Our latest Green Vision tweetchat continued the autumn 2012 series and explored transparency in Green and Healthy building products. The chat certainly was green and vibrant, View the story “Green and Healthy Building Products ” on Martin’s Storify page.
The theme and comments from this chat will gp forward to our half day conference on the 12th December in Leeds.
Can we even start to imagine a Built Environment without Ash, or Scots Pine for that matter? Or a built environment with severe restrictions on movement and transportation of timber, where design and construction, from necessity has to be focused on local timber sources.
A built environment we may have to face up to and prepare for, fast, argues Martin Brown @fairsnape:
There has been a huge amount of coverage in the media, and indeed across social media on Ash dieback disease, but little as yet related to the built environment, and the role we may have played in the spread of the disease or the potential impact it may, no will, have on the built environment.
Despite the UK Government (DEFRA) slow response, not to mention odd instructions to wash boots dogs and children after visits to the countryside, the causes of Ash Dieback seems to be emerging as:
The built environment is accountable for around 40% of climate change issues (waste, transport, carbon, energy etc) but its the increase in demand for instant green that may be our biggest contribution. Odd isn’t it that efforts to plant trees and plants to provide green landscapes and green roofs in response to CO2 and biodiversity issues may have opened the door to yet bigger problems.
There is of course a great example of complexity theory at play here, we can no longer rely on cause effect thinking, but need to consider wider, biodiversity consequences. As Muir is quoted as saying ” when we tug at one part of nature we tug at the whole of nature”
I am reminded of my visit to UBC CIRS building in Vancouver last year and the gorgeous timbers in the atrium and main hall, timbers ‘salvaged’ from local forests affected by pine beetle disease and closely monitored by the Living Building Challenge.
As we launch Living Building in the UK with a UK collaborative, it may well be that the certification of future green buildings in the UK is through standards such as the Living Building Challenge, that give hard earned recognition to buildings and facilities that, like plants, contribute to making the world a better place.
The CIRS Building was recently profiled in our CKE Green Vision series with a presentation from Max Richter at Perkin+Will.
Green Vision is a key driver in launching Living Building thinking into the UK. Look out for more announcements at the next Green Vision conference event on the 12th Dec in Leeds and across the web. (Hashtag #GVis2012)
For more information on the Living Building collaborative in the UK, leave a comment, get in touch or pop over to our Living Building UK Collaborative page on Facebook and say hello.
(This blog originally appeared on the fairsnape blog)
#GVis Sustainable Materials : Whole life thinking The core Green Vision team gathered at Squires Sanders at 2 Park Lane in Leeds yesterday evening for another engaging Green Vision event. An excellent panel of speakers covering the drivers for sustainable material selection, importance of material selection in driving down Carbon and advocating the use of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and treating Buildings as Ecosystems . Paul Toyne presented a compelling case for Sustainable Procurement policies and evidence based sustainability assessment whilst admitting that our current financial models do not support LCA. Louis gave us a glimmer of hope about Whole Life thinking advocating the use of LCA with a triple bottom line approach. Gary then made the compelling case for Buildings to be addressed as Ecosystems highlighting exemplar case studies from across the world.
Paul Toyne of WSP UK shared with us his desire for the UK construction Sector to embrace Whole life thinking but hinted that whilst there much talking of LCA he has found that there can be a lack of consistency , baseline data and product data to enable the sector to take advantage of this methodology. Paul , clearly passionate about the issue of resource use and natural resource management advocates a move toward the circular economy which we are starting to see in Denmark and Holland involving organisations within the wider system coming together to rethink the way they operate.
It was a pleasure to attend the Green Vision event where people with different backgrounds and experiences share knowledge and exchange viewpoints on how to make progress on sustainability . My hope is that attendees will be more aware of and will help promote lifecycle thinking to help support future decision making (Louis Brimacombe , TATAsteel )
Louis Brimacombe of TATASteel shone some light into the room with his detailed account of LCA of Steel in particular highlighting the recent British Standard BS 8905 Sustainable use of materials helping companies perform a full sustainability assessment on their potential material choices. He highlighted some interesting figures on end of life scenarios of product types with Timber coming out at the worst with over 50% ending in landfill
Gary, author of recent book ‘Ecosystems Services Come to Town’ brought a softer tone to the evening with his thought provoking presentation of ecosystems services , cutting through the jargon to show the simplicity and ecological benefits of green walls and roofs . Gary’s enthusiasm is infectious and he successfully demystified the world of green roofs and effectively presented buildings as ecosystems , with inspiring images of living roofs from across the world ..
