Bill Zuurbier, co-founder and managing director of risk management consultancy, Equib, discusses the importance of resilience within new structures and the need for clear communication when addressing sustainability.

There is an increasing focus on incorporating resilience into new structures, as well as updating existing infrastructure. However, addressing sustainability requires vision and clear communication to ensure it gets the attention it deserves prior to and during delivery.

Increased public awareness of the impact of climate change and the UK Government’s recent decision to set a legally-binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, are driving decision-makers in the construction sector and other industries to prioritise sustainability. In setting this new target to reduce carbon emissions, the UK is the first G7 nation to align with the Paris 2015 agreement, but others already have plans to follow.

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To assist those responsible for the design and development of new buildings and infrastructure, the sustainability assessment methodology – BREEAM – has been rolled out to more than 70 countries around the world. Used to measure and certify the environmental performance of new and existing buildings, those with a rating of Excellent or Outstanding are deemed to be sustainable environments that meet a high standard in terms of their environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) performance.

Certification schemes and benchmarks clearly have an important role to play in driving sustainability performance and their use is certainly helping to attract investors and other stakeholders, who increasingly expect projects to deliver measurable environmental or societal benefits. As a result, those responsible for designing new projects are specifying sustainable materials and operational equipment, usually justified by whole-life cost considerations, which prove their efficiency over time.

Operational risks are among the biggest risk factors for any major-scale infrastructure programme or construction project and successful mitigation starts at design stage, when sustainability is closely considered. At this stage, a complete cost plan for the project is prepared, incorporating both capital costs, which are associated with the build itself and operational costs, spanning the expected life of the structure. If capital expenditure is low at the design stage, but operational costs, such as those incurred when using or maintaining the asset, seem excessive, there is an opportunity to address this by specifying a more sustainable solution.

Sourced from Business Chief - written by Bill Zuurbier

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