Home » Future Foundations Sustainable Construction

Sustainable Procurement

The Strategy for Sustainable Construction published by HM Government in association with the SFfC in June 2008 underlined the importance of construction procurement as a means of achieving sustainability and value creation. Indeed, best practice in construction procurement is crucially important to support sustainable construction while reducing the overall project costs and increasing whole life value.
 
To achieve best practice in construction procurement the Strategy strongly encourages the adoption of the Construction Commitments which cover the areas of Integration, Commitment to people, Client Leadership, Sustainability, Design Quality and Health and Safety. The implementation of these guidelines aim towards the achievement of the overarching target of using procurement to deliver wider sustainability (social, environmental, and economic) goals as well as to maximise the value created in the supply chain.
 
To facilitate a better view, addressing sustainable procurement can be viewed from two different perspectives including challenges related to projects and the industry as a whole.
 
The following figure presents a basic model for embedding sustainability principles in procurement practices throughout the supply chain and through the stages of a construction project.
 
 Sustainable Project Procurement
To support change towards sustainable construction across the industry Constructing Excellence South West (CESW) and Future Foundations (FF) aim to:
  • Promote the economic case for sustainable construction
  • Provide leadership, support collaboration
  • Capitalise on existing knowledge and networks
  • Support and accelerate culture change
  • Build capacity, skills for ‘sustainable communities’
  • Encourage continuous client-led demand for sustainability.

The above list of objectives has been established in order to address the main challenges of adopting sustainable procurement in construction at an industry level and is to be achieved through training, networking, and knowledge transfer events. These activities and particularly capturing and disseminating best practice will also be supported by the development and publication of a number of regional case studies.

For additional information on sustainable procurement please email Christos Vidalakis

 

The South West Sustainable Procurement Network

The South West Sustainable Procurement Network (SWSPN) is a two year project funded by South West Regional Improvement & Efficiency Partnership (SW RIEP).  The project is headed by Bristol City Council, with the remit to provide information, training and support to South West public sector bodies.

Please, follow the link to their website www.swspn.org.uk which provides a range of tools and guidance to assist public bodies to tackle social, economic and environmental issues within public procurement.

Small Construction Firm achieves Environmental Management Standard - Find out more here