A lively Q and A followed covering a variety of issues such as Consistency in LCA approaches , barriers for change yet need for change in both procurement processes and financial models we currently work within .All relevant and topical to construction and future cities.
Slides from the presentations can be found here
Despite the floods and tremendous downpours in Calderdale over the last week, a committed few Calderdale SMEs came together this evening at the Holiday Inn in Brighouse to hear from Chris Hopkins, MD Ploughcroft Ltd as part of the Business Growth Calderdale Programme, which is part financed by the European Regional Development Fund.
This evening’s event has been for me probably the most interesting insight into real business that I have ever heard, told in such a personal and honest way by a true entrepreneur.
Chris Hopkins of Ploughcroft shared with the Green Vision Calderdale network his account of the highs and lows of business over the last 10 years. Only two weeks ago Chris called me to say that he didn’t think he could present this evening and then much to my delight he reconsidered. He arrived straight from site booted and wearing his trademark red t-shirt to give, unbeknown to me, the news that in fact Ploughcroft Building Services Ltd had gone into administration at 10am that very morning. His account of ‘taking his eye of the ball’ ‘all eggs in one basket’ not helped by the current recession and continued cuts in the Feed in Tarrifs had left Ploughcroft in serious difficulty.
His energy and positivity resounded throughout his presentation which was brought to a close by an honest applause from all delegates for sharing so openly his recent turbulent story with us. Dedicated to excelling at training provision and being the best and most trusted brand in his field he will continue Ploughcroft Ltd with a revived energy and enthusiasm and awareness of the need to work to a different business model in these difficult times.
A truly inspirational talk from an exceptional entrepreneur, thank you.
At our next Green Vision Calderdale event we will hear from Sustainability Leaders Interface Flor , more info to follow soon
Construction materials are quite literally the building blocks for a truly sustainable design, construction and maintenance industry.
No longer do we to specify and procure materials on function and aesthetics alone, but the consideration of a myriad of economic, environmental and social sustainability aspects is now essential. Balancing these ‘triple bottom line’ aspects brings a new approach to traditional material choice, to value management and engineering exercises, increasingly recognised as ‘appropriate sourcing‘.
Alternative, natural, ‘sustainable’ materials are now established in the choice mix along side the traditional petroleum based products.
Social specification and procurement of materials is key to successful and meaningful localism agendas, whilst also reducing transport miles and carbon. (Up to 70% of a projects construction CO2 is related to transportation of materials to the project)
Consideration of healthy materials is likely to dominate sustainable construction thinking over the next few years, we hear ever-increasing reference to red list materials, in their manufacture, transport, handling, impact on building occupants and disposal.
Waste is now accepted as a huge driver and factor for sustainable construction. We have made great improvement in waste management over the last decade. Yet maybe we have to step back and understand the recycling spiral loops we have embedded in to our industry, to question whether we are really being resource efficient.
Collectively these emerging material restraints and opportunities are game changers in the world of material specification, procurement, construction and facilities management, and critical to a successful sustainable construction strategy.
Green Vision’s autumn 2012 series tackles the material issue head on, themed around the Cradle to Cradle philospohy with a collection of evening presentations, Tweetchat discussions on alternative materials and modern material specification issues, an online Tweetchat based book club discussion of Cradle to Cradle, culminating in a half day web enabled conference in Leeds with a Cradle to Cradle keynote speaker.
If you are involved in material selection, specification, manufacture, procurement, construction or maintenance, this autumn series will be of great benefit in increasing your awareness and understanding in this crucial area.
See you there.
