The Sustainability Challenge for the New Construction Professionals

The new Climate Report from the United Nations starts with a very clear statement “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land. Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred.” There is no place for doubt, it is “unequivocal”, the question is, what are we, the new generation of construction professionals, will do with this reality?

It has been widely accepted that changes in the construction industry happens at a slow pace. It is almost as if somehow our industry is always lagging, from technology adoption, new materials, research, management techniques, to productivity, we are always at the end of the spectrum compared to other industries. Sustainability is another big subject that even though we have made a lot of progress in the last 20 years, we need to step up our game to the level of challenge we are facing today. With the arrival of the new generation of construction professionals, technology adoption has improved, we have more tech savvy project manager and superintendents, and is up to us now, to make and push the changes necessary to improve sustainability in our daily operations. We can’t hide behind the same old excuse used by the industry of “this is the way it has always been done”, we just arrived, is up to us to define what is the new way of getting things done, and our planet demands this new way to be sustainable. There are many improvements we can start doing today to take better care of our environment, that does not require fancy new technology or big upfront investment, just creativity, willingness, and a new mindset. Our lack of experience as the younger generation is what gives us the opportunity to make these changes, we don’t accept no for an answer, we like to have our chance to try and fail, we want our shot to make improvements. The rebel soul of all young people is what gives us hope that we can do better, we haven’t given up on anything, we haven’t accepted the status quo, our nature is to challenge old ideas and try new ones, we have the energy that it’s needed to make change happen. So, we, the new generation of construction professionals, must start taking our share of responsibility to protect our planet, we can have a great impact in our future and the future of the generations to come, this is a great opportunity we have in our hands now. To clarify, when I refer to construction professionals, I mean architects, designers, engineers, construction managers, superintendents, suppliers, and construction workers, we are all part of the great construction industry that builds the world we live in. Once a building is up, it will be there for decades, if we make that building more sustainable, we are improving our communities for decades to come, if we don’t, we are affecting our environment for decades to come as well, what path are we going to take? We must put our minds and hands to work and come up with the ideas and methods to make green buildings more affordable for everyone, to set new standards, to push new regulations to protect our communities, because we all breath the same air and are exposed to the same weather, this must be a team effort. Saving a few dollars for materials or methods that affect the environment should not even be an option that we bring to the table, as construction professionals, we are the ones that design and build the new constructions, if we change, the whole industry change, it all starts with us because we are the construction industry. Here are a few opportunities that we have:

·       Decommissioning instead of demolition.

·       Remodeling/readapting instead of new construction.

·       Recycling in every construction site as the norm.

·       Reimagining dumpster services for recycling services.

·       Solar and green roofs as the norm.

·       Greener parking lots.

·       Bike racks/ showers/ carpooling in all new buildings.

·       Green common areas in all new building.

·       All energy and water efficient fixtures and equipment.

·       Bigger sidewalks.

·       Bike friendly roads as the norm.

·       Charging stations for electric vehicles in all new construction.

·       Recycling centers in all new apartment buildings and new neighborhoods.

Of course, there are so much more opportunity areas, so let’s start sharing and implementing them. There is so much waste during a typical new construction, from framing scraps, drywall, extra materials, etc. Tons of usable resources end up at landfills when they are needed elsewhere, but that was the old way, we need to start setting the new way of business as usual. I would love to see recycling dumpsters at every jobsite, just as we have pushed the industry to higher standards of safety, created the safety manager position, and a safety culture at every construction company, why not have sustainability managers at every company overseeing the implementations of green efforts? We say that construction safety is everyone’s responsibility, let’s add sustainability to our role as well and create a sustainability culture at our companies. We don’t need to wait for breakthroughs in technology, we can start doing something now, let give the first step.

The easy path is the status quo, but we are not a generation of conformists, I believe we are a generation eager to change the world, and unfortunately, I don’t think we have an option, at the end of the path we are now is the destruction of our environment as we know it today. How can we start changing today, at our workplace, in our role, in the projects we are working on? We have all it takes, the energy, the talent, and the naivete that is needed to implement new ideas, do we have the will? Our planet demands action, is up to us to build the better future, what are we going to do with this opportunity? It is our time, let’s start today, lets share ideas and act together as an industry, let’s show the world it is possible and set a higher standard for the new generations to come.

Sixth Assessment Report. AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Sicence Bases, 2021, https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/. Accessed 15 Aug. 2021.