A set of sustainability indicators and targets is to be drawn up for the UK construction industry.
In a project led by the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA), draft indicators and targets will be sent for consultation before being tested on three volunteer companies, Ove Arup, Tarmac and Carillion.
They will then be put out to further consultation before publication with an accompanying promotional campaign next summer.
Martin Hunt, CIRIA’s project manager, said the targets and indicators would provide the industry with an ideal opportunity to widen its focus from purely environmental matters to social and ethical issues.
‘The construction industry has focused on the environmental side of things up to now, but this will allow us to take on board social and ethical dimensions,’ he said.
The CIRIA project is being led by a steering group chaired by Sir Martin Laing of Laing Construction and George Martin of Forum for the Future, a UK sustainable development body. Additional research will be provided by WS Atkins and the New Economics Foundation.
Hunt said the targets and indicators would be backed by guidance on how companies can measure and report their performance.
He said drawing up key sustainability indicators was likely to be much easier than setting the targets, but it was ‘essential that the industry and individual members have both set agreed targets for which to aim and tools which allow them to measure their progress towards them.’