Sustainability is a major issue for the construction industry. In the UK alone, the built environment is responsible for 47 per cent of the country’s carbon emissions, half of water consumption, a third of landfill waste and a quarter of all raw material used in the economy.
Everyone involved within the construction industry clearly has a large role to play to ensure that meeting our current needs does not have a negative impact on future generations.
JCT has produced Building a sustainable future together, a guidance note to assist management teams, design teams, the construction industry and its clients (both public and private sector) in dealing with environmental sustainability within contracts used in the procurement of construction projects.
The document focuses in particular on how sustainability requirements can be provided for in the contract documentation, as well as the following key areas:
- Procurement
- Contractual approaches to sustainability
- JCT’s sustainability provisions
- Framing the detailed requirements
- Building use and maintenance
- Evaluation