Construction is a resource-intensive industry, and the ongoing use of buildings consumes vast amounts of energy. The STAND-INN project – now entering its final quarter – has looked at ways in which efficiencies can be realised.

Two areas of construction are strong candidates for sustainability improvement. One is public procurement which, with its muscle and spending power, could dramatically reduce waste and adverse impacts by raising the bar in procuring new buildings. The second area is housing. Once sustainable practices are implemented, they can be rolled out in repeat housing projects on a significant scale.

So what action needs to be taken now? “We advocate innovation and the use of standards in the construction and ongoing maintenance of buildings”, says Svein Haagenrud, the project manager of STAND-INN. “We have seen a wide variety of sustainable buildings in our research and are starting to hone our action points.”

Construction clients in the public sector are advised to ask bidders to model life-cycle costs in their bids. They should also require bidders to show how their proposals will minimize energy use. Another task is to develop tools that will enhance efficiency in procuring new projects. Governments must also intervene to trigger greater sustainability in design and construction.

In addition, innovative practice at the coalface of projects is crucial to making progress in sustainability. A top-down approach needs to be balanced by bottom-up developments. Leading-edge clients are starting to require their supply-chains to work with interoperable software (ideally based on the open IFC standard) and to use a building information model (BIM) – a shared multi-purpose database. When all the parties on a project work via a BIM, communication, speed and accuracy are all improved, and there are huge benefits downstream for the building’s operators.