Series overview:15th Oct #GVisChat Tweetchat Alternative Materials 8pm UK Time
17 Oct Whole Life Thinking 17.30 Leeds, featuring:
‘Drivers for Sustainable Material Choice’ Paul Toyne, WSP
‘A Lifecycle Approach to Sustainable Product Strategies’ Louis Brimacombe, Tata Steel
12th Nov #GVischat Tweetchat Specifying Green Materials/Red Lists’ 8pm UK Time
14th Nov Specifying Green 17.30 Leeds, featuring:
‘Green Specifying using NBS Create’ John Gelder, RIBA Enterprises
‘REACH: Impact on Construction Materials’ Dr. Peter Ruifrok, Eagle Rock Life Sciences,
10th Dec #GVischat Cradle to Cradle Tweetchat discussion 8pm UK Time
12th Dec Sustainable Materials 13.30 Leeds OBC Half Day GVis Conference
To register please click here
A PROGRAMME OF FUNDED ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPORT WAS LAUNCHED TO CALDERDALE BUSINESSES AT THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF INSPIRING BUSINESS LEADER
Leeds Knowledge Exchange Event sets Business Responsibility Agenda.
“Let’s make sustainable businesses standard business “. This plea from Green Vision Leader Claire Walker, Leeds Metropolitan University kicked off Green Vision’s Inspiring Business Leaders Business Growth Calderdale Series, at Dean Clough last Monday – and was a sentiment that ran true throughout the evening discussions.
Run by Leeds Metropolitan’s Centre for Knowledge Exchange and funded by the ERDF support Business Growth Calderdale Programme, the event saw over 20 SME professionals hear an invigorating ‘Just do it’ attitude to sustainability from Sally Hancox, a lady recognised with an MBE for her contribution to our environment through her work in social and affordable housing, exploring themes around stakeholder engagement and waste elimination and enhanced competitive advantage through responsible, transparent working.
Sally shared her experience of Gentoo’s vision to remove the obstacles off the table for people living in fuel poverty through improving the ‘Art of Living’. This covered initiatives which involved effective engagement of the Supply Chain, behavioural change considerations, considerable research and the grounding of their work in local community needs.
Darren Hill then promoted a funded programme of Environmental management support for those that would like to get started on the route to Energy efficiency and waste elimination or even those further along the journey wishing to look at Eco Product design.
Speakers and delegates highlighted that in their experience whilst there was a real need for step change from SME’s in Calderdale, this was no longer an environmental issue but a business need to address, in such austere times – efficiency and waste minimisation has never resounded as so relevant to the SME’s in the room. A message to be taken home by all was that making small changes is an effective way of starting from the bottom up with Sally’s ‘Just Do It ‘mentality.
Claire Walker Project Manager for Green Vision said: “Yesterday’s event was a particular success as the event brought together key players who are engaged in Low Carbon events in Calderdale and has sparked collaborative working moving forwards for the benefit of all Calderdale SME’s. The presentations evoked some real enthusiasm and drive to engage Calderdale Businesses and make a difference within the region.’
‘This event has inspired me to look into how to make our business greener, thank you ‘(Kate Akerman, Porkshire)
More information along with presentations and links can be found on our Green Vision site – http://ckehub.org/greenvision
Our next event on September 26th will feature Chris Hopkins MD, Ploughcroft, telling us his inspirational story including his appearance on BBC TV’s Dragons’ Den and how he secured investment from Deborah Meaden and Theo Paphitis, further demonstrating the exceptional credentials of the business and enabling it to extend its profile nationally. Since then Chris was asked to present the Green Apple Global Environmental Awards, held at Westminster, London last year.
CSR AGENDA HIGHLIGHTED AT LEEDS KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE EVENT
Leeds Knowledge Exchange Event sets Business Responsibility Agenda.
“Corporate Social Responsibility is about communicating visions, ethics and the way we operate internally and externally”. This quote from Keynote Speaker, Mel Starrs, Associate Director, PRP Architects, kicking off Green Vision’s Building CSR in Construction Series, at Old Broadcasting House last Thursday – and was a sentiment that ran true throughout the emotive inspiring half day conference.
Run by Leeds Metropolitan’s Centre for Knowledge Exchange and the Construction Sector Network supported by Fairsnape, the event saw over 40 construction and property professionals, with others participating online through social media, explore themes around real competitive advantage through effective CSR.
