© crane environmental 3 rd brunel international lecture: delivering sustainable development gold...
TRANSCRIPT
© Crane Environmental
3rd Brunel International Lecture:
Delivering Sustainable DevelopmentGold Coast, 3 October 2001; Brisbane, 3 October 2001;
Sydney, 8 October 2001; Melbourne, 11 October 2001;
Auckland, 10 October 2001; London 12 February 2002;
Leeds 12 March 2002; Durban, 30 April 2002; Johannesburg, 2 May 2002; East London (South Africa), 7 May 2002
Roger VenablesManaging Director, Crane Environmental Ltd,
and Chairman of the Institution of Civil Engineers’ Environment & Sustainability Board
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Delivering sustainable development
Six central contentions:
1. Sustainable development needs an immense contribution from engineers and engineering.
2. It needs engineers to work with the many others involved – to do that well, and with an open mind.
3. The best engineering and construction is, perhaps, already – or almost – good enough.
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Delivering sustainable development
4. But we need to make sustainable development normal.
5. Engineers generally must take a lead and play their full part.
6. Fuzziness’ in the definitions of sustainable development is no excuse for doing nothing. Practical action is possible now – and needed – by everyone involved in development.
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Delivering sustainable development
• UK Government’s 1999 Sustainable Development Strategy both reflects and leads public opinion, attitudes and actions
• Called A better quality of life, it defines SD as: social progress which meets the needs of everyone effective protection of the environmentprudent use of natural resourcesmaintenance of high and stable levels of economic
growth and employment
• Sustainable Construction Strategy 2000 – Building a better quality of life, now being updated by DTi – Workshop yesterday
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Delivering sustainable development
• Forum for the Future definition• “Sustainable development is a process, which
enables all people to realise their potential and improve their quality of life in ways that simultaneously protect and enhance the Earth’s life support systems.”
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Delivering sustainable development
• Thus a distinction needs to be made between a sustainable society or ‘sustainable living’ as the goal and ‘sustainable development’ as the process that will get us there
• However, let us also accept that sustainable development is also used as a term about built development - in the UK, ‘sustainable construction’ is being used
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Sustainable Development
Economic Success
Social Success
High Environmental
Quality
Severe environmental
damage
Social disquiet or unrest
Does not proceed, or economic loss
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Un-sustainable project
Economic Success
Social Success
High Environmental
Quality
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Delivering sustainable development
• UK Strategy says that delivery of sustainable development must be across all sectors of society
• and DTI is pushing industry sectors to produce their own strategies
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Delivering sustainable development
• We can sub-divide SD delivery many ways, eg:sustainable constructionsustainable manufacturing industrysustainable farmingsustainable forestrysustainable transport and tourism
all of which become elements ofsustainable living
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Delivering sustainable development
• So, in short:
• Sustainable Development is development that enables Sustainable Living
• Delivering sustainable development will enable us all to live more and more sustainably
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Delivering sustainable development
Two important provisos:1. Lecture complementary to Special Issue of
ICE’s Journal Civil Engineering, Nov. 2000: ‘Sustainable development: Making it happen’
2. Not discussing climate change, nor other major related political issues such as the call for population control – just two of many drivers for sustainable development
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Delivering sustainable development
• The two most-commonly-asked questions:
What should I do differently?
Can we recognise a sustainable
development when we see one?
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Delivering sustainable development
• So, what is it that makes for ‘sustainable development? Is it:Where it is: land use, ecological impact?What it is or is for: materials choice and use,
aesthetics, function? How it was built: construction impacts?How it performs: ‘joy in use’, energy and
water efficiency, maintainability, durability, flexibility, financial success?
All four at once?
