November 2010
Creating a sustainable built environment is essential to enable people to live within environmental limits whilst maximising quality of life thus says the Sustainable Development Commission.
However, before they can reach the construction phase buildings need to be designed, and the awareness of the architects of the different factors that can influence the environment is obviously essential. While architects have been aware through a variety of means of the different aspects that need to be considered, how can they prove to their clients that they are taking these seriously? Over the past year, two architects have taken advice from QMI Scotland Limited to put an environmental management system to ISO 14001 in place. They looked at the ways they worked; in terms of the amount of travelling they undertook and, where possible, introduced more conference calls, video conferencing etc. to reduce their own mileage. They looked at ways they could influence their clients to use more sustainable materials and at ways the buildings, they were designing, would use energy and whether this could be reduced by their designs.
Architects are only one part of the story though and while more and more are taking up the ISO 14001 challenge, they are at the beck and call of their clients too. So, maybe the challenge is now for Housing Associations, Health Authorities, Local and National Government Agencies who commission most of the building within Scotland to review their approach to sustainability and whether, perhaps, short term cost savings may reduce the longer term benefits.
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