant influence on other sectors of the economy and drive change.

One school of thought on reducing environmental impact assumes that no social changes will occur and that the only mode of reducing our ecological footprint is to increase resource efficiency and reduce waste. This is an approach which the construction industry can adopt but, by including developers and planners, social change can also be enacted. Coherent urban planning could result in reduced wasteful resource consumption more than simple efficiencies. It was after all engineers who cleared the nineteenth century slums and established modern standards of drinking water and sanitation.

This web site is still in an early stage of development and will continue to be updated. I intend to produce articles on the main construction materials highlighting some of the issues related to their environmental impact. Where there are previously established web sites detailing this information I will include only a summary and links to the relevant pages.

If you contact me, I will add you to my mailing list to keep you informed when the site is updated.

Finally, if anyone has any comments or criticisms about this web site, please feel free to contact me.

Site last updated 10^th July 2001, by Dr Chris Hoy, e-mail: dr_hoy@yahoo.co.uk