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Delivering sustainable development
• Civil engineering and sustainable development
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Delivering sustainable development
• Civil engineering and sustainable developmentA water supply project: a balance between
use of natural resources and social and economic benefits brought to people
But: concern on particular projects about –disruption to natural processes– scale of the infrastructure + demand-led–adverse impact on some for the benefit of
othersNeed for the ‘right’ balance
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Delivering sustainable development
• The ‘right’ balance has not always been achieved in the past:
• We have mastered ‘the art of directing the great sources of nature for the use and convenience of man…’
BUT• We have done it – and may still do it – in
disharmony with the environment and with some of our fellow citizens
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Delivering sustainable development
• Transport infrastructure:Marc Brunel’s Thames Tunnel lasted well
over a century before major refurbishment was needed
Isombard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Western Railway from London to Bristol (completed in 1841) still in use today
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Delivering sustainable development
• These examples pass the high quality design test, for example in durability and flexibility …
• … and railways are now considered a ‘green’ form of transport
• Yet they are rarely economically successful over the long term, and
• 19th Century Railway bills subjected to strong opposition at all stages of their promotion
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Delivering sustainable development
• Use of materials:Timber viaducts became uneconomic when
Baltic timbers were no longer availableNo record of Brunel or GWR planting new
trees to re-grow stock used for their bridges
• I K Brunel’s management style …
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Delivering sustainable development
• So, is the GWR an example of sustainable civil engineering or not?
• You be the judge!
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Delivering sustainable development
• In summary so far: Many engineers have for many years been
trying to take into account the issues in the sustainable development concept`
But we – and our clients – have taken insufficient account of the impact of construction and operations on the environment and society
We have paid too little attention to resource efficiency.
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Delivering sustainable development
• However … We have recently learnt a great deal
about how to avoid inadequacies of much of past practice.
We now know what actions to take to deliver a less-unsustainable future and, at best, a sustainable future
Sustainable development needs an immense contribution from engineers and engineering.
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Delivering sustainable development
• Will show later that delivering sustainable development is possible
• First - Issues and challenges to resolve:
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Delivering sustainable development
Issues and challenges to resolve:• SD challenge is very large – but we can tackle it• It involves new ways of thinking about
development, eg: The idea that projects need to be in
better harmony with more sectors of society, not just with select groups
The need for a whole-life approach – whole-life costing and whole-life environmental assessment
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Delivering sustainable development
Issues and challenges to resolve:• Recognition – Often in the detail • The resource efficiency challenge
A great need ‘Factor 10’ A few are demonstrating dramatic changes
• Social acceptability Disconnection between individuals’ action and
environmental impact – so they ask: ‘Why do I have to change?’
Dealing with conflicting single-issue groupsWho decides on the greater goodWho decides who decides
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Delivering sustainable development
Issues and challenges to resolve:• Assessment of impacts
How far afield do we look for impacts, both positive and negative?
Local – Regional – State – World? • Timescales
How far into the future do we assess? (We’re bad at futurology!)
Do one’s best on basis of current knowledge – eg: long life, loose fit, low energy
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Delivering sustainable development
Issues and challenges to resolve:• The perception that sustainable development is
only for the rich It’s not! – a myth that it always costs extraSustainable development is crucial to
alleviating poverty eg good low-cost housing• Valuing ‘the environment’
Competing viewsPayment vs compensation
• Human values and the environment – We make value judgements about ‘good’ and ‘bad’
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Delivering sustainable development
• Projects and Initiatives to help move us forward:
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Delivering sustainable development
• Maidenhead Flood Relief SchemeDesign to very high environmental standards
– first Edmund Hambly Memorial ICE prizeWill appear to be a natural riverCosting £98M, yet cost-effectiveNow sustaining life in Maidenhead by
significantly reducing the risk of floodingYet it should not have been necessary if a
different approach to flood plain development had been adopted