Session discussions covered effective engagement of the Supply Chain, adopting an innovative deep green Building standard (The Living Building Challenge), the need for better dialogue between Education and Business, setting real CSR objectives grounded in local community needs, the need for transparency and honesty along with the importance in sharing best practice through open networks.
Mel Starrs discussed where Buildings fit in the CSR agenda, often as the second or third largest company expenditure, and a tangible representation of a company’s CSR strategy. She highlighted the importance of design being ‘measurable, accountable and repeatable’ and the effective use of BREEAM both as a tool for effective collaboration within project teams and for clients to demonstrate commitment to its CSR credentials. She also outlined the productivity benefits of green buildings with the most prominent green tenants, and how green buildings rarely change hands.
Speakers and delegate responses in the roundtables discussions and networking debates highlighted that in their experience whilst there was a real need for step change around CSR in construction, for many delegates making small changes was an effective way of starting from the bottom up.
Throughout the day many references were made to the leaders who are influencing, inspiring and shaping an emergence for a new built environment based on social responsibility. A summary of these Hero’s and Texts can be found on our blog below.
For some, CSR is about working with local communities prior to a construction project, engaging education to develop appropriate apprenticeships to meet the needs of the sector. For many it is ensuring the CSR plan is at the heart of a company strategic plan and aware of the need to engage boardrooms to get Social responsibility to the heart of their business.
The live Internet presentation from Tamara Bergkamp, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) based in Amsterdam, clearly highlighted the move to integrated reporting, promoting GRI’s fourth generation of Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, (now in development and available focore view on their website.) One of the objectives of GRI is to offer guidance on “how to link sustainability reporting into business reporting aligned to the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC).
Following a series of informative and entertaining Pecha Kuchas (Eddie Murphy, Mott Macdonald, Faye Jenkins, Laing O’Rourke, Rick Hamilton, Co2 Sense), the lively closing Q and A sessions covered topics such as apprenticeships, community engagement, regional leaders, social media and technology in the sector and the benefits of working together to share knowledge and best practice.
Claire Walker Project Manager for Green Vision said: “Yesterday’s event was a particular success as the event evoked not only lively debate but real enthusiasm and drive to really make a difference within the region. We are making headway in terms of getting the property and construction sector to focus on sustainable practices, but what we need now is to grow Green Vision from a strong core of companies driving the agenda in Leeds to work with other regional Green Networks to strengthen our message and enhance our ability to create real change.
‘Green Vision is a platform that can open up discussions and debates that in turn help delegates within their own organisations, take learning back to their teams, and enable change. We continue to have great responses from those who attended and are already looking forward to the next one!”
More information along with presentations, transcripts and links can be found on our Green Vision site – http://ckehub.org/greenvision
“suddenly the air smells much greener now”
This post, written for Green Vision by Martin Brown @fairsnape was also published to his fairsnape blog
Listening to ‘These Streets’, lyrics by Paolo Nutini summed up the brilliant, inspiring Green Vision conference in Leeds – exploring CSR within the built environment.
A mix of talks, presentations, round table discussions and pecha kuchas from Mel Starrs, Eden Brukman, Tamara Bergkamp, Eddie Murphy, Martin Brown, Faye Jenkins, Claire Walker, Rick Hamilton, Mark Warner, Pedro Pablo Cardoso-Castro, Andy Ainsworth, Paula Widdowson and many others showed that there is real emergence and a future for a Built Environment founded on social responsibility principles.
The air smells much greener …
We heard of excellent progress being made by individuals, projects and organisations on the CSR journey, and how behind these are great influential thinkers, often outside of the sector, many, unsurprisingly, related to the ‘outdoor’ sector.
Many of the speakers were enthusiastic in sharing CSR heros and recommended CSR reading. So here, as a summary, or reading list are those mentioned during the day. I wonder how many of these are on the reading list within design, construction and fm education? (Book titles link to Amazon)
Yvon Chouinard
Rock climber, environmentalist and outdoor industry businessman, noted for his contributions to climbing, climbing equipment and the outdoor gear business. His company @Patagonia is widely acclaimed for its environmental and social focus. According to Fortune magazine, Chouinard is arguably the most successful outdoor industry businessman alive today.
