In light of ambitious new carbon reduction targets in place for the construction industry, we asked Mike Watson, Head of Construction at WRAP, a leading NGO advising business on using resources efficiently, to share his views on the opportunities and pitfalls that lie ahead.

In the context of carbon reduction goals, embodied energy* has become a key issue. What challenges do you see for the industry in this area?

The industry’s focus is clearly on a building’s efficiency, its energy usage and associated carbon impacts, but there is a lack of clarity as to what embodied energy actually means. As the energy efficiency of buildings is optimised, the impact of reducing embodied energy in the building fabric will become more important.

There’s a lot of work already underway to identify carbon footprints for individual products. WRAP’s role is to identify the opportunities for improvement and raise awareness of resource-efficient products.

Where are the main opportunities for reducing embodied energy in construction?

They’re at the specification or design stage. It is important to establish an approach which encourages clients to incentivise design teams to offer low carbon solutions.

The opportunity for contractors to play an active role is often more difficult because of the fragmentation in the supply chain. Contractors must engage and challenge the design. There are often innovations across the supply chain that are not being communicated back to the
design teams.

Our approach has shown the role that voluntary agreements can play when industry gets involved and creates solutions through partnerships.

…and the risks of not addressing the issue?

It’s about future proofing your business. In the past, sustainability in business has been identified with environmentalism. Now, carbon reduction is a key measure for business efficiency and, increasingly, a way of doing business. You would want to have a sustainable business by definition, and using resources efficiently is clearly an important element of that.

Will resource efficiency and embodied energy be part of how we meet the UK’s 2027 carbon reduction targets?

Without doubt. WRAP published a report in 2009 identifying the part materials can play in meeting the targets. This report identified materials sectors and the impact of different reduction strategies for minimising their use and associated waste. Some strategies were straightforward around waste reduction and design, while others required fundamental changes in business models. Overall,
10% of the UK’s requirements to reduce carbon emissions could be met through more efficient use
of resources.

How does the Government’s recent Low Carbon Construction report** reference embodied energy?

The report itself is a business plan for the industry over the next 40 years – outlining a huge opportunity to change. Although the biggest focus is on energy and its use, embodied carbon is recognised very clearly with specific actions. The challenge is translating these industry-wide recommendations into what organisations can practically do themselves. WRAP will be developing guidance that addresses more efficient resource use and the associated efficiencies in embodied carbon.

For Galliford Try, the Carbon Disclosure Project and Halving Waste to Landfill (HWTL) commitment have been extremely useful in establishing common industry metrics.

Yes, one of the key drivers for HWTL was developing a standardisedmethodology. We’ve done a lot
of work with the UK Contractors Group in getting them to adopt that methodology.

Are there any benchmarking initiatives on resource efficiency?

The Product Research Forum is an industry group set up by WRAP to look at a whole range of product categories and establish the rules for impact measurement. The Construction sector is probably ahead when it comes to product standards and environmental declaration. There is a lot of data, but what you do with it is the key. It is vital to have a common means of reporting data and be able to present it externally.

The Strategic Forum developed a road map for operational carbon use. Could anything similar be produced for resource efficiency?

That’s going to be a big challenge! If you start to broaden that idea to resource efficiency it gets more difficult because of the sheer number of materials and the complexity and size of the supply chains. Resource efficiency involves many choices and trade offs. The quick wins would be some very basic rules of thumb that everyone would agree with.

Is resource efficiency important enough to clients?

Clients are increasingly looking for initiatives and innovation in this area that align with their own sustainability goals. It’s clear toothat some contractors see this now as a means of differentiation and winning work.

What makes a company good at driving sustainability?

Commitment from the very top is key. Secondly, the ability to pass this down to the senior management team and communicate the messages through the organisation. Some organisations appear to be able to embed that sort of change quite quickly and that’s down to organisational culture. It’s most successful when organisations can say‘this is part of how we do business’.

What can WRAP bring to this area?

As an independent, non-governmental, non-industry body, WRAP offers technical advice and practical help to assist businesses make the best move that suits their own needs. Our main value is to come up with simple rules of thumb, quick wins for implementationand the means to standardise measurement and reporting.

Your advice to an organisation trying to get to grips with these issues?

Establish your own business drivers for change. Is it about cost saving? Market position? Reputation? Ultimately, it’s got to be about sustainable business, but it helps if it’s tied down to something that has an immediate impact. Having decided what is important to you, it’s then about implementation and measurement. You must be able to measure your impact to establish a baseline for improvement and compare it to similar organisations.

* Embodied energy is defined as the energy that was used in the work to make any product, bring it to market, and dispose of it. To enable sustainable outcomes, it requires thinking and smart choices on materials – based on criteria such as location, composition and durability.
** http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/business-sectors/docs/l/10-1266-low-carbon-construction-igt-final-report.pdf