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Delivering sustainable development
• The Institution of Civil EngineersEnvironment & Sustainability Board
Appropriate Development Panel
Overall policy + Position Statements
Good (Sustainability) Practice Case Sheets
CEEQUAL – an environmental assessment and awards scheme BREEAM
Sector Sustainability Strategy
Engineers Against Poverty
Aiming to push good practice
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Delivering sustainable development
• Princess Margaret Hospital, SwindonLed by Carillion plc – ‘flagship’ projectHelp from ‘The Natural Step’Aim is ‘green’ credentials second to none–Waste management–Materials choice, sourcing and supplier
support– Plant choices and energy-efficient features of
the design–Transport plans–Wildlife and habitat management
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Landfill reduction by composting and recycling of construction waste
• 50% target reduction from Dartford ( 2500t )• 500 tonnes timber composted or recycled• 400 tonnes paper and cardboard • Compost added to topsoil• Saving approx. £20k• To-date only 250 tonnes removed to landfill• 300 tonnes concrete recycled
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Delivering sustainable development
• Waste minimisation and Recycling
70 million tonnes of waste every year in UK
This is, per person, 4 x the domestic waste each person generates per year
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Delivering sustainable development
• Construction Industry Environmental Forum + CIRIA Environment ProgrammeMajor influence on leading industry playersConsidering ethical investment and other
social issues alongside technical solutions and environmental management
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Delivering sustainable development
• Other important UK initiativesUK Government’s Construction Clients’ PanelMovement for Innovation + demo projectsBRE Centre for Sustainable ConstructionBSRIAHR WallingfordTRLSteel Construction InstituteEngineers for the 21st Century EnquiryProfessional Partnerships for Sustainable
DevelopmentForum for the Future
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Delivering sustainable development
• Since October, the Young Professionals have formed a foundation – The International Young Professionals’ Foundationwww.iypf.org, based in AustraliaAlready engaging Australian business – Charlie
Hargroves, Ops Director a speaker at Ecofutures: National Business Leaders’ Forum on Sustainable Development
Committed group who want to make a difference
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Delivering sustainable development
• How do we make sustainable development the normal way of development
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Delivering sustainable development
Who buys a product when, and why?
• 2.5% - innovators
• 13.5% - ‘Mr & Mrs Jones’ (the opinion formers or early adopters)
• 34% - those who keep up with Mr & Mrs Jones (the early majority)
• 34% - the ‘alright-if-the-price-is-OK’ late majority
• 16% - the ‘alright-if-I-have-to’ laggards
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Delivering sustainable development
If we think of• environmental management of construction;• sustainable construction; and• sustainable development
as if they were products…
… where are they on the product diffusion curve?
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Delivering sustainable development
Environmental management of construction in the UK
Sustainable development
Sustainable construction in the UKPractice?
Awareness?
Awareness?
Sales
Time
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Delivering sustainable development
• Sustainable development characterised by:
Design principles known to only a few ‘manufacturers’
Test-manufactured and test-marketed, for example in a few housing developments
Yet elements of the concept are practised more widely than the overall concept
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Delivering sustainable development
• If sustainable development were a product• If we were the marketing department of its
owners …• How would we move Sustainable Development
from …
its small, niche market to …
being as ubiquitous as Coca Cola is as a ‘drink’?
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Delivering sustainable development
We would:• Identify the next most-likely set of buyers
Clients, developers and project leaders, who can take a long-term view
• Identify the benefitseasier planning approvalcheaper initial constructionmuch lower operating costssocial acceptabilityeasier dis-assembly
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Delivering sustainable development
We would:
• Study why our next target market group buy, how they buy, how they make buying decisions, what advertising messages they respond to
• Identify and deliver our production and delivery methods, and marketing messagesactively present the business caseprepare and disseminate case-studies etcuse the media, for example at and before
Johannesburg 2002
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Delivering sustainable development
We would:• Move on to consider the same questions for
the next target group• We can – and must – do this for sustainable
developmentMarketing Sustainable Development:• We – all professionals involved in development
– must do this
• We – you and I – can become the marketing department and the sales force for sustainable development
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Delivering sustainable development
How?