The Responsible Company What we have learnt in the first 40 years at Patagonia by Yvon Chouinard and Vincent Stanley (see my blog)
Let My People Go Surfing Yvon Chouinard - Probably the ‘must read book’ to understand CSR in Business
(On my blog: How can construction learn from Patagonia?)
Founder of Interface Inc., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of modular carpet for commercial and residential applications and a leading producer of commercial broadloom and commercial fabrics. He was known in environmental circles for his advanced and progressive stance on industrial ecology and sustainability.
Ray was was posthumously awarded an Outstanding Achievement award at this year’s Guardian Sustainable Business Awards in 2012. (There is a related, must watch, video here: John Elkington describing the work and legacy of Ray Anderson)
Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose: Doing Business by Respecting the Earth (2009) Later released in paperback as Business Lessons from a Radical Industrialist in 2011.
Paul Hawken
An environmentalist, entrepreneur, and author. Ray Anderson of Interface credited The Ecology of Commerce with his environmental awakening. He described reading it as a “spear in the chest experience”, after which Anderson started crisscrossing the country with a near-evangelical fervor, telling fellow executives about the need to reduce waste and carbon emissions.
Hawken’s book, Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution (1999) coauthored with Amory Lovins and Hunter Lovins, popularized the now-standard idea of natural capital and direct accounting for ecosystem services, a theme revisited by Rio +20 and likely to become more mainstream across the built environment.
Her 1997 book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature defines Biomimry as a “new science that studies nature’s models and then imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems”. Benyus suggests looking to Nature as a “Model, Measure, and Mentor” and emphasizes sustainability as an objective of biomimicry. Key thinking in the Living Building Challenge principles, as is
E O Wilson
Edward Osborne Wilson an American biologist, researcher, theorist, naturalist and author. In the mid 80′s developed the concept of Biophilia, the connection between humans and nature, which translates into architecture and the built environment as comfort, well being and productivity through exposure to natural light and natural surrondings or imagry.
Anita Roddick
Dame Anita Roddick, human rights activist and environmental campaigner, best known as the founder of The Body Shop, a cosmetics company producing and retailing beauty products that shaped ethical consumerism The company was one of the first to prohibit the use of ingredients tested on animals and one of the first to promote fair trade with third world countries. Roddick was involved in activism and campaigning for environmental and social issues, including involvement with Greenpeace andThe Big Issue.
John Elkington
John Elkington @volansjohn is a world authority on corporate responsibility and sustainable development. He is currently the Founding Partner & Executive Chairman of Volans, a future-focused business working at the intersection of the sustainability, entrepreneurship and innovation movements
His latest book The Zeronauts, Breaking the Sustainability Barrier describes many of todays inspirational leaders : “Just as our species broke the Sound Barrier during the 1940s and 1950s, a new breed of innovator, entrepreneur, and investor is lining up to break the Sustainability Barrier”
Jorgen Randers
2052: What will the world look like in 2052
Jeff Hollender,
Jeffrey Hollender is an American businessperson, entrepreneur, author, and activist. He was well known for his roles as CEO, co-founder, and later Chief Inspired Protagonist and Executive Chairperson of Seventh Generation Inc., the country’s largest distributor of non-toxic, all-natural cleaning, paper and personal care products.
Gary Hirshberg,
Gary Hirshberg is chairman and former president and CEO of Stonyfield Farm, an organic yogurt producer, based in Londonderry, New Hampshire. Now part of the Danone group.
Published in January 2008, Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World is a book about socially minded business that calls on individuals to realize their power to make a difference in the marketplace, while doing business in ways that adhere to a multiple bottom line – one that takes into consideration not only finance, but the environment and health as well.
Jeffrey Swartz,
Jeffrey Swartz is the president and CEO of The Timberland Company an organization that believes that doing well and doing good are inextricably linked. Timberland’s commitment is to reducing global warming and preserving the outdoor environment.
