Sustainability: spotlight on construction

The three-tier strategy developed by Carillion – from design to partnership

and innovation, thence ownership – was established with the clear understanding

that sustainable development is about hearts and minds. The ultimate goal was

the third phase; that of ownership of the awareness and commitment to sustainable

development, on both a corporate and personal basis. True sustainable development

is way beyond eco-efficiency, or in other words the optimisation of design once

the big decisions have been made – it is about bringing intelligence into the

big decisions and rolling that out into the smaller decisions and subsequent

actions.

The design phase identified double-skin plasterboard walls as a suitable solution

ensuring flexibility. Instead of the more traditional approach of buying according

to the market, Carillion took the step of specifying the optimal sizes of board

required to complete the job that will minimise contractor time on-site to complete

installation and also minimise waste production.

To initiate this, the Carillion Building Economist visited various interested

manufacturers to discuss sustainability challenges. The successful supplier,

LaFarge, developed a new product to make further progress with the Sustainability

Action Plan (SAP). This product was a single board, comprising just one 15mm

skin instead of the twin 12mm panels in the original design.

Furthermore, the board innovated by LaFarge was designed to withstand substantial

wear and tear, enabling savings, and was also pre-finished, eliminating the

need for skimming with plaster and the number of coats of paint required. Prior

to involvement at the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH), LaFarge did not commonly

practice the take-back of off-cuts, but immediately agreed so to do by backloading

vehicles delivering to Swindon and other local sites.

The benefits from this range of innovations were considerable, including reducing

the requirement for labour-intensive ‘wet trades’ on-site, and reducing material

inputs to product and installation. Raw material inputs into the board itself

were decreased by almost a half, and the boards themselves are recyclable at

the end of their useful life. The economic savings included an immediate £200,000

by going to a single board system, and an additional £85,000 by reducing

the planned three-coat paint system to a two-coat system.

Ceiling drop

To maximise flexibility and replication, suspended ceilings were identified

in the design phase. For hospitals in the UK, Health Technical Memoranda (HTM)

60 specifies the type of tiles and the functional properties that are required

for different areas. The design specified recycled mineral fibre ceiling tiles,

and that these in turn should be recyclable at end-of-life, or if landfilled,

must be inert.

The design also identified a standard tile size set in steel and aluminium,

both fully recyclable, throughout the entire hospital. This eliminates off-cuts

and wastage, and also reduces time on site for contractors, as well as maintenance

and cleaning requirements throughout life.

Part of the initial design, but also a spur to partnership and innovation,

each contractor was asked to quote for just two tiles from their ranges that

met cost budgets and possibly all six of the HTM requirements. In order to continue

to challenge the trade contractors to make further progress with effective sustainable

development, Carillion ran workshops on the The Natural Step (TNS) Framework

for manufacturers and installers once they had been awarded contracts, requiring

that they developed their own sustainable development targets based on the TNS

Framework and consistent with achievement of the SAP.

Reusable floors

Implicit in the design of flooring systems was a requirement for the most environmentally

friendly materials, whether derived from sustainably-managed resources, or reusable

at end-of-life to avoid accumulation of pollutants. However, it was soon realised

this would be a lot more tricky, addressing issues such as those raised in A

Material Dilemma (IEM, May 2001), and required a close evaluation

of four materials – linoleum (lino), rubber, PVC and non-chlorine vinyl.

The basic constituents of lino are linseed oil, cork, limestone and jute, combined

by an energy-intensive manufacturing process. There are sustainability benefits

to be gained from the long life of lino, as indeed for rubber and vinyl flooring.

Furthermore, trials suggested that the ‘organic’ feel of lino underfoot was

attractive, and lino also feels warmer and has more sound-absorbent properties

in the formulations tested. On the down-side, for most resilient flooring applications

across the hospital, a thicker layer of lino would be required as compared to

rubber and vinyl, increasing the volume of product needed. At end-of life, lino

is biodegradeable, but not easy to recycle.

Rubber flooring is also a long-life product (20 years) and is derived from

a potentially sustainable source (trees). Furthermore, it can be recycled for

use in cars, although the same practical problems of removal and contamination

apply. The ‘feel’ and sound absorption of rubber flooring was also found in

tests to be superior to lino.

By contrast, the ‘non-green’ credentials of PVC are well-known. However, recent

work conducted by The Natural Step – as reported previously in IEM (PVC:

Stepping Up the Sustainable Development Agenda, September 2000) – identifies

key challenges for the delivery of a fully sustainable life cycle for PVC, with

which the European industry is now grappling. However, for the time being, Carillion

have decided that the infrastructure for sustainable decommissioning of PVC

in the UK is lacking, and that although in the words of the SAP, “The jury

is still out on how much better its alternatives are for the environment…”,

the presumption for now is against PVC.

Carillion also explored a chlorine-free vinyl. However, this line of products

is still in the development phase so it was not used at Swindon, though it may

be reevaluated for future projects.

The experience at Swindon endorses the views expressing in A Material Dilemma

that material choice with sustainable development in mind is a tricky issue

in practice, lacking a straightforward solutions and requiring detailed thought

about a range of issues quite apart from the material itself.

Not all of the design details have been planned in detail, leaving scope for

development of sustainability thinking through partnership and innovation by

prospective suppliers. For example, Carillion is considering exploiting solvent-free

adhesives and taping materials for skirting, further reducing chemical and energy

inputs, and enhancing working environments. Carillion wants to stimulate sustainable

innovation with suppliers and ensure they benefit from their contribution to

the SAP.

Lessons learnt

A enormous number of lessons were learnt from Carillion’s experience at Swindon.

Perhaps the most important is that sustainable development is not about doing

additional things, but about doing things in new ways. As long as organisations

perpetuate the mistaken notion that sustainable development is an additional,

perhaps even retrospective, consideration, then barriers will remain. True commitment

to sustainable development is recognition that it is about being better prepared

for the inevitable changes that will be enforced by a fast-changing world, and,

it is about pre-empting both opportunities and obstacles.

For Carillion, the penny certainly dropped that sustainable development presented

both major opportunities as well as scope for market differentiation. Lessons

learnt from the PMH Relocation Project will spread across the Carillion Group

to other projects and business activities. Leaders on the client side of the

construction industry, as well as in other sectors of business, should take

note, as must those in government who are tasked with shaping building regulations

and other relevant policies.

Carillion’s PHM Relocation Project also demonstrates the benefits of partnership.

In an unsustainable world, true sustainable development is not yet as simple

as it should be. Material choice is an innovative process involving detailed

consideration of the whole life cycle, and, by developing partnerships with

the supply chain to stimulate and reward innovation, Carillion has made impressive

progress with promoting ownership of the mission of creating a sustainable hospital,

through encouraging a common understanding of sustainability with all partners

in the project. This depth of team-building was a ground-breaking step on Carillion’s

part, and one that has paid back substantially in terms of learning and innovation.

Another important lesson is that ‘sustainable’ does not equal ‘more expensive’.

Experience at Swindon has revealed, through many novel initiatives that are

ecologically and socially beneficial, no negative effect on economic considerations.

In addition, some even improved the financial performance of the project with

longer term, holistic benefits.