• We – you and I – can become the marketing department and the sales force for sustainable development
• We can demonstrate the concept as far as we can in our work and personal lives
• We can target the opinion formers we know – our clients, our governments, our friends – to do likewise
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Delivering sustainable development
• The ICE’s Sector Strategy Working Party is developing
• Society, Sustainability and Civil Engineering: A Strategy & Action Plan
• Launch – 24 April, ICE 6.30pm
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Delivering sustainable development
• Action plan builds on past work, and includes lists of actions for four groups:ClientsCivil engineering commercial concerns – designers, contractors, suppliers etc
Professional and trade groupsIndividuals
• including actions they need to persuade Government to undertake
• Some examples (mostly in a UK context) …
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Delivering sustainable development
Practical actions needed:• Re-use and improve existing built assets• Locate new development appropriately• Relate land-use planning to transport & other
infrastructure• Design for minimum waste and effective use of
resources• Choose an appropriate design life – flexible and
durable, or for dis-assembly & re-use elsewhere• Minimise life-cycle energy consumption
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Delivering sustainable development
Practical actions needed:• Utilise renewable energy sources where
appropriate• Do not pollute the wider environment• Preserve and enhance natural features and
(appropriate) biodiversity• Conserve water resources, not all demand-led• Respect people and their local environment,
and seek to minimise the adverse social impacts and maximise the positive social impacts of our projects
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Delivering sustainable development
• Scale of improvementWe need modest-scale improvements
replicated everywhere
alongside
large improvements achieved on occasional large-scale projects
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Delivering sustainable development
Overall, we should be aiming to create appropriate civil engineering works or buildings:
in the right place and to the right scalewith a sound choice of materials, and sourceswith high environmental performance (e.g.
energy & water consumption, +ve impact, maintainability)
an appropriate design lifein harmony with their surroundings and
neighboursso that, asap, this way becomes our norm.
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Delivering sustainable development
So, if that is what is needed,
How do we move practice forward?
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Delivering sustainable development
How do we move practice forward?
• Have an open mind
• A willingness to learn from each other
• Recognise that no one discipline knows best
• Consider sustainability in everything we do
• Deal more respectfully, considerately yet effectively with all the people involved
• Accept there is no longer any excuse for doing nothing, despite the challenges
• Accept it may take more upfront time
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Delivering sustainable development
How do we move practice forward? • Adopt a whole life approach using life-cycle
analysis – not just life-cycle costing but life-cycle environmental analysis as well
• Move towards sustainability impact assessment instead of just an environmental impact assessment
• Persuade the opinion formers we know – especially in our clients – to adopt new approaches to their development projects
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Delivering sustainable development
How do we move practice forward?• Use the extensive guidance already available –
from wherever on the planet we can find it• Look for Factor 10 in all we do:
Waste dramatically lessUse dramatically less energy and waterGenerate substantial improvements in
social conditionsAchieve obvious improvements in the
natural and built environments
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Delivering sustainable development
How do we move practice forward?• Educators have a crucial role – in sending civil
engineering and other graduates in built and natural environment subjects out into the world understanding what sustainable development is and how deliver it
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Delivering sustainable development
How do we move practice forward?• By creating
appropriate engineering works or buildings
in the right place and scale
with a sound choice of materials, and sources
with high environmental performance
an appropriate design life
in harmony with their surroundings and neighbours
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Delivering sustainable development
How do we move practice forward?• By recognising this as a sustainable
development project: exciting, and likely to be beautifulhighly efficient (and visibly so if possible)in harmony with its neighbours and
surroundings and better for the businesses involved
a joy to be in or to experiencegood for the business and personal lives of those
involved …
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Delivering sustainable development
• A challenge:
“Any 21st century professional engineer who is ignorant of, or ignores, sustainability, who does not seek to deliver more-sustainable solutions, and who does not also seek to live more sustainably, will be an incomplete engineer.”
• ‘True’ or ‘false’?
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Delivering sustainable development
• Web site for further informationwww.ice.org.uk then to Knowledge and expertise, … Environment & Sustainability… Knowledge map… Sustainability… link to Brunel Lecture Includes links to other relevant sites