David and Claire Hieatt,
Founders of Howies a clothing company based in Cardigan Bay, Wales produces eco-friendly T-shirts, jeans and sportswear, and aims to have ethically correct practices. Howies use natural fabrics as alternatives to petrochemical-derived modern fabrics. Examples include organic cotton, Merino wool and recycled cotton. Howies T-shirts often have images or slogans with political or environmental themes
Dee Hock
Dee Ward Hock is the founder and former CEO of VISA , described systems that are both chaotic and ordered, and used for the first time the term “chard” and chaordic,combining the words chaos and order.
More?
Over to you -
Follow the discussion on twitter with the #GVis2012 hashtag.
Who are your CSR Heros and CSR Texts to add to this Built Environment inspirers list?
What additions or comments would you make to the entries above?
A full record (video, blog, tweets, presentations, storify) of the Building CSR Event is being curated on the be2camp event page here.
As part of our CSR In Construction Green Vision series, our next tweetchat, (Weds 20th June at 8pm BST), will explore CSR, Construction in the context of the Rio Earth Summit.
Guidance on joining our tweetchats can be found here “How to Tweetchat”
Background:
It’s 1992, five years after the Brundtland Commission launched the now well accepted Sustainable Development definition. Heads of State and environmentalists convened in Rio to agree, or attempt to agree, a strategy to implement the sustainable definition globally.
At that time I was changing role from Project Management to Business Improvement Management, taking an interest in improvement issues and wondered then at the relevance of Rio and ‘sustainability’ on construction.
The impact was to be slow burn. Sustainable construction was then a very rarely heard expression, if at all. However Agenda 21, the global national and local strategy from Rio ’92 would go on to kick start and shape our Sustainable Construction agenda in so many ways, from strategy to standards to winning and delivering work. It would also shape our sustainability thinking linking economic, social as well as environmental aspects.
And continues to do so. Only last month I had a call from a contractor looking for help in understanding a Local Authority PQQ question “How do you meet our Local Agenda21 principles”
20 years later it is worth reflecting on progress in sustainable construction. Undoubtably a mixed bag, we have moved a long way in some areas, but we are still debating the some same 1992 issues a generation later. And have we avoided compromising the current generation? No
With design, construction and the way we use buildings (the “built environment”) Accounting for 40% of energy use, waste and resources we have a profound impact, but where in Rio +20 is the voice of the built environment? (Follow the hashtag #Rioplus20 and an embyronic Rio twitter list for those with a built environment interest)
Whatever the outcome the Rio+20, with a (perhaps flawed) focus on a Green Economy we can expect significant impact on the way we approach sustainable construction, not least in the financial accounting and price of ‘nature’ (biodiversity, carbon emissions, waste)
Green Economy growth would in many ways be good for the construction sector, but to be good for the planet, good for a sustainable and resilience sector, growth has to be tempered with effective corporate social responsibility, collaborative working and appropriate sourcing. That is doing more with less.
Interesting days ahead…
link - 10 things you need to know about Rioplus20
Is your PQQ or Bid success rate dopping? Are you loosing out to competitors and not sure why? You could do no better than to get along to one of the numerous best practice or knowledge exchange events such as the excellent Green Vision programme from CKE in Leeds.
Last night the focus was on CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility, which has moved a million miles away from just doing good, volunteering and charity donation, important though as these are. No, supply chain CSR approaches in the words of Bob Simpson (Walmart/ex ASDA) have to be ‘contemporary’ and demonstrate value to clients.
Bob went on to emphasis how the supply chain has to demonstrate “a point of difference” through CSR, when bidding for work, that includes:
Paul Connell E.on consultant reinforced the same message describing how supply chains adding value to E.on to help them deliver their ambitious Cities Programme of collective intelligence, enabling large organisations to engage with individuals on a meaningful level.
Setting the scene, my CSR presentation focused on the changing world of communications and transparency, and the need for construction not only to be solid and reliable but also innovative in CSR. Particularly in the public sector, where the newly minted Social Value Act will require construction to start to really understand and demonstrate the value of CSR approaches.
There is a storify record of the event here.
This event will befollowed up by a CSR in Construction tweetchat on the 18th June 8pm and the GVIs2012 CSR half day conference on the 5th July