Build for Tomorrow - How to get involved in the debate

Welcome to the Build for Tomorrow - Act Now hub: a place for the construction industry to debate and collaborate on sustainability issues that affect us today and solutions for the future.

Building responsibly today for tomorrow is not a straightforward task and there is no single answer.

Whilst there is no single answer, perhaps we can align, as an industry (including working through all the vested interests), around some principles that will help deliver a more sustainable built environment. 

Taking a whole life perspective: acting today and protecting tomorrow.  Be clear on the implications of our actions on the future and future generations.

Building integrated thinking: ensure we make our decisions based on what they will lead to – a building (or piece of infrastructure). Does our data consider a standalone approach, or does it support a buildings integrated assessment for the truer measurement of our impacts?

Material supply chain risk: Our actions will support an understanding of materials and material supply chains through engagement and education – from top to bottom and bottom to top of the supply chain.  We will challenge our specification to ensure we understand – “where are my materials originating from”, “can I obtain this specification of material”, “it is available locally”.

Topics raised in conversation demonstrate the need to support the wider industry through open and honest debate and recognition that there is no single answer but understanding the whole life cost of a building needs to be more considered than the current focus on low embodied carbon. Understanding is increasing with regard to whole life cost but there is still lots more education required.

Initiatives such as materials passports and EPD’s will drive transparency through the supply chain. Understanding where our products are coming from and what could happen to them at end of life will help to drive responsible design and procurement. Encouraging debate and sharing information can help us on our journey to a more sustainable built environment.

This ‘hub’ of information has been created as a non-commercial site for professionals in the built environment to digest, share and debate - supporting responsible design and procurement for a more sustainable future. By consuming this information, you can also register to gain CPD points through the free Construction CPD platform.

If you would like to join the discussions to build for tomorrow & act now, there are a number of ways you can get involved:

1. Digest the content and join the debate. The easiest of all the ways to support just by considering the content and commenting on it, which we hope will allow all of us to consider the bigger picture of sustainable design and procurement to benefit future projects.

2. Share the hub and it’s messaging with your professional network to encourage more industry professionals to digest the content and broaden the reach of the debate.

3. Contribute content to give a balance to the debate - we encourage content from any and all in the industry (including product manufacturers, architectural practises and contractors) as long as it conforms to the governance rules for the site to ensure non-commerciality. Examples here of contributions from UKGBC.

4. Become a Hub ’Supporter’, a role that is open to trade associations, universities and other non-commercial organisations who love the ethos behind the site. Supporters can bring an independent voice to the debate while also broadening its the reach.

5. Be an ‘industry voice’ for the debate and be more formally recognised with an author profile set up on the hub which can be linked to any content that you contribute. Example profile here.

Regardless of your role anyone can post content that encourages debate on the topics above. Content (and feedback) needs to confirm to the governance rules and comments will be moderated by Pauley Creative.