Three out of four UK construction and property professionals (75%) think green when planning a project, according to the Overbury Office Sustainability Survey 2007, published today by office and refurbishment fit out specialists Overbury. The survey is conducted to identify and gauge trends in environmental attitudes and policy throughout the construction and fit out industry as part of its SCORe 2007 Sustainable Commercial Office Refurbishment Seminar.
“Besides considering the environmental costs of a construction or fit out project, the industry should also ensure that buildings are energy efficient and environmentally sound throughout their lifetime,” says Jack Pringle, RIBA president. “As a group, we need to be more proactive in showing owners and occupiers the long-term advantages and financial savings of greener fit outs and sustainable buildings.”
While the occupier of a building is seen as the most important person to ensure that buildings are environmentally friendly (34%), nearly a third chose developers as the drivers of change (27%), one in five (21%) chose the architect and 10% selected contractors. Interestingly, gaining BREEAM accreditation (6%) and other project certification (3%) is not considered to be an important environmental issue.
The survey shows that the three most important environmental issues for property and construction professionals are sustainable procurement (30%), climate change and carbon emission (29%), and recycling and waste management (21%).
The survey also reveals that nearly half of those questioned (47%) said that CAT A fit outs weren’t needed in order to let a building. Just over half (53%) said that they are sometimes a necessity.
“Opinion is divided almost equally over whether CAT A fits outs should be abandoned in favour of more environmentally sound alternatives”, says Chris Booth, Overbury’s managing director. “The use of mock up areas, show suites, 3D walkthroughs or just leaving buildings empty instead of a complete CAT A fit out would reduce the amount of waste created on a project, as well as provide financial savings.”
